Search for Language is about the experiences I’ve had while trying to learn a new language. It is a place for me to consolidate what I have learned about the language-learning process; what has helped, what has been challenging. It is the resource that I wish I had found when I began learning my first second language. I hope these reflections will make learning a new language easier and more fun for others.
Search for Language focuses on two language-learning topics in particular. The first is the idea that learning your first second language is a much different experience than learning additional languages or coming from a bilingual background. The second area of focus is the first second language that I have been learning: European Portuguese.
These two topics have been an inextricable part of my language-learning and I have a lot to say about them. I started learning European Portuguese in ernest at age 28 after marrying a wonderful woman from Portugal. The fact that I had never learned to speak a foreign language before, and that there are fewer resources available for learning European Portuguese (as opposed to Brazilian Portuguese) presented unique challenges. Along the way I’ve been taking notes on my questions and challenges and trying to provide the best answers I can.
I have read, and greatly enjoyed, many of the resources that are already out there – the polyglot sites, language-specific sites, method sites, forums, videos. However, I feel that many of them don’t address the unique situation of the first-time language learner or they try to simplify the process, leaving out a lot of details. This is not a polyglot site, but rather an attempt to help the more common case here in the US: the monoglot.
My guiding principle with this site has been to record the ideas and resources that I know I would have found helpful when I began this journey. Let me know what’s working and what’s not, and don’t forget to follow Search for Language via Twitter, email, or RSS to keep track of my latest ideas.