Three years into learning Chinese, I felt pretty comfortable with the language, and as is the way with these things, I kind of forgot how very excruciating the early stages of learning can be until I took up Turkish and was suddenly hurled back into the world of baby talk and gesturing. But now I'm reliving the magic of wanting to curl up in a ball and roll away every time I'm forced into using the language.
Most people go through a series of stages in acquiring foreign languages, so just for kicks, and to remind myself that what I'm doing now is normal and I'm not incredibly stupid, I looked up the stages of language acquisition from an online book called Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners Facilitator's Guide, by Jane D. Hill and Cynthia L. Björk. I found a good chart outlining what students are capable of in each stage and how teachers can help them, but what I couldn't find online is how it feels to progress through each of these stages. So I thought I'd share what at least has been my experience of trying to learn foreign languages.
1. Preproduction (0–6 months)
The student
- Has minimal comprehension.
- Does not verbalize.
- Nods "Yes" and "No."
- Draws and points.
This is "the silent period" that we're often warned occurs in the beginning of the language learning process. You're a small child all over again, except this time your lack of ability to speak is not cute, but simply bewildering or annoying to others. You survive by pointing and by offering big smiles to everyone you meet to communicate that you appreciate their friendliness.
In this stage, when you try to speak your brain automatically reaches for whatever "foreign language" is stored in your memory and tries to use whatever it comes up with first, whether it's your target language or something completely unrelated. Inexplicably, you find yourself saying "muchas gracias" to a Turkish baker.
The language sounds mostly like static at this point, an incomprehensible blur of sound with an occasional recognizable word popping through.
Sometimes people try to talk to you, but after about ten seconds they roll their eyes and switch to English. Your English-speaking friends all want to help you practice because it's like a game to practice a few scattered words and phrases, but it only lasts about five minutes, which isn't long enough to get boring.
2. Early Production (6 months-1 year)
The student
- Has limited comprehension
- Produces one- or two-word responses.
- Uses key words and familiar phrases.
- Uses present-tense verbs.
This is the comfort stage that is hard to break out of once you reach it because you can now survive in most everyday situations, like going to the grocery store or the bank. You have a few stock phrases that you understand now, and a few set responses that you've mastered. However, the moment the other party deviates slightly from the expected discourse, you're lost again and you feel like you're back at stage one. "I thought I knew this by now!!"
A few people might say they want to help you practice, but grow bored with the limited dialogues of four-word sentences about the weather and your daily routines that you are able to offer. On the other hand, the learning curve is still enormous during this stage and the regular dramatic improvements are a nice confidence booster.
*If, at this point, you find a friend who is patient enough to let you utter a choppy, hesitant sentence without interrupting, finishing your thought for you, or switching to English, hang on to that friend. This is golden, because this person cares about helping you develop communication skills enough to put up with your childlike stammering, which means they probably genuinely care about you in general. "A friend in stage 2 of language acquisition is a friend indeed."
3. Speech Emergence (1-3 years)
The student
- Has good comprehension.
- Can produce simple sentences.
- Makes grammar and pronunciation errors.
- Frequently misunderstands jokes.
This is the most frustrating stage of all, because here you understand a large percentage of what is said to you, but lack the ability to respond in detail or contribute to a conversation in a meaningful way. Not being able to fully explain yourself when someone asks a question looking for a genuine answer feels like it verges on rudeness.
At this point people actually try to engage you in conversation because you appear capable of holding your own. And to a certain extent you are, if people don't remind repeating themselves or listening to you struggle for the right word or grammatical construction. But you're certainly not the life of the party, and for a lot of people the novelty of speaking to you has limited fascination. Be prepared for people to suddenly lose interest in talking to you, or to appear uncomfortable and annoyed with your linguistic skills.
The mental energy required to sustain a conversation or read a book is overwhelming. My calculation is that one grande Starbucks coffee provides enough energy for two straight hours of foreign language, after which you'll go home and sleep like a log.
This stage lasts a long time and can give the impression that you've hit a wall and have stopped improving.
4. Intermediate Fluency (3-5 years)
The student
- Has excellent comprehension.
- Makes few grammatical errors.
Breaking through the barrier into this stage after a long stint in the purgatory of stage 3 is the best feeling in the world.
Finally, you feel like you can comfortably walk into any situation and hold your own. The language starts to slip out of you without a massive concentrated effort, and you sometimes even forget that you're not speaking your own language. You can communicate any idea about any topic that you want to discuss. More importantly, you can start to sound intelligent when you speak and people seem to enjoy talking with you rather than just tolerating it. You feel like a real human again, able to participate in social life without being a burden to those around you.
5. Advanced Fluency (5-7 years)
The student has a near-native level of speech.
I'm still working on getting to this level, so I can't tell you what this feels like. But at least seeing a professional say this takes five to seven years makes me feel better about where my Chinese is after four years. Perhaps there's hope.
At the moment I'd assess my Turkish at the beginning of stage 3, which is of course the frustrating stage and probably explains why I felt compelled to blog about this. But on the other hand, being aware that stage 3 is the long, nightmarish stage, and equally aware that it doesn't last forever, makes it a bit easier to deal with this time around.
Friends, this is hard, and it doesn't happen overnight. I have so much more admiration now for those foreigners who come to work or study in the United States and persevere for years even though people laugh at their accent and mixups.
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