Bryan Murphy's Blog - Posts Tagged "essay"
Murphy's Laws
18 February 2013
HOW NOT TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
In Ten Easy Steps
Step 4. Minimise your motivation
Unless you want to do something with the foreign language input you get, your mind will probably treat it simply as "noise" rather than "signal". This makes motivation crucial.
When I arranged to come to Thailand, my motivation was very high, for I planned a very long-term stay.
However, between fixing a job and arriving, I had a 3-month contract in Sofia to fulfil. In Sofia, I had a wonderful time, so that when I finally arrived in Bangkok, I had half a mind on getting back to Bulgaria. This impulse to escape was exacerbated by an awful first week in Bangkok, dealing with jet-lag, insomnia, the heat, dust and stench, the pollution, the gridlocked traffic and being billeted in student-type accommodation. My “integrative” motivation therefore rapidly fell to near-zero.
There remained the intellectual challenge, the fact that attempting Thai would be grist to the mill of language learning experience and understanding. However, in instrumental terms, keeping a good hold on English looked as though it would be of greater long-term benefit than learning Thai. Paradoxically, I can now manage a fair imitation of "Thai English" but barely a whisper of real Thai.
HOW NOT TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
In Ten Easy Steps
Step 4. Minimise your motivation
Unless you want to do something with the foreign language input you get, your mind will probably treat it simply as "noise" rather than "signal". This makes motivation crucial.
When I arranged to come to Thailand, my motivation was very high, for I planned a very long-term stay.
However, between fixing a job and arriving, I had a 3-month contract in Sofia to fulfil. In Sofia, I had a wonderful time, so that when I finally arrived in Bangkok, I had half a mind on getting back to Bulgaria. This impulse to escape was exacerbated by an awful first week in Bangkok, dealing with jet-lag, insomnia, the heat, dust and stench, the pollution, the gridlocked traffic and being billeted in student-type accommodation. My “integrative” motivation therefore rapidly fell to near-zero.
There remained the intellectual challenge, the fact that attempting Thai would be grist to the mill of language learning experience and understanding. However, in instrumental terms, keeping a good hold on English looked as though it would be of greater long-term benefit than learning Thai. Paradoxically, I can now manage a fair imitation of "Thai English" but barely a whisper of real Thai.
A lesson for Yuval
One thing that strikes me about the last 50 years is how little life has changed. Technology has advanced, but it has not inverted people's hierarchy of needs. There has been no revolution in needs and hopes. The “ revolution of rising aspirations” was already under way, and has spread more widely; that, however, is a psychological phenomenon which owes more to economic than to technological development. So when someone claims that technology is about to transform our lives in short order, I smell a rat. Nevertheless, Harari makes a good case that massive change is gonna come, and we have to hope his warnings do not fall on deaf ears. He does offer us a silver bullet with which to tame the tiger: a form of yogic meditation in which he has invested an enormous amount of his time. Let us hope that it delivers more on its promises than dear old Transcendental Meditation™ ever did. In any case, if you fancy some entertaining and challenging mental exercise, read this book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
