Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .
There are three basic keys ('secrets,' if you wish) to learning to
speak any language adequately (for most purposes) within an incredibly short period of time, with credit given, in part, to Dr. Pimsleur of the famous "Pimsleur Approach":
1) Every language has its principal structure in common with every other language. These common roots emerged from the very beginnings of
Humankind's first use of language, and they have not changed structurally. Were you to waste some time a diagram a sentence in any language, you would find the same building blocks. While writing is different, speech is very much the same. Your mind is built to learn and speak any and all language;
2) Repetition, drill and writing actually inhibit our ability to "absorb" speech and to connect it with the
core language center of our brains. These things don't enhance our ability, but they serve to confuse us and to set our subconscious minds on a destructive course to defeat our innate abilities [not to mention that they serve to bring back the years of accumulated self-doubts and limiting beliefs which keep us from being successful at most every endeavor. The harder you try, the more elusive the basics become;
3) We learn to speak a language better when we listen to it being spoken and begin to unconsciously allow our central '
language learning zone' to zero in on it. We learn to respond, hesitantly at first, and then faster and faster until we've reached a conversational pace.
Please enjoy the sales presentation by Pimsleur Associates which follows to learn a bit more. Please bear in mind that neither
The Braintenance Blog, nor
Douglas E. Castle, nor any of the affiliates of either have any financial interest in the Pimsleur Company or receive any compensation from the company; nor do any of the aforementioned persons or entities endorse or pass on the merits of the particular program.
Enjoy the presentation which follows, both for the wonderfully "open" and educational marketing approach, and for what is said[ enjoy the part about the '
phonological loop' of the brain -- that's entertaining and educational.
https://www.pimsleurapproach.com/presentation413.asp?sid=sl36004bnr&uid=454975&es=90
If for any reason the above link should fail you, try this one:
http://tinyurl.com/opa54ft
Thank you, as always for reading me and for sharing my articles with your connections, contacts and colleagues through your social media sharing tools and networks.
Douglas E. Castle
More about the Phonological Loop, from Wikipedia, slightly corrupt (ask BP!), but still useful:
The phonological loop (or "
articulatory loop") as a whole deals with
sound or phonological information. It consists of two parts: a
short-term
phonological store with
auditory memory traces that are subject to rapid decay and an
articulatory rehearsal component (sometimes called the
articulatory loop) that can revive the memory traces.
Any auditory verbal information is assumed to enter automatically
into the phonological store. Visually presented language can be
transformed into phonological code by silent articulation and thereby be
encoded into the phonological store. This transformation is facilitated
by the articulatory control process. The phonological store acts as an
"inner ear", remembering speech sounds in their temporal order, whilst
the articulatory process acts as an "inner voice" and repeats the series
of words (or other speech elements) on a loop to prevent them from
decaying.
The phonological loop may play a key role in the acquisition
of vocabulary, particularly in the early childhood years.[3] It may also be vital for learning a second language.
Five main findings provide evidence for the phonological loop:
- The effect of phonological similarity:
Lists of words that sound similar are more difficult to remember than words that sound different. Semantic
similarity (similarity of meaning) has comparatively little effect,
supporting the assumption that verbal information is coded largely
phonologically in working memory.[4]
- The effect of articulatory suppression:
Memory for verbal material is impaired when people are asked to say
something irrelevant aloud. This is assumed to block the articulatory
rehearsal process, thereby leaving memory traces in the phonological
loop to decay.[5]
- Transfer of information between codes:
With visually presented items, adults usually name and sub-vocally
rehearse them, so the information is transferred from a visual to an
auditory code. Articulatory suppression prevents this transfer, and in
that case the above mentioned effect of phonological similarity is
erased for visually presented items.[6]
- Neuropsychological evidence:
A defective phonological store explains the behavior of patients with a specific deficit in phonological short-term memory. Aphasic patients with dyspraxia are unable to set up the speech motor codes necessary for articulation, caused by a deficiency of the articulatory rehearsal process.[7]
- On the other hand, patients with dysarthria,
whose speech problems are secondary, show a normal capacity for
rehearsal. This suggests that it is the subvocal rehearsing that is
crucial.[8]
----------------
***
Scoop.it
