New Language Replaces the Old?

Traveling abroad presents an ideal opportunity to master a foreign language. While the immersion process facilitates communication in a diverse world, people are often surprised to find they have difficulty returning to their native language. This phenomenon is referred to as first-language attrition and has University of Oregon psychologist Benjamin Levy wondering how it is possible to forget, even momentarily, words used fluently throughout one’s life.

In a study appearing in the January, 2007 issue of Psychological Science, Levy and his colleague Dr. Michael Anderson discovered that people do not forget their native language simply because of less use, but that such forgetfulness reflects active inhibition of native language words that distract us while we are speaking the new language. Therefore, this forgetfulness may actually be an adaptive strategy to better learn a second language.

In the study, native English speakers who had completed at least one year of college level Spanish were asked to repeatedly name objects in Spanish. The more the students were asked to repeat the Spanish words, the more difficulty they had generating the corresponding English labels for the objects. In other words, naming objects in another language inhibits the corresponding labels in the native language, making them more difficult to retrieve later.

Interestingly, the study also showed that the more fluent bilingual students were far less prone to experience these inhibitory effects. These findings suggest that native language inhibition plays a crucial role during the initial stages of second language learning. That is, when first learning a new language, we have to actively ignore our easily accessible native language words while struggling to express our thoughts in a novel tongue. As a speaker achieves bilingual fluency, native-language inhibition becomes less necessary, accounting for the better performances of fluent bilingual speakers in the study.

Although the value of suppressing previously learned knowledge to learn new concepts may appear counterintuitive, Levy explains that “first-language attrition provides a striking example of how it can be adaptive to (at least temporarily) forget things one has learned.”

More information for this ongoing study can be found at the University of Oregon Memory Lab website at http://memorycontrol.uoregon.edu/.

English Learning Center - English at Work

Despite the quick rise in popularity of Spanish, the dominant language in the United States of America is still English. It does not matter where you work, eventually English is necessary in your job. It is more than just wise, it is necessary to Learn English to make yourself more useful to employers and to remove the salary cap you have placed on yourself. Trying to get by without perfecting the language, or at least having a firm grasp on English, is a sure method to never advancing at work.

Look at all the communications that are involved in one day at work. It does not matter if you are a laborer, salesman or manager. If you preform labor as your work, then you most likely have to talk to your fellow workmates and your supervisor, maybe two. Maybe all of them speak your language, that is not English, and so you get along just fine at work. Of course, the parts and the maintenance of anything you do is in English, which means someone always has to explain what is going on, what new thing needs to be done, or what directions are being given by the manager or foreman. Simply because you cannot Speak English fluently, someone else has to be designated to explaining everything to you. Being a hard worker will not keep your job safe.

As a non-English speaking member of the team, you are a liability.

For anyone moving up the ladder in their workplace, or trying to move up the ladder, not having a firm foundation in English really hinders your potential. A position like manager requires communication to those employees you direct, the ones that are your equal that must be coordinated with, and the superiors that expect flawless execution of orders, as well as, clear and concise reports. Guess what language those reports had better be communicated through?.

Besides needing English to properly communicate with the several different levels of business once in an organization, it is also needed to promote ones self. Networking is a difficult task when your English is shaky and unreliable. Accomplishing it well means making new associates that are happy to converse with you about things work related and outside. Struggling to communicate through a language barrier is not fun for anyone, making it much harder to make contacts. No one wants the task of deciphering whatever it is you say on a constant basis.

Do yourself a favor and sign up for bettering your English. Just getting through the interview process for a job requires some handle on it. Make it easier on yourself and Learn the English Language that controls this country. It only makes sense.

Take control of your career and your future; improve your English today.