Retro Learns Korean: The Monolingual Transition and How to Approach it

What is the monolingual transition?

For those who do not know, the monolingual transition, popularised by the Mass Immersion Approach, is the process of transitioning from learning via a known language to using the target language itself to learn the language. Many learners do not seem to grasp the reasons or the process behind the 'transition' even though it is in the name.

Often learners take to 'trying it' or simply brute forcing it and spend hours deep diving into the dictionary searching up every new word until they can finally understand one. Many also like to think, as with everything, that it is either or, you're either 100% monolingual or 100% using your native language.

Due to similarities of close languages you may never have to use a monolingual dictionary as the words have roughly the same meanings and usages although some words obviously stray from this the majority of words can be exchange 1:1 due to them stemming from the same origin and similar culture.

The Monolingual Transition and How to Approach it

Monolingual dictionary showing multiple meanings and synonyms.

Why should we bother?

The most obvious advantage of using the target language to learn the target language is that you spend more time immersed in the language. This is definitely the biggest advantage it has to offer as there are no downsides or work arounds to spending more time immersing.

Many of the advantages mentioned often involve the dictionary. The main ideas are that you will have a more accurate description of the meaning of a word and also understand the uses better. These however are not as effective if your target language dictionary also has the description in your native language and lists the common uses of the word. These also imply that you will remember all the uses and dictionary entries, however how many dictionary entries can you list off in your native language? In fact you probably struggle to even describe some words properly but you still know exactly what they mean and exactly how to use them.

All the contestants were wrong but their answers match the description exactly.

My personal favourite advantage is associating the words you know of similar roots to the new words. Perhaps this is most advantageous in Sino based languages in which words have stemmed from a logographic writing system so contain meaning per syllable, similar to how in english there are affixes that stem from Greek and Latin roots. Using syllables with the same meaning to link words it makes words easier to remember over a full or even short description.

To get to the stage where you are able to look up words without ever having to use your native language requires you to have a large vocabulary and know most words already otherwise you will probably have just a vague understanding of the description which defeats the purpose of doing it for better understanding. Many words are very abstract from their description and will be much easier to understand by a simple translation which will save time that can be spent viewing words in a usable context rather than doing multiple dictionary look ups just to understand the meaning of 1 word vaguely.

Dictionary description in 2 languages and shows a case where a translation is quicker.

How we should approach the transition

Before we can begin, we need to first build our vocabulary to the point where we can slowly start using similar words and short descriptions to help us remember words. As your vocabulary grows you will notice many words have a similar meaning.

I highly recommend using a dictionary that shows the description in both languages as you can use one to fully understand the description and the other to check if the word is being described by any words that you already know. Looking up words in this way allows you to reinforce the words that you already know whilst also providing you with a description that you can fully comprehend.

The more you learn the easier it will become to understand the entire entry. Dictionary entries are always worded in a specific way in pretty much every language. My opinion on the transition is that it will not help you expand your knowledge in itself but when you have a good amount of knowledge you can use it to help remember new words easier. The understanding of words comes from seeing the words used in many many contexts, not understanding it's 5 uses in the dictionary.

Pictures are great for our memory.

Even when you are very confident in using the dictionary, it is not bad to rely on your native language as a crutch. Let's take a look at the dictionary definition of snail: 'a mollusc with a single spiral shell into which the whole body can be withdrawn.' It is much easier to see snail and move on. I highly recommend using pictures for these kinds of words as you will generally find they are all nouns. There are also many verbs that you can use a .gif to help understand the word better if you do not have a native who can show you the action.

Overall the transition is not as important as many people would make it seem. There is no shame in relying on your native language as we are adults who already understand many complex and abstract words which is our main advantage over children when it comes to learning languages.

The main thing to remember is that it is a TRANSITION, you should not put any pressure on yourself to use one language because you heard it was good from some guy on the internet. The more you become familiar with your target language the more value you will see yourself in it and that is when you should start coaxing yourself into peaking at the monolingual definition more often and trying to see if you can break the large descriptions down into ones that make more sense for you. Comprehension will always outweigh any benefit gained from switching to fully to using your target language.

Retro Learns Korean

The Monolingual Transition and How to Approach it

What is the monolingual transition?

Why should we bother?

How we should approach the transition

For related posts please check out these pages:

2 comments: