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by S. Sterling
When Nothing Works
Say flashcards, set study times, and lesson plans don’t work for you. Lists feel overwhelming and vocab feels meaningless. What do you do then? Regardless of your struggle, it’s comforting to know that somewhere in the world there’s someone going through the exact same thing you are when learning a language. The best thing to do is to stop doing what doesn’t work and tailor things to fit you as a person. Learning something new should be a mostly enjoyable experience that doesn’t have you dreading or avoiding it. I’ve found that if I use flash cards outside of the context of a matching game I don’t use them. Writing down grammar rules or exercises from a textbook? Not happening.
Acquire, Don’t Learn
The biggest thing that I learned was shifting focus from learning to acquiring through complete or near-complete immersion. You did not *learn* your first language. You were an infant and you *acquired* it from listening to the people around you. From watching movements and voice intonation to seeing how people react to things in the world around you. This approach has worked wonders for me so far and has helped me improve my own language-learning goals by leaps and bounds. Every brain is different so there is no hard and fast rule for how to do things but the general way that I’ve found is to minimize consuming any media from my native language as much as possible and throw out the vocab list. (Unless you like to make lists and then squirrel them away in a drawer somewhere for the winter. Then, by all means, make those lists!)
Anything goes for this language learning style; with the internet creating a global network, it has become so much easier to find materials and people looking to share their culture. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing a video game in your target language, or watching a beloved TV show or movie, by building association through watching and listening you’re well on your way to language fluency.
The next step that you need to take would be starting to ‘babble’ or mimic the sounds of the language even if it’s just the alphabet. As someone who is painfully shy, this is the hardest part so I usually do this at night before I go to bed. Sleep is amazing when reinforcing learned materials, so babbling to yourself before bed, even if you sound silly, isn’t a bad way to learn. Another way to help yourself learn how to form sentences is to think in the language, for example: while brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Don’t focus on using the right words, just focus on uninterrupted thoughts in that language even if it’s a total stream of consciousness. Just 3-5 minutes every day adds up (use a timer if you have to), learning a language is a marathon and not a sprint so keep at it!
Create Language Bingo
You may be thinking: “that’s well and good, but this isn’t anything different from what I’ve seen online already”. While language learning is intensely personal, I have a few suggestions to help you start when switching to immersion-based learning. My first suggestion is to make a “study menu” by picking a few things you need to do once a month or once a week you can take the pressure off yourself that a list would impose. Something like “mirror a song to learn pronunciation” or “translate a passage to learn word order” or maybe even “read an article on an interesting subject”. If you have difficulty doing things you don’t like, might I suggest doing “language learning bingo” by making a grid and filling it with a mixture of boring and fun things? A few examples could be: “Write a paragraph about my day”, “Make a shopping list in my target language”, or “Switch my phone to my target language for a week”.
Challenges
Now we’ve talked about the pros, let’s go over some cons. Even though I have progressed incredibly fast using this method of studying, I’ve noticed it’s hard for me to gauge where I’m at in terms of my level. So you may run into some difficulty if you try switching from immersion-based learning to text-book learning. Another difficulty is that this type of learning takes discipline and check-ins. And I mean *a lot* of discipline. I try to do monthly check-ins to see where my strengths and weaknesses are. Even though I do this to keep myself on track, sometimes I tend to favor my strengths instead of my weaknesses. It happens to the best of us and we’re all human, but being aware of it helps!
Final Thoughts
Immersion-based learning is still one of the best ways to learn a language, in my humble opinion, as it allows me to have the flexibility to incorporate studying into my busy day-to-day life. As someone who can’t keep to rigorous study guides and vocab lists (even though I enjoy making them) this kind of studying has allowed me to progress in my language abilities, and I hope it does the same for you! Remember: the best kind of language learning method is the one that you end up using consistently.
About S. Sterling
Sterling is an American artist with a special place in her heart for learning about the world around her. She spends her time learning languages, foraging for dye materials, and creating worlds. When she’s not busy with her creative endeavors, she’s taking courses to better herself as a person and hone her craft.