Two Ways To "Know" Language

There are two different ways you can “know” a language. One way is “learning.” Learning is conscious knowledge of a language. This includes knowing the formal rules of grammar, for example, such as the rules for using the present progressive or knowing the difference between a prefix and a suffix. This kind of knowledge is what you usually get from studying in a class or from a grammar book.

The other way to know a language is “acquisition.” Acquisition is unconscious (or subconscious) knowledge of language, the sort of knowledge you don’t have to memorize or even think about. (The verb is “to acquire.”) Babies and children acquire their first or native language without having to think about it. They don’t study grammar books or memorize vocabulary; they just listen and watch, and the rest comes naturally.

You can acquire a language without learning it, and you can learn much about a language without acquiring it. Babies acquire language but don’t learn it. Many adults study hard in school to learn a language, but never are able to acquire it very well. Part of the reason is that many older students confuse learning with acquisition. They believe that if they learn a language – study all of the rule of grammar– that they will be able to speak and write fluently. But that isn’t true. Just learning a language isn’t enough.

The reason learning isn’t enough is because most of the time when we listen, talk, read, and write, we are using our unconscious knowledge, our acquisition. We don’t even have to think about it. Learning can sometimes help us, but the most important type of knowledge to focus on is still acquisition. If you want to become fluent in a language, you must acquire it.