Simple Swedish Podcast - #249 - Öva språk med andra studenter?

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Är det bra att lära sig språk med folk som inte är modersmålstalare? Lär man sig fel? Kan man bara lära sig svenska med svenskar? Den här typen av påståenden diskuterar jag i det här avsnittet! För att läsa mer om Language Lock-in Boot Camp och anmäla dig - klicka här. För att stödja podden och få transkript till avsnitten - bli patron för bara 5€ per månad – klicka här! ------------------- Instagram: swedish.linguist YouTube: Swedish Linguist Website: www.swedishlinguist.com Language Lock-in: https://www.languagelockin.com/ ------------------- Ett smakprov (sample) på transkriptet: Tjena, tjena och välkommen till Simple Swedish Podcast, avsnitt 249. Ja, jag har hållit på med den här podden ett tag nu. Och idag ska jag prata om fördelar och nackdelar med att lära sig språk tillsammans med andra människor som också lär sig.   Alltså, till exempel, jag lär mig ryska, säg att jag skulle öva tillsammans med andra som också lär sig ryska. Eller om du som lär dig svenska skulle öva tillsammans med andra som också lär sig svenska. Alltså andra som inte är modersmålstalare, som inte är svenskar helt enkelt. För ibland, eller ofta kanske, så tänker folk att “nej, jag kommer inte lära mig någonting tillsammans med andra som lär sig.”   “Jag kommer inte lära mig tillsammans med dem.” “För att kunna lära mig språket behöver jag prata bara med modersmålstalare.” Så det är någonting som folk säger och tänker ganska ofta. Alltså att man måste prata mycket med modersmålstalare, specifikt med modersmålstalare, för att lära sig ett språk.   Så, vi ska se..prata lite om ifall det här är sant, eller om det kanske inte är så. Och en modersmålstalare, ja, det är ju då såklart en person som talar språket som sitt modersmål. Så svenska är mitt modersmål, så jag är en modersmålstalare av svenska. Så behöver man då prata jättemycket med modersmålstalare för att lära sig ett språk bra? Och prata mycket behöver man absolut göra för att lära sig att prata bra såklart.   Måste det vara med modersmålstalare? Det är frågan. Och jag har ju varit med och utvecklat två program. Dels Language Lock-in Boot Camp och dels Language Gym. Och i båda de här programmen så lär man sig mycket tillsammans med andra som också lär sig.   Och i början var jag lite tveksam, för jag visste inte om det skulle fungera. Hur bra lär man sig av att prata tillsammans med andra som inte är modersmålstalare? För det var frågan jag också hade.   ....för att läsa hela transkriptet till detta och alla andra avsnitt, klicka här!

Hello and welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast, episode 249. I've been doing this podcast for a while now. Today I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of learning languages together with other people who also learn. So, for example, if I learn Russian, say that I would practice together with others who also learn Russian. Or if you, who learn Swedish, would practice together with others who also learn Swedish. So others who are not native speakers, who are not Swedish, simply. Because sometimes, or often maybe, people think that they won't learn something together with others who learn it I won't learn with them

to be able to learn the language I need to speak with native speakers. So that's something that people say and think about quite often. So that you need to speak a lot with native speakers, specifically with native speakers, to learn a language. So, we will see, talk a little about if this is true or if it maybe isn't true. And a mother tongue speaker, yes, it is of course a person who speaks the language as their mother tongue. So, Swedish is my mother tongue, so I am a mother tongue speaker of Swedish. So, you need to talk a lot with native speakers to learn a language well and to speak a lot you absolutely need to do to learn to speak well, of course

Does it have to be with native speakers? That is the question The question is, and I have been involved and developed two programs, both Language Lock-in Bootcamp and Language Gym. In both of these programs, you learn a lot together with others who also learn. And in the beginning I was a bit doubtful, because I didn't know if it would work. How good do you learn to speak with others who are not mother tongue speakers? That was the question I also had. Because when I have learned languages, I have mostly most with mother tongue speakers Or is that really true? It's actually not true at all

And we'll get to that So in this episode I will go through three sentences A sentence is the opposite of a question A sentence is something you say and you assume is correct So we have three sentences So we have three different ways to say it. The first one is I don't learn anything new from talking to people who aren't mother tongue speakers. So I don't learn anything new from talking to them.

From practicing with them. Adjective number two is that I learn wrong together with them. If I talk to them I will learn wrong. And, adjective number three is that they can't correct me. So if I practice with others who also learn, then they can't correct me. So that's the three statements. some big advantages that exist with practicing together

with other people who also learn So First statement I learn nothing new from practicing together with others who learn, practicing together with others who are not mother tongue speakers. And the answer is that it depends.

So if the person you are talking to has a much lower level than you, than you, then you probably won't learn as much new or nothing at all. But if that person has a similar level or maybe a higher level than you, then you can absolutely learn a lot from that person and sometimes it is even easier to learn from another person who is not a native speaker so to learn from someone else who also learns but is on a similar or higher level than you it can actually be easier to learn from such people Why? Because you understand each other better and especially if I am not very advanced yet, it's easier to speak with someone who is not a mother tongue speaker.

Because the person speaks slower, with simpler grammar, simpler vocabulary, and we are also in the same situation so... and of course I can learn new things from that person but if the person is on a much lower level than me then I will probably not learn so much. So, yes, the first assumption is quite often false. So, you can certainly learn a lot of new things from others who are not mother's voice. So, statement number two. It is that I learn wrong

if I learn together with others who also learn. Because I listen to their mistakes and I hear the same mistakes all the time, the same mistakes. And then it starts to sound right even if it's wrong, so you hear the same mistakes over and over again and then it starts to sound correct, it sounds right

and then it's risky that I also start making the same mistakes Because it feels right, like Because everyone says that And I will also start saying that And, of course, if you only learn Swedish by speaking with others who learn it, and you don't listen, you don't read anything, but the only thing you do to learn is to speak with others who learn it, then it's absolutely risky that you learn wrong. But when you learn a language, it's always very, very important that you get a lot of input, a lot of understandable input, that is, that you read, you listen, you watch series, you read books, you watch YouTube So you get a lot of input

And that is always important when you learn a language And then you also learn how the song should sound like. So you learn what is correct, you get a feeling for what is correct. And I, for example, I would say that I speak, like, completely correct English. English But have I mostly spoken with mother tongue speakers in English? No I have actually spoken a lot more

with people who are not mother tongue speakers Even when I spent a year in Australia, I lived in a hostel and I met most people who didn't have English as their mother tongue. I hear people making mistakes in English all the time. But does that mean that I make the same mistakes? No. Why? Because I've gotten so much input in English. I've seen a lot of movies, a lot of series, I've read a lot of books, I've surfed the internet, I've watched YouTube, I've listened to podcasts I've got so much input in English, so I know what's right and what's wrong almost always I just have a feeling for it So even if I'm surrounded by people who say wrong all the time, it doesn't mean that I will do that too.

It's important to get a lot of input. And that's so no matter who you spend a lot of time talking to. It's always important to talk a lot with mother tongue speakers. But it doesn't have to be just mother tongue speakers. It doesn't have to be mostly with the mother speaker. But it is very positive if you also speak with the mother speaker, of course. And the last point, the last statement, is that other people who learn can't correct me when I say something wrong Okay, so...

And we have to talk a little about something that people often believe So people often believe that I have to be corrected every time I say something wrong. Ok, so that's something that people often think. So, you have to correct all my mistakes. And it's actually not good at all to be corrected every time you say something wrong. If people correct you every time you say something wrong, what happens then? You are constantly being interrupted and it becomes very difficult to have a normal conversation. So, and especially if you are not at a very advanced level, even if you are at a medium level, then you should absolutely not ask people to help you all the time.

Because the most important thing is to be able to have conversations without feeling bad, without feeling stressed. Just talk to people and have a good time. Then, the more advanced you get, the less mistakes you make. And when you are very very advanced and make very few mistakes, ok, you can maybe ask to correct all my mistakes. I could ask someone to correct all my mistakes in Spanish and English maybe. But in Russian, I absolutely do not want people to correct all my mistakes, because then I can not have a regular conversation. And it's not as important as people think to be corrected all the time.

However, it can be good to sometimes get feedback, sometimes be corrected, maybe have a lesson with a teacher, maybe ask someone, a friend or something like that, to give feedback and so on. And that when you get more and more advanced, yes, we can actually talk about that a little bit now. One of the big advantages of practicing together with others who are learning, that is, to practice the language the difficulty level, that it is lower. So especially if I am on a lower level, it can be great to practice with others who also learn.

also learn as I said before it's easier to conversate words are easier, grammar is easier people speak slower there is less pressure and even if I am more advanced it can still be a great exercise

but at the same time if you are quite advanced already, then it is of course important that you actually push yourself to the next level and make sure to also speak a lot together

with the mother speaker. Because the more advanced you get, the more important it becomes that you take the step and really speak with mother tongue speaker. Another advantage of talking with others who are learning is that you get easier contact with others who are also learning because you are in a similar situation

so it's easier to build relationships it's easier to build your personality on this new language. And that is actually very, very important because you have to overcome this psychological barrier that I don't have any personality on this language, or I can't

I can't joke, I can't be funny, or I don't sound intelligent. And that can be very important things for one's identity in their mother tongue, but in this new language you need to develop these things again, from the beginning. And then it can be easier together with other people who also learn. Yes, so that's a pretty big advantage and of course, the more practice you have to speak, the better. And that can often be quite difficult to get, a lot of practice to speak, especially if you don't live in Sweden, or if you still don't have a high enough level to be able to speak with other people in the same situation So, you should absolutely not be afraid to practice in a language with others who are also learning especially if you actually make sure to get a lot of input on the language. I have also seen how positive this can be in our programs, Language Lock-in Bootcamp and in Language Gym.

Because there I see that people make great progress, so I see that people are really developing in their Swedish. I want to talk about the bootcamp. The bootcamp is a 9 day event with about 10-12 participants and everyone lives together with instructors and teachers in a really cool villa in Mora in the valleys. And everything happens 100% in Swedish lessons, activities, cooking, movies, games and so on. Everything 100% in Swedish. And so you mostly talk with other people who are there to learn. And we also have Swedes there

and it has several big advantages so something that I really see is first and foremost, listening comprehension is increasing quite a lot so it becomes much easier to understand Swedish and that it goes automatically. After the bootcamp people say that they automatically hear the conversations of other people on the train. Another big advantage is that you get many positive experiences in the language.

And especially that you get new friends and build relationships in the language. And this is something that is very important for the language to become a part of oneself Which it needs to become if you want to reach a high level And above all, you feel that you get used to speaking Swedish It feels natural and you feel that you can actually speak Swedish with both the other participants and with Swedes. And we have seen this because we always invite members from the local pensioner association to the house. We have a party together.

All the participants have a great time and talk to the guests, completely Swedish, and it works really well. So that is something that is really cool to see and it is proof that this works. And you who are listening to this, we have just launched a very special campaign for the next bootcamp, which is now over the New Year. Winter Bootcamp starts on December 27th and ends on January 5th. January so the three first ones that register for the winter bootcamp so the first three from and with now they get a whole year of language gym included in the price and this is worth over 10 000 SEK This is a really good offer that we have never had before perfect both for preparing for the bootcamp and for continuing to have the Swedish presence in life after the bootcamp. So this is a real time to do so. who registered, will get one year of Language Gym included in the price, which is worth over 10 000 SEK

So go to languagelockin.com and register for the bootcamp and we'll see you there and also in Language Gym also in language gym. It became a pretty long episode this so but hope that it has been useful for you so yes so see you soon again. Bye!