The Silent Period is a term used in linguistics/language learning that refers to when a student is taking in the language rather than outputting it in the form of talking. For some, this is a very brief time, while for others it lasts much longer. It depends on things like the speaker’s L1 (first language), how different it is from the L2, how confident the learner naturally is, how much exposure the learner has to the language, and honestly, a lot of small factors that vary from person to person. A certain amount of familiarity is needed in a language before speaking comes naturally, or at least with understanding and confidence. If you, assuming you are a native English speaker, tried to learn Spanish and Mandarin, Spanish would probably have a shorter Silent Period given that its sounds and words are closer to English. Again, if the person in question listens to C-Pop all day, then maybe Mandarin would be a lot easier due to the familiarity. As you can see, personal experience matters.

For myself personally, I’m feeling as though I only recently broke out of the Silent Period with Lithuanian, despite having taken nearly a year and a half of classes. This isn’t to say I haven’t spoken at all, but rather I feel more comfortable and will opt to use it as much as possible with my professor and other speakers now. It actually never occurred to me on my own either– my professor made an offhand remark that I am a lot more chatty in class.

As someone who wants high ability in multiple target languages, getting out of the Silent Period in each is critical for me. So, I ask, how did I get out of it just now, as well as before? First, I think Spotify helped me here (I downloaded it a couple of months ago). I didn’t listen to much Lithuanian music prior given how difficult it was to find current music on YouTube. I love Europop as much as the next person, but I wanted something I could “mindlessly” listen to, and that was not it. I found a bunch of Spotify playlists and flipped through the songs until I heard things I liked. Thinking back, too, my minor obsession with Spanish music and shows in high school definitely gave me confidence in speaking Spanish, so I can make this a testament to how constantly hearing the target language eases us into making those sounds ourselves.

Another point is getting a good grasp on how to use the language. Yes, memorizing vocab is much needed to learn a language, but being able to take those words and put them together in a way that makes sense is arguably even more so important. This is why learning Spanish for an English speaker isn’t too awful; its basic grammatical structures are similar to English. Now, take a language like Polish where you have to use declensions and prefixes and all that jazz. You’re no longer taking those words and just stringing them together as you do with English. Now, you have to know those words and some new way of weaving them where you aren’t leaving huge gaps in meaning.

Lastly, I feel like one thing that isn’t mentioned enough with breaking out of the Silent Period is need. Moving to a new place or needing the language for a specific reason, say, a job, puts stress on you to communicate as much as possible. The urgency also takes away the embarrassment of mistakes. This is a poor example, but if someone needed to find the nearest restroom in a new place, I have a funny feeling they’d do anything they could to convey that message. I must clarify here that the Silent Period isn’t an all around choice, per say. The way I phrased it here makes it sound like the learner is just being obstinate or timid, but it can be, and often is, an inability to output the language. This is a point where the learner is taking in all this info on how the language works and simply can’t use that knowledge to create yet. Nevertheless, the need pushes us to speak even if we are only speaking gibberish. I know we can’t all just up and move halfway across the world to cultivate that organic need, but finding a way to artificially produce it may speed things along.

Anyways, I am going to end this here, but if you’re reading this and have been frustrated with your current language progress, may you find some comfort in knowing you aren’t alone. Both to the learner and the teacher I ask you not be hard on yourself during this time. Sticking with the language consistently is what will count in the long run.

Happy reading,
-Beppa