Hi dear fellow language students,
Have you ever heard about Gibberish? If not, I will give you a brief explanation of what it is. It is an invented language where people talk nonsense, no meaning whatsoever, no legitimate words, just pure nonsense. What is interesting about gibberish, is that it does however cross a certain message, because one of the ways to use it, is to know in your head what you are saying and the intention, but say it in a totally ridiculous unfamiliar way. Many actors use the technique of gibberish to learn and exercise the accent of a certain language. You can talk Italian gibberish, Spanish gibberish, Hebrew gibberish, Russian gibberish, and it’s a good start to getting used to and learning the language. Why? Because by listening and focusing only on the accent and form of the language, as well as many other details you’d be interested in, not only that you take in and understand the dominant sounds or/and exceptions in vowels, consonants or symbols in comparison to your most known languages for example, but you also get a relatively broader image of how the language sounds, what it emits, and many times, what is the dominant attitude of the people speaking that language themselves. Sometimes friends create their own gibberish language like a secret language that no one else understands. But I am mostly mentioning it here as a technique often actors use themselves, to just grasp the attitude of the people themselves, and fortunately, it’s a very good beginning to diving deeper into the language. Just play around, is the main goal of this exercise. However, the brain reacts to it very well, since it doesn’t strain to achieve any correct answer, but just focuses on producing the sound of it. If you include the specific body movements/language too, even better. It does get us out of our comfort zones very often.
So, have you ever tried practicing your new language in a totally ridiculous way like this one? Would you try this? Have you ever? With what language would you start?
