Ability to foreign languages ​​is, of course, special abilities. But even within the framework of this concept, attempts are also being made to single out certain types of it. It is proposed, for example, to distinguish between speech abilities (ability for practical mastery of foreign languages) and linguistic abilities (ability for research work in the field of linguistics). From the point of view of psychological science, of course, the ability to master foreign languages ​​is of greater interest, although such a division should be recognized as rather arbitrary. It is not easy to imagine a person with linguistic abilities, but at the same time not able to master several foreign languages. The opposite statement is also likely to be true: with proper motivation, a person who speaks many foreign languages ​​will be able to make a certain contribution to linguistics.

First of all, it is necessary to consider the totality of those cognitive operations (components of special abilities) that distinguish the most successful students. Researchers identify a relatively small number of them. Most often, the importance of developed verbal memory is noted, which ensures the rapid formation of verbal associations, their mobility and the rate of association, and the effective memorization of foreign words along with their equivalents in the native language. High sensitivity to the functions of words in a sentence, the speed and ease of formation of functional-linguistic generalizations also occupy an important place in this list. And, finally, the third group of components covers imitative speech abilities, auditory differential sensitivity, plasticity of the articulatory apparatus.

A special role in predicting the ability to learn foreign languages ​​is given to the level of speech development achieved by a person in his native language. After all, people master it in childhood, use it in speech and thinking activities, and at first glance it seems that this level is approximately the same for all native speakers. If, however, a randomly selected group of people is asked to name as many words as possible in three minutes, or to come up with a sentence that necessarily includes three proposed words, the differences will not be slow to appear. But when learning the vocabulary of a foreign language, coding and mediation are carried out on the basis of the actualization of stable inter-verbal associative links that reflect the organization of the native language system. In people who speak several foreign languages, when mastering new vocabulary, there is a comparison of the structures of different languages, which, when memorized, manifests itself in the mediation of material on the basis of previously learned foreign language systems. For this reason, it is not uncommon for professional simultaneous interpreters who speak several foreign languages, after some hitch, to continue translating, but into another language, without noticing it at all.

We should also emphasize the idea that abilities are a dynamic phenomenon, developing in the process of engaging in relevant activities. In the process of mastering languages, the development of abilities finds a primary manifestation in the specifics of the organization of verbal memory, the nature of the relationship between language systems. This fact was experimentally confirmed in the course of a comparative analysis of the process of mastering a completely unfamiliar language by people who obviously differ in the level of knowledge of foreign languages. The experimental group consisted of persons with a higher philological education, fluent in several foreign languages ​​and 5th year students of language universities in the amount of 9 people aged 22-30 years. Hypothetically, due to active foreign-language speech activity, they should have developed a specific psycho-physiological speech organization that ensures the rapid formation of skills and abilities when mastering a new language system. The control group consisted of 12 people aged 20-30 who did not have a special philological education. As expected, artificial words were more successfully learned by philologists. They needed a significantly smaller number of presentations to memorize the words. Apparently, people who speak several foreign languages ​​have more opportunities in terms of sound and semantic differentiation through the use of stable inter-verbal connections of foreign language systems, greater activity, expressed in the use of various private ways of organizing and mediating material. Its subjective organization was carried out on the basis of grammatical classification (division into nouns, adjectives, verbs). The success of memorization was facilitated by the compilation of several artificial words of complete sentences. The meanings of words denoting animals were easily assimilated. In this case, the subjects conditionally assigned the animals nicknames that corresponded to the given artificial equivalents. One can think that the specific speech organization of those who speak several languages ​​is a single system of interverbal neural connections within individual language systems, as well as external urgently forming connections between the structures of multilingual systems.

Diagnostics of abilities for foreign languages ​​involves the search for more specific indicators based on the set of cognitive operations discussed above. Their number is in a certain dependence on the authors' points of view on the process and result of learning foreign languages. Among the most common are: a) the pace and strength of learning foreign words together with their equivalents in the native language; b) the speed of formation of associations and associative systems; c) probabilistic forecasting; d) characteristics of an individual dictionary in the native language; e) the quality of distinguishing sounds; f) the effectiveness of establishing language rules and generalizing language material.

Evidence of the existence of special abilities for languages ​​could also serve as clinical data on the restoration of speech in polyglots. However, numerous hypotheses as to which of them may be the least susceptible to violations, or which one recovers faster after injury or brain disease, are rather controversial. In one study, for example, a patient who was fluent in German, Farsi, and English did not speak at all for the first week after injury. Then for five days he spoke a little Farsi, and for the next three weeks he spoke only German, even if he was addressed in Farsi. Then he suddenly spoke Farsi again, and four days later gained full control over all three languages. The conclusion is that the violation is possible separately for each language, and any of them can be selectively used as a means of communication in a certain period of time. There is evidence in the literature that the specificity of language recovery after a brain injury depends on such factors as the cerebral representation of the second language, the teaching method, the level of language proficiency, and individual cognitive style. It seems that the use of nuclear magnetic resonance promises significant opportunities for understanding the phenomenon, when it will be possible to conclude which parts of the polyglot's brain are most active when using different languages.

Very often, when learning a foreign language, we are faced with one very banal problem. We want to learn a language, we understand that it is necessary in modern society, but then we ask ourselves a simple question, can I learn the language. We remember that at school we studied the language for almost ten years and never learned to speak it. So is it worth spending money and so precious time for us, if the result is still zero?

"I have no ability for language." Those who are sure of this should ask themselves: "Do I speak my native language fluently and understand it freely?" ”, “Am I deaf and dumb or do I speak like Ellochka: from the “Twelve Chairs”?” If the answer is yes or no, then congratulations. You have a language ability that is not clouded by any obstacles.

The ability to speak is the main human ability, man is a chatterbox monkey. A person loves language like a mother. And the other language is just a synonym for the native. They may reasonably object: “But what about all these polyglots, or just one of my acquaintances came to America, knowing only Hi and Good-bye, and two weeks later he spoke like an American, and another acquaintance taught him and went to courses, but suffers in this America because of language problems?” The answer is simple as a rake. The first instinctively used the right strategies, while the other did not have such intuition, and the person who would prompt and select the right strategies was also not around.

The once widespread hypothesis that there are “non-linguistic” people who are not able to learn a foreign language in any way is not confirmed today by any specialist. Any person can be taught to speak a foreign language, it is only important to choose the right individual teaching method.

Why do we know our native language?

We know our native language not even because we learned it from childhood, because we speak it all the time and not only speak, but also think, because we think in the language and, thinking, we seem to be talking to ourselves. We say the same word, for example, “she”, “mine”, a thousand times a day. And here you want it, you don't want it, you won't forget it.

Thus, language skills require practice.

In the recent past, real language practice was almost inaccessible for most Russians. Languages ​​were studied in schools and universities, were included in the curricula, but there was no real need in society for the practical knowledge of a foreign language and the opportunity to practice. The lack of practice led to the fact that the acquired knowledge and skills were quickly lost.

Today the situation has changed dramatically. The expanding international cooperation of Russia, its integration into the world community, the inclusion of Russian higher education in the pan-European system, the development of Internet technologies. All this provides an excellent opportunity for learning and using the language in real communication situations, i.e. in the language environment.

Language environment

On the other hand, the notion of a language environment is rather misleading. Oh, this vaunted language environment! The myth about immersion in the language environment is like a magic cauldron, from which the old and ugly will emerge young, beautiful and fluent ... beautiful. But, like any myth, it is not specific, and if mishandled, it is harmful and dangerous. Quite often among immigrants there is a so-called "petrification (ossification) of the language." That is, quickly, under the compulsion of the environment, having mastered the “minimum for survival”, a person stops improving his language competence, forgetting along the way and not supporting his native language. As a result, a kind of “non-speaking” creature with a “tunnel” language is obtained.

Conclusion: the language environment is deceptive. Simple words carry many idiomatic meanings that are understandable only through deep understanding. It's great if you have the opportunity to go to a country and learn the language there. But they need to be formal and thoughtful. Then the language environment will sparkle with such colors and meanings and bring as much joy as it brought you at home. If you cannot go abroad, but you know the language, and you really want to, create it at home. Knowledge of the language is directly proportional to the number of texts that you have passed through your body (texts in the broad sense of books, films, radio, music, conversations, etc.)

Memory, thinking, perception, imagination

Complexity of abilities

What abilities does a person use in the process of learning a foreign language?

There are several common misconceptions about this. Very often, these misconceptions are supported by foreign language teachers themselves. From school, many of us remember that there were several students in the class who simply memorized new words or whole phrases on the fly and naturally received encouragement from teachers. Everyone else had to spend hours cramming hateful words and texts in order to somehow reach these “stars”. Thus, it seemed that if you have a bad memory, then you need to say goodbye to the idea of ​​​​learning a foreign language.

So, let's start in order. First of all, let's say that a person is not just a memory machine. Each of his abilities individually may not seem so impressive. In addition, different people have different abilities. Someone analyzes well, someone has a rich imagination, someone has a phenomenal memory. It is very rare to meet people who are completely devoid of any abilities, or geniuses in whom all abilities are very high. The most important thing is to understand that a person is a synthesis of these abilities, and when solving any problem, he attracts all his abilities at once. And then we see the crown of creation - man, each of his abilities supports and develops the other.

Memory

How much do we remember
So memory. Is it as bad as we think it is?

If we ask ourselves how much we know, we will be surprised at how much knowledge we have. Our surprise will be even greater when we realize that we never intentionally memorized much of this information. We remember a bunch of jokes, songs, melodies, we remember what happened in the last episode of our favorite series, and what we talked about with a friend yesterday on the phone: So our memory is not so bad, it's just great. But for some reason, it remembers well what we do not need, and does not work when we actually need it.

And here the most important thing is to understand how this gift works and how to use it rationally.

Human memory and computer memory
Human memory is simultaneously weaker, but smarter than computer memory. Why are we comparing them? Since most of us think they are similar. Computer memory is like a blackboard on which information is written: all the information is on the surface and it is not worth the trouble to take any part of this information and use it. This is a plus. But on the other hand, we can take a rag and erase all the information, and then it is lost forever.

Human memory is like a glass. We fill this glass with some materials, as well as our memory with information. In the end, something ends up on the bottom, and something on the surface. Naturally, it is more difficult for us to use and get to what lies deeper. This is a minus. But unlike computer memory, human memory cannot be erased. Everything you have ever seen, heard or learned is in this glass and the only problem is learning how to use it.

Types of memory and memory structure
Very often we say that someone has a good memory, and someone has a bad one. God gave someone the ability to easily and naturally memorize everything, while someone was deprived of this ability. After such thoughts, few people have the desire to study anything, especially a foreign one. But the point is that what we call a good memory is just one type of memory, the so-called automatic memory.

Of course, if you have such a memory, then you remember the material faster. But this memory has its drawbacks. Firstly, this is not a long-term memory: what you remember today, for some reason, is forgotten very quickly. Secondly, this memory does not use your other abilities, since it seems to be able to do everything anyway. This means that it neither develops itself nor contributes to the development of your other abilities.

Very often, children with phenomenal memory, by the senior classes or at the University, lag behind those who spent a lot of time memorizing in childhood. And the most interesting thing is that in the latter, by the senior classes, the memory becomes, although not as phenomenal as that of the former, but very effective and long-term. Why? Because, compensating for the lack of memory, they attract other abilities: thinking, perception, imagination, and thus develop other more effective types of memory.

Perception

A conversation is always an action between someone and someone. Even when we use language to think, we are actually talking to our second self. Any of our statements are dead until it reaches the interlocutor. And it comes to life when the interlocutor perceives it.

But perception is the same complex process as memory, thinking, imagination. And the most important thing is that when we perceive, we again use all our abilities: both thinking and imagination. It is not our ears that hear and it is not our eyes that see, but the whole person as a whole. Eyes and ears only enable our thinking and imagination to understand what we actually see and hear. Are you saying this is nonsense? Not at all! If you are asked what color is the sky or clouds? You look at them and say, “The clouds are white and the sky is blue, everyone knows that.”

But the clouds are not white. They are yellowish, bluish, reddish. And the sky isn't always blue. It can be pink, red, yellow and even green. It is our convenience thinking that tells us that the clouds are white and the sky is blue. The same thing happens with language. You must have come across this fact from time to time. You read a word and at first confuse it with another similar to it. Why? Because a person reads (perceives) only the first few letters. All the rest restores thinking for him.

Well, how does the imagination participate in perception? This seems completely strange. Now imagine what happens when you hear a word or a sentence, like "I'm going south." You instantly imagine, that is, see this South. And not only the South, but also the sea, the sun, hot sand, palm trees, etc. Here is your imagination. We do not see the real South, but we represent it i.e. imagine.

Imagination

Imagination also plays an important role in language learning. Let's try to answer the question: What do we do when we study and speak a foreign language? We try to express our thoughts in a foreign language. But we cannot think without language, which means that when we think something, we already pronounce our thoughts in some language. What language do we speak them in? Of course, at home. It turns out a conversation in a foreign language is a constant translation from one language to another. As we know all languages ​​are different. They differ in vocabulary and grammar. But any language reflects the same reality, so we can understand each other. How does a person perceive reality?

We represent it, that is, we see images of this reality. And this is the possibility that the imagination gives us.

But if we think in images, then we remember in images. This means that the more effectively we use imagination in the process of remembering, the better our memory works.

Thinking

But one memory is not enough. First, language is directly related to thinking. It's like a chicken and an egg, language and thought cannot be separated. It is impossible to think without language, and it is also difficult to speak without thinking.

Secondly, language is not only words, because words only name things, and only sentences express a thought. And in order to make a sentence, you need to know grammar, and most words have more than one meaning, and in order to understand, remember and use them correctly, you again cannot do without thinking.

Age

The notion that the ability to learn decreases with age is also erroneous. The ability to learn can persist into old age.

Of course, in childhood, the ability to absorb information is higher than in old age, but for successful and effective learning, the most important factor is the motivation that a person has. With strong motivation, a foreign language can be learned at the age of 80, and vice versa, in its absence, even the most gifted children will expect a zero result. In addition, quite often, middle-aged people easily manage to learn a foreign language that they suffered from in childhood, because, due to their education and life experience, they perceive a foreign language not at a figurative level (as children do), but in a complex way, using logic, both vision and intuition.

Why do we think we are incapable of languages?

And where does a person get the confidence that he is not capable of languages? Is this a convenient excuse for your own laziness? Or complexes purchased at school?

It's a mixture of both. But laziness is also a defensive reaction of the psyche to boring and monotonous activities, which are often the lessons of a foreign language at school. Or - the inability to express themselves. This is very important for a person. And if he was simply given the wrong task, intimidated from the first minutes with complex rules? That's when excuses appear: “I have urgent business, my head hurts ...” Agree, if something really “turns you on”, you will find both time and energy for this!

How to overcome the language barrier?

The psychological barrier in learning languages ​​is, first of all, the fear of speaking a foreign language. What are its reasons?

Uncertainty in knowledge. This is even useful: it is uncertainty that pushes us to improve our knowledge.

We think more about HOW we say than about WHAT to say. In Russian, everything is automatic: tenses, cases... But in a foreign language, you have to control yourself all the time.

By learning a foreign language, we emotionally return to early childhood. Then we also learned the first words, made mistakes and could not find the right word. The feeling that we experienced at the same time is far from the most pleasant: I am a stupid, helpless child who is surrounded by adult and smart uncles and aunts.

We have grown up and have long forgotten these childhood impressions. But when, in front of other people, we painfully flounder in the wisdom of a foreign language, the psyche quickly finds children's emotions. An adult and seemingly self-confident person suddenly feels like an unreasonable baby. And he doesn't like it.

The MAIN reason for the fear of speaking a foreign language is deeply personal. Each of us wants to look in the eyes of other people as a strong, self-confident person. And if we do something not very well, with mistakes, this is perceived as a sign of weakness.

How to overcome these fears? Stop being adults for a while, who should always be the first, strong, correct and serious. Imagine yourself as children, remember the joy of discovering something new, become a little less serious and start playing, put the concept of strength and weakness out of your head for a while, and enjoy learning, including mistakes.

ABILITIES FOR LANGUAGES. MYTH?

How often have you had to deal with people who complain about the lack of ability in languages? The words don't stick in my head. They can’t pronounce anything intelligible, although in the head the phrases seem to line up. … Maybe you yourself belong to the number of such people?

Do not rush to sign your own "linguistic cretinism". Listen to the expert:

Alina Karelina - course leader of the discipline "Foreign Language", director of the VI - SRMI FEFU (Oriental Institute - School of Regional and International Studies) for development and head of the department of professionally oriented translation:

“Almost every day of my teaching activity, I have to answer one question that worries not only students, but also directors of some FEFU schools: “Why should I / students of my school (underline as appropriate) learn English if I / they do not have the ability to do it? Why are students forced to drop out due to poor performance in a foreign language?

Why are students so unsure when?

For them, I always have one answer - if you do not have mental disorders (for example, aphasia or speech disorders) or physical disabilities, you cannot have difficulty learning a foreign language.

However, I am ready to admit that "linguistic abilities" do exist. Here it must be clarified that people who do not have do not always distinguish between the ability to speak and the ability to communicate freely.

Statistics say that 5% of the total population of the planet has the ability to use language as a sign system. In this ability, an important role is played by the analytical functions of the intellect, that is, understanding the structure of a foreign language. And it doesn't matter what language we are talking about: Chinese, or native, for example, Russian.

Thus, I am sure that there are no people who are absolutely not capable of languages. The ability for linguistic communication is inherent in a person from birth. Due to the peculiarities of the brain, consciousness and character, people can quickly or slowly comprehend a non-native language. We just tend to justify the lack of system in learning a non-native language, lack of motivation, laziness, unsuccessful methods of teaching a foreign language and the lack of professionalism of teachers with an inability to learn a foreign language.”

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11. How to develop the ability to foreign languages!

It is very difficult to artificially maintain the ability to speak fluently in a non-native language, even if there is motivation for this. I know this from my own experience, having lived in California for twenty years without being able to speak my native French. In order to prevent forgetting a foreign language (or even your own), you must constantly use it in written or oral form. Otherwise, your active vocabulary will be reduced, although you will still have the ability to passively understand.

According to your interests or needs, you can either read books and newspapers or listen to the radio and tape recorder. Reading is a great way to keep information about a language in the realm of consciousness. Get a book or magazines on topics that interest you and read them regularly - say, once a week -. Books can be recorded on audio cassettes or CDs - so in addition to everything else, you can correct your pronunciation. Shortwave radio gives you the opportunity to listen to many programs in many different languages, including your own (which is important for a person traveling the world). Find a time and place for this kind of practice: consistency is a necessary condition for mastering a language, as well as for mastering any other subject. If you catch a program on the radio in a language you are interested in, mark the time it goes on the air and listen to it as often as possible. You may want to make some notes in a notebook during the transmission, or maybe you will record it on a tape recorder for re-listening.

In general, do not miss the opportunity to speak a foreign language, at least briefly and superficially. Perhaps with the help of your neighbor - a foreign worker or student - your knowledge of the language will be able to move from a passive state to an active one. For example, with two Mexican women who come to clean my house, I only speak Spanish. I please my Galloman neighbor by addressing her in French every time I meet her. I watch foreign films in the original, without translation, and I try to speak German with my German friends. When visiting an Italian restaurant, I always exchange a few phrases with the Italian owner, to our mutual pleasure. In short, I take every opportunity to speak a foreign language.

If you have the time and energy, you can take foreign language lessons in a conversational form. On university campuses you can always find many foreign students who are happy to agree to earn extra money in this way. Moreover, in many higher schools and colleges there are evening foreign language courses for adults. Of course, it is more difficult to start learning a language in adulthood than in youth - but the more knowledge a person has accumulated during his life, the more connections between new material and information stored in memory he can establish, thereby facilitating the learning process. The hardest thing is to start from scratch. If you know one language from a group of related ones (Romance, Anglo-Saxon, Slavic, etc.), then you can easily learn another: you just have to learn the differences between them. With a good direct learning method at your disposal, you can quickly master any language - especially if you have a good reason for doing so (like a trip to Mexico)!

Tip: To expand your active vocabulary, place each new word in different contexts and review it regularly for a few weeks after you first encounter it. (You'll need to use a word in at least six contexts to get it to stick in your memory - the same applies to young children who are just learning to speak.) Here's a fun exercise: you need to make a tiny story out of 8-10 new verbs, conjunctions, idiomatic expressions, prepositions and nouns. Ask a teacher or native speaker to correct any mistakes and review the corrected version of the story several times a week. Never repeat the mistakes once made! It is very difficult to get rid of them - like bad habits. In any case, it is easier to learn a new strategy than to forget the old one.

Regardless of your occupation, try to maintain constant contact with the language, and it will be much easier for you to remember it if necessary. In the first days of your stay in a foreign country, you will have to put up with a delay in the answer caused by the search for the right words in your memory. To speed up the search process, read more in a foreign language while traveling around the country, and when you return home, listen to the radio and watch TV. In this way, you will perceive a lot of words that will trigger recognition memory. This will give you confidence in the conversation. I noticed that very soon I begin to speak fluently after such training. Courage in pronouncing half-forgotten words of a foreign language has nothing to do with organization and relaxation. If you consider doubts and difficulty in finding words as normal for the first days of your stay in a foreign country, then you will recognize the need for increased practice in spoken language and, therefore, quickly restore lost knowledge.

Remember always: both stages of learning a foreign language - passive understanding (recognition) and active use of the language in conversation and, later, in writing (remembering) - require a person's skill, desire and, above all, perseverance for constant practice. And don't blame your memory for anything if you lack these qualities!

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