Great piece! I still laugh when I think that French was my lowest grade in high school. Today, I'm bilingual in French and speak five languages in total.
Looking back, I think what helped me most was curiosity—the same driver behind so many things I've learned along the way. Survival played a role too; when you live abroad, life becomes the best teacher you could ask for. Studying Latin and Greek in high school also gave me a strong foundation. Those "dead" languages sit at the roots of many modern ones, and being trained in them made learning the others much easier!
Emanuela, thanks, I love this 🥰 French was your lowest grade at school, and now you’re bilingual in French. That says so much.
And yes, curiosity, life abroad, Latin and Greek, all of that can make such a difference. Your story shows beautifully that school grades don’t define your language-learning future.
No mention of information 'chunking' ability. The average person can hold I think about 7 pieces of information. I can hold four. People have to feed me telephone numbers in two sections while i write them down. I have to flip back and forth to transcribe those bank passcodes. Spell out an unfamiliar word to me (like a family name) and I can't hold the letters long enough to make a word. I can't manipulate letters mentally to make an anagram from a string of letters. Say a sentence to me in Spanish and i take so much effort to process the first four words that i have to have the rest of the sentence repeated again and again. Yet I am not dyslexic, can spell perfectly and had a career as a journalist. But I bet lots of other people who find new languages difficult have 'chunking' problems at the root.
Alex, this is a very good point, and I agree that limits of the working memory (what you refer to as chunking) deserves attention here.
I would probably frame it slightly differently though. In Carroll’s classic model of language aptitude, the four main components are still phonetic coding ability, grammatical sensitivity, inductive language learning ability, and associative memory. Working memory was not one of the original four in that model.
But later aptitude research has taken working memory very seriously, especially phonological working memory, the ability to hold unfamiliar sounds, letters, and word sequences long enough to process them. Some researchers have even argued that working memory should be treated as part of modern language aptitude, or at least as closely connected to it.
So I think you are pointing to something important. If the first few words of a Spanish sentence already overload the system, the problem is not lack of intelligence or lack of interest. It may be that the input is arriving in chunks that are too long, too unfamiliar, or too fast to hold.
For learners with this kind of bottleneck, the method has to change. Shorter phrases, more repetition, written support, slow audio, shadowing tiny pieces, and building ready-made chunks can help much more than long listening practice or traditional textbook exercises.
Jeff, I know how discouraging that can feel, especially when you’ve tried more than once and nothing seems to stick.
I’d be curious what “nothing has worked” looked like in practice: apps, classes, textbooks, conversation practice, grammar study?
Sometimes the problem is not the learner at all, but the method, the language choice, the lack of meaningful contact, or trying to learn in short disconnected bursts over many years.
Long-term immersion can help, but it’s not the only path. What usually matters most is sustained, emotionally meaningful contact with the language and a system that fits your life.
I wouldn’t write your language-learning brain off yet.
I’ve used mainly apps and textbooks. My best results came from just learning words through spaced repetition without translation. Just a picture of a cloud, then I answer la nube. At least I could say things and read a bit. But that reaches a limit. I wonder if I just read and look up words. I like Arturo Perez-Reverte and José Ortega y Gasset. That kind of thing.
My main interest was from noticing the impoverished vocabulary of inner states in English. English is very sophisticated in time and space relations (probably why it dominates science and mathematics), but Spanish is just as rich in inner relations. I mean we say in English, “I love ice cream.” Really? You’d send it flowers and devote your life to it?
Jeff, this is actually very interesting, and I don’t think your interest sounds minor at all. It sounds like you were drawn to Spanish for a very deep reason, the way it gives access to inner states, emotional nuance, and a different way of naming experience.
From what you describe, I wonder if what was missing was the bridge between isolated vocabulary and living language. Apps and spaced repetition can help you start, but they often hit a wall because words need sentences, voices, stories, and emotional context around them.
Since you like Pérez-Reverte and Ortega y Gasset, I’d probably build your Spanish around reading, but with support. Read short passages, look up only what blocks understanding, collect full phrases rather than single words, and reread the same passage later so it starts to feel familiar. I’d also add audiobooks or interviews on similar themes, because the ear needs the language too.
And maybe write just a few sentences after reading, not as homework, but as a small response to the text. That could turn Spanish from something you study into something you think with. And have fun 😊
I imagine it's difficult to test actually conversation skills in fMRI research. My brain is perfectly relaxed trying to figure out whether someone is speaking a language I know, understands what they said and then I completely fail to find the right words and decide whether they are Spanish or Portuguese fast enough to say them.
This was a wonderful read and I really enjoyed your story about learning English. So sweet and inspiring.
Incredible to think that some people speak 10+ languages. I agree, a lot of it goes down to movation.
I learned Chinese by studying every single day at home in Shanghai. I deliberately refused to put internet at home so that the only entertainment would be the local TV Chinese. Not that entertaining tbh, so I ended up studying Chinese. 6 months later, I was hosting business meetings in Chinese. People call it "talent" but I know the real story...
"The Loom Of Language: An Approach To The Mastery Of Many Languages," a book written by Frederick Bodmer, and first published in the 1940's.
It is meant to help native English speakers, especially for learning modern Romance and Germanic languages.
I want to adapt its advice and ideas toward helping myself train in reading old versions (in different stages over history) of several Germanic languages and toward training myself to translate old literary works into English, which is my own native language.
My question is this:
Has Dr. V. Verde or anybody else "here" besides myself read F. Bodmer's book? Has Dr. Verde or anyone else anything interesting to say about the book?
(For some reason, it seems nobody ever mentions it, anywhere! And it was republished by W. W. Norton publisher not long ago.)
Great piece! I still laugh when I think that French was my lowest grade in high school. Today, I'm bilingual in French and speak five languages in total.
Looking back, I think what helped me most was curiosity—the same driver behind so many things I've learned along the way. Survival played a role too; when you live abroad, life becomes the best teacher you could ask for. Studying Latin and Greek in high school also gave me a strong foundation. Those "dead" languages sit at the roots of many modern ones, and being trained in them made learning the others much easier!
Emanuela, thanks, I love this 🥰 French was your lowest grade at school, and now you’re bilingual in French. That says so much.
And yes, curiosity, life abroad, Latin and Greek, all of that can make such a difference. Your story shows beautifully that school grades don’t define your language-learning future.
No mention of information 'chunking' ability. The average person can hold I think about 7 pieces of information. I can hold four. People have to feed me telephone numbers in two sections while i write them down. I have to flip back and forth to transcribe those bank passcodes. Spell out an unfamiliar word to me (like a family name) and I can't hold the letters long enough to make a word. I can't manipulate letters mentally to make an anagram from a string of letters. Say a sentence to me in Spanish and i take so much effort to process the first four words that i have to have the rest of the sentence repeated again and again. Yet I am not dyslexic, can spell perfectly and had a career as a journalist. But I bet lots of other people who find new languages difficult have 'chunking' problems at the root.
Alex, this is a very good point, and I agree that limits of the working memory (what you refer to as chunking) deserves attention here.
I would probably frame it slightly differently though. In Carroll’s classic model of language aptitude, the four main components are still phonetic coding ability, grammatical sensitivity, inductive language learning ability, and associative memory. Working memory was not one of the original four in that model.
But later aptitude research has taken working memory very seriously, especially phonological working memory, the ability to hold unfamiliar sounds, letters, and word sequences long enough to process them. Some researchers have even argued that working memory should be treated as part of modern language aptitude, or at least as closely connected to it.
So I think you are pointing to something important. If the first few words of a Spanish sentence already overload the system, the problem is not lack of intelligence or lack of interest. It may be that the input is arriving in chunks that are too long, too unfamiliar, or too fast to hold.
For learners with this kind of bottleneck, the method has to change. Shorter phrases, more repetition, written support, slow audio, shadowing tiny pieces, and building ready-made chunks can help much more than long listening practice or traditional textbook exercises.
I would say, you're a great pattern for young students and I am personally proud of you 🙏🌹🌹
Oh Reza,that's so sweet, it melts my heart ❤️ thank you!
The word "homely" means "ugly" - a mistake many non-native English speakers make :)
Thanks for pointing this out! 😊 Live and learn ...
I’ve tried many times. I can’t learn another language. Never tried long-term immersion. But over decades, nothing has worked.
Jeff, I know how discouraging that can feel, especially when you’ve tried more than once and nothing seems to stick.
I’d be curious what “nothing has worked” looked like in practice: apps, classes, textbooks, conversation practice, grammar study?
Sometimes the problem is not the learner at all, but the method, the language choice, the lack of meaningful contact, or trying to learn in short disconnected bursts over many years.
Long-term immersion can help, but it’s not the only path. What usually matters most is sustained, emotionally meaningful contact with the language and a system that fits your life.
I wouldn’t write your language-learning brain off yet.
I’ve used mainly apps and textbooks. My best results came from just learning words through spaced repetition without translation. Just a picture of a cloud, then I answer la nube. At least I could say things and read a bit. But that reaches a limit. I wonder if I just read and look up words. I like Arturo Perez-Reverte and José Ortega y Gasset. That kind of thing.
My main interest was from noticing the impoverished vocabulary of inner states in English. English is very sophisticated in time and space relations (probably why it dominates science and mathematics), but Spanish is just as rich in inner relations. I mean we say in English, “I love ice cream.” Really? You’d send it flowers and devote your life to it?
That was my interest, for what it’s worth.
Jeff, this is actually very interesting, and I don’t think your interest sounds minor at all. It sounds like you were drawn to Spanish for a very deep reason, the way it gives access to inner states, emotional nuance, and a different way of naming experience.
From what you describe, I wonder if what was missing was the bridge between isolated vocabulary and living language. Apps and spaced repetition can help you start, but they often hit a wall because words need sentences, voices, stories, and emotional context around them.
Since you like Pérez-Reverte and Ortega y Gasset, I’d probably build your Spanish around reading, but with support. Read short passages, look up only what blocks understanding, collect full phrases rather than single words, and reread the same passage later so it starts to feel familiar. I’d also add audiobooks or interviews on similar themes, because the ear needs the language too.
And maybe write just a few sentences after reading, not as homework, but as a small response to the text. That could turn Spanish from something you study into something you think with. And have fun 😊
I imagine it's difficult to test actually conversation skills in fMRI research. My brain is perfectly relaxed trying to figure out whether someone is speaking a language I know, understands what they said and then I completely fail to find the right words and decide whether they are Spanish or Portuguese fast enough to say them.
This was a wonderful read and I really enjoyed your story about learning English. So sweet and inspiring.
Incredible to think that some people speak 10+ languages. I agree, a lot of it goes down to movation.
I learned Chinese by studying every single day at home in Shanghai. I deliberately refused to put internet at home so that the only entertainment would be the local TV Chinese. Not that entertaining tbh, so I ended up studying Chinese. 6 months later, I was hosting business meetings in Chinese. People call it "talent" but I know the real story...
"The Loom Of Language: An Approach To The Mastery Of Many Languages," a book written by Frederick Bodmer, and first published in the 1940's.
It is meant to help native English speakers, especially for learning modern Romance and Germanic languages.
I want to adapt its advice and ideas toward helping myself train in reading old versions (in different stages over history) of several Germanic languages and toward training myself to translate old literary works into English, which is my own native language.
My question is this:
Has Dr. V. Verde or anybody else "here" besides myself read F. Bodmer's book? Has Dr. Verde or anyone else anything interesting to say about the book?
(For some reason, it seems nobody ever mentions it, anywhere! And it was republished by W. W. Norton publisher not long ago.)