LEARNING A LANGUAGE

LEARNING A LANGUAGE

Each language is structured differently, and the different structures offer users different suggestions to meaning. so when we learn our first language, our brain / mind ‘tunes into’ the way the particular l1 works, and we learn to pay attention to particular cues to meaning that are most helpful. When we meet a new language, our brain / mind automatically tries to apply the first language experience by looking for familiar cues. Part of learning a foreign language is developing new understandings about the particular cues to meaning that the new language offers, and that differ from those of our first language. The transferability of knowledge, skills and strategies across languages depends closely on how the two written languages work.