All it ought to be necessary to say about Vilfredo Pareto is that he known mainly for the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule.
He noticed things like 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.
For me, with language acquisition, I too am mindful of the principle. Twenty percent of one's activity in assimilating another language produces eighty per cent of the result. So some activities are better than others, in other words. Or in plain English.
Or plain Italian.
Or whatever tongue.
What is not so well-known is that you can have a Pareto of a Pareto. What this means is that the 'best' 20 percent of the top 20 percent can produce 80% of the 80%.
And so on.
Which lead you to the mathematical conclusion that the top 1% of activity may result in as much as 50% of the result. Incredible!
Time to 'occupy' methinks.
Because you'll spend a thousand hours or two in total to learn a new language, you can save yourself a sizable chunk.
Achieve that by applying The Pareto Principle.
It says that the effort that you put in doesn't always lead to a corresponding output.
Typically, 20% of the effort can give you 80% of the result.
(And 20% of that 20% can give you over 50% of the result.)
In non-mathematical language, you can get an A with a lot of effort.
You can get a B with a weekend's effort.
And you can get a passing C doing your work on the ride home in the bus!
So ask yourself: What is helping me the most?
Then do more of that!
