How to Learn Any Language 28

How to Learn Any Language 28

Commit Language Larceny
There are interesting lessons coiled up inside ordinary greetings in different languages.
The Estonian greeting Kuidas (käsi käib) literally means “How does your hand walk?” An old Chinese greeting is Chr bao le, mei lo? which means, “Have you had food yet?” – no small achievement in the China of some periods. A charming greeting in Yiddish is “Zug mir a shtikel Toireh,” which means “Teach me a piece of Torah,” the Torah being the five books of Moses and the holiest document in the Jewish religion.
Language learners can use the spirit of that last one to good advantage.
When you encounter a native speaker of your target language, and when you start a conversation in that language, three things are certain. You will be stuck for words you need but don’t know. He will use words you don’t understand. And you will make mistakes. Get into the habit of exploiting those moments to the hilt!
When you don’t know a word, ask him for it. When you don’t understand a word he uses, ask him what it means. Ask him to do you the favour of correcting your mistakes. You may not have much luck with that latter request; he may be too polite or too
impressed that you’re making an effort in his language to criticise you. If you feel he’s letting your mistakes slide by, pick a fairly long sentence and ask him to help you hammer out your mistakes in just that one sentence. Write that sentence down on one of your blank flash cards. Ask him to check it again. Milk the moment. As the Latin goes, Carpe diem!
Don’t ever enter into anything as precious as a conversation in your target language with a native speaker and leave knowing no more than when you started. You’ve got a repertoire in that language. He has a larger one. Reach in and help yourself.

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