There is so much we can learn from children, when it comes to learning foreign languages.
Wendy Vo was fluent in 11 languages when she was eight years old. A true genius, of course. But what is her language learning secret? See what she does and how she learns. SHE ASKS QUESTIONS ALL THE TIME. And she listens to people’s answers and learns new words and concepts, through DIRECT EXPERIENCE…. You don’t need to be a prodigy to adopt this easy, and extremely effective technique!
She is of course very lucky to have supportive parents who can afford to pay for her private tutoring and she is certainly very studious and patient. But I think her fluency and the extremely fast approach in the languages she learns has very little to do with her tutors.
The girl’s approach to picking up languages comes from within her, it is consistent and genial. She uses the same techniques with her tutor and the guy in the shop, whom she literally uses to improve her vocabulary in Arabic. She doesn’t waste a second of an opportunity.
Unlike us (or many of us) who believe paying for a language course/private tutor and attend a lesson once a week will do the trick. And then we wonder why is it we have been “learning” the language for over a year now and still can only barely order a glass of wine in the bar…
(further related articles coming soon)