Left Brain and Right Brain

When you were five years old, you probably used your native language all the time. But did you think about grammar rules? Did you worry about correct pronunciation or using verbs and articles correctly? Of course not. And if you learned a foreign language when you were young, you didn't think about rules and grammar in that language either. You learned languages naturally, without thinking about the language.

But now you're an adult, and you probably analyze English a lot. Perhaps you memorize lists of words, learn grammar rules, look up words in a dictionary, and translate from one language to the other. You probably know more about the rules of English than about how to speak it or read it fluently. You may be thinking too much about the details of English grammar and pronunciation; you may need to be a little childlike when you use English.

What's your Learning Focus?

Think of language learning as using a camera with interchangeable lenses. You can use a zoom lens to focus on the details of English-what every word means, how every rule is applied, and what all the exceptions are. You can use a wide-angle lens to see the general meaning of something-the big picture of what someone is trying to say or write.

Adults usually use the zoom lens a little too much when they learn languages. Children usually use a wide-angle lens as they learn a language naturally. As an adult, you must make a conscious effort to use a wide-angle lens most of the time, only occasionally zooming in on a word or grammar point.

H. Douglas Brown, Strategies for Success: A Practical Guide to Learning English (White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, 2002.) Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education. Addiitonol Resources 166