When banal is good.

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November 27, 2006 · Filed Under Italy, Language, Work

I spoke to someone who complemented me on my work website - englishisin.com. She said that although the advice on it was ‘banale’ it actually made sense. The part she was referring to was my technique for training your mind to think in English. The method I propose is to start by looking around and naming objects in your head directly in English, then start trying to form simple sentences describing your environment, again in your mind and directly in English. Once you are adept at this you can start thinking about your plans for the day and so on.

The theory behind this banality is that it becomes easier to find the words you are looking for when you are speaking because you do not need to translate them. I do this automatically in Italian, mainly because developing this skill happens quite easily when you are using the language regularly, but when you cannot speak very often in English, it is hard to develop the ability to think directly in the language. Hence this invisible mental training. I cannot prove whether this technique obtains results, although some of my students who have followed my advice have appeared to be speaking more fluently and their comprehension appears to be better too.

It would make for an interesting lesson. Have all in class just sit there in silence, thinking, although anyone observing would think the lesson was nuts - this is perhaps why I encourage trying the method out when you are waiting for the bus or stuck in a traffic jam. If nothing else, it should help students regurgitate vocabulary, which cannot be a bad thing.

There is method in madness.

I thought I would continue this subject a little because it fascinates me. I’m sure I’ve written about thinking in another language before, but I want to talk about it again. So, first of all a question: Why attempt to think in another language? The answer to this is simple: because it reduces the need to translate. Non translating helps in other ways too. It means your ability to speak speeds up and you start to become truly fluent. Not having to translate means you can find words more quickly in your target language - after a bit of practice. You should also note that your ability to understand others will increase - because you can understand without having recourse to translation. The benefits of thinking in another language are really enormous. I’d quite like to have a brain scan done while I flicked from Italian to English and back. It would be interesting to know just what part of my brain is being used. Whether it would be possible to ’see’ which section is clearly responsible for which language I don’t really know. My brain is much less able than someone who is bilingual, I’m sure.

As to what is going on in the brain of someone who is capable of speaking three of more languages, well, I don’t know what a brain scan would reveal.

Brain analysis could be tomorrow’s way of assessing language competence. A fascinating thought if ever there was one.

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2 Responses to “When banal is good.”

a.c.t. on November 28th, 2006 5:45 pm

Great idea in theory and you are obviously very influential if your students are actually doing this.I think this would be immensly difficult for an Italian to do whilst learning English in Italy as its hard to get away from Italian in general. For a person learning a foreign language in the actual country however, it would work really well, although it would take a lot of willpower. I may well use this in the future - thanks.
Alex on November 28th, 2006 6:57 pm

‘very influential’ ah, yes;-) I always try to create as good a rapport between my students and myself as I can. I guess I’m trying to make them like me - which means they tend to be better motivated, more receptive and make more progress as a result. I talk around what I am doing and try to demonstrate an understanding of the other subjects my students are studying.

With regard to my theory, it is not a bad idea and you are right, it does take an enormous amount of mental discipline to do it and get something out of it. As you say when you are not in the country where the language you are learning is spoken, it becomes even more difficult to develop the ability to think in the language. Hence my theory which is designed to condition the mind into thinking in the language you wish to learn. I did use to force myself to think or rather form sentences in my head in Italian (The men in white coats are coming!!!)- now I find myself doing this naturally.
If you do try to use/propose this technique in the future, then be careful how you present it - some students think you are slightly mad, whereas others can appreciate the theory.

The main problem is understanding whether someone is trying this process out. Someone may say he is, but is not - only you cannot tell unless you happen to be able to read minds, that is;-) (I have yet to develop the capacity to read minds, alas)

Please let me know how you get on if you do try this out.

All the best