Languages are complex systems that consist of different dimensions. Linguistics refers to the knowledge about the target language and about investigating and making discoveries of it as a system.

Learning to speak foreign languages can be targeted in different ways. For example, language students at the University take courses in language structure, semantics (or the meaning), phonetics (the sounds) and pragmatics (what the context contributes to meaning). Apart from this, the studies will also include vocabulary and grammar.

Truth is, learning our mother tongue has a process that differs a lot from learning a foreign language. We start speaking our mother tongues naturally and we don’t put much effort in learning, we just focus on our need to communicate and start by imitating and linking ideas. By contrast, when we take lessons for learning foreign languages, we focus a lot on structures. From a linguistic perspective, these two cases are known as language acquisition in the first case, and language learning in the second.

Linguists often come with a lot of theories about the process of language acquisition but the most shared conclusion is that this process takes place unconsciously. This means that the language is acquired naturally due to the fact of being exposed to an environment in which this language is spoken.

Learning a language linguistically means getting to understand the linguistic structures, finding patterns and reflecting them. Once we understand how a language is structured and how it functions, it is a lot easier to learn other languages as well.

For specialists, the best way to ‘learn’ a language combines principles that are present in learning and acquiring. Yes, it is important to know the structures and laws and understand them, but also, when we learn by doing and by concrete means, the way kids do, the results are better.One example of mixing both strategies would be taking English lessons but also reading English books or watching movies in English to further develop vocabulary and listening skills. In this scenario, the student learns English through studying grammar and vocabulary but is also acquiring the language in a more natural way while getting immersed in an English speaking environment.

This simple example summarizes why it is a good idea to mix different strategies to improve skills with a foreign language. For one thing, the more we are exposed to a language, the more our brain recognizes the structures and vocabulary. And for the other, lessons help us memorize and understand laws.

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