Daily Excerpt: How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately (Shekhtman) - Tool #5 (Breakaway)
excerpt from How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman -
TOOL #5: BREAKAWAY
There is a second tool which can enable us to say what we really want to say. To understand the functioning of this tool, we have to understand the dynamics of knowing two languages. There is a very interesting relationship between these two languages, determined by the extent of the foreigner’s knowledge of the second language. In fact, if the foreigner knows the second language as well as he or she knows the first, it is possible there will not be any dependency at all between the two languages. These languages can exist independently of one another. Our foreigner can turn on the first language, or the second one, at will.
But the relationship between these two languages can become complicated very quickly if our foreigner does not know second language as well as the first. In this case, the foreigner, as he or she encounters deficiencies in speaking the second language, relies on the first language for help. The first language begins to dominate in this relationship because the foreigner constantly speaks the foreign language under the influence of the first. In his or her desire to speak the second language as well as he or she does the first, the foreign speaker tries to transfer the grammar structures of the first language into the second one, which quite likely has absolutely different grammar and syntax. As a result, the foreigner’s speech sounds obviously non-Russian, non-Italian, non-English, or non-Finnish.
Break Away Rules
The intent of the tool we call Break Away is to help the foreigner ignore his or her native language while speaking the foreign language. To develop this ability, the foreigner must follow three rules:
1. He or she must speak the foreign language using only the grammar structures of that language.
2. He or she must know these structures automatically
3. He or she must know as many grammar structures as possible.
The automatic knowledge of a grammar pattern enables a foreigner to use it immediately upon encountering a thought that requires the pattern, without reverting to the native language for help. Automatizing knowledge is a must because if a foreigner has not perfected the requisite pattern for a specific speech event (i.e. for the use of language in specific circumstances), his or her native language will “help him or her” out and when this happens, his or her foreign language will sound strange to a native speaker (i.e. either marked as foreigner talk or marginally comprehensible).
The More Automatic the Pattern, the Better the Break Away Tool
To demonstrate this, let us consider some typical mistakes in vocabulary or grammar which a native Russian speaker might make in English:
She is a good man. [Instead of “She is a good person.”] In the Russian language, the word “man” has two meanings, a “man” and a “person.” So, the Russian here intends to say “She is a good person.”
How much cars did you buy? [Instead of “How many cars did you buy?”] In Russian, the word “much” is used for both countable (“many,” in English) and uncountable things.
I read the book; she is interesting. [Instead of, “I read the book; it is interesting.”] In Russian, inanimate nouns, and pronouns referencing them, can have masculine or feminine gender.
She is in hospital. [Instead of “She is in the hospital.”] The Russian language has no articles, definite or indefinite.
To the grocery store I have this afternoon to go. [Instead of “I have to go to the grocery store this afternoon.”] Russian word order is different from that of English.
You speak English? [Instead of “Do you speak English?”] Russian has no auxiliary verbs in interrogative sentences.
If I will see him tomorrow, I will tell him about it. [Instead of “If I see him tomorrow,
I will tell him about it.”] Russian conditional clauses use the future.
He said that he or she will do it. [Instead of “He said that he would do it.”] Russian does not have the same sequence of tenses as English.
If I was there, I do it. [Instead of “If I were there, I would do it.”] This type of sentence is very difficult for Russians because of the differences between Russian and English forms of the subjunctive mood.
These types of mistakes are the results of imperfectively acquired grammar that results from grammatical patterns not having been completely mastered. They can be the fault of a student who did not work hard enough, an instructor who did not drill the student to perfection, or even to a whole school of linguistic theory that underestimates the importance of grammatical drilling.
It is also important to note that there is an inverse relationship between the number of structures a foreign speaker knows and the influence of his or her native language on his or her use of the second language. The fewer the foreign language structures available, the more frequently the foreign speaker will use grammar structures of the native language, increasing the image of incorrect and incomprehensible language to the native speaker.
The need for developing natural language requires the instructor to take a student through different exercises to help him or her bypass the influence of the native language and make use of only the structures of the foreign language which he or she has learned. In a way, this ability is similar to the Simplify, Simplify tool: it allows the foreign speaker to substitute simplified language for intricate language. While the method is the same, the content is different; in Break Away we are not looking for simplified structure, but rather we are looking for appropriate natural grammar patterns in the foreign language, to help us convey our idea or thought.
For more posts about Boris and his books, click HERE.
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