Hello there!
In this issue of Ling-oh! I'm going to share 4 more hacks that will help you learn a new language faster.
Let's get into it.
Make it fun
This is one of those pieces of advice that sounds almost too obvious. At the same time it's one of the most important.
The first time I heard someone make the case for "having fun" was in an Esperanto podcast about language learning.
To quote Lýdia Machová from episode 89 of kern.punkto: amuziĝu! She later went on to make this same point even more convincingly in her TED talk The secrets of learning a new language.
Learning a new language is one of the biggest goals you can set yourself. Many people give up before their progress has had chance to compound.
The antidote to this is to make sure you're having fun. It's a lot harder to lose interest or give up fun.
The good news is that we have so many options. From games and TV shows to books and making new friends, there are thousands of ways to enjoy our target language, and make sure that learning feels more like having fun than going to school.
Don't ignore AI
AI is not perfect, but it's not bad either.
It doesn't make sense to ignore AI and not use it for the thing it's especially good at – language.
AI shouldn't be your only tool to learn a language, just like Google Translate shouldn't, but it can be super helpful.
Here are some examples:
- Ask your favourite AI to give you example phrases for a new word you're learning.
- Ask it to create a simple conversation or story using the words, verbs, or phrases that are important to you.
- Ask it to simulate a conversation with you. Ask after each part "Give me feedback on what I said. Was it correct? Could I have said it differently?" The results may surprise you.
- Ask it to explain grammar rules to you like you're a child. It'll break them down into simpler terms.
Use spaced repetition
In issue 2 of Ling-oh! I talked about the value of spaced repetition.
Our brains are amazing things, but they don't keep stuff forever – and for good reason. As language learners, we sometimes need to hack that process and build up vocab more quickly, before we're using it daily.
A good way to do this is by using flashcards and a spaced repetition approach. Grab a tool like Anki and add your own flashcards for things you want to remember.
With regular recall sessions, your brain will start to strengthen those memories and keep all that new vocab bouncing around your grey cells for much longer.
But let me warn you: if you combine flashcards with mnemonics, you're going to face a problem. Your entire hat collect ain't going to fit anymore.
Don't just learn words
Languages are just a very large collection of words, right?
Languages do indeed contain many words, but words don't exist in a vacuum. Depending on the kind of word, there are other words you need to know.
An easy example is opposites. Learning the word for "good" in your target language is useful, but it's even more useful if you also know "bad" – so learn them both at the same time.
When you create a flashcard in German, don't just challenge your grey cells to produce "gut" but also "schlecht". Do that with all words that have useful opposites.
Similarly, verbs have conjugations. Words in some languages have gender. If you're into grammar, it may be helpful for you to know the part of speech the word is (is it an adverb, an adjective or a verb?). Words also have synonyms and it's nice to be able say something another way.
So when learning a word, ask yourself what else you can include in the flashcard or study session. At the very least, add one other connected thing.
It's like "buy one get one free" but for vocab.
