Learning to Speak a new Language

One of the issues I'm very adamant on is bilingual education.  Because of my own experiences living in Brazil from 1982 through 1983 as a Rotary International  Exchange Student, I am completely against it.  Had it been afforded to me in Brazil, I would not be able to speak Portuguêse.  I know this. During my tour I met many American students in São Paulo while taking the SAT's who had lived in Brazil for many years. Most could not speak the language past a rudimentary level. Below is my story relating how I became fluent in a language I'd never heard prior to stepping foot on Brazilian soil.  I became fluent within six months.
 

Prior to arriving, I had never heard a word of Portuguêse in my life.  I had three years of high school Spanish, which allowed me to be fed, say I was tired and find a bathroom, but that was about it.  Spanish and Portuguêse are very different languages.  Even today in Los Angeles, I attempt to get by with Latinos speaking Portuguêse and get a lot of blank stares!  I understand them more than they me because of the rudimentary Spanish I took. TOP

Fortunately, English is a Latin based language.   The alphabet for Portuguêse, Spanish, French, Italian and German is similar to English.  This does facilitate learning one or more of these languages because if you know how to read in one, you can quickly learn to read and write in any of the others.  It also means that many of the more difficult words in English are almost exactly the same in these other languages, (immense = imenso) so the better educated you are, the wider your vocabulary in your native language, the quicker you learn another.

Advocates for bilingual education point to the difficulties of integrating into a new society as a key reason for the need of bilingual instruction.  Hogwash.  This very reason forces a person to learn faster to eliminate the pain of confusion.

You'll agree with me sixteen is an interesting age for anyone. At this age I found myself in a culture quite different than mine, where women were not accorded the same freedoms and where my being an American equated me with being loose and sexually promiscuous (Their only impression of American’s is what they see in the movies and Porky’s had just come out).  Considering I was very sweet sixteen and had never even been kissed, didn’t drink, smoke or do drugs, this was a reputation I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with.  Problem was, I couldn’t talk to anyone at first.  Nobody understood me and I didn’t understand them.   TOP

I remember crying a lot the first few months.  It seemed I was always screwing up.  My etiquette was not blue blood standard (I’m middle class and I stayed with extremely wealthy families in upper society).  At 5’10” with natural platinum blond hair, I stood out like a beacon and I was an average of 6 inches taller than the girls and 3 inches taller than most of the boys, which made me really self-conscious. And my hormones were kicking in…and Brazilian boys are awfully cute!  I was curious, very curious.  One day I remember hearing a group behind me talk and realizing what a luxury it was to understand conversations happening on my perimeter.  I was determined to learn to speak just so I could share my teen angst! 
 

I was exempt from Catholic Class, confession and mass. I’m Lutheran. Eventually I was kicked out of English. I kept correcting the teacher’s pronunciation.  English and History were my best classes in the US!  In Brazil, I did best in math and science.

This was my first revelation and one of the major benefits afforded to non-English speaking students in the United Sates, a passion for math and science. 

In the US during my Junior High and High School years the refugees from Cambodia, Viet Nam and Laos were beginning to become prevalent in our schools.  The school districts did nothing to help the American kids understand these children or ease them into our society. Today this makes me mad, and fills me with guilt.   Living in Los Angeles I've come to know many of these former refugees and their stories are inspirational, gut-wrenching and a true testament to the human spirit. This was a tremendous learning opportunity for both groups of kids. As American's we really didn't welcome or try to ease them into our society.  To the contrary, as children, we were very nasty. 

The Asian students worked harder than us and elevated the grading curves.  In math and science they excelled making the rest of us feel stupid.  Asians developed the reputation of being smarter than us.  In Brazil, I realized they weren’t smarter.  Like me, they focused on what they could understand.  Numbers and science notations are universal.  Suddenly, in Brazil I couldn’t wait for math and science classes.  I loved them and I dreaded History because I really had a difficult time with reading comprehension.  TOP

I kept translations of complex Chemistry and Physics equations inside my Portuguese / English Dictionary.

Another thing happened in science class, Chemistry to be exact.  My teacher didn’t use books.  He dictated everything so I was forced to listen for each syllable and write down his dictation.  I wrote phonetically, and my host brother got quite a kick out of my spelling but I learned very quickly.

By the beginning of December (3-1/2 months) I realized I could understand the conversations on my perimeter!  I wrote my first 10 page essay in Portuguêse in January (4-months).  By the beginning of February (5-months), I was speaking around the country to students, in Portuguêse about the United States for hours at a time, and I was fielding and answering their questions.  By six months, I was speaking so fast, the Brazilian's were asking me to slow down!

The greatest compliment I received was three days before I left.  We were at a party to welcome my host sister back from her year in the US and to wish me Tchão (Good Bye).  Many people mistook me for German descent  (given the large Post WWII population in Southern Brazil), so it was not completely unusual to see someone with my features who was a native Brazilian.  I was speaking for 20 minutes with a gentleman when one of my sisters came up behind us and said, “Julio, I see you’ve met the American!”  TOP

He looked at me stunned. 

“You can’t be American.  Your Portuguese is articulate and without accent.  How can you be an American?”

I regaled him with a few colorful phrases banned by the FCC to prove my origin and we both laughed. 

In one year I had learned a language, its nuances, customs, pronunciation, and grammar so well that people did not know I was not Brazilian.  My host families had a lot to do with it.  They would not let me resort to English.  They constantly corrected my grammar and pronunciation.  In school, I was not given any advantages.  I was graded just like everyone else and received a few failing grades my first semester as I was learning. That was a bit of a shock for a 3.5 average student. TOP

True, most likely I would have needed an additional year of high school to graduate, but in Brazil, that’s normal.  Unlike the United States, in Brazil you don’t get your high school diploma until you pass the state exam.  Most children graduate between 18 and 22; few make it through on their first attempt.  They must repeat the year until they can pass.  What a novel concept, requiring that children actually prove they have the skills to graduate before you give them a diploma. 

People ask, “How did you learn how to speak Portuguêse so quickly?” 

I did exactly what millions of other people have done.  I learned to speak Portuguêse the same way  you learned how to speak English as a baby.  I was immersed in the language.  I was not coddled by bilingual documents or instruction. I was forced to learn, and learn I did.  Eliminate the crutches, the bilingual safety net and people will learn because they have to.  Age has nothing to do with it.  Intelligence has nothing to do with it (if a two year old can learn to speak, so can anyone else). In fact, adults learn languages more quickly than children because they already posses language skills. 

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