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From: Angelique_N_Wahlstedt@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.ai,sci.lang
Subject: re: Language Learning (anecdotes)
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Date: Wed, 18-Nov-87 04:10:24 EST
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Posted: Wed Nov 18 04:10:24 1987
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[nibble, nibble, burp!]


Hi...all this discussion about language learning has caught my interest,
and I'd like to make a few points.

First, I may be wrong, but many of you out there in the Net-land seems to
have confused pronouncation learning with learning grammar and vocabulary.
They certainly are not the same -- I've managed to learn to "speak" English
quite fluently without ever speaking it at all. How is that, you ask? The
answer is simple: I'm deaf, and have been that way since birth. (In case
anyone is wondering, I learned English mostly from a LOT of reading and
writing, plus some tutoring.)

Second, some of you've been arguing about the crystalization effect and
why adults have trouble learning new languages, as opposed to kids. I'm
no linguist, but I'd like to propose one new possibility -- can it because
many adults weren't exposed heavily enough to a new language in order to
learn it? Many adults (and teenagers) usually learn a new language in
classrooms, but very rarely, they get to use it outside the classroom
(unless they, of course, are living in a foreign country).

But then again, that certainly doesn't explain why some immigrants in this
country never learn to speak English fluenty. But then again, that could
be a matter of motivation and other factors (for one thing, Asians can't
distinguish between the "l" and "r" sounds, as someone in this newsgroup
mentioned.)

I have some evidence to support the suggestion above: people deaf since
birth. Many deaf people (this doesn't count hard-of-hearing people or
people who became deaf later in their lives) have never learned to use
English quite fluently, despite all the efforts of teaching (or lack
thereof, as in some cases). Why, you ask? Because they weren't exposed
heavily enough to English. All hearing kids learn languages mainly
by OVERHEARING in addition to people talking to them. Because deaf kids
can only learn a language through their eyes (via reading or signs),
they miss out a LOT. (You can forget abut hearing aids -- they may be
great for detecting sounds but not very effective for discriminating
human speech.) However, it is true that a few deaf people, such as myself,
have managed to achieve fluent English. But I have noticed that's usually
because we read a LOT when we were kids. (Teaching also helped -- unlike
many hearing kids, we had to be fed grammar, vocabulary, and such.)


-- Angelique Wahlstedt

Internet: wahlsted@handel.colostate.edu
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