Science Behind Language Learning | How Languages You Know Influence the Language You're Learning

Do the languages you know influence the language you’re learning? In this episode of the Science Behind Language Learning series, your guide Kaitlyn Tagarelli (Linguist, PhD) breaks down cross-linguistic influences in second and third language learning. We'll explore how similarities and differences between languages can help or hurt the language-learning process, sometimes in ways that you might not expect!

If you haven't seen our last video on how some languages are more difficult than others, watch it here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN3R6RhVmEY

To download all the available language learning content we mentioned in this podcast, or if you’d like the blog article that accompanies this episode, click here: https://blog.mangolanguages.com/how-the-languages-you-know-influence-the-languages-youre-learning

We also invite you to check out our website at: https://mangolanguages.com/ and follow us on social media @MangoLanguages. And remember – language is an adventure. Enjoy the ride!

Wondering what languages were used in today’s episode?
German | Hallihallo (HAHleeHAHloh) and Tschüssi (chewsee) mean “Hi!” and “Bye!”
Interested in learning German or one of the other 70+ languages that the Mango app offers? Click here to start learning! https://mangolanguages.com/app

Want to know more about the scientific research consulted for this podcast?
Understanding Second Language Acquisition, by Lourdes Ortega (2014), provides an excellent, in-depth overview of all things SLA. This episode draws on Chapter 3, Crosslinguistic influences, which we highly recommend! In Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course (5th Ed.), Gass, Behney, & Plonsky (2020) give a rich historical context for the role of the native language in L2 learning, with many enlightening examples. Chapters 3, 5, and 7 are particularly relevant to this topic. If you’re interested in learning more about L3 transfer, check out a recent review by Puig-Mayenco, Gonzalez, Alonso, & Rothman (2020) in Second Language Research (Vol. 26, Issue 1, p. 31-64).

Kaitlyn Tagarelli (PhD, Georgetown University) is a Linguist and the Head of Research at Mango Languages. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University, specializing in how the mind and brain learn languages. Aside from geeking out about all things neuroscience and linguistics, she loves hanging out with her family at their Connecticut home, trying to convince them to speak French with her.

#languagelearning #languagedifficulty #SLA