On learning languages

Learning a new language is a big project and a difficult one. Languages are all different, however some aspects of learning seem to be language agnostic. Here are my tips for general language learners.

Motivation

The most important ingredient for language learning. The better or stronger the motivation, the longer and harder you’ll study. Learning a language requires persistent practice and for this motivation is key.

Motivation can take different forms. It might be that you live in a country that speaks that language, you want to move to such a country or your partner speaks that language. Either way, it is worth thinking about what your motivation is, and if you lack it, how to find more.

Motivation is the driving force behind the learning and what drags you out of the inevitable ruts you will find yourself in.

Volume

The more you study, the more you’ll learn. There are not many shortcuts to take here. Either you figure out how to learn faster, i.e. language “hacks”, or you figure out how to study a lot.

There are many learning “hacks” being advertised. However, in my experience I don’t see them making language learning much easier. At best you might gain a 10-30% speed up for some specific aspects of learning. Often, the traditional ways (with e.g. a textbook) teaches you the language just as fast and often more comprehensively (which helps you remember things better). Exploring language hacks might be fun, but whether the time learning them is actually worth the time you save is questionable. In the end, pick whatever makes you learn the best.

My preferred approach is to study more. Or I should rather say; to figure out some way of sneaking more language learning into your day which is fun (or tolerable).

Fun

What is fun and effective learning differs between people. If you’re serious about learning a language, have a think about what are things you like to do that can be used to learn your language.

I’m a huge fan of learning through songs. And that worked great for me when learning German. I start by finding songs in the language that I like. Then I either translate them by looking up words, or just look up translations of the lyrics. I’ll then have a playlist of songs I like that I’ll listen to regularly on repeat. This then becomes a fun way for me to learn vocabulary.

Manage the learning

Managing the learning is done to some extent by everyone. It is simply the answer to the question “how are you learning?”. However taking some time to think about how you organise the learning is well worth it.

As anything in life, learning a language consists of 1. deciding how to do it (system) and 2. doing it (execution). When you spend a lot of time executing, it is worth thinking of the system, as it affects what you do and how you do what you do. If you spend some time setting up a good learning system you are likely going to be more effective and enjoy learning more. The last section on fun is part of setting up a good system.

A good system is planned in advance and updated organically as your learning progresses. Every now and then reflecting on how the learning is going helps a lot. It made me realise that the way I was using flashcard apps (Anki¹) used more time than the learning was worth.

Managing the learning tends to be time consuming. Don’t manage more than you learn. I suggest spending some time (maybe a week or two) in the beginning to research and map out tools for learning the language. Generally there will be some blog posts with good tips on this. And then focus on learning over managing.

To me managing is organising what is 1. my main focus, 2. my supplements and 3. my tools.

1. The main focus in the main driver for learning and forms the foundation of what is being learned. The main focus can be a course, a textbook or material organised by a tutor.
2. Supplements is whatever is fun and adds to the learning. This can be apps like Memrise and Duolingo ², chatting with a friend or keeping a journal in the language you want to learn (more on that later).
3. Tools are whatever tools aid your learning, this include dictionary apps, cheat sheets and tools for organising notes.

Journal

Keeping a journal is one of the best language learning ideas I’ve come across. This idea is from a Talk To Me In Korean video. The concept is explained well in the video but for the lazy, here is a summary.

By keeping a journal/diary, you write every day. And you write about things that are important to you. When early in your language learning your entries will be simple. Maybe even just one word. That’s OK. As you progress, you can make longer entries.

Keeping this up means that you, 1. consistently use the language, thus maintaining what you have learned and improving flow. And 2. you use and are extra motivated to learn vocabulary that is important for YOUR every day life.

The fluency roller-coaster

Fluency in the sense of “flow” in a language is correlated with confidence (one of the reasons one might feel like one becomes better in a language when drunk). And confidence depends on how much you know versus how much you know that you don’t know.

In the beginning I’ll learn a few words and be great at using them in a completely grammar-detached manner (“toilet.. where?!”). After learning some basic sentence structures, the way I speak slows down until I internalize that grammar. Then I’ll again be confident, and feel like I can speak to some extent. Then I’ll learn of some aspect of the language that I had never heard of, I’ll notice when I make those mistakes, and slow my speaking down again. This repeats a number of times until I master the language. I call this the fluency roller-coaster.

I think it is valuable to have these alternating periods of “I’m amazing, look I can communicate” and “Oh no! I’m making so many mistakes!”. Both periods help with motivation. The fluent periods help motivation through positive reinforcement and the faltering periods through a dose of unease/fear. While both kinds of motivation helps, it is good to keep a balance and not dip too deep in either direction.

The connection between confidence and fluency is one of the reasons why teachers correcting every single mistake is bad. I’ve come across teachers who will rephrase entire sentences for students and point out every single mistake. That might be fine for someone who’s at the top of their fluency roller-coaster, but for someone going through a faltering period, that’s the last thing they need.

In my experience, most beginner and intermediate students can benefit from more confidence. Taking a break from learning new grammar and just focusing on fluency can greatly improve motivation. And knocking that confidence down again afterwards is much easier than building it up. On the other hand, advanced students or those that don’t actively study the language anymore might have stagnated due to having no faltering period.

Usefulness

Many focus on how useful a language is when they pick a language to learn. Often this is answered by considering how many people speak the language. While that is certainly a factor, here I focus on something different, namely; when does a learned language become useful?

I like to say that a language is only useful if you’re better in the language than the natives tend to be in English.

If you have learned Danish and go to Denmark. Your Danish will only be useful if you’re better in the language than the Dane you’re talking to is in English ³. For this to happen often, your Danish will have to be really good.

In this sense it is easier to be useful in Chinese than in Danish or Dutch.

The Germanic languages (Scandinavian, Dutch and German) are often considered some of the easiest to learn if you’re coming from an English background. And while this is true, that doesn’t mean they’re easy to be useful in ⁴.

Maintenance

A language once learns will be forgotten if not maintained. One goal for me when learning a language is to reach a level where it can be maintained in fun ways. Generally the better you are in a language the more options you have to maintain it.

One way is to change the language in some program or consume some media in that language. If you do change the language in a program, just make sure it isn’t something time essential. Someone I knew once missed a raid because her Pokemon Go app gave her a Spanish pop-up which she didn’t understand. On the other hand, I’ve had a blast playing Fallout 4 in German.

Summary

• Motivation is key. Volume is the main driver for learning and the main driver for volume is fun.
• Spend time managing your learning, but don’t over manage. Have a main focus that you grind through. Have fun with supplements. And use good tools. Writing a journal and listening to songs were supplements that worked great for me.
• Don’t let someone (or yourself) over correct you into a fluency dump on the fluency roller coaster. If you’re not confident in speaking, study until you are confident in what you have learned, then go explore new things you don’t know.
• A language is only useful if you’re better in that than the natives is in English and don’t forget that you can maintain a language in fun ways.
• Figure out what works for you. Everyone learns differently and this post is only what worked for me.