Learn Languages Easily. Methods of self-regulation for successful learning

Cerebral ischemia

A head with ‘a hat’ on top of it can be a sign of the cerebral malnutrition. This can also be the cause of bad grades. The main source of the problems here is the impulsion from the intervertebral discs, which causes tension in the muscles of the back, neck, and can cause spasm of the blood vessels feeding the brain. Neurologists call this “a vertebral artery syndrome,” or “a vertebrobasilar insufficiency.” The zones of discomfort are usually shown, as a triangular neck, or as a triangular body with its vertex, touching the neck, or as a body composed of several shapes. Places, where shapes are narrowed, or two elements are connected, point to the level of the spasm.

Fig. 8. A big head and shortened limbs: this is how people feel when they experience anxiety or information overload; a narrow place, where the neck is a sign of the problems with the spinal cord. A combination of the heightened brain activity and its insufficient blood supply due to the vasoconstriction leads to energy deprivation of brain tissues, and this, in turn, creates the risk of hypertension and panic attacks to compensate for this syndrome. The “hat’ on the head points to the fact that the brain is suffering from oxygen deficit due to its large consumption and lack of its supply. Tension in the temporal region compensates for the sensation that the head is swollen.

The conflict between big nutritional demands of the brain and its relatively small supply is rather dangerous.

Panic attacks

Lack of oxygen supply to the brain is a serious condition, which not only leads to the decrease of brain efficiency, but also increases the risk of high blood pressure and so-called sympathoadrenal episodes: that is when an adrenaline rush takes place in order to improve brain nutrition. Such states are also referred to as ‘panic attacks’. According to my hypothesis, hypertension and recurrent adrenaline rush simply execute the “order’ of the “starving’ brain tissues. Their signals are processed by the thalamic structures (which are also “a conductor’ of all neurohormonal processes), and this subsequently triggers chain reactions leading to panic attacks or permanent high blood pressure. This is one of the many ways, how our body regulates its activity to save its starving tissues. The ischemized tissue dies and stops screaming for help. Some time ago, I described these phenomena in several publications, referring to them as “a syndrome of unclear head,” or “cerebral energy deficiency syndrome’ (Ermoshin, A., 2002, 2008).

We have planned to take some action aimed at decreasing the level of stress and maintaining the healthy condition of the blood vessels. These actions can help us re-establish the efficient functioning of the brain and prevent panic attacks, hypertension, or a brain haemorrhage as well as establish an effective learning pattern.

Influence of upbringing

Speech block can manifest itself not only in case of a foreign language, but it can also be connected with the conditions of one’s upbringing. There are families where communication does not really seem to play such an important role. Parents and kids either simply have no time to talk or, what is much worse, children are asked to “keep their mouths shut’. There is a syndrome called “alexythymia,” where a person suffering from it is not capable of identifying emotions and expressing them. There are also cases when a child stops talking, as a result, of a deep emotional trauma. These reactions are called “selective mutism’ (Shevchenko, Y.S. et al., 2007/ Шевченко Ю. С. с соавт., 2007).

A gag in the mouth

A colleague of mine once told me that he had to work with a girl who involuntarily stuffed handkerchiefs or paper tissues into her mouth. From their sessions and the conversation with her parents, he found out that she had often been told to “keep her mouth shut’. When she did not obey, she was often punished. It is no wonder this patient developed a major neurosis¹⁴.

Tensions in the relationship with the parents or with the teachers can often have a negative effect on the speech.

Influence of historical associations

A language can be seen as attractive or repellent because of the associations it evokes.

For example, in the USSR in the 70-ies, the English language was often associated with rock’n’roll and freedom. “I would learn English only because Lennon spoke it” was a famous phrase among fans of the Beatles back then (which is a changed quote from Mayakovsky’s “I would learn Russian only because Lenin spoke it”). Nowadays, English is the language of international communication, and people seem to have a more neutral reaction to it. We will have to wait and see what it will be associated with in the future.

Not so long ago, German was closely associated with fascism, tragic moments in the history of Russia and pain.

The soldiers are fighting back

Inna lived in the South of Russia, and these are her impression from her trip to Germany. She went on a ferry cruise on the river Rhine.

As she was standing on the deck and listening to the ubiquitous German speech, she was trying to feel this language. Suddenly, she felt that every cell of her body was trying to resist it. It felt as if, as on some round screen, she saw the following picture: “Russian soldiers organized an all-round defence and were shooting back from every available weapon at the German words, which were trying to get into my mind and body.” She was surprised to experience such a sensation since there had not been any particular stories connected with WWII in her family history. “After this experiment, my body was filled with this obsessive vigilance and a wish (just in case) to leave this very hospitable country¹⁵.”

The war ended a long time ago, but many people of older generations still need to make a special effort in order to leave the captivity of their historical associations. Younger generations have a more tolerant attitude to Germany and the German language.

A primordial instinct

A negative attitude to the sound of foreign speech goes a long way back and can be explained by the evolutionary experience of humanity.

Everything is on fire

Elvira, who was born in Kazakhstan, describes the images that come to her mind when she hears the sound of French: “Soldiers are galloping by with a whooping sound. They bring suffering and pain. Everything is burning. I feel a terrible fear in my stomach.”

This reaction might seem odd if we take into account the fact that Elvira’s husband is Belgian, and that she has already been living in Europe for several years¹⁶.

Xenophobia (fear of the foreigners) and parochial altruism (love towards the ones from your tribe) are written down in our genes. The results of research conducted by evolutionary psychologists confirm this fact (Markov A., 2012). It is important to know about it in order not to become a slave of your own instincts, and it is necessary to be aware that there are different nations and different languages and, hence, update the attitude we initially inherited from our collective unconsciousness. We need to do certain cultural work so that we could rise above our own biologically defined hostile reaction to “others.”

Organic lesion of the central nervous system

The difficulties connected with focusing one’s attention due to the consequences of certain brain injuries require a separate matter. Such traumas can be prenatal, natal, and postnatal (let’s also take our chance at learning something about Latin and Italian: “nato’ means “born,” and “Natale’ means “Christmas’).

“Prenatal’ means before having been born, and “natal’ means during the labour. The most likely cause in these cases is the lack of oxygen during pregnancy or labour (if the umbilical cord is clamped, etc.)¹⁷.

Postnatal traumas are received after birth. Falling out of a cot, getting hit in the head by a swing, hitting the head against ice: all these situations are far from being rare. Apart from that, you can also add general anaesthesia, a suns stroke, consequences of the flu with fever, meningitis, brain concussion in adulthood, consequences of drinking alcohol, and the influence of other unfavourable conditions. All these illnesses can take their toll on our attention and memory.

Some of the characteristics of such sort of problems can be diagnosed with the help of the test called “A constructive drawing of a person’. In the drawing, you will see a head filled with the round elements (eyes, a nose, a mouth), or there will be a hat or hair standing on end; at the same time, there will be a relatively ‘calm’ body (made of one rectangular block).

Fig. 9. A constructive drawing of a person in case of cerebral concussion: an overall relaxed body with “hair on end” on the head as the sign of the local suffering, without affecting the other parts of the body. In case of asphyxiation lesion (clamping of an umbilical cord at birth, for example) there will be a face, filled with elements: eyes, a nose, a mouth.

If such symptoms are discovered, then it calls for a special treatment to restore the balance of inhibitory and excitative cerebral processes (bromides, magnesium compounds, etc.) as well as brain nutritive compounds (nootropics). The medication, as mentioned above, is usually prescribed by neurologists.

Depressants

In some cases, there might be some negative consequences when a person takes medicines slowing down brain activity. In everyday terms, alcohol belongs to this category, as it creates “emptiness’ in the brain. That is why, in Russia, there is a saying about ethanol: “When we were drinking it was fun, the morning after we cried.” Washing out the transmitters, which takes place after the consumption of alcohol, significantly decreases performance efficiency. Systematic consumption of alcohol leads to a severe organic lesion of the brain, up to dementia.

Autopilot

Before the body reaches the state of dementia, there are episodes of memory loss caused by intoxication, the so-called ‘palimpsests’ (it is the same term as the one used for erasing parts of the text on ancient manuscripts to write a new one). People often refer to this state as ‘autopilot’: it happens when, for example, a person comes back home but does not remember doing it.

Dementia stands for more than temporary transmitter failure: it is a physical destruction of the brain. In this case, it is rather difficult to expect to reach success in the learning process.

Marijuana is another example of what can make a person “dumb.” Tetrahydrocannabinol gets stuck in the membranes of the neurons and disrupts the neural network. The same applies to other types of narcotics. Apart from chemical damage to the nervous system and the body in general, they are the reason why addicts have a narrow scope of interests, no motivation for the realization of their life projects: in other words, these substances make development and self-fulfillment irrelevant.

Neuroleptics, the components of which can be found in some medicines prescribed for lowering blood pressure, may also cause difficulty in receiving new ideas as they function as blockers of neural transmission.

Workload

Being too busy with the tasks that are piling up or leading a hectic lifestyle can also become an obstacle to successful learning. Anything new requires ‘reconnection’ with it and adapting one’s life to it as well. One needs to find time for learning and to organize the process, which itself converts into a certain exercise in time management. That is why any learning process demands special attention and practical solutions.

However, even if all the conditions mentioned above are favourable there is another issue, which seems to be universal. That is the difficulty of learning when one is an adult.

Learning for adults

Infants learn the language at their mother’s breast. Breastfeeding is also the first sessions of communication a child can hear. Then he or she enriches their vocabulary when interacting with the relatives and improves the language skills on the playground when playing with other kids. There is plenty of time to get used to the language when you are surrounded by it, and you can make those cute mistakes while practicing. Then, at school, we reinforce the acquired skills as well as develop writing skills.

How do we learn the second or the third language? It usually happens much later, and we do it with the help of textbooks and other data storage devices, but never directly person to person. Quite often, it is done with some level of obligation and “stress in the brain.”

During the learning process, a considerable amount of adults experiences the syndrome we have described earlier: even if they manage to organize their time, it seems that new information enters the brain with some difficulty. A couple of weeks after the beginning of the learning process, our skull feels like “blowing into pieces,” our head becomes hot, heavy, and overloaded. In many cases, it becomes a reason why people choose to halt the process or event to stop it.

We have an antidote for that, but before we move to applying the tools for renovating our state, we will sum up the results with the help of one test.

During the process of self-testing, it suffices to note the percentage of correspondence of each ‘recommended position’ you have. At the same time, you have to tune yourself to success in the learning process and further on, you will use these statements in order to maintain this positive attitude of the student.

A test: “An ideal student’

We will see several statements that describe the state of an ideal student. Read them one by one and compare them to your sensations. Your task is to see, whether it is an absolute “YES” that you experience in response to it. What percentage of these statements is true in your case?

Even the fact that you are doing this test will have a positive effect on your studies. However, if you feel that you would like to reinforce some of the positions offered by the statements, you can easily achieve it with the help of the exercises that follow the test.

1. I feel that the knowledge of the language brings me closer to my dream coming true, to the fulfillment of my wishes, and that is why I study with enthusiasm, and I really want to learn this language as soon as possible.

2. I understand the advantages of speaking a foreign language, and I carry this understanding deep inside me, which pushes me to enrich my linguistic knowledge to practice this language every time and everywhere.

3. I feel the necessity to speak a foreign language in this modern world and I embrace this opportunity.

4. I successfully make my language classes a part of my routine, even if it contradicts my former habits and makes me put away some immediate pleasures.

5. I use every available moment and opportunity to improve my knowledge.

6. I quickly resume my efforts and go back to the process of learning the language if, for some reason, I have moved away from my goal. I remain in the way of learning the language in order to achieve success.

7. I feel happy with what nature has given me:

a) I am good at learning languages, and I like learning in general;

b) I am a goal-oriented and well-organized person. I stick to the decisions I make, and I see through everything; I feel confident about my success;

c) I am an easy-going person. I like communication and speaking a foreign language is easy and pleasant;

d) I am a confident person. I easily meet other people even if they speak a foreign language.

8. I believe in myself as a skilful student, and I have a good self-esteem when it comes to my learning skills.

9. I like people who speak the languages they want, and I want to become one of them.

10. In my family, among my colleagues and friends, there are people who successfully learnt a foreign language. I know it is possible and it is quite natural to speak as many foreign languages as necessary, just like them.

11. My friends and family express their feelings, thoughts, and I communicate naturally and easily.

12. I deal with my daily tasks as they arise and without any delay. I quickly move from feelings to actions, I rest well, and I recuperate my strength.

13. My brain is open to new ideas and tasks. I keep calm and work without stress or fatigue. I live and study with positive energy and in a good mood.

14. My life experience helps me maintain my mental balance; I am confident in the face of the challenges my life brings me. I know how to maintain equilibrium in a difficult situation. If it is necessary, I work through the consequences of traumas. My mind feels complete and invincible; I am totally dedicated to my studies.

15. I can distinguish between my responsibilities and those of other people. I do my best. My shoulders are free. I find time for self-education.

16. My spinal cord feels well. I systematically stretch the muscles of my neck, my back, and my body in general. My blood vessels are free from spasms, and I feel that my brain gets enough oxygen, and my head is clear.

17. My nervous system is healthy: my attention can easily switch to another subject or I can maintain the focus on my task. My memory is excellent.

18. I lead a healthy lifestyle. I refrain from using alcohol, drugs and other psychoactive substances. I keep away from gambling and other activities, which can be harmful to my body and my self-realisation.

19. I am used to studying.

20. Even the first encounter with the new language was interesting and pleasant for me; and even if I had any tension, it has already disappeared.

21. The amount of information I have to learn is not a problem to me; I know that it can be acquired, step by step, and with accordance to my plan.

22. I learn new words, expressions, and intonations with pleasure.

23. Native speakers are my potential partners for new projects. I treat them with respect and without bias.

24. I easily acquire knowledge. My body absorbs it like a sponge. I feel how diverse my channels of perception are, and I see a large reserve of capacity in myself. Knowledge flows into me from every possible direction. I like to enrich my knowledge using every available source.

25. Situations, when I have to use the language, seem interesting; I keep my calm hands-on attitude in this situation and even feel excited about meeting a native speaker.

26. I have an easy access to knowledge. Words and phrases I need quickly find their way in my mind and flow in a conversation with my interlocutor. The flow of speech is calm and steady. My speech embraces the interlocutor and unites us in one whole. I like socializing.

27. When I pronounce foreign words, the sound appears the same way native speakers produce it. I vocalize the same way native speakers do.

28. I know how to enjoy socialization and put the information in a foreign language to good use.

29. Learning a foreign language is one of my favourite projects that I gladly work on. I see the new horizons of the self-realization that this knowledge gives me. By speaking the languages, I need to come closer to the completeness of my existence.

If you have a 100% match with all the statements as mentioned above, we can only be very happy for you. Nevertheless, even in this case, I would invite you to find out more about the techniques of increasing learning efficiency, i.e. how you can “corporatize’ your knowledge and organize it in a very accessible way. If you have found any discrepancies with the statements, consider each of these inconsistencies as an incentive to do the exercises that we will present right after describing our method.

Objectives and ways to achieve them
Initiation

Although our ability to speak is given to us by nature, we need to trigger it, to switch it on so that it would “work’ the way it should. The technique we will try to apply to the process of learning a foreign language will be like the one we have already experienced when getting to know our mother tongue.

Learning about the mystery of the language

‘The high priests’ of the language who teach the child the mystery of the language are the parents, guardians, and other adult speakers of the language. Is not it a miracle that those monosyllabic exclamations we exchange with a baby set the foundation for a beautiful system of communication with the thousands of words and endless expressions?

Between those first sounds produced by a baby and subsequent complex utterances, one would find the mystery of the formation of a “homo talking’. It looks like both parties are interested in it, that is why this mystery takes place: the spirit strives for culture, and the culture looks for a spirit to turn into its medium. Look how eagerly children absorb new words and expressions and how much they enjoy practicing the language! The same way a loving and caring adult would share their linguistic experience with a child! This is how the culture complements the spirit!

Just the way it happened in our childhood, we will do everything to provide our body with the necessary information. In order to learn it the same way, we will check if the necessary channels are open and if an easy access to information is available. There is a certain trajectory for each person and information he or she is going to absorb, and our task is to make this spirit and culture unite, like a module-to-module docking in space.

We will tackle this with the help of a special method.