#learning second language

Or: why watching media without subtitles is not limited to advanced learners, and why you should incorporate it into your routine!

SO this is prompted by a personal anecdote: Yesterday I watched an episode of my favourite show (the untamed, go and watch it, heathens, it's gay and pretty and has beautiful sword fights and necromancers and revenge and insane character development and), and rather than keeping the subtitles on, I rather dubiously turned them off.

So no subs in Chinese or English.

And lo and behold - I could understand most things! Not everything, especially not specialised vocab or formal speech, but enough (with good knowledge of the plot already) to comfortably follow most conversations. Yeah, this was a surprise.

Watching media in your target language without subtitles is something that a lot of people think is restricted to advanced learners - learners at the stage where they can understand almost everything wihh subtitles in the target language (henceforth TL) itself, and is just used to train listening practice.

If you wait until you're at that stage to incorporate this into your language learning routine, though, you're missing out. And here's why.

Firstly, personal-situation specific: I usually learn best via reading, but my Chinese reading ability is much worse than my listening ability (immersion yay), and so turning on the Chinese subs just makes me annoyed and frustrated because I can't follow them quickly enough. I realise that for many people this may be the opposite way around, but for heritage speakers of languages that use an unfamiliar alphabet, or those (like me) who are not heritage speakers but because of various factors have had intense spoken immersion and little formal education (and thus some - SOME - of the same difficulties), subtitles can be a hindrance rather than a help. There are many posts targeting improving listening skills, but not so many looking at it the other way around, so it's important to remember such learners exist.

I found to my surprise that I picked up significantly more vocab with the subs off than with them on. Firstly, if you know the general plot and know enough to pick up the outline of the conversation, you contextualise any word automatically at the same time as using the context to provide clues for what the word could be - the example sentence defines the word, and the word comes automatically with an example sentence, which cements it in your memory far better than if you heard it in isolation. This fits nicely into the functionalist approach to language learning (which systems like Glossika try to utilise to varying degrees of success), where vocabulary and different variations and pronunciations of different words serve as individual instantiations of a particular token - in this case, it could be the vocabulary word itself, but that's not all the information you're getting. You're also getting instantiations of the actual SOUNDS of the language, as well as the grammar.

You're picking up information on the permittable pronunciation of certain phonemes and phonological patterns, to inform your brain how much variation is acceptable within native speech. So for example the finals <n> and <ng> in pinyin are notoriously difficult in Mandarin, with some native speakers doing away with it altogether. What the input tells you is how much like an /n/ the <ng> is allowed to sound whilst still being perceived as an <ng> by speakers - and thus what the range of permissable differences is, that you, as a non native speaker, can play with.

As I've already written about, one of my first hills to die on is the tone/intonation interplay. And listening to audio without subs is fantastic for teaching you how intonation works not only on an emotional level, but also how it helps people understand sentence structure - it teaches you which parts of an utterance to pay attention to. Even if you don't understand the word itself, you will gradually learn what is the focus point of the sentence and what is peripheral information. Why is this particularly effective without subtitles? Especially in languages that have differing sentence structure (like Chinese in longer sentences), you need to rely on the intonation to guide you towards finding the focal point of the sentence. With subtitles, you get lazy and you don't utilise your ear in the same way. And again, again, you're drumming these patterns into your head. Frequency = success!

Thirdly, by training your ear to listen for intonation, you are necessarily listening for grammar patterns that give you a clue about who is playing what role in the sentence. Our brains are fundamentally lazy (effecient)- they only pay attention to what is necessary to complete the task. Have you seen that video where you are asked to count how many times a basketball is passed? And then at the end they ask you if you noticed the bear? There is a lot of linguistic debate about what role exactly attention plays in the process of language learning, but for our purposes it suffices to say that both actively noticing a pattern and hearing it confirmed again and again when you are not specifically looking for it help us hugely when it comes to not only memorising, but also internalising, that grammatical pattern.

Going back to the attention thing, let's talk about another problem no subs solves: if you are reading subtitles in your native language (and even more so in your TL), you are much less likely to bring the full force of your listening abilities into play. Why? Well, because the answer is right there in front of you. Listening without subs forces you to use context, social cues like smiles or frowns, as well as supra segmental factors like tone of voice or volume, to determine what exactly is being said - in other words, the same social interaction and outside stimulus that many functional linguists believe is absolutely critical to the development of the language faculty in children. Of course, you're not actually interacted with the media, but being actively forced to pay attention to these things makes it a much more holistic process. Suddenly, your brain is fired up: it needs to pay attention to everything in order to understand. In other words, the vocabulary and grammar and intonation you're hearing has suddenly become relevant.

And what happens when it's relevant? We learn it - sometimes without even knowing that's what's happening.

For all of these reasons, then, whatever your level, I'd suggest listening and watching media in your target language without subtitles. The expectations you have at each level, from beginner to advanced, should not, however, be the same. Unless you find incredibly good targeted media, or the language is sufficiently similar to one you know, you're unlikely to understand even what's going on when you first start out.

That's ok. Your brain is processing things - it's learning how to recognise nouns, verbs, questions, declarative sentences, the way the language expresses surprise or fear or love. It's learning that some phonetic distinctions that you don't have in your native language are important in your TL. It's heading patterns of vocabulary and grammar and phonology again and again and again. Don't expect to understand everything - but try copying it, out loud, if you can. It will help you get an ear for word boundaries, which is crucial for parsing the boundless speech-stream that's suddenly presented to you.

If you're at an intermediate level, enjoy spotting common verbs and watching the action, even if you don't know 100% what's going on. Even more than the beginner level, you're getting used to the speed of the language and its rhythms, as well as challenging yourself to understand more.

If you're at an advanced level, this is perfect for you. You'll understand more than you suspect. And if you don't, who cares, it's meant to be difficult. I never would have thought that I could understand and comfortably enjoy most of an episode of my show. And there were certainly conversations where I was totally lost!! But that's ok. You don't need 95% comprehension to survive - 50%, while incredibly frustrating, is good enough - as long as it's the right 50%! All you need is one key word - especially if you're watching media you're familiar with, which I recommend - and then click! You've got it.

Over the next four months I plan to take a total of twelve weeks of classes which will help add on to my existing foundation. When I planned this program, I elected homestays in which I would stay with a local family. They say this is really the best way to practice by truly immersing yourself in the language and in the culture. But it's not for the unadventurous because you never know how it's going to turn out. I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I knew I could not squander this opportunity to learn in a real life environment. 

I arrived last Sunday and my host "Mom" Alicia was 100% gracious and welcoming. She is the personification of an Argentinian hug. When I stepped into her apartment, I sheepishly introduced myself in Spanish. Immediately, she launched into words of welcome and support...in Spanish...at a million words per minute!  I just smiled and said "Sí" and "Gracias" a lot. 

During my first week here, I have thought a lot about the process of learning a second language. In one moment I feel immensely proud of my abilities. Like the time in class we sat around and discussed politics and current events of our respective counties entirely in Spanish. I was able to express myself and also understand the other students. But at other times, I feel hopelessly lost. Like when I watch the news in the morning and I understand next to nothing. Or when I speak with a clerk in a store and her response to my questions is completely incomprehensible to me. On more than one occasion I have had the awkward exchange where we just stare at each other with blank expressions.  

In my living arrangement I do have some relief, however. While Alicia speaks absolutely no English, there is another homestay student from the U.S. named Nick. We are being strict and only speaking Spanish in the house but one day I broke down and asked him in English for some vital information. 

Me: Do you understand what she is saying?

Nick: Yeah. Mostly. But it took a while to get there.

When Nick arrived in BA three months ago, he hardly spoke Spanish. He had taken it all throughout high school and college but when he went to Puerto Rico a year ago with his family, he realized his knowledge wasn't functional. "My family thought they could rely on me in Puerto Rico but we all soon discovered that was a very false assumption." 

He told me that when he first arrived for his exchange year in BA, he couldn't understand a word she was saying. But in time he started to get more and more. Three months in they seems to be corresponding fairly well from what I can gather. Thankfully Alicia must be used to not getting much response from a newcomer and just proceeds anyway. She's an Argentine Chatty Kathy with gracious hospitality. And she either really likes to talk or she realizes that this is all very good for a student's cognitive development. Listening to it being spoken consistently allows it to slowly seep in. 

And that is what seems to be happening to me. Very gradually I am able to comprehend just a little bit more. I hear more words of the monologue and am able to start piecing together the story line. Body language and facial expressions help. While I am still mostly faking it, I mostly respond appropriately - laughing at the right times or expressing empathy. With more frequency, I am able to interject a question or comment that is close enough to the topic. She enthusiastically responds and then I lose her again.

Someone said that language learning is like the slow absorption of rain water into soil. It goes down slowly but it eventually does go down. With each passing day, I am starting to believe this analogy. When Alicia or my teachers carry on, I sometimes do just "get it". But it isn't me translating the words in my head. Somehow the context, the scene, the sequence of what they are describing is being formed in my thoughts. I can't explain how that is happening, but it is...sometimes.

So I am choosing to have faith in this process. Another student who was with me in class all last week said she thinks I will be fluent by the time I finish my program. I would like to hope that's a real assessment and not just her being nice. When I see little children chatting with their parents in Spanish, I am envious. When I hear girlfriends on the street gossip in Spanish, I am envious. I really hope to get to a point where I can just immediately jump into a conversation and both understand and be understood.