Code Blending

Code blending & learning languages - Thor May

1. "Code" here is another word for "language". Blending is what happens when you mix two things together, like putting ink into a glass of water. Every human language today is a blend of older languages.

2. In some countries most people speak only one language. England, America, Australia, Japan and Korea are examples of mostly monolingual countries. Even in these countries many immigrants speak more than one language.

3, In most countries, most people speak more than one language. India, Nigeria and Papua New Guinea are examples of countries like this. Traditionally in multilingual countries, people have usually NOT learned their extra languages in schools. They learn different languages to do different jobs, like trading in the market or talking to relatives. Sometimes they learn a new language to talk to a new husband or wife. The learning is usually casual, bit by bit, and often blends phrases from old and new languages as they try to remember for each situation. Almost everyone is able to learn a second language in this way.

4. Mass language learning in schools for large numbers of people is quite a new idea. It is not much more than 100 years old. Most school language teaching in the last 100 years has made a strong rule not to mix the new language with the old language. This is an idea of "language purity". People who learn a language in this way are uncomfortable mixing languages. School language teaching has been very unsuccessful, perhaps 95% unsuccessful, except for immigrants.

5. When you are beginning to learn a new language, it can be quite helpful to mix in words and phrases from the new language with the old language. This helps you to remember. Your brain is clever enough to sort out the two languages later ! When you get better at the new language, you will need less and less help from the old language. Don't be discouraged! Sometimes a teacher will say (for example) "speak only English". Well, speak your new language as much as you can, but when you are stuck, it is OK to use a few words of the old language too.

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