The Seven Keys to Language Learning

Recently I've had/made a few opportunities to use my rusty French abilities. I toyed with the idea of setting a goal to get my French up to C1 in a year (from probably a high B1 to a low B2). I like the French language, I really do, and I already have French-speaking friends. I know my weaknesses already, and getting it to a good level might give me more ammunition to say to my wife that we should move to France for a few years (a nice spot somewhere in the south would do me for a while :-) ). But for some reason which I don't fully understand, I just don't want to. I can't get motivated by the idea just now. Perhaps it's because I did a lot of study in it at Alliance Francaise (not the best use of my time or money however!) and didn't find it as enjoyable as I have with German. If I were to improve my French vocabulary I could make better use of the Assimil courses that have no English equivalent. All very sensible stuff.

Who knows. Maybe I'll get the idea into my head :-)

One of the opportunities I've made to use it recently was to answer an ad looking for a French/English exchange partner in my local area. I met up with a nice bloke called Jerome who really needs some help with his English in order to be able to improve his job chances in Australia. However, currently his English level needs a fair bit of work and so the vast bulk of the conversation, especially when it was important to be understood, was in French. Good for me though! I found that I could handle this kind of one-on-one conversation fairly easily and wasn't too tied for words, although I kept it simple. It felt really positive to be speaking it again after all this time. I really wish I had more time to meet more French speakers. Unfortunately, I am very time poor (which is why I spend time writing this blog!) so it's hard to imagine how to fit it in. I think Skype conversations would work out the best for me. We'll see.

Anyway, another opportunity I made was to read this article on Le Point, where the author opines vigorously about the outrage of a new law in France that allows French universities to offer courses in languages other than French, ostensibly to attract more foreign students. The author goes on to say that learning a new language isn't that hard and that people wanting to study in France should just get on with it and learn the language of Hugo now! Maybe I exaggerate, but the author does describe "Seven Keys to Learning". However, if your French isn't quite good enough yet, don't worry, below you'll find my (heavily abbreviated) summary of the points:

Francois Kersaudy's Seven Keys to Language Learning

Remember that the following points are taking from the article I mentioned above. I have roughly summarised them as closely as possible without interjecting my own thoughts. I add my own comments further down.

1. Mastering a language is easier than mastering Bridge or Chess because rather than relying as heavily on the intellect you get to rely on passive memory and the unconscious reflex of imitation (more on this below).
2. Motivation is THE key element to success.
3. Language learning is a personal process. It can't really be "taught" to you, you can only really be guided in how to learn it yourself. This has to be done outside the hustle and bustle of the classes themselves. Naturally, there's nothing like perfecting it in a country where it's a native language.
4. Regular, focused study for at least 20 minutes per day, every single day.
5. Repetition, repetition, repetition. But not just any old rote learning repetition - meeting the same words or phrases in different contexts within a short space of time (over a matter of a few weeks at most) will engrave those words or phrases into your memory.
6. Quoting Ferdinand de Saussaure: "You have to learn the grammar through the language, not the language through its grammar." In other words, don't start with a grammar book, start with the above techniques of listening, repeating and trying to use it yourself. Grammar books can come later when/if you really need to refine your abilities.
7. Choice of method is important. Here Kersaudy declares (perhaps unsurprisingly given the above points) that the best method is Assimil. It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I largely agree with this :-)

I have to say that I largely agree with all his points, although perhaps I think it takes a little more than just passive memory and unconscious reflex to get to a really good level (especially if you have exams to pass!) but definitely what he describes are the foundations of good language learning. There are surely other methods, but the key tenets of frequent exposure, focused attention and practice are absolutely fundamental. 

The great thing about language learning is that if you are motivated (point 2 :-) ) then these fundamentals are easy to achieve. All of them can come about by practicing speaking whatever you know with new friends, or old friends in a new language.