Language Learning (for me, 🇺🇸EFL)

Read/write, listen/speak. How did our priorities change?

To participate more in your foreign language, find a place to practice speaking.

Learning Through Print: The Read/Write Era

We spent decades learning languages the way we consumed information: through printed pages. I grew up when newspapers arrived at breakfast and books lined the shelves. If you wanted to learn a language, you read. You wrote. You built vocabulary lists. That’s how we passed tests. Built fluency in class with the better English teachers.

First Shock: Listening Is a Skill

New technologies changed that. In 1972, I knew high school English for 3 years. The third German TV channel started broadcasting “Sesame Street”, the original version. In English. This was kid’s stuff, yet I was shocked at how little I could understand. The Muppets spoke simple stuff, but so fast. I watched as many episodes as I could. Months later I noticed progress, could understand better. So I kept watching, learning, and got better. Until they changed to dubbed German.

First Real Test: Speaking Under Pressure

In 1976, first time to meet a native English speaker. I was so nervous. This was not school, it was a real test. Turned out he understood what I said. Errors? Didn’t matter. I understood him, too. Relief. Success.

Technology Shift: From Writing to Speaking

Newer technologies again changed my priorities. In 2010 when Skype arrived, I had 8 years of on-and-off experience with video conferencing between Japan and Germany over ISDN, the first digital lines. The most valuable communication to build trust was face-to face. After a first meeting, working together by phone felt a little easier. Working together by video felt much easier. In German. In English it felt more difficult to speak to the camera, trust built more slowly but faster than by phone alone. I realized I had learned business English to write emails I’d never send.

I was proud of my writing in 🇺🇸EFL

And yet even a few years ago, I still measured my language progress by how well I could craft sentences and structures on a page. In 2023, started using AI to improve my writing. Video conferencing and coaching became routine. Now, on many days I speak more than I type. I listen more than I read.

Why Speaking Feels Risky and Matters More

Speaking isn’t just faster than writing. It’s riskier. I can’t change my accent quickly. I can’t delete what I just said. I can’t pause mid-conversation to look up a new word. That’s why speaking live [rhymes with naïve] matters more, builds trust more easily.

Adapting to the Changes

If I were still learning a language the way information used to move decades ago, I’d be preparing for a world that’s already shifted. Learning by speaking helped me to get understood in Japanese, within months. Finally, after 39 years of living here mostly in English.

Watch the [interview with Terumi Kai] from Japan Language Factory showing my progress with the method in Japanese. We discuss hobbies and how I came to found German Language Factory.

To be continued.

Question:

What part of your language learning assumes you’ll mostly read and write?
What part benefits from listen and speak?

Curious,

Bernd from German Language Factory Ja, Deutsch. 🇩🇪