How did you learn your mother-tongue? Almost magically! Just hearing your mother (and others in the family and neighbourhood) talking to you and others. To be true, no special effort is needed to learn one’s mother-tongue; merely hearing a language all the time is a necessary condition to learn it. The other part, the sufficiency condition of learning a language is defined by the opportunities to expression and the quality of feedback available on every expression. The following are the Ten Commandments on language learning in terms of listening and expression in a language:
1. The larger the size of vocabulary heard, the richer the language.
2. The more frequently a language is heard, the better the command over the language.
3. The more the ‘long conversations’ or debates heard, the better.
4. The more the literary and scientific conversations, the better.
5. The wider the ‘genres’ of discussions participated, the better.
6. The more animated the discussions, the better.
7. The more immediate the feedbacks on expression, the better.
8. The more consistent the feedbacks on expression, the better.
9. The micro the feedbacks, the better.
10. The more the amount of expressions, the better.
It is fairly safe to say that language learning is an almost autonomous human facility but highly contextual.
