Sound familiar? A line from a song gets stuck. Or one from a series. And you say it to yourself. While brushing your teeth, at the bus stop, while cooking. Again and again. Sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly enough for someone to give you a funny look.
Maybe that feels a bit embarrassing. Maybe someone has even told you to stop. Today I’m telling you something else: repeating is allowed. In language learning, it is one of the best tools you have.
What echolalia actually is
The technical word for repeating what you have heard is echolalia. You say words or whole sentences again that you have heard. Sometimes straight away, sometimes hours or days later.
Sounds like a diagnosis? First of all, it is completely normal. Small children do it all the time while learning to talk. They take on whole sentences before they can take the words in them apart. ‘Do you want an ice cream?’ then simply means: I want an ice cream.
For many autistic people, repeating stays an important part of language for longer. For a long time this was mainly seen as something that ‘had to go’. Today, professionals look more closely. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, ASHA, describes for example that echolalia can serve different purposes: communicating something, memorising something, gaining time, calming down.
Important, and honest: I am not a therapist, and this article is not therapy. If you have questions about yourself or your child, professional support, for example from a speech and language therapist, is the right place to go. This is about something smaller: how repeating can help when learning Spanish.
Why whole sentences are easier than single words
Imagine learning Spanish like a Lego kit. First every piece separately, then the instructions, then building. That is hard work. And in a restaurant you have no time to open the instructions.
Now imagine you already have a few finished pieces in your pocket. ¿Comemos? Ya he comido. He comido muy bien, gracias. Complete, tested, ready to use. You don’t have to build anything. You just take them out.
That is what ready-made sentences do. They take the load off your head. That is why my twelve sentences for a holiday in Spain are whole sentences and not vocabulary lists. And that is what repeating is for: it turns a foreign sentence into your own.
The echo method in four steps
You need a song or a recording with a sentence you want to learn. At LingoRhythm, that is the lesson’s song. Then go step by step:
- Just listen. No speaking along, no reading along. Simply hear how the sentence sounds. As often as you like.
- Hum. No words. Just the tune and the beat. Where does the voice go up? Where does it get long?
- Speak along quietly. Very quietly, almost just with your lips. Nobody has to hear it. Not even you, really.
- Repeat out loud. First at the same time as the recording, then straight after it, like an echo.
And now the most important part: you may stay on each step as long as you like. A week of just listening? Completely fine. Some people need step 1 for a long time before step 3 feels safe. That is not falling behind. That is your pace.
Odd but true: the most famous echo in world literature
In Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, a work from ancient Rome, there is the nymph Echo. She has been cursed and can only repeat the last words other people say. Sentences of her own? Impossible.
And yet she holds a conversation. Young Narcissus gets lost in the woods and calls: ‘Is anyone here?’ Echo replies: ‘Here!’ He calls: ‘Come!’ She calls: ‘Come!’ With nothing but repetitions, she says everything she wants to say. It is probably the oldest description of the idea that repeating can be a form of communication.
The story didn’t end well for the two of them, mind you. But that is another topic.
From echo to your own sentence
At some point you will want not only to repeat but to say your own sentences. That doesn’t happen at the push of a button. It happens in small steps. And the first step is an echo with one tiny change.
- You can say: No como carne.
- You swap one word: No como pescado. I don’t eat fish.
- You swap the time: No comí carne. I didn’t eat meat.
Notice something? The sentence stays your safe ground. You only change one part. Just as at LingoRhythm the sentence comer una manzana always stays the same and only the ending moves. Bit by bit, the echo becomes your own voice.
What you can try today
- Pick one sentence. For example Como una manzana.
- Listen to it five times without speaking along.
- Hum it once. No words at all.
- Speak along quietly. Then out loud, like an echo.
- Put a reminder in your calendar for tomorrow. How the reviews work is in Melanie’s 1-3-7 plan.
If you fancy more beat: Laura shows in Rhythm instead of rules how to clap the endings. And why singing can help you remember is explained by Sarah in Why music can help you learn a language. You will find the songs to repeat in ¡A comer!.
And if someone gives you a funny look?
Then someone gives you a funny look. People repeat things all the time: advertising slogans, song lines, their grandparents’ sayings. You are just doing it on purpose. And in Spanish. That is no reason to be embarrassed. It is a reason to be a little proud.
Permission for today: you may say the same sentence ten times. And again tomorrow. Until it sounds like you.
Sources and image credit
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA): Echolalia and Its Role in Gestalt Language Acquisition. Practice Portal. asha.org
- Ovid: Metamorphoses, Book III (Echo and Narcissus).
- Cover image: Adam Vradenburg / Unsplash.