Becoming proficient in a so-called ‘easy’ language (for English speakers, French is relatively easy) often takes hundreds of hours; a difficult language (Mandarin anyone?) takes several thousand. That’s good for language teachers, but not so good for the learners.
Language teaching today is where medicine was in the 18th century
Even after putting in all those hours of following an expensive course, many people never become proficient. How can so much time and effort amount to such little progress? Language learning happens inside the brain, making the processes involved difficult to observe and understand – that’s why language teaching today is where medicine was in the 18th century, and why, all too often, language lessons are associated with failure.
When you reach a dead-end, it’s sometimes worth revisiting the insights of pioneers. In his treatise, The Art of Teaching and Studying Languages, the 19th-century Frenchman François Gouin describes his own failures and eventual success.
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