4 stages of language acquisition you should know
On a lazy Saturday afternoon, I am reading a Spanish book. Without much help of a dictionary, I could finish 3 pages in a row. What is extremely difficult for me a year ago seems like a breeze now.
The secret to learning a language is taking action. The more actions you take, the faster you will learn. Language competence is the same as babies learning how to walk. Once you know how to walk, the possibilities of adventure has no boundaries.
So which are the most important activities to do at each stage?
Stage 1: learning how to crawl
Everything is brand new to you. Everything is a mystery and magic in your eyes. Babies at this stage found the surroundings very interesting. They want to touch the leaves. They want to play with the curtain.
This is exactly the same as learning a language.
Major activity: learning the sounds of the language/ pronunciation
Your goal at this stage is to learn about basic words that can help you express important ideas. When pronunciation becomes a habit and you are familiar with the sounds/ alphabets in the target language, you gradually can understand bits and pieces when people talk.
Stage 2: Trying to stand up
After a long period of crawling and exploring, babies are trying to stand with the help of other adults or furniture around them.
They may only be able to stand up for a short moment then fall down again.
When it comes to language learning, you can do some simple conversations but they are not smooth. Sometimes, you feel that the words are in the mouth but you can not articulate it.
Major activity:
Study high frequency words.
What is high frequency words? Those are words you always see them in written material and they will help you quickly connect words and phrases for you to express general ideas.
At this period, the more you attempt to lead a conversation, the faster you will pass through the uncomfortable feelings of not being able to express yourself.
Stage 3: Begin to walk
Your achievement at this stage is obvious. You will be surprised how much you have came through and all that were difficult for you suddenly become easy.
Your conversation will start to take on more structure and depth. Your auto-translator will be turned off and you can start processing information in the target language.
Major activity: Build grammar skills
Many made a mistake to start off with grammar. This is a huge mistake and it kills all the joy in learning a language. However, after a long period of exposure to the language, if you want to advance your language skills, learning grammar is an inevitable step.
You can focus on topics of your interest to expand your conversation skills.
Stage 4: I can finally run
You are not a baby anymore. You can explore by yourself without further assistance from the adults and you can go anywhere.
You are quite competent in the target language. You understand the jokes, the deep-down humor in the language and you can respond back without any delay.
This is the time for you to fully enjoy the rich culture of the target language. .
Major activity: Reading
Reading helps you pick up words that are not commonly heard in daily conversations in order to expand your linguistic ability. Thus it gives you more ways to express yourself.
Learning a new language is a way to learn about a different culture. It takes time and effort to master a language but your hard work will be rewarded.
