Learning is Behavior Change

NPR featured Dr. David Katz, ABC Medical Correspondent and Yale doctor. His topic of discussion was New Year's Resolutions, and how we can improve our chances of keeping them.

You've probably heard that about 3 weeks after a resolution is made, it falls by the way side.

His theory of why that is is rooted in the transtheoretical model of behavior change. Basically, he said, we make resolutions in a moment of inspiration, but we haven't made the preparations necessary to succeed. In other words, we haven't ticked off all the phases in this model.

The phases:
- Precontemplation
- Contemplation
- Preparation
- Action
- Maintenance

I find learning anything to, at its core, be about behavior change. Why?

The answer is simple, and that is because if you want to learn a language, martial art, be a better person, you basically have to change your behavior to achieve that goal.

Tired of present tense? I was...

After you've spoken for a while, you'll get tired of present tense. Quiero tomar algo. No tengo unas aceitunas.

At some point, you want to revel in the past or the future. So here's something I learned today.

Estaba = first or third person form of estar
Estoy adentro de mi casa - I am in my house
Estaba adentro de mi casa - I was in my house

Conjugation covers a lot of ground, and it's difficult to learn just by reading the rules...as I struggle to learn it, I will certainly pass on what I learn.

Six Great Words To Know - Question Words

Quien = Who
Que = What
Cuando = When
Donde = Where
Como = How
Porque = Why

You can do a lot with these words!

Making Requests

You must love the internet. There are so many resources out there to take advantage of, it's just silly.

Today, I was thinking about making requests, and I found a little write up on Google Answers (credits to the folks who asked and answered - original link). I found this section most valuable, although it gets into a lot of theory. I put in bold the text most utterly valuable.

First, a clarification about the use of "podría". Podría is the verb
"poder", translatable as "can" / "could", "may", "be able", depending
on the context. The desinence "ía" is what gives its conditional
conjugation. But you wouldn't necessarily use this verb to ask
something in the conditional mode:

"¿Podría darme una servilleta?" corresponds exactly to:

"Could I have a napkin?" or "May I have a napkin?" or more literally
"Could you give me a napkin?"

But there is still to consider the equivalent to:

"Would you give me a napkin?" which is:

"¿Me daría una servilleta?" where the conditional form is given by the
desinence "ía" added to the verb "dar" = "to give"

One major difference between English and Spanish is that the latter is
strongly desinencial, so it doesn't need auxiliary verbs to construct
tenses, as English does (in this case, "would"). Now, this conditional
form, ommiting the verb "poder" ("podría", or "podrías" in a
colloquial context) is by large the preferred usage. Still, the form
preceded by the verb poder is not uncommon, as a way to emphasize
politeness.

Also, you can chose to ommit the conditional conjugation:

"¿Me da una servilleta?" The approximate English correspondance would
be: "Do you give me a napkin?", which would not be used in that
situation. Now, in Spanish, this option is at least as much used as
the conditional one, if not more. This one sounds closer to the
imperative form, but it's not it (what would be "Deme una
servilleta").

A slight and curious difference between the usage of the conditional
and non-conditional form for making a request:

"¿Me da una servilleta, por favor?" and "¿Me daría una servilleta?"
sound similarly polite. If you ommit "por favor" (please) in the first
case, you risk to sound a bit impolite (obviously, depending on your
general attitude and tone).

So, we can configure here an increasing scale of politenes:

1. Deme una servilleta. (imperative: mostly rude)
2. Deme una servilleta, por favor = ¿Me da una servilleta? (not
particularly kind, but OK, in the limit depending on you tone)
3. ¿Me da una servilleta, por favor? = ¿Me daría una servilleta?
(polite enough, most used)
4. ¿Me daría una servilleta, por favor? = ¿Podría darme una
servilleta? (particularly polite)
5. ¿Me podría dar una servilleta, por favor? (most polite)

Please take in account that not always the more polite the better,
specially in very colloquial situations where the excess of politeness
would sound affectionate or snob. To walk in the safe side, always use
options 3 or 4 and you'll do OK.

Basic Vocabulary Resource

Here's a nice little free web-based resource for you. Covers some basic words, and allows you to click and hear an audio file of the word.

As you know, I practice Spanish every day - and I've found that some basic phrases I use repeatedly:
- Greetings - Such as Hola (hello), Como estas (How are you?), Buenos dias (Good day), Buenas tardes (Good afternoon), and Buenas noches (Good night)
- Basic questions - Donde estas (Where are you?), A donde vas (Where are you going?), Que haces (What are you doing?), Como te sientes (How are you feeling?)
- Basic verbs, you - Tienes (You have___), Quieres (You want____)
- Basic verbs, me - Tengo (I have____), Quiero (I want___)
- Basic verbs, he/she - Tiene (He/she has___), Quiere (He/she wants___)

Practice these, then try using them in conversation - it's actually quite a rush!

A Free Practice Session

Courtesy of Visual Link, this is a little free lesson. Although I am not impressed with the product, I think it always makes sense to take advantage of something free.

The Secret Sauce to Keeping New Year's Resolutions

You may not go in for New Year's Resolutions. Let's face it, most people don't follow through on them. But I, for one, believe in making them, and I believe that just about everybody has the ability to follow through on them.

As long as you have the secret sauce recipe.

If you've been reading this blog at all, you may have guessed what I regard the secret sauce to be, so I'll just tell you. It's staying on track until your desire becomes a habit.

How long this transformation takes is for the academics to say, but let's just say that no one masters anything in a couple weeks. And when you set out to make something happen (learn Spanish, get a black belt, be nicer to people, grow an awesome beard), it usually isn't a small thing. I don't know anyone who resolves to "have a good day tomorrow" on New Year's Day, but those people are pretty much set.

In truth, as much as many of us are "immediate gratification-oriented" folks, we don't set our sights on immediate things. Because the easily gotten things are common. So they aren't the stuff of resolutions.

So how do you make it through the initial phase of learning? As someone who started with the resolution of "learn Spanish" just last year, I have some thoughts for you:

1) Can You Say "Pit Stop"? Right after defining your big, audacious goal, define some milestones. You need to give yourself a chance to see that you've achieved something after the first few weeks of working. For example, I wanted to be able to say a simple sentence to someone in Spanish in the first couple weeks - one that they understood. Gave me a thrill, kept me going.

2) Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail. It is possible that you can just achieve your goal through brute force - but it sure helps if you have some kind of plan, and you understand how to get there. Of course, this will help define the milestones above. For example, I needed some kind of structure for learning, so I settled on using our 3DLanguage product and some books for 15 minutes every morning (I also had to resolve to get up at the "crack of donut" in order to be sure I had uninterrupted time). A friend of mine uses a technique Jerry Seinfeld pioneered (I guess?) for tracking his progress, by marking his daily practice on a calendar, and trying not to break the chain. Hey, whatever works.

3) Focus on the Benefits. Write down the why behind your goal, and keep it posted. Personally, I think learning Spanish will make me cooler. Yup, I said it - and I'm sticking to that reason (actually, I'm kidding. Sort of). So I keep that in the forefront of my mind. And posted at my desk.

4) Incorporate Your Resolution into Your Definition of Yourself. The managing director of a consulting firm I once worked for told me, "If you want to be a great senior consultant, the first thing you need to do is go buy yourself a good suit, pen, and shoes. Dress the part. Pretty soon you'll start acting like a great senior consultant, and after a few years, you'll be one." As strange as it sounds, there's something to this. High performing athletes visualize themselves successfully completing high jumps, touchdown passes, etc. Why not you? We let things outside ourselves define who we are all the time. So use this to your advantage. For me, not just practicing Spanish but speaking it to my family was the key. I'm a Spanish speaker...very possibly a sub-kindergarten Spanish speaker, but in a while...

Bottom line, don't shy away from the resolutions! Set your sights high, and give yourself a chance to succeed. You can do it!