10 principles for language

learning
1. Don’t listen to anyone who says that a particular way of learning is
right or wrong – they don’t know how you learn.

Victoria Harbour – Hong Kong

2. Most teaching methods, including those derived from the mammoth

field of second language acquisition (SLA) research, are based on
sweeping generalisations about learning. By definition, a method will
aim to work for most people. But you’re not most people – I know that
because you have enough initiative to be reading this. Don’t assume
that any one method will work for you, no matter hard they sell it.
3. …but it might! If it does, exploit it. I’ve personally found the Pimsleur
series to be helpful for me at certain points in time. Others, however,
consider it a waste of their time.
4. If the language you’re learning involves a different script (e.g. Chinese,
Arabic), this adds an important dimension to the process. You goals
become key here. If you only need survival Japanese, for example, or
want to be able to chat up girls in Shanghai, learning the script would
be a significant and costly distraction. If, however, you intend to
progress beyond an intermediate level at any point, learning the script
is essential. This is because, if you don’t, you are denying yourself well
over 50% of the input you will ever receive in the language – if you
can’t read then you are completely reliant on spoken language for
input and are missing out on the richest source of all: written material.
This is especially pertinent at higher levels.
5. Build up your metacognitive awareness. In other words, learn how
you learn. Is there a certain number of times you need to hear
something in order to really get it? Does it help you to remember
something if you write it out five times? Or say a particular sentence
backwards in the shower? Whatever it may be – this is your learning
style and it’s key. Listen to it, and allow it to trump whatever anyone
else tells you to do
6. Repetition is the mother of skill. Some estimates say you need to
encounter a new word seven times before it is committed to long-term
memory. Factor this into your study. Learning something once may
not be enough.
7. Focus on language that has the highest surrender value – a term
borrowed from the insurance world. If you live abroad, start with your
surroundings. What do you see and hear everyday – station names,
road signs, billboards, shop names, leaflets, sign-in sheets, timetables,
train announcements, the name of that fruit you buy every morning
 from the local shop? Because you encounter it daily, you don’t have to
work to get the practice in – hence the high surrender value. That sign
you see everyday on the door to your building – write it down, ask
someone what it means and commit it to memory.
8. Learn language in chunks –whole sentences. Embedded inside that
sentence you’ve just learnt is grammar-at-work. I learnt my early
Japanese grammar from memorising announcements on the Tokyo
subway and repeating them word for word, day after day. Despite
being quite complex language, and although I didn’t understand all
the nuances at first, the grammar entered my subconscious mind and
went to work. When I actually came to encounter those particular
grammar points in textbooks, I realised that I’d been using them for a
long time and understood their usage. It’s grammar for free.
9. Keep a notebook. Don’t assume you’ll remember something. Write
everything down or it might be lost. Then, if you can, rewrite your
notes in an organised way later (it could be organised by topic, but
whatever allows you to find what you’re looking for later is fine).
10. As you reach higher levels, reading becomes key (hence the need to
learn the script). There is an acknowledge ‘intermediate plateau’ –
reaching a point where progress seems to stall. The only way to break
through this plateau is by getting massive exposure to quality
language, and if you are going to have time to process all the
information, it has to be written rather than spoken. If you have relied
on transliteration up to this point (writing the language in the western
alphabet for foreigners to understand) you are now stuck because only
basic material is usually available in transliteration.
Leave a comment below with your thoughts!