How long will it take to learn Bangla?
How long should I do full-time language learning before starting my role?
The short answer: Before you start your professional role, you want to cross a certain invisible line. This article helps define that invisible line, and discusses how long (on average) it takes to cross it.
THE INVISIBLE LINE
The invisible line is the moment in which you are able to learn Bangla from Bangla. To break that down, let’s describe the learner’s experience BEFORE crossing that line, and AFTER crossing that line.
BEFORE you cross the line, you can only understand what your tutor/nurturer is intentionally communicating during your session’s activities. Almost everything outside your sessions is just a “wall of noise” to you. You start understanding a word here or there, but you aren’t assimilating much new language unless you’re with the person who is committed to helping you learn (i.e. your tutor/nurturer). Effective “language practice” outside of sessions is mostly accomplished by re-living the sessions (i.e. listening to your recordings and doing the activities).
BEFORE you cross that invisible line, you are already starting to connect with locals, but the language value is limited. Most of the people you encounter probably have more English than you have Bangla, so a lot of your connections are happening in English. This is normal and good for becoming connected, but not specifically helpful for your language learning journey, and limits the range of relationships you can grow. At this stage, spending too much time each day interacting in broken English will drain time and energy away from learning Bangla, especially if English is also a second language for you.
BEFORE you cross the line, inside your head you are still translating Bangla from and into your own language. The whole process of Phase 1 (Foundations course) and Phase 2 (Storybuilding with Pictures) is helping you move away from translating mentally in order to connect words and concepts directly with objects, images and actions instead. But this journey from translating to thinking in Bangla is still in process.
One happy day, if you invest the time and effort, you WILL cross that invisible barrier, and things will begin to change:
AFTER you cross that invisible line, your spoken Bangla is just a little bit stronger than the spoken English skills of most of your neighbors and acquaintances. This means Bangladeshis are less likely to revert to English with you, and you can begin to build real connections with people using THEIR heart language.
AFTER you cross that line, you can learn Bangla from Bangla. This means that your general comprehension has reached the point where you can ask your tutor, “You just said XXXX. What does that mean?” And they can answer you in Bangla, using words you already know to describe the new word, without the need for a picture, a pantomime, or saying it in your language. For example, if your tutor says they are really enjoying jambura these days, you could ask (in Bangla), “What is jambura?” And they could say (in Bangla), “Oh it is a fruit that is sort of like an orange but much bigger and not quite as sweet, although it isn’t as sour as a lemon. Have you ever tried it?” Once you start doing this regularly with your tutor, you are in a place where your language can benefit more from interactions with patient people outside of sessions, too.
AFTER you cross that line, you are probably dreaming in Bangla from time to time, whether or not you can remember the dreams. And when you go out into the world, it doesn’t sound only like a “wall of noise” anymore. There is much you still can’t understand, but visiting neighbors and shopping become mental exercises in the language, because you understand enough to be fully engaged in comprehending and speaking. You might even find that going out fatigues your language brain more than it did during your first weeks, because your brain is actively working to understand what people are saying.
So how long does it take to cross that invisible line?
Obviously each person’s journey will be a bit different, with many factors impacting how much time and energy can be given each week to the special growth activities that help you grow your Bangla. But there are some general guidelines:
If someone is doing the activities with their nurturer/tutor and actively listening to their recordings regularly, they generally cross this invisible line somewhere in the second half of Phase 3. In other words, when you’ve spent somewhere between 400-500 hours with your nurturer/tutor, you’ll find yourself learning Bangla from Bangla.
If you’re spending 20 hours a week in sessions with your tutor (what GPA considers “full-time”), you’ll probably reach that line somewhere in your 4th or 5th month. If you are spending 10 hours a week with your tutor, you can expect to reach this line around 9-10 months.
This is why many NGOs and businesses in Bangladesh require new foreign staff to spend six months in full-time language learning before beginning their duties, and then another year doing their work part-time and language part-time. If a learner spends 4 hours a day, 5 days a week in language sessions with their tutor/nurturer for six months, chances are they will have crossed this line, or will cross it soon. Then their work duties (if they are mostly in Bangla) can even contribute to their language learning, instead of distracting them from their language learning.
When should you start working?
Starting to work BEFORE you’ve crossed that invisible line can hinder someone’s language learning. Our human nature can work against us here. As adult humans, we really enjoy feeling competent and making a contribution. We get emotional perks when we are doing work that we and others deem valuable. We don’t get as many emotional rewards from the slow challenging process of learning another language.
If we start doing our work via translators and get those emotional perks for making a contribution, our motivation to learn Bangla might actually decrease. We might also find ourselves caught in a system where Bangladeshis discourage us from learning more Bangla, because they are comfortable with a process in which they can actively choose which information the foreigner hears.
But starting to work AFTER you’ve crossed that invisible line can actually motivate a learner to keep going. It provides a place to practice and to discover new words. Meaningful work together with native Bangla speakers allows us to relate to new people in Bangla, and enjoy those growing relationships.
A weekly routine that includes both engaging with a broader number of Bangladeshis in a work environment and time with our tutor/nurturer for the special growth activities is a great balance during Phase 4 and Phase 5 of GPA. After we have crossed that invisible line, dividing our time between work and tutor sessions - regularly engaging in work projects and relationships in Bangla AND giving time each week to intentional activities with our tutor - can be a great catalyst toward reaching intermediate and advanced levels of Bangla.
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