Kato Lomb biography

Hungarian Kato Lombs is one of the most outstanding polyglots of the 20th century. She wrote several books about the study of languages, one of which is called "How I Learn Languages." What advice does she give to beginners? But first a few words about herself. Kato Lomba Kato Lomb - - a famous Hungarian translator, writer, one of the first synchronous translators in the world.

Together with her native Hungarian, she mastered in 17 languages. Moreover, in Russian, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese and Polish, she was engaged in synchronous translation. From the rest - translated in writing. To study languages, Lombs intuitively used an approach, which was later called “natural”. The already famous American linguist, Stephen Krashen, later developed the theory describing this approach.

With natural development of the language, the main time is devoted to reading and listening to what is clear and interesting to you. The special study of the grammatical rules is devoted to much less time. Stephen Krashen was familiar with the crash, and their meeting had a significant impact on him. Here are his words: “In Hungary, I met in a woman who is called Kato Lomb, a professional translator who speaks 17 languages.

At that time, she was when we said goodbye, what she told me changed my life. You have so many more years ahead, you can learn so many new languages! What inspirational words! Since that time, I again actively dealt with issues of mastering foreign languages. This list is with small comments. Take care of your tongue daily. If there is no time at all, then at least ten minutes.

It is very important to do regularly. So we get used to the tongue. If you rarely deal with, especially at the initial stage, then by the next time we will forget almost everything. If the desire to engage in too quickly weakens, do not “force”, but also do not leave their studies. Find some other form: put off the book and listen to the radio, leave the textbook exercises and polystyle the dictionary, etc.

Interests are the most important thing when mastering the language. What we do should bring pleasure. If you force yourself, then something is wrong. Try changing the methodology, materials. Never tooth, do not memorize anything separately, in isolation from the context. Classhing words with a list is the most ineffective way. Firstly, indeed, every word has many meanings that are revealed precisely in context.

And secondly, it's just boring. Discharate out of turn and memorize all the “finished phrases” that can be used in the maximum number of cases. Yes, really ready phrases can help us. If some phrase has met us many times, we can naturally use it without thinking about individual words. I would not recommend specially memorized phrases. If the phrase is really frequent, then we automatically remember it, just reading and listening a lot.

Try to mentally translate everything that is possible: a flashed advertising scoreboard, an inscription on the poster, scraps of accidentally heard conversations. This is always a vacation, even for a tired head. Here it must be borne in mind that Lomba was still a translator, and she was engaged in an oral synchronous translation. There is nothing wrong with such exercises, it can help “talk”.

But for many for me, for example, it is a little boring. So do not force yourself. If it suits you, why not? If not, do something that you like more. It is only worth to learn what is fixed by the teacher. Do not re -read your own failed exercises: with repeated reading, the text is remembered involuntarily with all possible errors. If you do alone, then learn only obviously correct.

The most important thing in this council is that we master the language, meeting exactly the correct constructions. Therefore, for example, communication with the same beginners as you can only damage. Unfortunately, this is often abused in many courses. As for the “memorization” and the “exercises” themselves, Kato herself preferred to simply read and listen to the radio a lot. Ready phrases, Idiomatic expressions write out and remember in the first person, units.

For example: “I am only pulling your leg” I only tease you. Kato, most likely, had in mind the fact that the new is better absorbed when it is perceived more emotionally. And when a person speaks of himself, this is always the case. A foreign language is a fortress that needs to be stormed from all sides at the same time: reading newspapers, listening to the radio, watching the noted films, attending lectures in a foreign language, working out a textbook, correspondence, meetings and conversations with friends - native speakers.

Mastering a new language takes time. Therefore, this is probably the most important advice. The more you do, the faster and better you master the language. Do not be afraid to speak, do not be afraid of possible mistakes, but ask to be corrected.

And most importantly, do not be upset and do not be offended if you really start to correct you. To learn how to speak, you need to speak. Take an example from children.Communication itself is important, they do not worry how they look when they say. As for the correction of errors, I think that Kato somewhat overestimated their role. As modern studies show, a person for the most part simply misses amendments by his ears.

The fact is that when you yourself say, it is very difficult to simultaneously pay attention to corrections, we are too absorbed in our own speech. And to find the one who will correct us all the time is quite difficult. Be firmly convinced that at all costs you will reach the goal, that you have an unbending will and extraordinary abilities for languages.

If you can’t do it, scold textbooks, dictionaries, language itself. And it will go. Here with Cato Lomb cannot disagree. To anyone can master any language. All difficulties are only temporary. And there are no people who are not capable of languages! Success in language development!