The Fundamental Approach to Learning a Language

Language learning is a long-term and systematic process, but mastering the right learning approach can make our efforts much more efficient. We will start by discussing the nature of writing systems, helping everyone clarify the composition and learning sequence of language, thereby mastering a language more effectively. The content of this article primarily focuses on learning English.

What are Phonograms? What are Logograms?

Before starting to learn a language, it's very important to understand its writing system. Writing systems can be roughly divided into two types: phonograms and logograms.

• Phonograms: This type of writing system primarily records "pronunciation," where each letter or symbol represents a phoneme or syllable. Typical examples include English, Japanese kana, Korean, French, etc. When learning these languages, mastering pronunciation rules can help quickly sound out words and recognize characters.
• Logograms: In this system, characters primarily express "meaning," where one character often corresponds to a complete concept or word. Chinese characters are often considered representatives of logograms, but in reality, many Chinese characters are phonosemantic compounds, formed by combining "shape" and "sound," possessing both phonetic and semantic properties. Therefore, strictly speaking, Chinese characters are not purely logographic. Currently, there are almost no writing systems still in use that are composed entirely of logographic symbols. Historically, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiform contained many logographic elements. When learning these types of writing, memorizing the correspondence between characters and their meanings remains key.

English is a typical phonogram system; its writing system consists of 26 letters, and basically, the spelling of each word has a certain correspondence with its pronunciation. Although due to historical evolution, English spelling and pronunciation are not always one-to-one (such as some letters in words like "knife" and "thought" that are not pronounced), in most cases, understanding the pronunciation patterns of letters and letter combinations (such as "ph" pronounced as "F", "tion" pronounced as "SH AH N") is still important for word pronunciation, memorization, and listening. When learning English, becoming familiar with phonemes and pronunciation rules is the crucial first step to improving listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities.

Start Learning from Listening and Speaking, Not Reading and Writing

Many people are accustomed to starting language learning from "memorizing vocabulary, learning grammar, practicing writing," but this is neither the most natural nor the most effective path. Looking back at how we learned our mother tongue, it's not hard to see: we always listen first, then imitate and repeat, then try to express ourselves orally, and finally learn to read and write.

• Especially for phonogram languages like English, listening and imitation are the first steps of learning: the essence of language is communication, and speech is the most primitive carrier. Returning to the process of mother tongue learning, by listening to others speak and imitating their lines, we can develop a feel for the language and establish basic expressive abilities.
• Attempting self-expression: Based on listening and imitation, trying to say what you want to say is an important step in language internalization. At this point, it's not necessary to focus excessively on whether the grammar is accurate, but rather on the fluency and naturalness of expression.
• Reading and writing as subsequent supplements: When we have a certain ability in listening and speaking, then moving on to learning reading and writing can help us better understand the correspondence between sounds and meanings behind the text, and also make it easier to memorize vocabulary and structures.

Doing Exercises Is Not Learning a Language

Learning a language is not about translation or doing exercises; it requires imitation and application. Fill-in-the-blank and matching exercises are not language learning; no matter how many of these exercises you do, you won't be able to speak fluent English. Conversation, listening to stories, telling stories, reading, writing, and debating are the real activities needed for learning a language.