When you
talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may
learn something new. –Dalai Lama
I have been using Spanish daily in
my work for at least 15 years now, and I’ve been studying it for 28+. I have
what I like to call a professional fluency. I know vocabulary, phrases,
questions, answers and conversation centered on the ophthalmologic exam. I can converse outside this, but I have many
more years to go before considering myself at near-native level. I have found
during this time period that my reading and writing skills in the language from
very early on far surpassed my listening and speaking ability. I could never
understand why. I looked at studies that analyzed how people learn in general,
and then at studies that focused on the mechanisms that go into language
learning in particular. I looked at articles that documented the
neurophysiology of language acquisition, the best brain periods of a person’s
life to absorb a language. The best conclusion – scientific conclusion – that made
sense to me was that neurologically, we are wired to become accustomed to the
sounds (language sounds) we hear as an infant and child growing up, and our
brains “prune away” neurologic connections for foreign sounds. I suppose for
survival purposes, this adaptation increases survival ability. It allows a
person to hone in on conversations and communications he can understand and
respond to, and keeps “foreign” and confusing sounds that would lead to a break
down in communication, out.
But then there’s the argument, what
do you say about the people who pick up languages easily later in life? People
that can be thrown into a crowd of individuals speaking another tongue and,
given some time, they begin to verbally communicate and understand, having
never seen one written word. Or what about those individuals who learn multiple
languages? How do their brains get accustomed to hearing, accepting and
analyzing varied sounds? How do their brains reconcile the differences in those
sounds? How do they not confuse the languages when they speak? Is this just an
extra “gift” that a person has? A talent? Like being a concert violinist or a
world-renowned sculptor? Can the average individual re-teach his brain? Can he
force his brain to accept that to which it is not accustomed?
In pondering these questions, I
turned to the first open source of information available: the Internet. I
searched: “How to improve my listening skills in a language?”. A multitude of
hits came up, which I eagerly perused hoping for the answer. The
one that piqued my interest the most is an article written by a guest blogger
on Benny the Irish Polyglot’s website Fluent
in Three Months.
In his article, How to Improve Your Listening Skills in a New Language, author
Andrew Barr talks about the need for something he calls ‘high stakes active
listening’. What he is referring to is the fact that many language programs
today encourage passive listening as a way to learn a language. An example of
passive listening is listening to a CD of native speakers while on your drive
to work: you’re hearing them, but you’re not actively engaging in conversation.
You have no impetus to have to
understand everything they’re saying. Instead, Mr. Barr encourages active listening: listening because you have to hear and
understand the answer in order to accomplish something. He gives an example of
when he experienced this type of listening for the first time during his trip
to Spain. He had parked his car in a public garage and needed to find out if he
would be able to get access to the garage after hours, otherwise, he would have
been stranded without a car in the city that night. He had a reason, a true
need, to communicate with the parking attendant and figure out what the man was
saying in order to get his car later.
After reading this, a light bulb
went off! I realized that the reason my communication skills in Spanish have
increased tremendously over the last ten years in medical practice is because I,
too, have experienced this type of high stakes active listening. In my case, there
is a very important need to find out crucial information related to my patients’
medical history. I need to know
symptoms, duration, medication, and allergies to ultimately correctly diagnose and
treat the patient. When a patient tells me something in Spanish and I don’t
understand completely, I ask them to repeat it. Even though I don’t want to
appear foolish - even though I want to look like I understand everything easily
and readily, the need for accurate information outweighs my linguistic ego. The
need to know increases the stakes of learning. I have to know this information, and that gives me the drive to really listen and make sense of what I’m
hearing.
So, to go back to my earlier
question: how does someone improve her listening skills in a language? Is there
a specific technique, or must you be born with a talent for languages?
The answer is: you don’t need to be
born with a special linguistic talent. Anyone can improve his skills in any
language, but in order to do so he must take an active role interacting in that
language. You can’t build muscle simply staring at equipment in the gym. You
must use the equipment. The next time
someone speaks to you in Spanish, don’t just listen to words spoken, really listen. Hear the words. Then, make
sure to respond to them.
References
Barr, Andrew.
“How to Improve Your Listening Skills in a New Language.” Fuent in Three Months Web. http://www.fluentin3months.com/listening-skills/
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