Intuition for language learning: Automatic thinking process.

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mentecuerpo
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Intuition for language learning: Automatic thinking process.

Postby mentecuerpo » Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:38 am

In my opinion:

You can not think fluently in a new language when you cannot intuitively create and automatically bring new language phrases and sentences to mind.

I want to avoid getting into specifics about intuition definition or semantics. I am most interested in referring to Intuition as a mental process readily available into awareness by automatic, spontaneous content experience in the conscious mind.

I am not concerned about the neuropsychological process that brings consciousness. I am not talking about neuroanatomical connections and how this is possible. I am considering the topic of Intuition from the Phenomenology point of view, from the mind, bypassing the brain connections that make it possible. Regarding Mente/Cuerpo, Mind/Body duality, as pointed out by Descartes. I am more interested in the Metaphysics philosophical view of Intuition.

In this blog, I am referring to the phenomenology point of view as referred to by philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/

I view Intuition from the phenomenological approach and language learning. Phenomenology is not concerned about where consciousness and conscious experiences originate but the conscious experience itself.

To illustrate a phenomenological approach:
For a schizophrenic individual experiencing psychosis, the phenomenology approach can help describe the delusions and hallucinations. I am not concerned with the physiopathology of the hallucinations but more about understanding the content of the hallucinations and feelings that the patient is experiencing with them, the psychopathology, and the descriptions of the symptoms from a phenomenological point of view. (One Century of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology (International Perspectives in Philosophy & Psychiatry).

I am not referring to Intuition as much as a "Hunch" or "gut feeling." For this blog, I refer to Intuition as everything that makes it to the conscious mind into awareness spontaneously without any conscious effort on the part of the mind's holder.

So the same process, to think about Intuition, the content in The Mind in a given moment, and not how that content originated from the neuroanatomical perspective.

I bring the necessity of daily contact with the target language to facilitate the "Intuition" element, the automation of thinking in the new language.

The intuition process plays a role in achieving fluency in a new language. The language should intuitively flow automatically into the mind from unconscious to conscious space.

Anything that requires effort to bring or construct phrases and words that do not come naturally would not be intuitive. We can call it insightful for clarity. So when the individual consciously tries to put words together, struggling, thinking, and deliberately putting effort into a sentence, it can be called insight (slowly brought up with work), not Intuition (spontaneously, automatically emerging to the conscious mind, without effort).

Here, I want to make a brief comment on Intuition vs. insight.
As my friend ChatGPT puts it, I quote: "Intuition and insight are related but distinct concepts. Intuition is understanding or knowing something without conscious reasoning or analysis, often based on a gut feeling or instinct. ("Revisiting "Mind of the Strategist": reflections for resilient revival") It is a quick, automatic, and unconscious process that operates outside of conscious awareness.

On the other hand, insight refers to a sudden and profound understanding of a problem or situation that goes beyond surface-level information. It often involves seeing connections or patterns that were previously overlooked, and it typically requires a deliberate and focused effort to reach them.

While both Intuition and insight can lead to discoveries and breakthroughs, their nature and origins differ. Intuition is often associated with subconscious processing and emotional responses, while insight is often associated with conscious reasoning and problem-solving. Ultimately, both Intuition and insight can be valuable tools in decision-making and problem-solving, and their effectiveness depends on the situation and individual."

Daniel Kahneman talks about system one (Intuition?)/system two (insight?); thinking fast and slow: https://youtu.be/PirFrDVRBo4

The subconscious language learning process requires lots of exposure to the new language: Input.

Input, Ingesting, subconscious processing, enough nutrients to the language processing, passing a threshold in quantity and quality over a period filtered by multiple "Now" moments of stream of consciousness flow into the unconscious brain, that over time will allow for intuitive emergence of the language into the mind.

The real effort is to ingest language daily, with enough frequency, quantity, and quality, so that the "behind the scenes" fundamental work is owing the language. Real work happens naturally in an unconscious mental process. Flashcards, word lists, reading text, audio with text, songs, podcasts, movies, and language apps, are the means to bring the nutritious input, to bring the language content to the "language digestive system, the intestines so to speak, the colon, the pancreas, the stomach, the liver of the language centers" to do its subconscious work, processing, assimilating and digesting the language to make it available when ready, to come out to the mind in an intuitive way. You can not think fluently in a new language when you cannot intuitively create and automatically bring new language phrases and sentences to mind.

Acquiring language/Learning language takes place mostly unconsciously. It requires effort to have the discipline to ingest language daily to have the "miracle "happen. The action consists of consuming enough language to let the cognitive center process intuitively bring the language to mind (System one?).

Practice makes perfect: improved comprehension, faster speech production, spelling correctly, writing better, better pronunciation, more vocabulary knowledge, and building grammatically correct sentences. Having a feeling of correctness, a hunch that this is not grammatically correct because it does not sound right. It can happen through the intuitive process after a reasonable incubation period of exposure to the language. Daily exposure is crucial for the unconscious process to do its thing with the language.

Daily contact with the language is crucial in my opinion.
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german2k01
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Re: Intuition for language learning: Automatic thinking process.

Postby german2k01 » Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:25 pm

I have read the whole thing. Totally agreed. Massive language exposure and also a variety of massive exposure are key I mean 6-8 hours a day. All the sentences I have spoken so far; have come from intuition. The whole idea appears subconsciously and off it goes(usually takes 1-2 seconds.) I do not have to think about grammar consciously.

I even come home and check the grammar of those spoken sentences on DeepL to see if they had conveyed what exactly I wanted to convey in the first place. Ditto! :D

I have a side question to ask. In some situations, my subconscious mind comes up with an appropriate response, in other situations, it hits the wall, and nothing appears. Total blank. I do not know how to address this situation. More language exposure or should I create/simulate dialogues with ChatGPT for these situations?
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Re: Intuition for language learning: Automatic thinking process.

Postby Le Baron » Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:58 pm

On the other hand the 'miracle' is not always what it seems. Just because one thinks they are not paying attention doesn't mean there's a magic subconscious process where input is all worked out without having to think. There's a tendency to forget all the moments of hard slog over a long time period.

When you get up in the morning and for the first time start to do a new thing, it requires attention and repetition and also ordinary thought. This occurs quite a lot until becomes so much of a habit and a motor skill that you can stop 'learning' and trying to understand and just do. The difference between learning to drive and driving.

I accept the nuance between intuition and insight, but I find they are both similarly fed by ordinary thought which just isn't credited. Lots of so-called 'intuition' is pulling together the sum total of past thought and practice and experience and quickly applying it to a new skill without ruminating over what is going on. If it works we call it 'intuition', if it doesn't we just say 'there was no intuition' and sometimes decide that the skill to be learned wasn't very intuitive, but irregularly complicated. We also gain insights by being led from outside our own thoughts and ideas.

I agree that input creates habitual patterns and that these assist you in being able to go as far as recognising what is correct and incorrect without needing to have necessarily pored over the grammar. I don't know how anyone can point to what makes it to the conscious mind and what doesn't. I only know what made it and I'd want to know the answer to the question why it makes it for one person and not another? Assuming they follow the same route. Automatic responses come from repetition in the sense of reflex from having done those things. I'm less inclined to believe that a person can creatively generate language (for thought and to transmit as writing/speech) without having actively and consciously having done it a lot, even if there is a strong automatic element once that is happening.

No wonder Prince has that look having Heidegger's book put in front of him. :lol:
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Re: Intuition for language learning: Automatic thinking process.

Postby anitarrc » Wed Mar 29, 2023 10:44 am

I don't even begin to pretend that I understand the psychological stuff.

Then, through living in 6 countries I have been forced to process 10 hour a day at least the input method. Twice, to prepare for emigration, I did a duolingo effort. For the French and Spanish to PT (BR) course it worked. It didn't work for Russian to use at my job though.
All the rest of my learning was input.. written spoken shouted. Sometimes I had the whole garage laughing when I got something wrong. But yes, the boss helped me a lot and patiently corrected me when we were on the road to pick up a car.

Till I started to struggle seriously with Russian, I Never even thought of myself as a language learner. I was just another immigrant.
Since I am a translator and proofreader, my vocabulary has grown considerably, keeping a very sane 2m distance from Anki cards.
¿Why? I think input in context leads to good translations, without context it doesn't.
Try "arbre"
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