Repeatedly exercising the muscles in your mouth by speaking out loud is a vitally important element of learning a language.   “No kidding” you say, but it is important to remind ourselves now and then about the mechanics behind this so its full importance is understood.  Speaking the language that you learn repeatedly establishes words not just in your regular memory but also establishes patterns in your muscle memory, that is, your mouth muscles will recognise the pattern in the words you are saying and will pronounce them more fluently the more often you say them.

Muscle memory is described by the indefatigable contributors to Wikipedia as “a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task; eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort.”  This is as applicable in language learning as it is in sports, music or any of the other repetitive processes we may engage in.  It goes without saying the more you do something the easier it becomes.

So the golden rules for language muscle memory are:

1. If you are reading new vocabulary or a section of text make sure you read it out loud to maximise the benefit you will receive  - try not to kid yourself reading quietly to yourself is far less effective overall.  If you’re in public and don’t want people to hear you at very least mouth the words silently.
2. Whenever you come across a common phrase or saying, specifically repeat it out loud several times (the more the better).  Just as the 100 most important words to use are important to focus on, making sure you have established muscle memory on key phrases will see a disproportionate boost to your fluency.
3. If you overhear a native speaker speaking, try and repeat something they have said (it doesn’t matter what they have said) while it is fresh in your mind you will be able to mimic them more closely and establish a good habit.
4. If you have developed bad habits in speaking (i.e. poor pronunciation or mumbling) consciously try to break them through muscle memory re-training.  Get a native speaker to record the phrase(s) to your phone or iPod, and then listen and repeat them consistently until you have broken your habit.
5. Finally, make sure you use the language whenever you can.  Read signs out loud as you pass by, order from your waiter in the language you are learning, sing along to foreign language songs.  The key is repetition and mimicry, keep focussing on correct pronunciation and eventually it will become second nature.

Have a great weekend all!

Simon

You’ve seen the film right?  Keanu Reeves downloads knowledge of Kung Fu and various other martial arts straight into his brain.  Well, guess what?  You can’t do that with languages. Not yet anyway.  However, I discovered something rather marvellous the other day: The Matrix may be able to help you with your language learning after all…

A French cousin came to visit for a week with her son and one night we decided to watch The Matrix together.  Since her son doesn’t speak much English, I was going to put French subtitles on but I discovered that my Bluray version had various voice-over options in multiple languages.  So instead we watched with French dubbing and English subtitles!  I was then further surprised by just how impressive the dubbing was.  I’ve watched French dubbed films before and some of the voices have been, frankly, comical.  Not so with The Matrix.  Oh no.  Neo sounds like Keanu Reeves, Morpheus sounds just like Laurence Fishburne, and Trinity like Carrie-Anne Moss – all speaking French!  Even Agent Smith has that wonderfully deliberate Carl-Sagan-esque delivery that Hugo Weaving first voiced.

The Matrix may or may not be your first film choice, but how many other films might be in your home DVD or Bluray collection secretly hiding a couple of hours worth of foreign language exposure?  Definitely worth a second look…

Gareth