There is a hidden step in successful language acquisition. Almost everyone is missing out on it – because it isn’t taught.
That actual “stuff” you have to learn is pretty obvious – words, lots and lots of words and grammar rules, some simple, some complicated.
But there is a hidden step – an invisible part of the learning process going on which is every bit as important as learning grammar and vocab. This step happens completely naturally when learning our native language as a child, but often doesn’t happen effectively for adults learning new languages
That vital step is this: Developing the cognitive capacities your brain needs to be able to handle the language.
There is a large and important set of cognitive skills which need to be developed as the language is learnt. These skills are different from knowledge of the language. They are what allow your brain to put that knowledge to use. They add up to being a language processor in your brain.
Example 1: Processing strings of language in sequence
Why you need it – at a very basic level, before being words connected by grammar, a spoken language is simply a string of sounds. You need to learn the way these sounds connect together – within words but also between words because there is no pause between words in normal speech.
This is why it is NOT enough to simply learn the phonemes of the language in isolation.
You need to practice connecting the sounds the way native speakers do it. The rules for the way sounds connect and blend into one another are not the same in your target language as they are in your native language.
This is vital : Being able to make the sounds on their own is not enough. If you can’t connect them together properly you will be hard to understand
Example 2 : Speech segmentation
Why you need it: There are no spaces between words in normal speech. We pause to breath every few seconds – but we don’t pause between each individual word. Your brain has to do the work to “segment” individual words out of the string of continuous speech. If you can’t do this, it doesn’t matter how good your grammar and vocabulary are, the spoken language will just sounds like noise to you and you won’t be able to understand native speakers unless they slow down a lot.
You learnt this skill for your native language as a very young child. Now you need to develop it for your new target language. Your native language skills are not transferable. If they were, listening comprehension would be easy. In fact, it is one of the hardest skills for even advanced students to acquire, and lack of speech segmentation ability is one of the main culprits.
Example 3 : Pattern recognition
Why you need it: Language is built on patterns. You use the patterns of your native language completely subconsciously to understand and to speak correctly without effort. This intuitive pattern recognition ability cannot be replaced by studying and memorizing the rules of grammar, because the spoken language is too fast for you to be able to process everything quickly enough. Your subconscious brain must do most of the heavy lifting, and pattern recognition is one of its most important tools.
For the complete skillset your brain needs for fluency, check out The Fluency Skills
We created Fluent Hero to give your brain the skills it needs to handle a new language easily and intuitively.
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