"You need to know about this in the early stages of your language learning process."
Many of us have tried to get our hands on one of those foreign languages. With enthusiasm, we get our hands onto everything within our reach, such as enrolling ourselves in a language class, getting hold of a language dictionary, buying flashcards, etc. We try to set ourselves up for success, getting ourselves ready to go.
Yet, just half way through, many give up in language learning despite a lot of enthusiasm and hard work. Many, though not all, failed because of the negligence of one process - tuning.
This is a process that is hardly talked about. So, what is tuning our ears all about?
Lets draw a parallel from a lesson in the guitar.
"Knowing How to Tune a Guitar is one of the most important parts of learning how to play"
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of learning to play the guitar is that it initially seems impossible to play anything that actually sounds good. While it is true that it takes some time to learn the techniques needed to play songs well, the real reason most new guitarists sound bad is because their instrument isn't in tune.
One of the most important things a guitarist will need to do in order to keep his/her guitar sounding good (and make practicing worthwhile) is to tune it on a regular basis. The process of tuning the guitar involves adjusting the pitch of each of your strings so that they play the correct note. This is done by tightening or loosening each of the tuning pegs (on the headstock). A normal guitar has six strings. In general, tightening the tuning peg on the guitar raises the pitch of a string, while loosening the peg lowers the pitch. There are a few different methods and instruments (tuners) that guitar players can use in order to tune their guitars - from a telephone tone to a special tuning device.
"Knowing How To Tune our Ears is thus one of the most important parts of learning how to speak a new language"
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of learning a new language, whether its Spanish or any other language, is that it initially seems impossible to say anything that actually sounds right. That's a point where number of people actually feel like giving up. Language learners oftentimes are left to wonder, "How on earth do I speak like a native?" The secret to that aspect of the language is really "tuning".
Tuning our ears to a language is very much like tuning the strings of a guitar. When we first learn a language, we speak with a funny accent. Why? Because our ears aren't tuned to the music of the language yet. Yes, every language has its own tune. An oriental language sounds different from an occidental language. English sounds very different from Chinese. Spanish sounds different from English or Chinese not just because of the words used but also because of the tunes adopted for the language.
So, how does one tune his / her ears?
There are a few ways to do that. The main thing is to listen to the language often enough.
NOTE: the key to this phrase is not the word "listen". The key is "often enough".
Listening is important. Most language courses designers already know that. That is why many courses today come with audios as well.
NOTE: If you are enrolling for a language class, do ensure that this is one thing you will be getting as part of the materials. Listening in class is just not going to be enough. The failure to emphasize this aspect of learning can frustrate the entire learning process.
For the Spanish language learner, if you are already living in Latin America or Spain, your immediate advantage is your environment. But, as you already are saying in your heart, not everybody has that privilege. What can you do?
That is where the audios come into play. Listen to them everyday (as often as you can) and during a relaxing part of your day. You may or may not be paying full attention to it though it pays well to be attentive to what you are listening to. Listen to it while you are driving, while you are traveling, while you are having your lunch (if you are lunching alone, that is), just before you go to bed.
"That simple?" you ask. Yes, its that simple, but how many will really do that? How many audios are left collecting dust?
The nuts and bolts behind tuning
Many do not know that there IS a secret to listening. Even lesser people are be able to explain to you how it works. Here's what has been discovered.
We must understand that we have been given a set of highly intelligent gray matter (the brain). Without conscious effort, it is capable of selecting the best, the most convenient, the familiar, the safest, the most appealing. Now you know why man is so adamant to changes?
In other words, it is also capable of filtering out or de-prioritizing the not-so-convenient, the not-so-familiar, the not-so-safe, the least appealing in most of the day-to-day decision making processes. You may not be aware new language is all that to the brain.
Let us illustrate with a true story of a little girl Andrea.
When Andrea, a little Chinese girl, was two and was beginning to learn to speak, her parents started her on a tri-lingual program at home. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, they would speak only Chinese at home, on Thursdays and Fridays, only Spanish would be spoken. English was reserved only for Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Andrea was getting used to all three languages. All was going well up to the point where Andrea was more ready for social activities. Since Andrea loved to interact, she began communicating with dad and mom's friends and their children in her own way. Almost all the conversations were in English and some Chinese as those were the more prominent languages in that culture. Since Spanish was not their native language, she had no use of that language outside her home. Andrea finally figured out that Spanish was not such a "useful" language after all. Guess what happened? She started to lose interest. Nobody was teaching her that. She just lost interest, she no longer welcomed her Spanish language sessions with gusto. She's just being intelligent.
Our subconscious naturally rejects that new inconvenient language - unless we apply our will... but there is an easier way.
Listening to the language consistently actually breaks down various barriers. In a gradual manner, that listening exercise actually convinces our brain that the language is useful, not difficult and can even be interesting - the audios is important.
Your ears will begin to absorb the tune and you will find yourself speaking with that same tune after a period of time (the length of time to acquire this depends on the individual). Pretty much like learning a new song.
You must have heard such a comment, "WOW, that guy / gal speaks with a nice Spanish accent!"
So how often do I need to tune?
If you are a new learner, we suggest you listen to those language audios with much discipline and gusto on a daily basis and as often as you can - as if you are already living in a foreign language speaking environment.
"Tuning your ear will make you speak better."
Back to the guitar, this is especially so for new strings. Since newly fitted strings tend to "shrink" because of the slags, they tend to go out of tune. So the guitarist need to re-tune the guitar "enough times" before the strings stay where they are.
As a new language learner, you may experience the following. You attended a class, you understood everything that the teacher taught, you even spoke like the teacher. Everything was fine. But a few days later, you take out your course book to revise the lesson and you try to speak like you did in class. You discover that you can't. You try to pronounce the words and phrases but they just don't sound right. You have gone out of tune.
Now, before you decide that you just aren't made for such a language, go back to the audios and listen to them again. Then go back to the lessons. It should work:)
The author is a Spanish language teacher with Bridge S.A.
He runs a course better known as Good Spanish In 8 Weeks.
He can be contacted at http://www.BridgeSA.net
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