Tools For Spanish Language Learning - Becomming Aware Of What It's Not

I have come across a number of comments about things loosely titled, "It is not", on a variety of sub-topics of language learning...

01 - What "Language Learning" Is Not

• Not Talent (Lonsdale)
• Not Immersion per se (Lonsdale, Crashen) (Lewis, ch8)
• Not Acumulating lots of knowledge (Lonsdale, Lewis)
• Not only for kids (Lewis)
• Not genetic (Lewis)
• Not just for the liesure class (Lewis)
• Not just for the rich (Lewis)
• Not just for those who find the perfect course (Lewis)
• Not just for those who work out the perfect approach (Lewis)
• Not just for the focused people (Lewis)
• Not just for "easy" languages (Lewis)
• Not perfectly smoothe growth curve (Lewis)
• Not perfection (Lewis)
• Not boring (Lewis)
• Not rejected by native speakers on principle (Lewis)
• Not accent-less for anyone (Lewis)
• Not a lonely isolation from family and friends (Lewis)
• Not a waste of time "because most speak English anyway" (Lewis)
• Not a race that goes only to the swift (Lewis)
• Not just for the successful in life (Lewis)
• Not just for those who have retained their language from early life (Lewis)
• Not just for the able of mind and body (Lewis)
• Not irrelovant "because technology will soon translate for us" (Lewis)

02 - What "Fluency" Is Not -

• It is not a meaningless sloppy term - there are ways to measure levels of capacity.
• It is not some ideal of perfection which is only available to those for whom the language is the mother tongue
• It is never a generic concept applying to all fields of life. Specific fields have unique specialized vocabulary etc.

Discussions About This Issue

• 6 month is rediculous - Chinese from English On the Matador site - ten tips item
• 200 hours per CERFL level Cambridge English site
• Cambridge listing of ours per levelas a guideline
• English club listing of hours per leveladd another 200 hours per level
• watershed for higher ed B2-C1cross-over generally accepted
• Bernie Lewis on this subjectHe says B2 shold take 400-600 hours and can be done in 3 months. He notes that there si a wall at eh end of B2 which is where folsk tend to stall out. It takes a huge increase in effort to move up to A1 from B2. On this blog post on his site, he talks aboaut his difering appraoch from sandard classroom aproach (and therefore less time).His objectives are alos different.

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