How do you learn that language anyway?

English students

Imagine you want to learn French. What's your first step? Maybe Google. Google, "how to learn French" and you can find an endless wealth of resources.

But what if Google doesn't have much, if any information for the language you want to learn? There are a few items online, but the information is inconsistent, a mixture of 4 languages, and you don't know how to make sense of the grammar, even if you can learn some vocabulary.

This was the situation that another foreigner found herself in here. And when she asked her local contacts about how to learn the language, they directed her towards my NGO, because we're known for learning the language and having resources in the local language.

And that was how I found myself sitting across the table from her, showing her dictionaries and grammars, giving language learning tips and encouraging her beginner attempts at figuring out how to communicate.

So, how do we learn the language? It's been a few years since I started in on this language, but I continue to be involved with new people as they join us and dive into language learning.

It all starts with a question, and a way of making voice recordings. We sit with a language helper, ask them how to say something, and then record what they say. We ask more questions about what it means to make sure we're learning what we need to learn. Here's a bit of an example:

Mountain road

Me: "I want to learn how to greet people."

Language Helper: "Ok, say this: -------------"

Me: "Thanks, what does that mean?"

LH: "It means, 'What's your news?'"

Me: "Great. Can you say it again and I'll record it?"

They say it and we record it. Sometimes we role play and practice, sometimes we just take the recordings home to practice. Then we go out and try it on other people. The next day we learn a few new phrases for dealing with other situations.

"I want to learn how to buy things."

"I want to learn the numbers."

"How do I ask someone if I can visit?"

Each lesson prompt can go many directions, all a bit at the mercy of the language helper, as they choose how to help us navigate different life situations.

Then we start learning the grammar of what we're saying. How do you take what you said and put it in the past? We put together the patterns, consulting the grammar book that my team put together, then we go out and try our language on new people.

And over time, we learn the language! We go from knowing what to say in response to specific phrases, to understanding new phrases on our own, to making new phrases and communicating bigger ideas.

For some of us, it's fun. For others it's not fun at all. For all of us, it's hard work. But we're committed to communicating in the local language, and we help each other in our efforts.

And when another foreigner shows an interest in learning the language, we help them too!