Precerpt from My 20th Language: The Glide and the Grind
Research confirms what many polyglots intuitively know:
there is no single path to near-native fluency. Even for the same learner, the
journey can vary dramatically depending on the language, the context, and the
resources available. My own experience with French and Russian illustrates this
vividly.
French: A Community-Fueled Glide
I learned French in school, but the real advantage was my
bilingual environment. Though my family remained firmly rooted in the
anglophone community, I was surrounded by French-speaking stores, schools, and
workplaces. That ambient exposure made supplemental study effortless—I could
walk into a local shop and buy French books, which I devoured.
French felt intuitive. Despite its Romance roots and
English’s Germanic lineage, the historical influence of French on English
created unexpected bridges. Cognates, syntax echoes, and shared idioms made the
language feel familiar. My formal education reinforced this ease: a review of
French grammar as the core of my French 1 course (since most of my classmates
were native speaker, grammar was introduced for them to “clean up their act”
but it is also gave me a solid grammar foundation), followed by an overview of literature
from La Chanson de Roland to Les jeux son faits by Satre as the content of the
French 2 class, and creative writing as the focus of the French 3 class. That
led to advanced placement at Penn State; after I tossed off the placement test
in about half the time expected, I was sent to the department chair, Monsieur
Le Blanc to discuss what to do with me. I described my high school program—in French—to
M. Le Blanc, who decided that I could skip to third year courses in stylistics
and linguistics and even approved a graduate course in 19th century
poetry. By the end of my freshman year, I had likely reached near-native
fluency. And I did it all without leaving the U.S., proving that a bilingual
community can substitute for study abroad.
Russian: The Long Climb
Russian was a different story. My first textbook was Hero
of Our Time (Georj nashego vrememi) by Lomonosov—a literary classic, but
hardly a beginner’s guide. Russian wasn’t offered at my high school, and there
was no local Russian-speaking community. I studied privately with a Latvian
immigrant who had learned Russian under Soviet pressure. When I asked about
grammar, he’d say, “It sounds right.” That phrase became my internal compass.
I placed into second-year Russian at the university, but my
foundation was shaky. I excelled in class—at least on paper—but when asked to
explain my grammatical choices, I could only repeat, “It sounds right.”
Eventually, my professor pulled me aside, learned the source of my Russian
skills, and concluded, “You have no foundation for continued study.” She was
right. As I absorbed errors from classmates, my intuitive sense began to
falter. By third year, I was struggling.
But I didn’t quit.
Over time, I filled in the gaps—slowly, painfully,
persistently. Unlike with French, I eventually gained access to immersive
experiences: university study in Russia, a PhD from a Russian institution, and
dozens of workshops that taught to Russian educators, traveling far and wide across
Russia. Somewhere along the way, I crossed a threshold. I realized it one day while
riding the metro to classes at Pushkin Institute. Not only was the language
effortless, but my internal compass had returned. Once again, I could say, “It
sounds right”—and be right.
For more posts about language learning, click HERE.
To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount,
use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore.
Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to buy for it?
(1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.
(2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES.
(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date)Check out recent issues.
Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC?
Turn your manuscript into a book!
Check out information on how to submit a proposal.
We help writers become award-winning published authors. One writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Do you have a future with us?
Turned away by other publishers because you are a first-time author and/or do not have a strong platform yet? If you have a strong manuscript, San Juan Books, our hybrid publishing division, may be able to help.
Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our author au pair services will mentor you through the process.
Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com.
Want an author-signed copy of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.Julia Aziz, signing her book, Lessons of Labor, at an event at Book People in Austin, Texas.
Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our Authors' Pages.Steven Greenebaum, author of award-winning books, An Afternoon's Discussion and One Family: Indivisible, talking to a reader at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, California.MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.
Comments
Post a Comment