There's nothing that you need to DO

You want another language. Okay. But then immediately you think to yourself, "In that case, what do I need to do?"

Right away, you are heading off-track.

Obviously you need to do something. I don't deny that. But it's more along the lines of allowing something to be done to you. It's arranging the condition and setting up systems and habits, after which you allow the process to happen to you.

You're not to put words into your head. You are not the one who must learn rules and apply them. You are not the one who must push through the nervousness barrier and force yourself to speak. 

No, no no . . . None of that!

You're not the doer, you're the do-ee.

You're not responsible for the results, either. And that's good to realize, because this removes any pressure of possible failure. 

You're not to measure your achievements either. You aren't achieving in the sense that you've been trained to expect. It won't go neatly and tidily. 

You'll get better imperfectly, messily, sloppily, randomly, magically, and unfathomably. You'll learn the language without knowing how you did it! 

Don't put pressure on yourself to remember vocabulary, to spell correctly, to pronounce correctly, to understand the rule, to comprehend, to treat language learning as a serious business, or to study in any way.

Put yourself in the right environment, and get your brain into the right state. That's all that's required of you. The rest will happen automatically.

Don't consciously try to learn a language. You can't. No one can. The most that you'll achieve is to learn a few things about it.

Set some rewards

1.     Establish some rewards or a reward system humans need to succeed with simple intermediate steps

Use your technical knowledge

Use your technical knowledge (“[it] is often the key that unlocks the gate of language learning” Kato Lomb)

Understand habits

1.     Understand habits Why is it hard to start a habit? Why is it hard to stop one? How can both of these be true? It’s because both of them represent change, and the organism resists change.

Read compulsively

compulsive, compeling

Put input before output

Push the pace

so as not to analyze

Proof yourself against failure

There's only one way to fail

Proceed with an attitude of utter conviction

In her book Dr. Kato Lomb lists her 10 commandments for language learning. The tenth is to be firmly convinced that you are a linguistic genius.

Attitude is that important.

As Henry Ford said:

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.

But I think that there's more. It's possible to inflate your confidence to some extent, but not as much as if your conviction was based upon a solid foundation.

(The metaphor of a house built on sand or on rock fits right here.) 

What are those expressions called - when you repeat positive thoughts to yourself? Oh yes, self-affirmations. It seems to me that that practice wouldn't work so well in a vacuum. 

Prioritize listening

Unless you are deaf, you would have learned your own language by listening. Everyone did! Even books, when they were introduced to you, were read out aloud. We’re all hard-wired, in stereo, to our ears. Listening is important.

So why is it at school, when we’re asked to learn another language, that listening is so de-emphasized? Why is it that we, and our teachers, are so uncomfortable using that medium? I mean, it’s true, isn’t it? I’m right, aren’t I? Or have things changed from when I remember?

I suppose it's that writing feels safer. You can stare at it. You can refer back to it. You can keep it pinned to the page. You can see how it is formed. All those things are hard to do with the spoken word. No sooner does it appear . . . than it’s gone. You can’t show off to the teacher how much you’ve done.

Yes, it takes some doing to get used to listening. It took me quite a time to manage it, even after I had decided on its value, and that I ought to. I taught a one-year English course fairly recently during which I urged people to start listening, but for the duration of that course I couldn’t bring myself to follow my own advice.

The history of my folly

Preserve your mistakes for posterity. 

Perhaps you don’t regard making a mistake as actually bad. Perhaps you are quite resigned to the need to make mistakes in order to learn, and you need no convincing as to their value. 

But there might remain a sense of embarrassment.

It feels embarrassing to blunder. You feel a fool when you put your foot in your mouth. You feel like a dick when you trip, a klutz when you stutter (I could go on . . . )

And that’s not good, because any such inhibitions have the effect of slowing you down and making you do less. So here’s a strategy that you could use.

Write down your best bloopers. Start a collection of your goofs. Turn them into anecdotes that you tell at your own expense. Trot them out at parties, and be the loudest to laugh. 

In her book, Dr Kato Lomb refers often to “the history of my folly”. She is not too shy to recount a number of personally embarrassing incidents.  

That’s one way to reduce their potency, and take away the sting. That’s how you neutralize their poison, and remove their fangs. 

The only ‘disadvantage’ with this technique is that you are much less likely to repeat those entertaining mistakes.

Prepare for a fall

Prepare for falling off the wagon

Falling off the wagon is not an issue. It’s not important. It’s certainly not a tragedy. However, failing to climb back on the wagon would be.

And so if—or when—you fall off (as most of us do), that’s the time to be helpful. Make it easy to get back on. Don’t berate yourself and feel bad. That wouldn’t serve you.

Instead, clamber back up. Take a breather. Take it easy for a while. And then, gradually, figure out where you went awry. In other words, try to pinpoint what brought about your lapse. Use your ‘failure’ as a learning experience instead. Finally, make an adjustment or two to reduce the likelihood of it happening again.

Me, I’ve fallen off and gotten back up (sometimes after a lengthy gap) more times that I can recall!

Practice patience

Be patient with yourself.

Why?

Because language absorption takes a fair amount of time. There's no getting around that fact.

If you try to rush it, or force it, then you'll put yourself under pressure. That works to your disadvantage, because stress slows down the learning process.

Be in the mindset of enjoying the journey. Savor it. What's the hurry?

Play is the way

Look it up in a book, please to confirm what I'll say here.

Children play. Why? Because that's how they grow and learn. Naturally, no schooling needed. It's the best way, the most effective way, and the way that's most fun.

Many adults stop playing. They stop growing and learning. That's their own doing and their own choice.

You do what you choose to do, and become who you train yourself to be.

Playing allows you to experiment, try on different roles, make mistakes, try things again, in new slightly different ways, from different angles and to get used to the moves all in a safe environment (because, whether you win or lose it's just a game).

You need to be in that energized-but-relaxed state in order to perform well. It's a fine balance, and sometimes you get carried away by passion and excitement, in which case there may be tears . . . or hooliganism.

So be playful as you engage with language.

SMART goals in Language Learning?

SMART goals are all the rage these days. Nevertheless, I'd be wary when it comes to applying them to language learning.

My main reservation with SMART goals is that they carry an unpleasant taint. The put me in the mindset of having tricked myself into doing something disagreeable. They remove the magic of forming a relationship with a language.  They place language into a context of work. In short, they place languages in an environment  similar to school.

Yes, you could do it. You could set yourself rules of numbers of hours, lines of text, numbers of words, levels, grades, exams to pass to progress to the next stage.

But I think that I'd rather use enjoyment as my yardstick. If I can enjoy what I do with the languages that I have an interest in then that's good enough for me. The progress will come all by itself.

Finally, there's the danger that your SMART goal is too a SAFE a goal. 

As Michelangelo said:

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. 

Research the theory

Theories, hypotheses, laws, principles, axioms, maxims . . . Just think of them all as ideas. People get ideas about . . . oh . . . learning languages, for example. And those words are just different ways of saying 'idea' depending on how much backing a particular idea has, or how well people agree on how it works.

Regarding our understanding of how the brain learns language, no one can say exactly. There are different ideas.

Now that's important--the fact that there is/are a number of ideas. This means that you have a choice. Which suggests that you don't simply fall into a pattern of studying language without considering at least a few of those options.

So give yourself a choice. Read a book or two. Explore the Internet using a few select keywords. Do some research.

You may even come up with an idea of your own!

19 zeros then a 1

Last night I had a dream about language learning. Don’t know if the dream was in color, but it certainly had a binary feel. 

I saw 19 zeros in a row, followed by a one. And I knew what that meant. 

It takes on average 20 times before a language item sticks i.e. you forget it 10 times before you remember it long term.

These instances are regarded as failures by school. You got them wrong.

But THAT attitude is wrong. Each instance of forgetting is an improvement. Each zero is actually a ‘1’.

I'd go so far as to say each so-called 'zero' is real, rational and positive too! They graph upwards.

Now, you might think that this represents awfully slow progress. After all . . . forgetting something 19 times. How can that be efficient?

Here's how. 

You take a whole swag of language up that slope at once. You improve a thousand items at a time, which you can do with light, comprehensible and enjoyable input (ListenRead to a book). Twenty tries to internalize a thousand items. That's not bad at all. Work it out!

Stephen Krashen's 5th is 1st (for me)

Hmm, I thought there were 5. But it seems, when I look it up, that there are now 7 hypotheses.

In this post I'd like to declare the importance, to me, of Stephen Krashen's hypotheses.

At the outset I'd like to state for the record that I am extremely biased; I agree with over 99% of what Stephen has to say. Oh, go on! 100%.

I'm doing this to weigh up the importance of his 5th hypothesis: the affective filter hypothesis. Off the top of my head I predict that, again in my case, it is the most significant. But let's see . . .

1. Input hypothesis (i+1) Very important. 4th 
2. Acquisition/learning hypothesis. Extremely important. 3rd
3. Monitor hypothesis. Quite Important. 5th
4. Natural order hypothesis. Important 6th
5. Affective filter hypothesis. Most important 1st
6. Reading hypothesis. Hugely important. 2nd
7. Conduit hypothesis. Not so important for me 7th

Feeling negatively disposed toward a language has delayed my learning it by as much as 45 years. What a waste!

The Rationale for SRS

Spaced repetition systems. Who needs 'em?

Think about the rationale behind them. They are to remind you of words or phrases (sometimes even whole sentences) of what you want to learn, right?

So why do people need reminding?

Because otherwise it would take too long before they encounter those words again, by which time they will have largely forgotten them.

So SRS are good then, right? They serve a useful function.

But here's the thing: why would too much time elapse? It's because most people do too little. They process too little language. 

So what happens if they do the opposite. What if they get mega-dose exposure? They'd come across the words more frequently. Especially the most frequently used words i.e. the most useful. The ones that are worth internalizing.

Therefore, if you do enough reading and listening (or ListenReading) then there's no need for an SRS.

How would Einstein approach a new language?

Einstein is said to have figured out the riddle of relativity after imagining himself riding a beam at the speed of light. My answer to the riddle of how best to learn another language comes from imagining myself listening at the speed of sound.

If you process language quickly, at the speed of sound, you have no time to think. And if you’ve no time to think, then you’ve no time to analyze, second-guess oneself, worry, become perfectionistic, grow self-conscious, prevaricate, procrastinate—all those naughty things that brains do when you give them too much time.

So read at (least as quickly as) the speed of listening. Listen uninterruptedly. Cover a lot of ground so as to progress evenly and holistically on every front.

I tell you, it works.

Something puzzling

In our own language, we don't process every word that we hear. Neither do we process every word that we hear. In fact, I have on good authority that we only actually process 1 in 6. So there's a lot of predicting and guessing going on. This approach must be more efficient overall.

And yet we are advised, when learning another language, to choose books that we almost completely understand. Paul Nation, is believe, is responsible for the advice that 95% of the words on the page ought to be comprehended. That's just one word out of 20 which is new.

Doesn't this strike you as somewhat anal? What are we so uptight when we look over a text in a foreign language? Where does that meme come from, the one that tells us that we need to be practically perfect and look up every word?

Get used to it!

The phrase 'get used to it' has generally negative connotations. They are usually unpleasant things that you are obliged to get used to: heat, cold, hunger, discomfort, pain, disability, poverty, bereavement to name a few.

So how could I express 'getting used to a language' in a better light?

Maybe . . . You grow into a language. You fit yourself to it. It moulds itself to you. You become familiar with it. You learn to appreciate it. You get good at it.

This is an important psychological shift to make. If you harbor any negativity toward a language (or its people, or its culture) then you face an uphill road.

Speaking in specifics, you need to be able to . . .

• enjoy its sounds (and not to flinch)
• write its letters lovingly
• scan a page of text without tensing up
• remain comfortable in a sub 100% understanding environment
• listen relaxedly to hearing it spoken at normal speed
• get used to NOT studying (probably the most difficult item on this list) 

Measuring progress 3

Using the same piece of text (as in Measuring Progress 2), an alternative gauging the familiarity with individual words would be to look at entire sentences. That may have the advantage of being quicker to do, and possibly more valid, or authentic.

I'd place sentences on a scale from 0 to 5.

5: I know it well
4: I know it well, except for 1 word or 1 structural feature (i+1)
3: I know the gist
2: I could guess at a pinch
1: There are only one or two words that I know
0: No idea

And again, you'd come up with a total that you turn into a percentage. For the previous example . . .

¡Nuestros campo están desiertos!” dijeron los campesinos. 5

Tres de los generales regresaron, con las manos vacías. 5

Los campesinos estaban confusos y preocupados.  5

El rey envió a sus cuatro generales a buscar agua en todas direcciones. 4

“No hay peces para pescar.” 4

EL PRIMER POZO　4

Buscaron día y noche, noche y día, arriba y abajo, buscaron en todas partes, pero en vano. 4

La gente estaba ansiosa y fue a ver al rey. 3

Así es como fue creado el primer pozo. 3

¿Me puedes ayudar a encontrar agua?” 3

Pero el general que fue al norte decidido a no fallar a su rey, llegó finalmente a un pueblo frío de montaña. 3

“Esto debe ser una semilla de agua,” exclamó uno de los ministros de pronto. 3

El rey ordenó que la ‘semilla de agua’ fuera sembrada inmediatamente. 3

“Sálvanos del desastre, Buen Rey,” suplicaron las mujeres y exclamaron los niños con sed. 3

El primer general fue hacia el este, hacia el amanecer, el segundo al sur, hacia el polvo y el calor, el tercero fue al oeste, donde se pone el sol, y el cuarto siguió a la Estrella del Norte. 3

Entonces, señalando las columnas de hielo en la cueva, ella continuó, “Nosotros a esto lo llamamos hielo. 3

Se asomó curiosamente al interior y exclamó sorprendido, “¡Despertar mis valiosos hombres, el agua ha germinado! 2

Al sentarse al pie de la montaña, llegó una mujer anciana y se sentó a su lado. 2

Cuando llegó a la corte, el enorme bloque de hielo se había derretido y quedaba un pequeño trozo. 2

El general rompió un gran pedazo, lo cargó en su carreta de caballos y regresó velozmente a su reino. 2

El general señaló hacia el horizonte y dijo: “Yo pertenezco a un hermoso reino, donde no ha llovido durante un año entero. 2

La mujer animó al general a que subiera con ella la montaña y adentro de una cueva. 2

¿Cómo podemos ganarnos la vida?” preguntaron los pescadores. 2

“Nosotros tampoco tenemos agua en nuestro país,” dijo ella. 2

Al romper el alba, el rey encontró a los campesinos dormidos profundamente al lado del agujero. 1

Nadie en la corte había visto nunca hielo, ¡y todos lo observaron maravillados! 1

Mientras los campesinos cavaban un hueco el trozo de hielo se derretía al sol. 1

Cavaron la tierra más y más hondo, en la noche buscando la misteriosa semilla. 1

Toma un poco, y tu reino nunca más tendrá sed.” 1

¡Hay agua en el agujero!” 1

Un verano muy caluroso no llovió y el lago se secó. 1

Había una vez un pequeño reino alrededor de un lago. 1

Ellos colocaron la semilla en el hueco pero antes de que pudieran cubrirla, desapareció. 1

“Hace tanto que no llueve.” 0

Total score: 83
Number of sentences: 34
Maximum score: 35 x 5 = 175
Percentage: (83/175) x 100 = 47%
(Two weeks later, not having reviewed this story in the interim, my score improved to 57%)

Measuring progress 2

Here's one way to measure real progress.

Take a short story. Classify its words into 3 groups, according to how well you know them. Group 1: you've a pretty good idea; group 2: you've a rough sense; group 3: not at all.

Next, find your total score. Group 1 words score 2, group 2 words score 1, group 3 words score 0.

Finally, express it as a percentage: 

(total score divided by number of words x 2) x 100

The story below has 439 words. Group 1 has 244 words. Group 2 has 40 words.

So my score is 528 and my percentage is 60%

When I repeat this analysis on the same story at a later date, I'll have a measure of my progress.

(Two weeks later, not having reviewed this story in the interim, my score improved to 77%)

EL PRIMER POZO

Había una vez un pequeño reino alrededor de un lago. 

Un verano muy caluroso no llovió y el lago se secó.

La gente estaba ansiosa y fue a ver al rey.

“Hace tanto que no llueve.

¡Nuestros campo están desiertos!” dijeron los campesinos.

“No hay peces para pescar.

¿Cómo podemos ganarnos la vida?” preguntaron los pescadores.

“Sálvanos del desastre, Buen Rey,” suplicaron las mujeres y exclamaron los niños con sed.

El rey envió a sus cuatro generales a buscar agua en todas direcciones.

El primer general fue hacia el este, hacia el amanecer, el segundo al sur, hacia el polvo y el calor, el tercero fue al oeste, donde se pone el sol, y el cuarto siguió a la Estrella del Norte.

Buscaron día y noche, noche y día, arriba y abajo, buscaron en todas partes, pero en vano.

Tres de los generales regresaron, con las manos vacías.

Pero el general que fue al norte decidido a no fallar a su rey, llegó finalmente a un pueblo frío de montaña.

Al sentarse al pie de la montaña, llegó una mujer anciana y se sentó a su lado.

El general señaló hacia el horizonte y dijo: “Yo pertenezco a un hermoso reino, donde no ha llovido durante un año entero.

¿Me puedes ayudar a encontrar agua?”

La mujer animó al general a que subiera con ella la montaña y adentro de una cueva.

“Nosotros tampoco tenemos agua en nuestro país,” dijo ella.

Entonces, señalando las columnas de hielo en la cueva, ella continuó, “Nosotros a esto lo llamamos hielo.

Toma un poco, y tu reino nunca más tendrá sed.”

El general rompió un gran pedazo, lo cargó en su carreta de caballos y regresó velozmente a su reino.

Cuando llegó a la corte, el enorme bloque de hielo se había derretido y quedaba un pequeño trozo.

Nadie en la corte había visto nunca hielo, ¡y todos lo observaron maravillados!

“Esto debe ser una semilla de agua,” exclamó uno de los ministros de pronto,

El rey ordenó que la ‘semilla de agua’ fuera sembrada inmediatamente.

Mientras los campesinos cavaban un hueco el trozo de hielo se derretía al sol.

Ellos colocaron la semilla en el hueco pero antes de que pudieran cubrirla, desapareció.

Los campesinos estaban confusos y preocupados.

Cavaron la tierra más y más hondo, en la noche buscando la misteriosa semilla.

Al romper el alba, el rey encontró a los campesinos dormidos profundamente al lado del agujero.

Se asomó curiosamente al interior y exclamó sorprendido, “¡Despertar mis valiosos hombres, el agua ha germinado!

¡Hay agua en el agujero!”

Así es como fue creado el primer pozo.