If you've only ever known one language, your mind does not understand the fundamental process of language learning: compartmentalization.
As your mind learns one or more new languages, each one should be mentally compartmentalized as an entirely new system, even and especially when one of the languages resembles one you already know. That way, your brain automatically switches to a "new system" when an acquired language is introduced, and does not mix up the new language with a previously known one. But this process is not as automatic as one would hope, and it becomes all the more difficult when somebody has only known and spoken one language their entire life.
This is the main struggle I see in my students: the main problem is not the language itself or its difficulty; it is setting up that neurological compartmentalization that allows one to create a new "mental folder" for a new language, where one slowly builds new rules of syntax, grammar, and verbal logic.
Understanding that the rules of a previously known language don't apply in this entirely new system is challenging, especially when one looks for an explanation where there is none. "In English you would say this this way, so why can't you do the same in Italian?" asks one of my students; "Because, if you said it that way, it would not make sense in Italian," I explain, "That structure works in English, but not in Italian. They are different systems, with different rules."
Sometimes my students go on to ask why that is the case, and I have to remind them that there is no why, and that looking for one is wasted effort. The two systems are not meant to be the same. There is no "one language" that acts as a paradigm of what is the structurally "right" way of verbally expressing something.
Take the very simple English sentence "I walk the dog," for instance. If you want to say the same thing in Italian, you have to use a completely different sentence structure and a verb that has no relation to "walking":
"Porto il cane a passeggio."
In the translation above, Italian is doing multiple things that English is not. First, it's getting rid of the pronoun "I," because Italian has a conjugation system that allows one to know who the subject of the verb is without using pronouns; "Io porto" would sound redundant and unnecessary, so we simply say "Porto."
Next, Italian is replacing the verb "walking" altogether and replacing it with the expression "Portare a passeggio," which literally translates to: "Taking to [a] stroll," an expression used to indicate that one is taking a pet or a baby for a walk — in both cases, beings that cannot simply "walk themselves," but rather require somebody else's supervision.
The Italian equivalent of the English verb "walking" is "camminare," which, unlike its English equivalent, is an intransitive verb, meaning that it doesn't allow objects. In Italian, you cannot "walk" something; you either do the action of walking yourself or you have to use a different construction to express what you're trying to say.
Therefore, you cannot simply translate the phrase "I walk the dog" into Italian word by word; you have to adopt a completely new system of verbal expression, one in which the words "Io cammino il cane" make no sense. The rules of the previous system no longer apply.
It is paramount that you understand that each language is a different and unique system. Think of it as a software with entirely new features that you need to learn how to use. Your previous languages might give you an advantage in learning and memorizing some of the features, but do not take that as a guarantee.
We have just seen how even Italian and English, which are relatively alike and come from the same Indo-European family, can use completely different syntactic structures to express the same meaning. Now, think of all the different languages that are outside of the Indo-European system: a completely new software, where any similarity — if there is any — is completely incidental.
This is why learning a new language is not a matter of translation; it is a matter of acquisition. Naturally, a beginner needs to use translation to memorize vocabulary, but when one evolves from an initial beginner to an advanced speaker, they need to learn to stop translating and, instead, switch linguistic systems.
Let us go back to our earlier example. An English speaker learning Italian might think of the words "I walk the dog" and attempt to translate them, verbatim, into Italian; however, a more advanced learner will not even think of those English words in the first place; instead, they should be able to "conjure up" the exact verbal constructions that convey the meaning of "I walk the dog" into Italian, without needing the extra step of translating from English in Italian.
As long as your primary or native language is in the background of your mind when you attempt to master a new language, you will never become truly proficient or fluent. Your mind needs to abandon the cognitive scaffolding of your original language and switch to a new one. It is a process of surrender and full, integrated neurological immersion.
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