Learning a Language

　　Linguists（语言学家) are interested in the abilities to understand and use language that people have. One of the abilities that people have is the ability to learn language. You are using this ability right now in your efforts to learn English as a second language. Most students would like to know how to learn a language more easily. Most linguists and language teachers would also like to know this. Linguists are working on this problem in two ways. First, they are trying to understand how children lean to speak and understand their native language. They also trying to learn how people learn a second language.

　　Linguists are not sure how children learn to speak. Some linguists think that children are born with an ability to learn and use a language. This does not mean that you came into the world knowing your native language. It means that, along with many other things, you were born, with the ability to learn your native language. One group of linguists feels that with just a little exposure to language, and a little help from your parents, you were able to learn to speak. Another group of linguists does not think this is correct.

　　This second group of linguists thinks that children learn to use a language from their parents. They believe that a child's parents teach their child to say sounds and words in their language, When the child know some words, the parents begin to teach their child to say sentences. The linguists don not think that parents teach their children in the same way that people are taught a second language. Instead, parents probably teach their children by talking to them and correcting their use of language. These linguists feel that you learn your language mainly from our environment（环境）. In this case, your environment is your family and your home. As you see, the first group of linguists disagrees.

　　There are some other theories about how children learn language. May people are studying the process of language learning by children. This work is being done in many countries. Linguists are not the only people who are interested in these questions. Many psychologists（心理学家）, doctors, and parents are also interested. People who teach foreign languages are interested in this process（过程）.

　　Foreign language teachers are interested in how children learn to speak their native language for a very important reason. If we knew how children learn their native language, perhaps we would have an easy way to teach adults, as well as children, a second language. This is a very interesting idea. Some foreign language teachers believe that adults learn a second language the same way children learn their native language. These teachers try to make their students 'lives similar to the life of a child just learning to speak. These teachers speak only the foreign language in the classroom. They will not speak to the student in the native language. They try to expose（使…接触) the students to as much of the spoken language as possible. They do not teach their children rules for language usage, either. They simply tell the child how to say something correctly. Foreign language teachers using this spoken language method do the same thing. For some students, this method is successful. They learn to speak quickly and easily. They seem to enjoy using the language, and they do not worry about using exactly the right rules for everything they say. Some students, however, cannot learn a language this way. Linguists are trying to find another way to teach them a language.

　　A second method, the rule-learning method, sometimes works better with these students. Some linguists believe that learning a foreign language is different from learning to speak your native language. They feel that a student must learn the rules for using the language by memorizing them. The students must practice saying things in the language, using the rules correctly. These linguists try to teach the students the rules of the language they want to learn. Then they give the students many sentences in the language to say over and over again. The students are encouraged to make up new sentences using the rules that they have learned and other words that they know.

　　Some students are very successful with this second, rule-learning method. They learn the language quite quickly and can use it well. They know the rules for using the language, and can speak it and understand it too. For many students, this is the best way to learn a foreign language. For some students, both of these methods may work. Sometimes teachers use a combination of these methods in a class, hoping that everyone will be able to learn the language with one method or the other. Some people can go to a country and "pick up" the language simply from hearing it and trying to communicate. These people are rare.

　　Most people try to learn a language by taking classes and studying it in some way. Most teachers will try different ways of teaching to help the students learn the language quickly and easily. Linguists and psychologists are trying to understand how people learn and use a language. Perhaps language learning will be easier for everyone when we have clear understanding of how people learn and use language.