Every one of us needs a special key for perceiving new information. Where learning is built on practice and communication, people with a sensory perception of the world succeed. The creator of the system of human types, C.G. Jung, called such people “ethicists.” It is “ethicists” who can learn a complex language without courses and textbooks, simply by communicating with native speakers. “Logicians” (the psychotype opposite to “ethicists”) prefer to learn from reference books - they must understand the idea and structure of everything that exists.
Who are you? Which language learning method is optimal for you? You can find out by answering the questions in our test.
Remember - there are no bad or good psychotypes, just as there are no unequivocally unsuitable learning methods. Everyone has advantages.
Test this!
1. You went on a trip and decided to send a postcard to your family. What will you write about?
а) Impressions in the style of “it was cool (delightful)” - S.
б) Route, place names, events - L.
2. Who will you turn to if in a difficult moment you want to talk to a close person?
а) To someone who will share your feelings and sympathize - S.
б) To someone who will help analyze the problem and understand its essence - L.
3. You are choosing a training course. The manager of a language school describes two teachers with specific teaching methods to you. Who will you prefer?
а) The one who knows how to care for students, creates a friendly atmosphere, makes lessons entertaining - S.
б) The one who has encyclopedic knowledge, strives to develop students' mental abilities, constantly corrects mistakes - L. 4. Your acquaintance asks you to recommend a bestseller. How would you characterize a good book in your understanding?
а) Passions boil, it takes your breath away, there is a deep description of characters - S.
б) Great ideas, a complex plot, brilliant conclusions - L.
5. Your organization plans to conclude a partnership agreement with a little-known firm. You go on a “reconnaissance.” What will help you form a complete picture of the firm?
а) Involuntary participation in many informal conversations of the firm's employees, observing how they work - S.
б) Review of all the firm's documentation, from the external auditor's report to HR orders - L.
6. At a party, people discuss an old incident that remained a mystery to most. You know the exact course of events, but your story will make several friends feel very uncomfortable. Will you reveal the secret?
а) Yes, “Socrates is my friend, but truth is dearer” - L.
б) No, you cannot offend people for this - S.
7. You are offered to change jobs. You came for an interview and looked into the office. What environment, with equal salary, will be the decisive criterion for choice?
а) The new boss speaks somewhat incoherently but smiles good-naturedly; there is a slight mess in the office, but a friendly atmosphere prevails - S.
б) Affairs are strictly systematized. The new boss is a competent “dry” person, his subordinates are a match for him - impassive experts - L.
8. Which advertisement is more likely to make you buy the product?
а) One that lists useful properties, technical parameters, reliability guarantees, manufacturer characteristics - L.
б) A beautiful joyful picture or video, after which a good mood remains and the feeling that life is wonderful - S.
9. Imagine that you are going to an exotic country for a long time. An acquaintance who has already been there advises you to learn more about local customs. What will help you better understand their essence?
а) A feature film by a local director on the given topic - S.
б) A thematic monograph by a sociologist-researcher - L.
10. You signed up for a foreign language course that you will study from scratch. You have the right to choose a textbook. Which one will you choose?
а) One designed in the style of color comics, with dialogues and funny stories - S.
б) A reference book with graphs, charts and explanations - L.
11. You bought a complex device. Your friend has the same one. How will you master the new equipment?
а) You will read the instructions from first to last page - L.
б) You will ask your friend for explanations - S.
12. You need to urgently prepare an important business letter or document. But at that moment a message comes from a friend: his girlfriend left him and he is ready to do something irreparable. What will you do?
а) You write hastily or put aside the business letter and immediately contact your friend - S.
б) You send an encouraging message to your friend and immerse yourself in preparing the letter - L.
Key to the test
More than seven S. Most likely, you belong to the Jungian type of “ethicists.” And if a foreign grammar textbook is to you like Assyrian cuneiform, do not rush to write yourself off as mentally disabled.
It is important for you to experience the life of the country “by taste, color and smell”, to listen to people's voices, so that foreign speech acquires meaning.
Go study languages abroad, so that during a walk around the city you can immediately use the learned phrases. If it is not possible to study abroad, look for domestic courses with a “communicative approach.”
Self-translation of an interesting book will be remembered by you better than lectures. But to avoid grammatical errors and to conduct business correspondence correctly, you will still have to sit down with “boring” textbooks.
As a result, you will master the subtleties and nuances of the foreign language, moreover, so deeply that you will be able to understand other people's jokes and start joking yourself, as if in your native language.
More than seven L. Perhaps you are a “logic.” Even if you watch foreign cable television for several years in a row, you will not understand the structure of the language until you read the “instruction manual for its use.” Start learning with the rules of grammar, phonetics, conjugations, etc. An intensive course, especially abroad, is useless for you at the first stage.
You should choose linguistic schools of an academic orientation - those where the language is taught for a long time, in detail, as if in the expectation that you will have to write a dissertation about it.
It is difficult for you to translate passive knowledge into active communication skills. But this can be overcome if you write scenarios in advance and act out skits in class, memorize possible lines, read aloud.
Gradually you will stop thinking about constructing phrases and begin to speak “automatically.”
Equally L and S. Both psychotypes are combined in you. And that means their strengths and weaknesses. Most likely, you do not have a clearly expressed desire and ability to study with excellent marks, because it is difficult for you to fully focus your attention on theory, like a “logic,” or to completely immerse yourself in the sensory world of another culture, like an “ethic.”
Look for a golden mean. When communicating with foreigners, consult grammar reference books more often. If there is no opportunity to be in a native speaker environment, choose something in between a boring reference book and a comic.
You need to activate a “sensory approach” - watch films and read books in the original language.
When one method gets boring, use another. Both are available to you, and that is your advantage.