More often than not, I’ve seen people dread language classes. The only comparable thing I’ve seen in terms of how difficult learning is perceived, is looking at confused faces (and admittedly, also having such a face) of students in a math class.
I don’t know if language classes are like that across the world, but from my experience, and from what I’ve heard about language classes, the face below seems to be an accruate representation of what it is like sitting in a language class after a few weeks into starting a course.
After seeing my grades for French in school gradually sink to a point where failing was a real possibility, I decided to change my approach to learning languages and learning them has not been a problem ever since. I realised that learning languages the conventional way is boring, inefficient, and frustrating.
Here are 3 things that I think are common to every language that I have learned so far.
Consistency
Learning languages is similar to training for a sport or bodybuilding. You have to put in consistent effort every day in order to see long term results. Just like how performing 100 sets of an exercise won’t make you stronger, cramming all your language learning syllabus at the last moment does not work.
Similar to athletic training, when learning languages you need several repetitions of words and phrases before what you’re learning is solidifed in your brain. And merely repeating something is not enough, there has to be conscious effort on your part to try and recall what you’ve previously learnt to learn more effectively. This is because when we learn new things, our brain modifies existing synapses and creates new synapses to accomodate the new material. However, these synapses are also lost when we do not recall information because the brain considers that information as unimportant because we’ve only encountered that material once or too few times.
When we recall information, the synapses created by our brains are reinforced, which creates long-term memory.
The information recall has to be spaced over a period of time. As we get more familiar with information, we need to space out what we’ve learnt in order to further strenghten our synapses. Recalling information multiple times on the same day does not work well. Our synapses are also strengthened during sleep which means that information that we’ve learnt during a day is reinforced at night (unless you have the sleep cycle of a night owl).
The frequency of recall can be effectively managed with the Spaced Repition Method. As students of medicine, you might be familiar with this due to the preponderance of use of spaced repetition applications like Anki.
The Forgetting Curve hypothesis shows the rate at which information is forgotten by the brain as no attempt is made to retain it after the first exposure to that information. This is consistent with the findings about the strengthening of brain synapses due to recollection of information.
Therefore, consistency is very important when it comes to learning languages, or learning anything for that matter. There must be a constant exposure to new information, and frequent recollection of previously learned material in order to effectively and efficiently learn languages.
Relevance
The brain retains information that is relevant, in the sense that it wants to store information that it thinks is important for survival. We are exposed to stimuli all the time but not all of that is essential for out survival. However the stimuli that we are regularly exposed to serves some purpose to us which from the evolutionary standpoint is important for survival.
When we learn languages in a manner that is relevant to us, we let our brains know that what we’re learning is important. This makes it easier for us to retain information. I have often seen students memorize word lists with translations, verb conjugation tables, grammar rules etc. while attempting to learn a language. This is a very unnatural way of learning languages because we are learning things in isolation and out of context which is seldom of use to us. If we instead focus on learning things in a relevant manner, we can make greater progress in lesser time.
That would mean ditching word lists for sentences where words are used in context, learning conjugations by using words in sentences that could actually be of use to you in real life or in imaginary conversations (which seem to work rather well when learning languages). I have not delved deep into the scientific literature behind this, but from my limited study of the cognitive sciences I’ve learnt that human beings tend to remember stories much better than arbitrary information, learning words in sentences works better because most sentences are essentially really short stories. Prolific language learners are known to use their imagination to cook up eccentric and comical stories to learn vocabulary. This keeps the mind engaged which naturally makes learning more fun and effective.
Alternation Between Active and Passive Sessions
Professor Barbara Oakley has popularised the theory of the brain having two modes of thinking, “Diffused” and “Focused”. She says that most of our learning happens when we are in the Focused mode where we are putting in conscious effort to learn things and are excerting mental energy. The Diffused mode is when we are relaxed and are not actively seeking to learn information.
This theory is somewhat consistent with the findings of the Nobel laureate, Daniel Kahneman. In his book “Thinking Fast and Slow” he says that the brain has two systems, System 1 and System 2.
System 1 involves activities which we do automatically without conscious thinking. These are things like turning the door knob before opening a door, switching on a fan when we feel hot, etc.
These activities do not require mental effort. Often we don’t even realise how many decisions we take unconsciously. Several activities that we perform regularly in our daily lives that once had a learning curve become second nature to us. When was the last time you put in a lot of effort while using a tooth brush or spoon, or riding a bike?
System 2 involves activities where conscious mental effort is needed in order to process and synthesize information. These are activities like solving math equations, performing logical reasoning etc. This is the primary system used when we are learning new things.
According to Professor Oakley, when we are focused on learning something particular, we are creating what she calls chunks. During focused learing, we use sequential step-by-step reasoning that deliberately links one piece of information to another to form chunks, whereas during diffused learning we let our intuition grasp all these chunks together into a a large holistic piece which provides us with a broader understanding of the subject.
We need both modes of learning in order to master a subject or language. Therefore you need to switch between the two modes of learning. When using the focused mode, you’ll be learning meanings of words and sentences, grammar, verb tenses etc. You’ll be trying to make sense of how words are employed and manipulated in languages. This is what I call “Actively” learning a language.
While using the diffused mode, you’ll not be required to put in a lot of effort. You will simply immerse yourself in the language and be comfortable with it. This would be having conversations in contexts you are familiar with, listening to songs, watching TV series, and pretty much doing anything that is enjoyable and fun. This is what I mean by “Passive” language learning sessions.
Not that the focused mode should not be fun, but in general, I find that the diffused mode is a lot more fun than the focused mode. So much, that I am guilty of using only the diffused mode for long periods of time. (But something is better than nothing, right)