Crash course in Tourist Language
You will often find a list of useful words in the back of a travel booklet. But if you really want to have a chat with the locals in your holiday country, you can quickly learn the language. Is that possible? How does our brain learn and our memory work? What are the alternatives and pitfalls? A Crash course in Tourist Language in 5 parts. This is part 1; an episode will be released every week for the next four weeks.
After a busy year you look forward to that well-deserved holiday in Spain, Italy, or perhaps Norway or Thailand. Whatever the destination, it is always useful to make yourself understood in traffic, a restaurant, or the pharmacy. How do you handle that, a few weeks before departure? How do we even learn anything new?
According to cognitive scientist Lieke Hofmans of the University of Amsterdam, you have to really want that, because motivation is one of the basic ingredients of being able to learn well. Mix that with a healthy dose of imagination and then you can easily learn to speak that modest word across the border. No matter how old you are.
Lieke Hofmans: “My association with ‘silla’ is a sticker on a chair at grandpa and grandma’s house, which they had stuck there to learn Spanish. That is a handy way to learn individual words.”
Lieke Hoffmans
Lieke Hoffmans
How do we actually learn new things?
“Learning is associating. We do that in different ways. By means of trial & error we discover the advantages or disadvantages of actions or decisions. For example, if you come across a curb and trip over it, you literally learn through trial and error that you should step over it next time. The pain of falling is then the association.
Another form is social learning. We see people doing something that has good or bad consequences. Then you will do the same, or not at all. You watch this one trail & error off to others. Social learning also includes social and societal pressure. That gives a motivation to do or remember things in a certain way. Wearing nice clothes, getting high grades, talking in that exotic language.”
How does that work in our brain?
“When we learn new things, something happens to the connections between brain cells or between brain regions. Connections can be modified, disappear or be created new. These connections make associations with things that are already in the memory. For example, the word ‘chair’ is already in your head. If you then learn the Spanish word for ‘chair’ (‘silla’), it will be linked to that. Such an association can be anything. My association with ‘silla’ is a sticker on a chair at grandpa and grandma’s house, which they had stuck there to learn Spanish. That is a handy way to learn individual words.”
Why is that generally easier for children than for adults?
“That is a distorted picture. Our brains’ plasticity—the ability to change connections—peaks somewhere between adolescence and the 1930s. But that varies by skill, such as reasoning, motor skills, short-term or long-term memory. In addition, it depends on the person, cultural background, upbringing and genes.
So it is not so black and white and you can also continue to do a lot about it, such as exercising and eating healthy. This ensures, among other things, a supply of blood and therefore nutrients to your brain, which are necessary to make and maintain those connections. Think of laying a street, then those stones have to keep coming.
When we are born, we have too many connections. They become fewer and more specific. That’s why we forget things, for example from babyhood. But the connections you are left with become more durable, which is called ‘pruning’. Ultimately, children learn in a different way than adults. When children learn to talk, that’s about all they do. They are completely immersed and have no obligations yet. How much time do you have as an adult to learn a new language? It all has to do with context, commitment and motivation.”
Is there a difference between wanting to learn something quickly and taking the time?
“You often see it with students who study at the last minute for an exam: those specific associations are quickly learned and attached to specific knowledge, but not to hard concepts that have been in the memory for a long time. If you see a network in front of you, those are the loose nodes with few branches. If you subsequently use this knowledge little, you will lose it again. That is a physical process: by addressing those connections, they receive the necessary nutrition, blood and oxygen. Just like that stone street also needs maintenance, otherwise it will crumble.”
What is the best approach to learn a new language quickly?
“You need those associations for that, so try to make up stories for yourself. For example, if you want to learn how to ask for the bill, imagine you are sitting in a restaurant and talking to the waiter. Really try to imagine it.
There are also digital tools for learning a language, such as the Duolingo app. It plays a big part in the reward. For correct answers you get bonus points or you can do something unlock. That works well for learning the basics in the short term, like a vacation. But it does not respond to intrinsic motivation and makes less lasting connections. It therefore often works less well in the long term.”
Part 2 of the Crash Course in Tourist Language will be published next week.
2023-07-04 14:10:43
#Watch #Learn #language #making #stories
