The Real
Secret To Language Learning
Okay, so I
am going to ask you a question about your study habits. Answer the Questions
honestly.
It is better
to study...
A. Forty Minutes Monday, Wednesday,
Friday
B. Thirty Minutes Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Friday
C. Twenty Minutes Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
D. Three hours every Saturday
The Correct
Answer is at the bottom of this blog....
Language
learning is not something you should do in chunks. If you want to become
fluent, you must spread out your time. It is far better to spend less time
studying several days a week than to try and ‘cram’ the material in all at once.
Cramming works if you are learning science, but it does not work with
foreign languages. Trust me. I have studied four foreign languages, and am now
upon my fifth. Cramming DOES NOT WORK.
Language learning is different from learning
history, geography, or science. It must be done daily, in small doses of
fifteen to twenty minutes. The only time I have ever crammed is when I had to
review the material for an exam. I never in my life tried to learn new material
by cramming before an exam. It would be insane to try that.
So – here is
the secret to language learning. Make a study schedule and stick to it. Spread
that language learning time out over the week. The more you spread it, the
better you will be.
I have been
listening to Mandarin Chinese for fifteen minutes a day every day. And that is
it. I will not even consider going over fifteen minutes a day right now.
Fifteen
minutes a day is something we all can do. Make a list of every free minute you
have. (sitting in traffic, subway, bus,
walking, bathing, cooking). Do not tell me that you do not have free time
because you do have it. If you really cannot find it – then make it and
schedule it.
If you know
how to make time for your language, you will
learn it. I promise you that. The magic will happen. If this is something that
you do not get, guess what, you will never learn the language.
The reason
so many people fail at language learning is because either they do not know how
to study, or they are lazy.
So, there
you have it. The secret to language learning. It is probably not what you want
to hear, but it is the truth. It takes many years to become fluent in a
language.
Oh...and the correct answer to the question? In the image below. Can you read upside down?
1 comment:
Very interesting idea. I used to often find my self dedicating a large portion of a day to language learning, and then feeling proud of myself, I would take a few days off. But you really lose a lot of what you learn that way. The cramming doesn't work, this is true. I got a lot of A's on vocab exams in Spanish class, but never really retained any of that information because of it. I think it is best to study once a day for 30-45 minutes right before you go to bed. I can't remember where I read it, but the brain logs information when you sleep, so that any studying you do before drifting off is retained better than if you were to study it mid-day.
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