What Does The New Language Learning Curve Look Like
Does anyone know what the language learnng curve looks like for people learning a new language, but without immersion.
Obviously if you don't know any word of a new language when you learn your first word, you know infinitely more than you did before. Obviously this rate of learning has to decline, as with the next word you only know twice as much as then 50% more etc.
However the question I am driving at is, at some point is there a tipping point where the light comes on, and very quickly there is an acceleration of learning ? i.e. you can understand more, perhaps programs on the television, and say and write more easily, as you have passed some point of fundamental knowledge or is there no such increase in learning spead ?
Again this is assuming no imersion.
For those who have actually got somewhere with their learning, what has your experience been?
4 Answers
Hi Roger, I think this was mentioned once by quentin to me, that there is a point where you sort of seem to be stuck at a certain level.
From my experience there is no tipping point where learning accelerates. It is a gradual process. The more time you spending reading, writing, speaking, and listening to a language the easier it will become to do these things. There have been times where I have learned something and it has made other things make more sense but you don't just wake up one day and suddenly everything is much easier. I think the "building block" metaphor used in the previous answer makes a lot of sense. If you study a little bit each day then at some point you will realize you know quite a bit but it is a process that takes time.
In my experience you "seem" to learn very fast when just starting and there comes a point where you feel you are slowing down - but you are not it is just that it feels that way because what you learn is an ever decreasing amount relative to what you already know. In fact you never stop learning even your own native language. But when learning a new language there comes a point when it no longer is a "problem". It is taking me a long time to reach that point for Spanish.
Well Roger, this is a deep question for la medianoche (it is midnight for me)! I could probably give you a better answer when I am awake. However, in my experience, there has been no real tipping point. I would rather describe it as "building blocks". Do I understand more spoken, written Spanish now-yes. I have been working at this for quite some time. I have really been focused over the past two years.
I think I can honestly say that the process has been steady, but gradual. Like any other learning process, there are days when I have major breakthroughs of understanding. But for the most part, each day builds on the day before.
If I had any tipping point moments, they occurred when I traveled to a Latin American country. In particular, this past year, I spent three separate weeks in Spanish speaking countries. During each of those weeks, I learned at a much more rapid rate. I think I could probably say that one week in a Spanish speaking country is worth three to four months of study.
So, I hope this helps with your question...it was a good one!
