Josh McNeill

Tag: language acquisition

The domain of subtitles.

June 30, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Asterix, for those unfamiliar, is essentially the Mickey Mouse of France. As such, French culture can arguably be indexed in his stories, where this Gaul from a little village in Armorica drinks a magic potion to gain the strength to regularly repel Roman attempts to subjugate the last of the Gaulish tribes. One can reasonably assume that the French idealize the fortifying qualities of wine, which could certainly be described as magical, as well as the simple life, free of foreign influences. The latter has played out, for instance, in their general rejection of German influences in their music from the Baroque era up to at least the latter part of the Romantic era, as well as in tense debates over whether Muslims can cover their heads in schools and even in public spaces in general. While this is all well and good, Asterix is more importantly useful for learning French.

As I wrote about before, video games can be a great source of linguistic immersion, but so can TV and film. The question is how exactly to watch a film, though, to get the most out of it in terms of language learning. That is, one can view a foreign film with subtitles (in one’s native language), captions (in the target language), or just as is, each providing different advantages. Bianchi and Ciabattoni, linguists from the University of Salento and the University of Pavia respectively, did a fairly convincing study on this in 2008. While I haven’t had time to do a thorough reading of the literature, I think this study is a good starting place and mostly agrees with the results of previous studies cited in the write-up.

Bianchi and Ciabattoni found that, in general, beginners benefit most from watching foreign films with subtitles. This is often what happens in low level courses when a film is put on, although my gut feeling is that most students simply read the subtitles, watch the action, and pay no attention to the actual language being used. Presumably, the reason that this works for beginners is because they can attach sounds and images to immediate translations, eventually building up connections, which is supported by Bianchi and Ciabattoni’s finding that acquisition is most likely when all three of these input streams match up the best. This means that focusing simply on two levels of input and ignoring the third is a sure way to fail to improve one’s language skills, even if it is still entertaining.

Things change when looking at advanced speakers, however, according to Bianchi and Ciabattoni. In these cases, captions are the most useful. The difference is presumably that subtitles begin to vie for attention when learners are already capable of parsing most of the input directly. This matches the general trend of beginning language learning with lots of translations and then moving more and more towards remaining consistently in the target language. For instance, beginner textbooks often translate everything but, by the intermediate levels, teachers begin suggesting that students use standard dictionaries in the language being learned. Ultimately, the goal is to live in the language, avoiding the potentially extra processing required to flip back and forth constantly.

Why would Asterix be good for all this, though? He wouldn’t be. That is, he wouldn’t be good for advanced learners. One should generally seek out media that uses language just above the level that they currently understand. Asterix films, with their relatively basic vocabulary, should work well for beginners, but that same limited vocabulary would mean that advanced users could only use them for things like practicing listening comprehension. The input hypothesis, developed by Krashen, is generally pretty terrible, but this part of the idea is difficult to argue against. Imagine, for example, trying to parse a phrase with five unknown content words and one unknown grammatical construction compared to a phrase with just one unknown word. Clearly, one would have an easier time with the second phrase because there would be that many more context clues to work with.

Unfortunately for Louisiana, though, there are very few films and, as far as I know, no TV shows in Louisiana French. Louisianians wishing to learn French simply have to make do with materials from outside sources, ironically, considering Louisiana’s designation as “Hollywood South.” Perhaps the potential for French becoming part of the film industry here will be the subject of a later post.

There’s only one poverty.

May 31, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I spoke about the way that one can create a false immersion environment using virtual worlds, but today I’d like to talk about the way one can make the most of the input that one receives in these worlds. That is to say, let’s talk about metalinguistic awareness.

Noms comptables

We can begin to understand this idea using an example from a poem by Kirby Jambom, who I already wrote about here and here. On the right, one can see a pattern: noun (plural) et leur(s) noun (singular/plural). The first noun is always plural while the second is either singular or plural. Since there are several people in each instance, one would expect that the second noun would be equal to the first, but that’s not the case. This is because of the difference between count nouns and mass nouns.

A count noun is a noun that one can modify with a number, like the word bêtise [joke] in this case. On can speak of several bêtises (i.e. deux bêtises, trois bêtises, etc.). On the contrary, one cannot speak of several pauvretés [poverties]. There’s only one, then no more, thankfully. For that reason, the word pauvreté is a mass noun.

Mr. Jambon’s text makes this difference clearly evident, but I’m pointing it out to demonstrate what “metalinguistic awareness” means. It means that one reads carefully. It means that one thinks about what one is reading then asks good questions. It’s as important to understand why one would say this or that as to understand what a phrase means. Always ask “why” when reading. Read carefully. It’s easier to learn a few rules than to memorize 3,000 phrases.

French lessons with the Daedric Prince.

May 19, 2015 / / 0 Comments

It’s not as dark as it sounds, although it is most definitely as nerdy as it sounds.

There are numerous strategies for learning languages, but perhaps the most effective strategy is total immersion. That is to say, learning a language is easiest when you’re constantly forced to use it because no one around you understands your first language. In fact, linguist Stephen Krashen developed the input hypothesis in the 1980s based on the idea that immersion is literally all that a learner needs. But how can one achieve the same effect in a place that is distinctly not immersive? One solution I’ve found is to use online worlds.

I’ve been playing massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) since the 90s. These games are played exclusively online with hundreds to thousands of other players in giant worlds filled with interactive characters (NPCs). Currently, I play one called The Elder Scrolls Online (@joshisanonymous if you play yourself), which is an online version of a very popular single-player role-playing game (RPG) series. What’s special about this game, besides its fun high fantasy setting and game mechanics, is its extensive use of voice-overs for NPCs, available in French. In fact, not only will basically every NPC speak to you in French, but their dialogue is also displayed in written form.

ESO Screen

Since this is interactive, NPCs generally speak one to three sentences at a time before allowing you to respond. This has the effect of providing regular amounts of linguistic input in chunks that are small enough to process, with an answer key when you can’t figure out a phrase. All of this is also provided within an activity which you would naturally be drawn to partake in. My personal experience has been that this helps greatly with listening comprehension. It even provides an opportunity to learn new vocabulary about an activity you are naturally inclined to talk about–I know the French word for ballista now, which may not seem useful, but it is when you play a lot of video games.

This environment could potentially lead to many interactions with other French speakers, as well, although The Elder Scrolls Online doesn’t seem to be particularly adept at grouping speakers of the same language together. Still, one could potentially join a guild of players who speak French in order to play through all the in game activities in an immersive way.

Obviously, this is not as effective as real life language immersion because you can’t simply spend every hour of every day playing games–I mean you could, but you probably shouldn’t. However, it is a reasonable compromise.

I intend to have regular posts like this, explaining creative learning strategies for acquiring a language.

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