This article is Part 3 of the 5 part series on learning a language (click any of the following for “Part 1: Why it is never too late”, “Part 2: Myths of language learning” , “Part 3: Routine for the complete beginner”, “Part 4: The routine for the intermediate level”, “Part 5: Advanced routine and learning another”, and the companion piece and review of the LingQ language application here.)
In Part 2 I talked about some of the myths of language acquisition and what worked for me with French and Spanish. Here I will begin the discussion on language learning routines.
The routine is so key for success. Like going to the gym, consistency is key! That might sound trite, but it’s true. That means it is better to do, say, 20 minutes a day opposed to 2 hours and 20 minutes once a week. When you build a consistent routine, no matter the level, you’ll be able to adjust the times as your competence increases. Besides, the better you get, the more enjoyable the process is, and thus the more time you seem to have/find. In the very beginning, all of your learning is very Active and requires a lot of mental energy. As time goes on this changes.
This article will focus on an ideal routine of a complete beginner.
DISCLAIMER: I do not profess to be a professional polyglot, or even a language expert. Some of the pros out there speak 10-20 languages; I, however, only speak 3 (English ostensibly, French at an advanced level, and Spanish at conversational fluency).
Despite this, I think I offer a unique example of someone who is very busy, that started learning a language relatively late (in my mid 20s), and that had success without intense immersion.
More than anything, I am curious. I have scoured the depths of the internet to find the most effective way to learn a language. I have reached out to linguists. I have studied the subject myself during my undergrad. I have tested most of the apps. I have failed, and I have succeeded.
With that being said, I am writing this to save you some time and to pass on the wisdom that others have given me. That is all.
First of all, and as stated previously, I owe most of my success to Steven Kaufman, and his revolutionary application LingQ. I will discuss the app in some detail throughout this series. It is worth saying that ThoughtNotion has no affiliation with LingQ and that we are a third party independent outlet.
If I discuss LingQ ad nauseam in this language series, it is because it is the best. See Part 2 for a brief explanation on the linguistic theory of Comprehensible Input that makes the app so effective (or you can check out this video by Steve Kaufman).
The Beginner Routine
The lowest common denominator between all of my routines at different stages of fluency is that you must work on the language at least 20 minutes daily. As with most routines, repetition is key.
This is about working smarter—not harder—and utilizing some of the science behind language acquisition that I have outlined in Part 1 and part 2. I will not be attributing or citing for the sake of brevity. My hope is that you can trust I’ve done my homework and that this method has worked for me. You will no doubt form your own routine as your linguistic competence progresses. The key is to find something that works for you. My hope is that this may serve as a template.
At their core, all of the routines are based on the theory of Comprehensible Input in language acquisition. Trust me, it WILL work. Language comes very easily to most humans. It’s just about applying the right software to your existing hardware to learn another language that isn’t your native tongue.
It’s just about applying the right software to your existing hardware to learn another language that isn’t your native tongue.
The critical learning period.
What is the critical learning period? This is not to be confused with the Critical Period Hypothesis, which has to do with language development in a child. The critical learning period is when a new task is very difficult in the beginning because you have yet to establish a strong neural network. Kaufmann describes the steep start to language learning as “the blade of the upside down hockey stick”; you’re struggling and trying to get a sense of things for a period of time (the base of the blade) before you get more comfortable with the content and things become easier (the tip of the blade).
The blade is where you are most likely to give up.
“The very steep start to language learning is the blade of the upside down hockey stick where you are struggling to get a grip of the language…”
Steve Kaufmann
Until you pass this critical learning period, where tasks (or in this case, learning) becomes implicit, the process of language learning will be laborious.
You are building new synapses, and those synapses are like little footpaths compared to your six lane highways of engrained neural networks for other tasks like brushing your teeth, or speaking your native tongue. The reason why I’m going over this in some detail is because it is important to understand that it is in this period where most people quit—or, in other words, fail. It is equally important to understand that this period isn’t as long as you think if you’re approaching the learning process in the right way.
Most new language learners never get past this stage, and thus, never enjoy the fruits of the labour. Once you get over this proverbial blade, curve, or hump, you stop heading up hill and you head downhill—and with increasing speed. It really is amazing once the struggle of those initial weeks or months of learning are complete how you can find success in an inverse direction to the struggle you had in the beginning.
Understanding this concept in the beginning is important for the drive. You will eventually get over that hump, and when you do, it is truly one of the most amazing eureka moments one can experience.
In essence, learning how to effectively learn a second language taught me how to learn in general.
When I take on new challenges I am excited about the struggle in the beginning; the struggle in the beginning is your brain making new synapses. As Joe Dispenza says, you are “evolving your brain”. This truly happens any time you learn anything new. Language is no exception. If it seems hard, that’s good! But that doesn’t mean you can attack language learning at random. Effective learning is important; with effective learning, your struggle will produce results.
In the beginning, four things are needed:
- Rote;
- Read;
- Listen;
- Repeat.
This is RRLP
Before you begin, however, it would be useful to read or listen to a very short grammar in the language to get your bearings. This is only if you would like a basic understanding of the bigger picture overall. For example, in French, I read a basic 130 page beginner grammar that was only meant to survey the basics. In Spanish, I listened to Language Transfer Spanish before I dove into the heavy reading and listening on my own. A grammar will give you a general base before you begin but it is not necessary. It might relieve you slightly in the beginning when you are reading and listening so you are not seeing grammatical constructions for the first time.
If you choose to look at a grammar, you should spend NO MORE than a week (or two) on it!
Linguists like Kaufmann are against focusing on grammars. The understanding of your target language’s grammar will come in time—it almost clicks! The more you see the constructions, the more your brain will fill in the gaps. This takes time and a little faith.
(1) Rote
Rote is the part of language learning that everyone gets fixed on. Why? Because there are tangible results. This is why Duolingo, or flashcard apps are so popular. You are gratified by “learning” a new word. The only issue is—and we’re going back to the parrot analogy in Part 2 here—words out of context are useless.
Knowing a word without the surrounding syntactic construction, in which you will ultimately hear it in, is counter productive. Associative learning is is a powerful teaching strategy because words in context reinforce each other making them far easier to remember.
Therefore, I start this ‘rant on rote’ with this: Do not, not, not sacrifice the following three strategies for the instant gratification of Rote. You will see in the intermediate and advanced stages of Language acquisition that the Rote is dropped completely. This is to give you a base only.
So what is it?
Rote memory generally entails memory for material without much reference to the meaning, emotions, or to the context to which it is associated. The major practice in rote memorization is learning by repetition or routine, without full comprehension or attention to what is being memorized.
There is something so satisfying about doing flashcards and seeing your vocabulary go up. But, it is a poor use of your time if it becomes your only focus. I suggest rote in the beginning so you can build a base of some essential words. My favourite app for this Memrise. LingQ also allows you to review your vocabulary. Remember, this is just to get you started and should be only a few minutes each day. In time you will abandon it completely as your competency increases. The more you read and listen, the more you will see the same words and constructions while learning new ones, and the less you’ll require any kind of repetitive flash-carding (remember Krashen’s “i+1” in Part 2).
If you are to choose Rote over Read, or Listen, you’re missing my point. Rote is meant to prime you, and get you excited about the learning the target language, that is all.
(2) Read
Reading is one half of the deadly one-two punch of efficient language acquisition. To read is to comprehend—next you must listen. This is the basis of the Input Hypothesis and Comprehensible Input as discussed in Part 2. LingQ is the perfect platform for this “read, listen, and repeat” technique. LingQ breaks the text down and translates your material word for word. That way, you can read in your target language and translate as you read. When you listen, you will then have a general idea of the meaning of what you are listening to. I explain how the app functions more here.
(3) Listen
This is the most important part. You read to set yourself up to be in a position to intelligibly listen. This is the foundation of Comprehensible Input.
In the beginning you will understand very little, or catch only a few sequences of sounds or words. But have no fear! It gets easier… Here is where one may experience explosive results. This happened to me in both Spanish and French. In as little as 10-20 hours of listening on LingQ, you may—like me—see a dramatic increase in your listening comprehension. Remember: input is everything!
(4) Repeat
Voila! Now you repeat. And by repeat, I mean, repeat a lot.
You may cycle through this process in the beginning 30-40 times per audio clip on LingQ (or 2-6 minute listening sequences). That’s a lot. Trust me. The key is to stay on the same lesson until you can distinguish most of the sequences of sounds and can discern what they mean in real time. This may seem tedious, but, in the beginning, it is necessary.
As you progress and strain to listen your ability to parse out the once unfamiliar sequences of words will increase. You are creating new neural networks for the language. The software is being applied to the existing hardware.
In the beginning, this is like brushing your teeth with the opposite hand—for the first few weeks it is rather awkward and annoying. However, It really is quite exciting once you get over the critical learning period. Like rolling a snowball down a hill, your progress will become exponential.
Conclusion
I learned just under 20,000 words in French in little under three years using this method and the LingQ application. I’m approaching 10,000 in Spanish doing the same. The RRLR method can act as a base for the first few months. It is worth repeating that the Rote in RRLR will be displaced very soon! Once you get past the critical learning period, and you start to enjoy the learning, finding interesting material and being active in your language learning becomes easy. The hardest part is getting started—so, I hope this helps.
For intermediate click here.
Al holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Arts Double Major in Linguistics & Political Studies from the University of Manitoba. He is currently working in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Al has a passion for language, meditation, health, travelling, business and tech. Al is one of the co-founders of ThoughtNotion. You can connect with him on his personal site or on LinkedIn.
