Languages And Autumn

Learning A Language

Filters of all kind are used on the internet nowadays to discover who you are and what you may want and I've definitely been identified as an English ex-pat. One consequence is that I'm constantly being made offers to place my private pension abroad (already done) and to learn languages. As it happens I already speak reasonable French but some of the offers make me laugh. This man learned a language in a week, I'm told, and this other man speaks 11 languages; learn his secrets! It's of interest to me because friend Steve and I are about to restart our English conversation classes here in Mollans.

Fortunately I know enough (more than enough) not to pursue any of these offers. Having studied French to university level, taught in French for a year at a French secondary school and now lived full-time in France for 10 years, I find I am still learning the language. And I don't think I'm a particularly unintelligent student. So how do these apparent geniuses manage it?

The answer, of course, is that they don't; they can't possibly do so. What is possible after a week? Being able to say hello, goodbye, the weather is fine, my name is…..not much more. Which poses the question: what does being able to speak a language really mean?

If we are talking about anywhere near perfection then the majority of native speakers of the language would fail so we can rule that one out. Given the last few decades of teaching, we can also rule out understanding and use of grammar. Spelling? The most obvious howlers abound on the internet and even in supposedly reputable journals. So what are we left with?

I think it is the ability to communicate, with a reasonable degree of subtlety, what we think, want, or mean to say for most, but by no means all, practical purposes. That much, given considerable immertion in the language, should be achievable within a year, maybe a bit less. But……...the problem with communication is that it is necessarily two-way; you may be able to communicate to someone else but can you understand what comes back? Here we're into accents, dialects, idioms and Heaven knows what else. Learning that in a week? Learning that for eleven languages? I simply don't believe it is possible. I think it probably takes best part of a lifetime for even one language.

Autumn

Autumn is definitely here now. The very hot and dry summer weather continued until a week ago but a couple of storms have put paid to it and at the moment we have much more comfortable temperatures and skies varyng between overcast and sunny. The change shows in the shops and markets and in activities around the village. Much of the fruit I love has now disappeared. The last strawberries went about a month ago and apricots have followed them. There are still peaches, nectarines and melons to be found though and figs have made an appearance; I'm making the most of them until they disappear too, probably around the end of the month. Around the village grape harvesters and trailers are everywhere as the grapes are stripped from the vines for what should be a bumper year, given the amount of sunshine we have had. The next stage will be several varieties of mushrooms in the shops and invitations to wineries to celebrate the new vintages. Autumn here can be great as the village gets back to normal after the hordes of summer visitors, welcome as they are, return from whence they came. So there is still much to enjoy.