subject: How to Learn French by Listening [print this page] How to Learn French by Listening How to Learn French by Listening
One of the best ways to make yourself hate a language is trying to memorize phrases. This method, which is fine for those heading to a foreign country on a trip, is very ineffective for actually learning a language. A lot of the problem stems from the fact that memorizing phrases has the effect of taking everything out of context. Language is all about context and learning language without giving it a context is rather like learning to play the violin without strings. The idea is there, but you really never hear it.
When people speak, it's always in reference to something. In phrase books and bland audio tapes, you may learn simple phrases, but these phrases just float in a vacuum. One of the more effective ways to learn a language is through stories. The French language, though it was a major influence on the development of English, has a very unique sound to it that is not easy to memorize. When the words are woven into a story and given a context, however, they can be much easier to memorize, as they're attached to an image and an event, even if both are merely fictional.
Sometimes, a story provides the right mental prompt to recall words when they're needed. In the case of ordering food, to use a frequent example, you may remember much more quickly how a character in a story did it than you would a random phrase from a book. Because there is a context and a story, the image of the character using the words is vibrant and easy to recall. When a language is reduced to simplistic phrases printed on a page, it's very difficult to transform it into something practical when the time comes.
Learning French in this way also helps you to avoid the pitfalls of speaking before you're ready. Infants spend a lot of time just listening to a language before they speak and, when they do learn to speak, it takes years to develop the right control of the mouth, palate and tongue required to pronounce each word correctly. Even though they struggle with speaking the words, however, children are generally quite fluent from just listening to the words being spoken by others. This basic form of language learning is still the most effective, no matter what age you are when you start.
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