6 Types of Language Learner: Which Group Are You In?

A Note on Multilingualism · Monolingual (Speaks 1 language) · Bilingual (Speaks 2 languages) · Trilingual (Speaks 3 Languages) · Quadrilingual ( ... Skiptocontent NoCommentson6TypesofLanguageLearner:WhichGroupAreYouIn?PostedinLanguagesBymorauskyPostedonApril7,2020April7,2020 Hey,youthere! Yeah,YOU.Readingthisarticle. Whoareyou? Orrather,whatkindoflanguagelearnerareyou? “Kinds?Therearekinds?”youmayask. Oh,sure.Manykinds.IntheageoftheInternet,language learningasbothahobbyandaprofessionalpursuitismorewidespread thaneverbefore.Withmorelanguagelearners,havecomemore distinctionsbetweenthosesamelearners,withawiderrangeofskill levelsandinterests. Ifyou’renewtothelanguagelearningcommunity,sortingoutexactlywho’swhoandwhat’swhatwithregardtothesetypesof“languagepeople”canbeabitofaheadache. Onanygivenlanguageblog,course,orYouTubechannel,you’llseetermslikethese: Languagelearner,languagenerd,languagelover,languageenthusiast,languagefanatic,languagenut,languagehacker,languagebuff,linguaphile,polyglot,polyNot,superpolyglot,hyperglot,hyperpolyglot,monolingual,bilingual,trilingual,quadrilingual,pentalingual,(etc.);multilingual,andlinguist. Someofthesewordssharetheexactsamemeaning.Othershave completelydifferentmeanings.Tomakemattersworse,severalofthese wordshavemeaningsthatcanchangedrasticallydependingonwhoyouare speakingtoandthecontextinwhichtheyarebeingused. It’sabouttimethatwesortoutalltheterminologyfortypesofforeignlanguagelearnersonceandforall. Luckily,allofthetermsabovecanfitneatlyintosixtypesoflanguagelearners. Inthistwo-partseries,we’regoingtotakealookateachtype, goingfromleastamountoflanguagelearningexperiencetomost(at leasttheoretically). Onceyouunderstandtheseterms,you’llbeabletoorientyourself andknowexactlywhichgroup(orgroups)youcurrentlyfitintowithin thelanguagelearningcommunity. The6TypesofLanguageLearner The6typesoflanguagelearnerwewilldiscusshereareasfollows: LanguageEnthusiastLanguageLearnerBilingual(alsoMonolingual,Trilingual,Quadrilingual,etc.)LinguistPolyglotHyperpolyglot WhatisaLanguageEnthusiast? AccordingtotheOxfordDictionaryofCurrentEnglish,anenthusiastis“apersonwhoishighlyinterestedinaparticularactivityorsubject”.Sinceoursubjectofchoiceislanguagelearning,thatgivesusthisdefinition: Apersonwhoishighlyinterestedinlearningalanguage. Quiteliterallyalltypesoflanguagelearners,by definition,arelanguageenthusiasts.Youcan’tlearnalanguagewithout havingsomekindoffocusedinterestinit,afterall.Sothatmeans everyone,fromthekidwhothinkslanguagesarekindacool,totheveteranhyperpolyglotwithalinguisticrepertoirefortylanguagesdeep,isalanguageenthusiast. Theimportantdifferentiatorbetweenalanguageenthusiastandanyofthelearnersintheothercategoriesisthatalanguageenthusiastisnotnecessarilyalanguagelearner. Justbecausesomeonehasaninterestinsomethingdoesn’tmeantheyactuallydoitthemselves. Thinkaboutit.Therearealotofsportsfansintheworld,buta verysmallpercentageofsportsfansactuallyplaythosesports themselves.Thesamelogicapplieshere. So,ineffect,thetruelanguageenthusiastsarepeoplewho liketheideaoflanguagesorlanguagelearning,buthaveyettotake thestepofactuallylearningone.Essentially,theyarenon-language learners. MaybetheyknowhowtocounttoteninFarsi,Fijian,French,andFaroese,butotherwisecannotusethoselanguages.PerhapstheyknowafewoddgreetingsorsalutationsinChineseandCherokee,butcan’tyetstringasentencetogether. Forthesepeople,theenthusiasmisthere,butthetruelearninghasyettobegin. AssociatedTerms Undertheumbrellaoftermsthatspecificallyconnoteageneralenthusiasmforlanguagesthatdoesnotrequirelanguagelearningexperience,Iwouldplacethefollowing: LanguageNerdLanguageLoverLanguageFan(orFanatic)LanguageNutLanguageBuffLinguaphile WhatisaLanguageLearner? Alanguagelearneris,quitesimply: Apersonwhoislearningalanguage. Unliketruelanguageenthusiasts,thelanguagelearnerisanindividualwhohasmadethejumpfromwantingtolearnalanguagetoactuallylearninglanguages. Thoughitmayseemlikeanobviousdistinction,you’llfindthat therearemanymorelanguageenthusiastsintheworldthanthereare dedicatedlanguagelearners. Inmanycultures,havingknowledgeofforeignlanguagesisseenasimpressive, orotherwisecool. However,learningalanguagealsohasareputationforbeinga difficulttask,soalthoughmanypeopleareinterestedinlanguages, lessactuallyundertakethechallengewithanyseriousness. Thatbeingsaid,ifyoufindyourselfinthisgroup,you’realready wayaheadofmostpeople—particularlyifyouliveinamonolingual country. Asidefromthenon-languagelearnersdescribedabove,allgroups describedinthisarticlearelanguagelearners,regardlessoftheir individualexperience. FormalEducationvs.InformalEducation Alloftheworld’slanguagelearnersfallalongaspectrumaccording tothemannerinwhichtheirtargetlanguageswereacquired. Languagelearnersareeitherformallyeducatedinforeignlanguages,informallyeducatedinforeignlanguages,orsomecombinationofthetwo. Formaleducationiswheremostpeoplearefirst introducedtotheconceptofforeignlanguagelearning.Outsidethe native-speakinganglophoneworld,thiseducationtakestheformof instructionintheEnglishlanguage,whichbeginsataveryyoungage. Withintheanglophoneworld,languageinstructiongenerallybegins somewhatlater,typicallyinmajorEuropeanlanguageslikeFrench, German,andSpanish. Inthemajorityofcases,alanguagelearner’sformallanguageeducationwillbeoverseenbycertifiedlanguageteachers. Theseteacherswillguideinstructioninawidevarietyofsettings. Theserangefromclassroomsinpublicandprivateprimaryandsecondary schools,tolecturehallsincollegesanduniversities.Certainlearners mayalsoreceiveprivateone-on-onetutoringfromprofessionaltutors bothonlineandin-person. Informaleducationliesattheotherendofthelanguagelearningspectrum. Unlikeitsformalcounterpart,informaleducationdoesnotrequire thatalearnerbeeducatedbyateacher.Instead,theinformally educatedlearnerseekstoeducatehimself. AccordingtotheOxforddefinition,whenalearneris“educatedlargelythroughone’sownefforts,ratherthanbyformalinstruction”heorshecanbedescribedasself-educated,self-taught,orasanautodidact. Takenotethattheabovedefinitionsaysthattheself-taughtpersoniseducated“largely”throughone’sownefforts,andnot“entirely”.Thisdistinctionisimportant,becauseitispracticallyimpossibletoeducateyourselfwithoutsomeinputfromoutsidesources. Infact,evenifyou’renotrelyingonaprofessionalteacherortutortolearnfrom,youwillcertainlyhavetorefertoarangeoflanguagelearningresourcestogrowyourskills.Thismeansthat,insomesense,youwillalwayshavea“teacher”—whetheritbeatextbook,acourse,orevenanative-speakinglanguagepartner! So,thepointofself-driven,informaleducationisnotthatyou’re learningwithoutateacher,butthatyou—andnooneelse—aretheone decidingwhattolearn,andwhenandhowtolearnit. AssociatedTerms InadditiontoallofthetermsintheLanguageEnthusiastsectionofthispost,Iwanttoaddasingletermthatisusedtodescribeaspecifictypeoflanguagelearner:thelanguagehacker. ThisisaatermpopularizedbylanguagebloggerBennyLewis,thatisusedtorefertosomeonewhoengagesinLanguageHacking,hisparticularstyleoflanguagelearning. AccordingtoBenny,LanguageHackingistheuseof“shortcutsthatgetyoufluentfaster”and“getyouspeakingrightfromdayone”. Ok,sowe’vedescribedgroupsofpeoplewhohaven’tstartedlearninga language(languageenthusiasts)andthosewhohave(languagelearners). Withournextterm,bilingual,iswherethingsgetabitmorecomplicated. WhatDoesitMeantoBeBilingual? We’vereachedourfirsttermwithseveralradicallydifferent definitions.Thisiswherealotofconfusionbegins,solet’sexamine thetermscarefully. Oxfordtellsusthatabilingualpersonisonewho“[speaks]twolanguagesfluently.” Foradictionarydefinition,thisissurprisinglyunhelpful,asanyrealunderstandingofthisdefinitionwouldrelyonacommon,universalunderstandingofwhattheword“fluently”(orfluency)means—anunderstandingwhich,asI’vearguedelsewhere,doesnotexist. Sincefluencymeansvastlydifferentthingstodifferentpeople,thecommonusageofthetermbilingualhasthreeseparatedefinitions: 1.Someonewhospeakstwolanguages–Thisistheundisputedgeneraldefinitionthatallusesofbilingualhaveincommon.ThisisbecausebilingualisanadjectivethatcomesfromLatin“bi”(meaning“two”)and“lingua”(meaning“tongue”,or“language”). 2.Someonewhospeakstwolanguageswell– Ifyoutakefluencytosimplymean“withease,orfacility”,anyonewho speaksasingleforeignlanguagereasonablywellcanbesaidtobebilingualinthisway. 3.Someonewhospeakstwolanguagesnatively–Thisdefinitiondoesnotimplyanymasteryofaforeignlanguage,butinsteadthatagivenindividualhastwomothertongues,twonativelanguages,ortwo“firstlanguages”(L1s).Accordingtothisdefinition,ifyoudidnotacquiretwonativelanguagesasachild(orbeforetheCriticalPeriod,assomeclaim),youcannotbecomebilingual.Forexample,almostanythingwrittenaboutbilingualchildrenisusingthisdefinitionoftheterm. Anytimeyouseethewordbilingualusedormentioned,seekoutclarificationinordertoidentifywhichofthesethreedefinitionsarebeingimplied. ANoteonMultilingualism AsImentionedabove(indefinition#1),thewordbilingualissimplyawordthatreferstothenumberoflanguagesthatonespeaks(inthiscase,two.) Followingthesamemorphologicalpatterns,youmayoftenseereferencestoawholehostofother“-linguals”,including: Monolingual(Speaks1language)Bilingual(Speaks2languages)Trilingual(Speaks3Languages)Quadrilingual(Speaks4Languages)Pentalingual(Speaks5Languages) Theabovepatterncanbecontinuedindefinitely(anycentilingualsoutthere?),buttypicallyanythingpasttrilingualisprettyrarelyused,evenamonglanguagelearners. Anothersimilartermismultilingual,whichmeanssomeonewhospeaksmanylanguages. Foranytermendingin“-lingual”,themeaningscanrangefromsimplybeingabletousethoselanguagestobeinganativespeakerofthem, andanywhereinbetween.Asabove,ifyouseethesetermsusedin writingorspeech,besuretodouble-checkwhichofthesemeaningsis intended. ComingUpNext Bynow,youshouldhaveagoodgraspofourfirstthreetypesoflanguagelearner:thelanguageenthusiast,thelanguagelearner,andthebilingualperson. Whichdoyoubelongto?Justone?Two?Allthree? Remember:whereveryoufallwithinthesegroups,youcanalways progressinyourskillsandjointheothers,too.It’sjustamatterof time,effort,anddedication,butyouwillgetthere. Staytunedforournextpost,inwhichweexploretheremainingthreetypesoflanguagelearner—thelinguist,thepolyglot,andthehyperpolyglot! Postnavigation StepOutofYourComfortZoneHowtoChangeYourKeyboardLanguageforForeignLanguageTyping LeaveaReplyCancelreplyYouremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Requiredfieldsaremarked*CommentName* Email* Website Savemyname,email,andwebsiteinthisbrowserforthenexttimeIcomment. 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