Leading to Franglish

This past weekend I read the Harvard Business Journal's article "The Art of Persuasion Hasn’t Changed in 2,000 Years" by Carmine Gallo and frankly I've never been more inspired to share my language learning journey. So, in tribute to that I write the following.

When I attended the S.E.W.N. "Big Magic" book review I had come across a group of women talking about goals in the next phase of life. During this event there was a moment that I really connected with. A woman discussed her goal of relearning to play the piano, she had played before, but it had been so long she was a bit apprehensive to restart. Her husband, knowingly, came home with a keyboard and encouragement which led to her first act of playing again. It's the way we empower ourselves and others to reach their goals that make the biggest impact.

Reverting back to our start of life, the learnings of our traditional milestones: walk, talk, and potty train. We learn those abilities at any early age and continuously make learning something new apart of our daily life. So, when we learn something new or relearn something of the past, there is the potential we come across those detrimental beliefs of "what if I'm not as good as I was", "what if I make a mistake" or "what if I'm not good at all" then there is the comparison of our journey to another's "I'll never be like Mozart" or "I'll never sound native". Those are the thoughts that ostracize us from the act of doing and being. Granted I am not telling you to Climb Mount Everest without any training, what I am saying is just as that child that needed to learn to walk, you as an adult must take the first step.

It is not an act in the absence of fear, it is an act despite fear.

Personally, when it came to language learning, during my travels I spent a lot of my time learning, reading and listening to the other languages spoken. In my experience the best research was done in observation. However, there was this one turning point. One morning I was with Arnaud's father having tea and coffee, he couldn't speak English so there I was speaking what was most likely 2nd grade level French. Granted, the kind man definitely looked at me like I had 3 heads at some point (LOL), yet he spoke back. Looking back there were a few times I said "Je prends" (I take) when I should have said "J'ai" (I have). Regardless of my mistakes, it was the first real French conversation I had across a few trips. It was incredibly empowering. I reached a point where I didn't care if I made mistakes, I just let my guards down and put an effort into connect. Why him of all people, I am not quite sure, but ever since I've moved from Spanglish to Franglish as well.

Life is far too precious to live in fear making a mistake in learning something new. If there is something we wish to try, we must give ourselves room to learn, grow and move forward accordingly.

We are not to neglect our strengths, rather we must embrace them in new ways to contribute to a stronger way of living.

So, if there is any takeaway from any of this article would be the famous Nike tagline "just do it".

XO,

Boober Company

Puzzle Pieces: Under Discussed.

10,000 hours

10,000 hours, aka 416.67 days. That's how long it is said to take to learn another language, more specifically that's how long it takes to become fluent.

The United States doesn't maintain much of a standardized system yet, especially since English is our primary speaking language. For now, we utilize the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The CEFR is broken into 6 parts.

1. A1 - Beginner: At this level, learners have very limited or no knowledge of the language. They can understand and use basic phrases and expressions, often related to everyday situations.

2. A2 - Elementary: Learners at this level can understand and communicate in simple, routine tasks and situations. They can talk about themselves, their family, and their immediate environment.

3. B1 - Intermediate: Intermediate learners can handle most everyday situations when speaking or writing. They can describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions. They have a good grasp of grammar and vocabulary.

4. B2 - Upper Intermediate: At this level, learners have a deeper understanding of the language. They can understand complex texts and engage in discussions on various topics. Their vocabulary and grammar are more advanced.

5. C1 - Advanced: Advanced learners can understand a wide range of demanding texts and engage in complex discussions. They can express themselves fluently and effectively, even in unfamiliar situations.

6. C2 - Proficiency: This is the highest level of language proficiency. Proficient learners can understand virtually everything they read or hear, and they can express themselves with precision and nuance. They have a near-native command of the language.

10,000 hours should bring you to the C2 realm of things, however, who really has 416.67 spare days across "the year".... you know to practice for that 2-week honeymoon, 4-week study abroad or family vacation. Would you put 10,000 hours into that336 hour trip - is it really worth the time?

I know for an anticipated "one-time" trip the benefit wasn't evenly weighted to strive for fluency. I did, however, want to extend a bit of respect to the natives abroad by attempting a few common phrases. For example, on my trip to Italy, "Buongiorno, Buona Notte and Buonasera" were used quite often.

This is why we are designed our product to be different. This product isn't intended for fluency, at least not right away. We consider it a cheat code of language learning. We've found the integral balance between a fun product that will introduce our youth to another language, at ages where it's not only cognitively beneficial but also emphasizes valuable information/phrases needed while socializing.

The Pieces of a Language Puzzle

Like all else a language is a structure that has been built up and more clearly defined over history. Thanks to the in-depth research of linguists we have a valuable foundation to refer to. Present day values of a language have been concluded as the following 8 elements.

1. Phonemes: The smallest distinct units of sound in a language. For example, in English, "cat" is made up of the phonemes /k/, /æ/, and /t/.

2. Morphemes: The smallest units of meaning in a language. They can be words or parts of words (affixes) like prefixes and suffixes. For instance, in the word "unintelligible," "un-" and "-ible" are morphemes.

3. Syntax: The rules governing how words and phrases are structured into sentences. Syntax determines the order of words, such as subject-verb-object in English.

4. Grammar: The set of rules that govern how words and sentences are formed and used in a language. This includes rules for tense, gender, number, and more.

5. Semantics: The study of meaning in language. It deals with how words, phrases, and sentences convey meaning and how people interpret and understand language.

6. Vocabulary: The collection of words and their meanings in a language. A language's vocabulary can be extensive and constantly evolving.

7. Pragmatics: The study of how context influences the interpretation of language. It considers factors like tone, context, and the speaker's intentions in communication.

8. Writing System: Some languages have a writing system that uses symbols or characters to represent sounds or words. Examples include the Latin alphabet used for English and the characters used in Chinese.

These elements combine to form a complex system that allows people to communicate and express their thoughts and ideas through language.

Although, we'd believe comprehension of a language falls much deeper than just the rules listed above, these structures are integral for overall linguistic development.

XO,

Boober Company