We are both native English speakers, though I speak very advanced French. If I speak only French to her and use hand motions and things until she learns some basics, can she actually learn by listening only?
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I want to teach my 8 year old sister to speak French. Can she learn by listening only?
#1 by . on November 10th, 2011
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Yes. Think about it. How do babies learn to talk? By listening. They can’t read or write so everything they learn about speaking is fully from hearing it. She will of course need to learn how to read and write it eventually if you want her to be fluent in it.
#2 by Jewely on November 10th, 2011
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It’s possible, but she is most likely going to learn a language in middle school/high school, and most schools only offer Spanish or French. I don’t see the point in trying to teach her more advanced French, or she’ll be too far ahead of her peers and that can be very tough. Teaching her the basics seems appropriate to me, though.
#3 by Jennifer on November 10th, 2011
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You mean, can she learn without books? Just by conversation? Then yes, she is probably still young enough. We adopted a boy from the Philippines when he was almost 5 who spoke no English. By the time he was here for four months he was almost fluent. Of course, you won’t be speaking French all the time to her, but I did speak Tagalog to him some also. So if you are consistent enough, she should learn pretty well.
#4 by Erik on November 10th, 2011
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First of all, kudos for being willing to do that! She would benefit greatly by starting so young.
Yes, she will learn a lot just by listening only, even if she currently does not want to speak it.
Maybe you should sell her on the benefits of learning foreign languages. Here’s a list of reasons:
Foreign language classes are required in most high schools and in many universities. The younger you start learning the language, the easier these classes will be and the better your pronunciation and fluency will be.
If you get a chance to learn a useful foreign language in school, you might avoid having to learn it as an adult. That’s valuable because there are more demands on your time and more valuable things available to pursue as an adult than when you’re in school. Get language learning out of the way!
Some job openings will demand that applicants speak a foreign language – hopefully the language you studied. You might have few or no other applicants competing with you. The need for language skills often happens in a job dealing with, or working alongside, immigrants or visiting foreigners. You might also be interested in language teaching, translation work, or joining companies doing business internationally.
Employers are taking a risk if they hire you when you’ve just graduated and have no work experience. They’ll be more willing to take that risk if they need, but can’t find, qualified people speaking the foreign language you learned.
Being able to speak with natives in their country will make your travels much more interesting. In many countries, a high percentage of the people lack confidence in their English fluency and they might be reluctant to try talking with you, or they’ll be willing but unable. Even if the locals are bilingual, the street signs and restaurant menus usually are not. You can overcome those obstacles if you have at least some knowledge of their native language. Otherwise, you might find it impractical to travel away from popular tourist areas.
Living and studying/working overseas for a while will benefit you much more than just visiting as a tourist. From living in a different culture, you get interesting experiences and a new way of thinking about life. In many countries, the only way to get those benefits is to speak the local language.
It’s much easier to work, do business, or simply know what’s going on in a foreign country if you speak their native language.
Native speakers usually appreciate when you try to communicate with them in their own language, especially when you are a foreigner in their country. By making communication easy for them, you show respect for them. They might want to switch to English so they can practice it or if you are having difficulty with their language, but they’ll still be pleased that you started in their language.
If you will be applying for admission to a college/university, your fluency will impress its admissions officials.
Having real mastery of foreign languages, combined with foreign travel, makes people see you as an interesting and valuable person to know. You will seem freer than most people, less constrained to your own country.
Many people are convinced that learning multiple languages develops your mind, makes you smarter, and enables creative thinking.
You will learn the interesting alternative ways that other languages express things. From that, you’ll learn what’s good, bad, and absurd about the English language. Also, you might develop a sense of why foreigners have difficulty with certain parts of English; you’ll choose your words so they have a better chance of understanding you. And the cliches and word choices will sometimes teach you how the native speakers think about life and the world; you might get a better sense of what they think is taboo, bad, good, etc.
French is spoken by millions of people in former colonies all over the world.
You should not entrust your fate entirely to translators, if possible. It’s better if you can at least partly monitor the conversations and printed words around you. A translator will not always translate everything or do it correctly.
In your home country, sometimes you’ll be able to talk to another speaker of the language without nearby people understanding. You can say out loud things you want to keep secret!
If you have both fluency and cultural knowledge, you can truly understand foreign news, opinion, literature, film, and music in the original language. Translations are not always available. Even with a translation, you would not understand those concepts that do not translate easily.
While learning another language, you are forced to think about how your own language works, to understand the differences. This will allow you to explain your native language to people who are learning it. You also might discover that you have been using sloppy grammar without knowing it.