April 7, 2007 at 01:23To study or to study?
It seems to me that the wrong approach to mastering foreign languages comes from a language error inherent in the Russian language, because of the ambiguity of the word to learn and the common root with the word to study, because of which their semantic fields are blurred and confused. In English, these words are clearly and unequivocally differentiated:
to teach - learn in the sense of learning
to learn - learn in the sense of learning, acquire a skill (learn to swim, learn to read, learn to write)
to study - learn in the sense of studying, exploring, cognizing (studying to study mathematics, the theory of swimming styles)
to drill - to teach in the sense of training, to drill.
These words are also distinguished in the direction:
to study (at) - to study somewhere
to learn (from) -to learn from someone
be an apprentice - learn some craft, skill.
Thus, things that are completely different for an English-speaking person are how to learn English — to master, acquire practical skills, and to study English — to study theory, to research, to learn laws and rules — for a Russian-speaking person it sounds the same — to learn English, and in accordance with the rule transferences begin and mean the same!
Because of this transference, instead of teaching, training, and giving language skills, unhappy children and adults are forced to study theory, laws, rules, and exceptions. It’s the same as instead of reading the primer to first-graders, they would begin to talk about the peculiarities of the use of participles in the early works of Dostoevsky.
It sounds silly "my child is studying walking - he has already done three steps" or "my studies of cycling have ended at the third pillar" - we learn to walk, talk, ride a bicycle. Why, because of the ridiculous linguistic error, do we not learn the language, but learn it?
source - Philolinguia
to teach - learn in the sense of learning
to learn - learn in the sense of learning, acquire a skill (learn to swim, learn to read, learn to write)
to study - learn in the sense of studying, exploring, cognizing (studying to study mathematics, the theory of swimming styles)
to drill - to teach in the sense of training, to drill.
These words are also distinguished in the direction:
to study (at) - to study somewhere
to learn (from) -to learn from someone
be an apprentice - learn some craft, skill.
Thus, things that are completely different for an English-speaking person are how to learn English — to master, acquire practical skills, and to study English — to study theory, to research, to learn laws and rules — for a Russian-speaking person it sounds the same — to learn English, and in accordance with the rule transferences begin and mean the same!
Because of this transference, instead of teaching, training, and giving language skills, unhappy children and adults are forced to study theory, laws, rules, and exceptions. It’s the same as instead of reading the primer to first-graders, they would begin to talk about the peculiarities of the use of participles in the early works of Dostoevsky.
It sounds silly "my child is studying walking - he has already done three steps" or "my studies of cycling have ended at the third pillar" - we learn to walk, talk, ride a bicycle. Why, because of the ridiculous linguistic error, do we not learn the language, but learn it?
source - Philolinguia