The Problems with Learning a Non-Written Language

Pronunciation is one problem with learning a non-written language. For example, native speakers have more practice in moving their mouth a certain way to enunciate the word. Hearing an unfamiliar word or sound can be difficult to pronounce. 

Speech segmentation is a second linguistic problem. For instance, two native speakers may say a sentence that sounds similar but means something different (Lecture, January 13, 2009). One would not be sure where a word begins and where it ends. You would also not know if  you are hearing the correct word, if it is even a word at all, or if it is a phrase. You would then not understand what’s going on.

The speed of speech is also a problem. When a person speaks too fast, we can miss a sound or think we heard a different sound. This interferes with our comprehension.

Another problem is learning the correct grammar. Without written rules of how to speak the language, it makes it harder to speak correctly. For example, in the Hebrew language, there is a gender for every object. How would someone come to know the gender differences in this new language, if any?

The fifth problem is indirect meaning. For example, sarcasm would take experience and repetition in a language to understand. If a friend asked how you were while you were crying, the response “I’m great,” would be sarcastic. When we first learn a language, we interpret each word literally. A person who is just learning English would probably be confused by my response, as it would not match with my facial expression.

My first language was Hebrew. I learned the language by hearing the way the people around me spoke, primarily my mom. I’d understand what to call an object through my mom pointing to the same object repeatedly and saying the word. For example, my mom would point to a book and say, “sefer.” I would say it back to reinforce what was said. After awhile, I would notice the word “sefer” in her conversations with others, and would know she was talking about a book. I learned the associated words through sight, sound, and practice. We learn which words are associated with certain situations when we hear them repeatedly (Carroll, 1999, p. 11).

In high school, I picked up some Farsi just by being around my boyfriend’s family everyday. The few words and phrases I know in Farsi are from the repetition of its use at different times. For example, when greeting someone, I ask, “Choobi?” which literally means, “Are you good?” The usual reply is, “Choobam, merci. Shoma?” which means, “I am good, thank you. And you?”