Loving your child's mind: Languages and learning

So I was thinking about how do you know if you are a— if you are learning something or not?

What could be a sign that if you actually learn something is if maybe after someone taught you that, maybe you could remember it, and then a few weeks later remember it. And actually implement it to maybe a study that you have to do because you remember it and you've learned it.

Okay, so if you remember and it's in your brain, um, now that makes sense. And then I'm thinking with Spanish, is it the same with Spanish?

Yes, I think so.

Are you still learning more Spanish?

I am.

And would you say that it's a matter of just learning new words, or what do you keep learning as you learn more Spanish?

Um, right now, um, I'm listening to more conversations and speaking them out loud.

At school or at home or both?

At home.

I see. And so when you speak it out loud, I guess earlier you were saying if somebody teaches something and basically it stays with us, then we've learned it. And with Spanish, I guess the reason I'm thinking of it is I imagine that it's not like they teach you this one sentence in Spanish and you only say this one sentence. That is, I expect you are creating your own sentences in Spanish, right?

I'm trying to.

Okay, would you say that you are becoming fluent in Spanish?

I'd say not yet. No.

Okay, um, would you say it's still very difficult to speak in Spanish?

Um, I think in most ways it's still kind of difficult. But I'm getting back there because I was— I think I was better than I am maybe before I went in or before I went until like second grade because I had more time to do it. And now the school that I'm in is all English.

Got it. And with whom do you speak Spanish at home?

Um, Sometimes my parents speak a few words to me in Spanish, but mostly whenever I have time to, I do Duolingo.

Ah, how often do you do Duolingo?

Um, I'm trying to get back on it, but some— but I try to do it, um, or I try to do 15 minutes of Spanish and 15 minutes of Brazilian Portuguese. Um, I try to do it every night, but sometimes I can't.

Got it. So this is interesting. What motivates you to learn Spanish and to learn Portuguese?

Um, I don't know, like sometimes— what, here, here's an example. Whenever I'm at jiu-jitsu And I hear other people talking in Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese because there's multiple people there who speak both. Sometimes always after that, because I can understand a little bit of their conversation, but not fluently.

So that, would you say that's the primary motivation? Is it jiu-jitsu? You're hearing both of those languages?

Yes.

And I know it's hard to estimate, but would you say when you listen to them you understand 20%, 50%, 90%?

I think somewhere 20 to 50, or at least 10.

Okay, that makes sense. Um, and is your interest in learning Portuguese exactly equal to your interest in learning Spanish?

I don't know.

Okay. Do you ever watch videos in Spanish or Portuguese?

I used to do that a lot. I don't know why I don't really do that now, but I should start doing that again because I think that helped me.

Sí, es muy difícil, ¿no?

Sí.

Sí. Yo creo que cuando yo veo una película en español Yo puedo entender más porque hay las acciones con las palabras. ¿Entiendes?

Un poquito.

Un poquito. How much of that did you understand?

I think I understood most of it.

Excellent. So what did I say?

You said that it's very difficult to read something in Spanish because of something in the words, or maybe the words are long.

Do you know what the word película is?

Uh, it's on the tip of my tongue. I remember.

That's okay. Yeah, if we miss words, then it's hard. So when you had said you used to watch more things in Spanish but didn't, I said it's difficult, no? And then I said that I believe that it's easier to understand things in Spanish when I watch a movie because I've got the actions and the words together. Película is movie, palabras is words, acciones is actions. And so I was persuading— I was asking you if you also thought it was easier to understand Spanish when you watch a movie because you can watch— you have the actions to go along with words. Does that make sense?

Yes. And to answer your question, some— it is easier.

Yes, but it sounds as if maybe I know Spanish. Mi español es un poco más bueno que tuyo. My Spanish is a little bit better than yours, perhaps. Okay, well, good. It's good to know where you are in Spanish, and it's good to know you're trying. Do you like Duolingo? Yes. I guess it's time. It really is time. Do you have homework at your current school?

I don't.

Okay, um, well, you know, it's, it's nice. Do you ever kind of listen to things on headphones?

No, I don't.

Okay, um, and no reason especially to— I'm just thinking of the more— do either of your parents speak any Spanish?

Um, fluently, no, but my dad can speak some Spanish, like he can talk in a conversation if he needs to.

Um, have you ever thought of asking him if you and he could improve your Spanish together?

No, I haven't. I'm going to do that after this.

There you go. I always think it's much, much, much easier to learn something with another, another person. I give you tremendous credit for you just learning on Duolingo, but it's much easier if you're learning with somebody else because I think, I think we're very social creatures and we like to do things with other people. Does that make sense?

Yes.

And if you and your dad, you know, either talked or watched a little video or whatever together, um, then you would learn your Spanish, you would improve your Spanish, he would improve his Spanish, um, and that would be something you could do together. Does that sound right?

Yes.

Okay, because I think it's tremendously valuable, you know, to be bilingual, or in your case, trilingual. Would you say Portuguese is pretty easy? What once you know Spanish?

I think that it's very similar, but there are— I mean, I guess it was kind of easy to like beginner or like to know the beginner words.

Yeah.

But as I get into more complex sentences, it's kind of— it's getting a little more complicated and hard to understand.

Yeah, that makes sense. But still, I think the fact that you're learning Spanish will make learning Portuguese so much easier because a lot of the words are similar. And it's not like learning Chinese. Chinese, you have to start from scratch. You know, you have no—

yeah.

Um, do you know much about how different languages are related?

Not really.

Okay. Um, Will, do you— did you know that Spanish and Portuguese were related?

I would think so because they sound very similar.

Yeah. Do you know what a dialect is in a language?

A dialect? No, I don't.

That's when sometimes— so there's an accent. So you've probably heard southern accents in the United States.

Yes.

So an accent is where people pronounce things a little bit differently. A dialect is when they also start to use words a little bit differently. And sometimes, you know, in the South, often people in the South will say "yes ma'am" and "yes sir" a bit more than other people do. I'm trying to think of other examples, but if you start listening, you'll find that people in the South say a bunch of words— and depends on how deeply in the South— they'll say a bunch of words differently. And when people start saying words differently, gradually they become different dialects. And a dialect has kind of a whole bunch of different words, basically. And then if people are separated for a long time, then sometimes those dialects separate into different languages. And so you can imagine that, you know, 1,000 years ago, Spanish and Portuguese were not so different. And then gradually, the Portuguese started saying things a bit differently, a bit more differently, a bit more differently. And the Spanish said their things a bit differently. And gradually, they become separate languages. Does that make sense?

Yes.

And do you know anything about Italian?

Um, no, I don't. Not really.

Italian is part of the same family. They're all, they're all called Latin languages because Latin— do you know anything about ancient Rome?

Um, what, like, what topic about ancient Rome?

Do you know that there was, there used to be a place called Rome?

I mean, yes, of course.

Yeah, of course. There's still a city called Rome today, but the Roman Empire spoke Latin. And so all of these countries that speak Latin languages today— Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Romania— they're all former colonies of Rome. And so they, 2,000 years ago, they all spoke Latin. And so it was all one language, but then they got separated. They, you know, the Roman Empire collapsed and they started speaking their own ways. And And gradually Romanian became different, and Italian became different, and French became different, and Spanish became different, and Portuguese became different. And that's why they're all related is because 2,000 years ago they were the same, but then they gradually separated into different languages. Make sense?

Yes.

Okay. So now do you think you've learned something this morning?

I do.

Do you think you'll remember it?

Yes.

What makes you think you will remember it?

Well, when you were talking about it, I reminded myself what a dialect is, and I reminded myself the word dialect.

And had you heard the word dialect before?

I believe so. I just could not remember what it meant.

Okay, and that happens a lot of times. I've heard that actually when we learn, we make new connections. You know, our brain is full of neurons. Have you heard of neurons?

Yes.

That's kind of another name for brain— or a certain kind of brain cell. And so neurons make connections, and how we learn is our neurons make new connections. And initially the connections are very weak. And so maybe you had a little connection for dialect up there in your brain, but it hadn't been used in a long, long, long, long time. And then when I start talking about dialect and re-explain it, then, oh, that little connection is alive. And it becomes a little bit stronger. And then the more you use that connection, it's a little bit like a muscle. The more you use your muscles, the stronger they get. The more you use those connections in your brain, the stronger those connections get. That's why practicing things like practicing a language or practicing math makes the connection stronger. And then once the connections are really strong, then you're not likely to forget it again. Does it make sense?

Yes. It does.

So we'll see. Um, one of the things, in order to be a better learner, it's good to know as much as you can about the art of learning. Um, and so we started off with what is learning, and then it seemed like we shifted all over the place into Portuguese and Spanish and dialects and Rome and everything. But, um, I thought it might be interesting to kind of explore a little bit how you're learning and then think a little bit about how your brain learns and see if maybe these connections stick. Sound good?

Yes.

Okay. So at some point, who knows when, I might ask about dialects or Rome or any of this again, neurons, and we'll just see if it's stuck or not. And in the meantime, tu y tus padres, Aprender español juntos. Sí. Okay, muchas gracias. Hasta luego and have a wonderful day. Okay, bye-bye. Adiós.