Do write to us with
your views about the English language and any questions you
may have.
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Dear Sirs
I started learning English many years ago when I was at
school. I have a friend who is interested in learning English
now but he is a complete beginner and he does not believe
that it is possible to learn a foreign language from the
beginning without being taught in his mother tongue (he
would prefer to be taught English in Russian!) I have tried
to convince him that this is not the best way to learn.
Do you think I am right?
Yours faithfully
Vladimir Petrovsky
St Petersburg
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The Editor's reply
You are quite right in trying to convince your friend to learn "English
through English"; not by listening to a teacher speaking his
mother tongue. Most people agree that, whatever we are learning,
we learn by doing, not by listening to explanations about
how to do something. This is as true of language learning as
of learning to drive a car. In the past, teachers often used
the student's mother tongue, but experience has proved that this
method was not effective for people who wanted to learn how to
communicate in the foreign language. It is vital that students
learn the language, not about the language. We learn language
more effectively by using it, not by talking about its
structure.
Some people believe that it is useful to learn the grammatical
rules of English in their own language. Again, experience shows
that this is not effective and can cause great problems. People
who have tried to learn a foreign language in this way often
find it very difficult to communicate spontaneously. They tend
to think about the rules before putting a sentence together.
This means that they react very slowly and hestitatingly when
people speak to them. They also tend to translate everything
in their minds before speaking, and when they speak it does not
sound natural. People learn a foreign language effectively by
being exposed to the language and practising it.
Learning a language involves a lot more than understanding words
and grammatical rules. It requires the ability to put this knowledge
into practice, (that is, to communicate). This also involves
understanding what people say to you. This is difficult if you
have never heard the language being spoken!
So, encourage your friend to start learning. He will be surprised
at how much he learns in a short time.
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