How do you learn a new language? Do you learn separate words or whole phrases? How do you think your brain is doing that? How does it arrange the information?
A couple of days ago I was talking with a brilliant linguist about just that subject. He believes strongly that we store whole, ready-to-use phrases rather than single words. He gave me an example in Italian: 'mi da fastidio' (it annoys me, bothers me). I speak some Italian but that was the first time I have heard this expression and I had only a vague idea what it might mean. Later on in the discussion he repeated it once more. The next day I was walking in the center of Amsterdam (where I live), deeply lost in my thoughts and suddenly I've heard:
'blah blah blah mi da fastidio blah blah'
The phrase 'mi da fastidio' reached my perception like a bullet and even though I wasn't paying attention to what the people around me were saying I managed to hear that phrase perfectly. My brain fished it out of the noise of the busy Amsterdam street as if it was only waiting for it, as if it was extra sensitive for it.
It seems to me that after I learn a new phrase my brain becomes sensitive to that phrase for a certain period of time (let's call it a trial period). If in that time I will come across this phrase again my brain will react with: Wait a second, I've heard that phrase just yesterday! That must mean it's an important phrase!
[And indeed, 'mi da fastidio' is used frequently. Apparently the Italians like to complain...]
If I don't come across it after the trail period is over the phrase would not get a high rank in my memory.
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1 comment:
I don't know...
I certainly am aware of the fact that the phrase 'mi da fastidio' has internal structure but still I have perceived it as a unit. It managed to get through to me as one piece even though I wasn't paying attention.
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