What a Quirky Bird Teaches You about Learning Portuguese
The other day I came across something that really got me thinking.
It’s a small bird that is more common in Australia. The funky little thing won’t impress you at first sight, but when it sings…
One that was close to a construction site could imitate a chainsaw realistically!
Another lyrebird made you think there was an entire forest full of birds around – in the middle of a regular park.
I can give you more info about this bird until I get blue in the face. The main fact is, it can reproduce to perfection almost any sound it hears.
I say almost because I haven’t seen all footage available on YouTube yet.
This little bird amazes me. But there’s something this lyrebird can’t do. It can’t teach.
You know, it can learn any sound, but it can’t teach them. It has no system, no approach, no goals; the bird just sings.
And it reminds me of something I see a lot on the Internet.
Proh-fashional language learners offering feel-good lessons to teach you how they did it.
That’s all good, but at the end of the day, they’re like lyrebirds. They learned Portuguese naturally, and if asked to explain themselves, they’d just repeat, repeat, and repeat what they’d done.
Sure you can learn Portuguese from them.
But say you’re an eagle. You need another method.
Or methods…
And where can you find them?
Using the wrong methods, unsuitable for you, is among the chief causes of failure to learn Portuguese properly.
Remember: language learning is a comprehensive science.
Not everybody is a scientist.
It all depends on your goals, though.
If being able to imitate a few phrases is all you need, sure, you don’t need science or methods…
But if learning Portuguese is to be enjoyable and effective, you know you need to find the right methods.
So, what do you think? What other lessons have you learned from the nature about learning Portuguese?