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Questions tagged [second-lang-acquisition]

Questions with this tag are about the acquisition of one or more second languages. In other words any language other than the mother tongue or native language of a given speaker.

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Can someone explain this sentence from Dartmouth's German page?

Was perusing the page (you can find it here), I came across the paragraph "That said, word order is a complex aspect of language, never wholly mastered by non-native speakers. What is the idea ...
Mr518's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes
0 answers
129 views

The barrier of intuitively using a second language’s word order

I am learning German and a big hurdle I am facing is word placement. For example, the last half of a sentence is: […], aber ich werde es nicht verstehen. (but I would not understand it.) I know ...
Mr518's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
404 views

Beginner to Dutch language: should I translate Dutch to English or to German?

I am a fluent English speaker (lvl C2) and a decent German speaker (lvl B2 and fully prepared for C1). I recently started following a Dutch course for beginners. My fear is that I will eventually ...
jpro's user avatar
  • 131
0 votes
1 answer
276 views

Are there resources that exploit phones of English, to teach how to phonate all IPA phones?

Preface: I use 'phonate' to mean: `to produce or to utter a phone'. After 5 years, I finally learned to phonate the Alveolar Trill [r], from an explanation that cleverly exploited English phonology ...
user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
600 views

How come I cannot get my "oral" English to a native speaker level after 25 years of trying?

I was born in Russia and moved to the US at the adolescent and prepubescent age of 12. Before my relocation to the US I had never really been exposed to the English language at large, and after my ...
user74809's user avatar
  • 193
5 votes
1 answer
172 views

How can you learn to read older dialects of your first language(s)?

Abbreviate ED as earlier dialects of your modern first language(s). I desire to read writing written in only ED (eg: philosophy written in English or French dated from 1400) and NOT in languages ...
user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
77 views

second-language phonology/L1 influence on L2 acquisition

I'm a writer, and I want to write a poem about how one's native language can interfere with the acquisition of a second language. I understand that this is studied in the field of second-language ...
Cathryn McCrary's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
103 views

Which linguistic theories account for non native accent?

Clearly, there is a lot known about acquisition of second language by adults, and the different degrees of fluency (at least on the phonetic and phonological levels) which are obtainable. What ...
Teusz's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
34 views

Are there any tools on the market that employ prosodic research to help overcome speech impediments?

I see a lot of language learning software, apps, intelligent games on the market, but nearly all of them focuses on grammar and lexical aspects of linguistics. I wonder if any techniques are dedicated ...
Teusz's user avatar
  • 2,711
2 votes
2 answers
252 views

What stats are available to estimate the possibly coming "World language"?

My definition of the "World language" is the language most people can understand and use as an international language—not necessarily the language most spoken. Background: A hater of English argued ...
Simon Streicher's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
6k views

Which sign language should I learn first? [closed]

I want to start learning sign language. The Wikipedia lists several sign languages depending on real spoken languages, and they all have their origins and families and classifications just like spoken ...
Xirux Nefer's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Opposite of "intensifier"?

I really like apples. I don't really like apples. In sentences #1, 'really' acts as an intensifier. Using "teacher talk", I would say that 'really' softens the sentence, but I can't think of a ...
miltonaut's user avatar
  • 133
2 votes
0 answers
182 views

Learning two closely related languages [closed]

This is a follow-up, and hopefully an improvement, to my question on German and Yiddish that was migrated to German from Linguistics: https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/18895/learning-german-...
user6849's user avatar
  • 212
1 vote
0 answers
184 views

Learning German and Yiddish at the same time [closed]

I need to learn German for professional reasons to a relatively high level (say C1 on the standard European scale). At the same time (or within a couple of years, say), I would like to learn Yiddish ...
user6849's user avatar
  • 212
4 votes
2 answers
183 views

What method of teaching foreign languages is more effective?

In wikipedia i found a list of methods of teaching foreign languages - language pedagogy. But it's seems that we not have a well recognized method or methods, or more effective then others, or at ...
rtlukn1948's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
241 views

What are the benefits of learning Latin using Spanish?

I am a native speaker of Spanish. I also learned English. I am now trying to learn Latin. Obviously, the Spanish --> Latin route is a lot more preferable than the English --> Latin route given that ...
ltcomdata's user avatar
  • 141
3 votes
4 answers
705 views

What sub-field in linguistics should I study to help me learn foreign languages? [closed]

I'm interested in languages and linguistics, can speak a few languages (English, French, Mandarin, some German, Japanese, and Esperanto) and would like to eventually learn more (Japanese, Spanish, ...
Emile's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
479 views

Way to learn foreign languages

It's my first post here. I was planning for a long time to learn another foreign language. Polish is my mother tongue and I also speak english. Not on a professional level of course but I'm pretty ...
Pijotrek's user avatar
  • 129
2 votes
1 answer
358 views

How can I improve my writing fluency in English? [closed]

So this is a problem I've been struggling with for quite some time now. English is a second language for me despite the fact that I've spend a lot of my childhood years in Australia (grades 1 through ...
Anonymous13868's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
277 views

Does your dominant language proficiency determine the degree of possible proficiency in L2?

People who aren't english native speakers often tell me that their English is better than their native tongue, which is kinda odd since they use their native tongue most of the time. Because of this,...
Marry Damon's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
480 views

Two tasks in one experiment design (self-paced-reading & grammaticality judgment)

For experiment design experts, I want to know if it's possible to design an experiment on PsychoPy or Open Sesame in which the subject does a self paced reading (with measuring the reading times for ...
Linguister's user avatar
2 votes
5 answers
4k views

Why might English be considered easy to learn and why might it be considered difficult?

I have heard claims of English being both very easy and very difficult to learn for L2 learners (in adulthood). Is it that the English writing system is difficult to learn while the language itself ...
user3534062's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
603 views

Teaching children Spanish and Esperanto at home from non-native speakers

A question has already been asked on teaching a child a foreign language if you aren't a native speaker, but the answers are mixed - the 'right' answer says languages can be taught by a non-native ...
Powers's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
507 views

Am I a native English speaker? (born I Hungary, lived in US from age 3)

I'm not sure if I'm going to get any answers, but I am trying to find out whether I can qualify as a native english speaker. Here's my story: born in Hungary moved to US at age 3 spoke Hungarian ...
Elisa's user avatar
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0 votes
3 answers
629 views

Languages where the prestige or standard variety is not "clear" or "distinct"?

When learning a language you generally want to have a teach with clear pronunciation. If you're planning to learn by immersion, if it's a language spoken in several places, you want to choose the ...
hippietrail's user avatar
  • 14.8k
5 votes
0 answers
195 views

L1 memories being recalled in my L2

The situation is as follows: I have been studying my L2 for approximately 4 years. I have spent a total of 10 months immersed in the L2 environment. My current stint has been for 5 months and counting....
user3221's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
138 views

Besides lexicon and phonology, what are the biggest differences in Mandarin that are hard for Westerners to learn?

I'm dabbling in Chinese lately and of course most of the vocabulary is new and the phonology is difficult, including tones, tone sandhi, unstressed syllables, and even some aspects of the vowels and ...
hippietrail's user avatar
  • 14.8k
4 votes
1 answer
242 views

Mastering a foreign language without staying in a country to which the language is native [closed]

I am not a native English speaker. What I would like to understand is - if a non native speaker who’s got a fairly decent command on the language (in this case say English) speaks to his or her kid in ...
S Keshav's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
152 views

Does being educated affect the rate and the quality of second language acquisition?

People move a lot and become immigrants in other countries. Many immigrants, in every historical time frame, come to countries without an prior knowledge of the language. However, they usually learn ...
martina.physics's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
397 views

Ranking sentences

I have a list of 15000 sentences for a new language I wish to learn. I also have the English translation of each of these sentences. Additionally, I have a 30 million word corpus for the new language. ...
Dott's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
7k views

Are there marked/"hard" phonemes that are acquired very late or never by a substantial number of speakers?

Marked phonemes are those that require more effort during articulation or are "harder" to articulate. For example, the interdental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ are considered to be marked. Marked phonemes ...
robert's user avatar
  • 4,289
12 votes
3 answers
6k views

Common problems in second language pronunciation

Transfer of some phonetic/phonological features from the first language to a second language is common in second language acquisition. For example, aspiration is not phonemic in English. Voiceless ...
robert's user avatar
  • 4,289
2 votes
0 answers
2k views

Theories on L1 transfer/interference in L2 pronunciation/phonetics/phonology

What theories explain the transfer of phonetic and phonological features from the first language to a second or foreign language? How do these theories differ from each other? Such theories should ...
robert's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
3k views

What are the differences between the French and English [i] and how does it affect the perception?

I'm rephrasing my question after (very helpful) comments to my initial version: What are the differences between the [i] produced by French speakers (in French) and English speakers (in English)? ...
fauxneticien's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
105 views

How to measure importance of language? [closed]

My question is especially about how we can measure importance and choose a second language for us. It is not a secret that in a variety of aspects English is first language by its importance. So how ...
TIKSN's user avatar
  • 321
3 votes
1 answer
434 views

To what extent do children adapt to a language which is not their mother-tongue?

In following when talking about 'native speaker' I refer to what is considered as 'mother tongue' rather than reaching a level of fluency. For the purpose of this question think of an average person ...
Em1's user avatar
  • 299
4 votes
2 answers
426 views

What language do children think in?

If a child born in Canada is spoken to strictly in another foreign tongue other than english (ie. Italian), it is inevitable that this child will also think in Italian. When this child starts going ...
Martina's user avatar
  • 41
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Which makes more more effective vocabulary practice: L1 -> L2 or L2 -> L1?

Note: Please don't assume that because I'm asking about vocabulary, that my only method of language study is vocabulary memorization. I'm in the process of learning a couple of new languages, and am ...
Flimzy's user avatar
  • 632
-3 votes
2 answers
308 views

What Second Language Confers the Greatest Cognitive Benefit [closed]

If I were to learn a second language which language in the world would confer the greatest cognitive benefit to a native English speaker? Would, say, Japanese confer greater benefit than Spanish due ...
Lemma Prism's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
4k views

What are some of the disadvantages of learning a language through book-study as opposed to immersion?

I have been told that the best way to learn a new language is through immersion, i.e. placing oneself in an environment in which only the target language is spoken and making constant use of the ...
James Grossmann's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
1k views

What research has been done on the effects of learning Esperanto on acquiring other languages?

I have recently started learning Esperanto because I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare and contrast it with the natural languages I speak. Anyone who has done even light research ...
acattle's user avatar
  • 2,898
8 votes
2 answers
5k views

How many words do we hear in a day?

With regard to the English language, how many words is the average person likely to hear (not read) on an average day. By "how many words" I don't mean how many unique words. In other words if I hear ...
Baz's user avatar
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13 votes
5 answers
27k views

How many "words" do I need to learn?

I am interested in learning a second language. To do this I have created a list of the 1000 most common words and phrases for a given language. I've also established sentences which contains each of ...
Baz's user avatar
  • 1,072
8 votes
3 answers
2k views

Do native speakers of language with lexical tone have difficulty learning another language with more or different lexical tones?

Have there been any studies done on say Mandarin native speakers who learn as adults other languages which have more lexical tones or which have lexical tones different to Mandarin? I believe for ...
hippietrail's user avatar
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9 votes
6 answers
20k views

Is learning German easier for people who know Sanskrit, and vice versa?

I've heard many times that learning German is easier for those who speak Sanskrit, and vice versa. Is there any linguistic basis for this? What similarities exist between the two languages that may be ...
Manishearth's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
469 views

Are there studies of difficulty to learn particular language depending on learner's native language?

Do you know if any studies were made to classify the difficulty to learn a particular language depending on learner's native language? There are a lot of discussions about what is the easiest or the ...
Stepan Vihor's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
362 views

What has the study of second language acquisition brought to foreign language teachers?

Learning a second language, either by immersing yourself into the culture that speaks it or by being formally taught by a fluent speaker, is an old practice in history. But the scientific study of ...
Otavio Macedo's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
475 views

How do children learn to speak compared to adults?

Why is it hard to learn a second language as an adult while the children may learn to speak more than one language more easily than adults do? If true, how can the language learning process be made ...
cpx's user avatar
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