Language learning methods

Here you can find my thoughts, advice and experiences with different language learning methods. This is mainly based on personal experience, but I do study linguistics and TESOL, so it is informed by theory.

In general, the main way I learn languages is via reading and writing. I think maximising TL exposure as much as possible is essential, and I try to immerse myself in the language as soon as possible via comprehensible input. I do, however, also think that explicit grammar study is a necessary aspect of language learning, along with practicing productive skills.

Flashcards

In my opinion, this method is only recommendable if you like flashcards - which I do! I have used them at all levels of study, and think they’re very helpful for developing a strong vocabulary. If you only use them for a short period of time however, such as to cram for an exam, they probably won’t contribute to long-term learning. For that, interval based learning is key.

When making flashcards, it’s important to be aware that words can be remembered on a passive (understanding them when you read/hear them) or active (being able to use them in writing/speaking) level. If your flashcards are in the TL and you need to give the answer in your NL, then you will only develop your passive production. Therefore, I recommend having flashcards in your NL, or even better, using cloze or an image. Clozes and images move us away from translating directly from our NL, and instead encourage TL thinking, which is conducive to fluency. Alternatively, you could use a definition in your TL, or the word in another language you study, so that you can practice 2 languages at once!

Here is an example of 6 different ways you could make a flashcard for the word Säugetier (mammal):

Säugetier

Mammal

Säugetier

NL -> TL

TL -> NL

Sind Pinguine Vögel oder _________?

Säugetiere

Picture of mammals

Säugetier

Cloze

Image

Tier einer der Arten, bei denen die Jungen von den Muttertieren gesäugt werden

Säugetier

Ssak

Säugetier

Definition

L2 -> L3

One way to make cloze and image methods even better is to create sentences or images that appeal to you specifically, or that are funny. Not only does it make learning more fun, but it’s also more effective!

Journaling

Keeping a diary in German for just a month boosted my productive skills massively. When I first started it, I was only able to write simple sentences and had to google most phrases, but by the end of the month, I felt confident writing a full entry without googling anything. I would recommend starting writing as soon as possible, because it’s a perfect way to track your progress, and learn words and phrases that are relevant to your life.

As a beginner, you can start by finding a template online with sentences like “Today I woke up at 7am. For breakfast I ate cereal…” etc. and write it out, changing it to be relevant to your own life. The next day, you can try and write it without referencing the previous day. After a few days of this, you can start adding more exciting things, and continue in this manner. You will notice that a lot of topics repeat themselves, e.g your hobbies or work, so it will be perfect natural spaced repetition. Correcting yourself or getting a native speaker to correct you is very important so that you don’t fossilize errors.

At a more advanced level, writing reviews of books/movies or trying more complex journaling prompts are great ways to test your vocabulary and practice more advanced phrasing. Doing this will make you feel more prepared during conversations or exams. I try to write in one of my languages every day, and also always write media reviews in the language I read/watched it in.

Reading

This is the primary way I learn languages, and so obviously my favourite method! I’ve already written about my progress in learning to read in German and Spanish, but I’ll focus more on how to start reading here. Firstly, we should consider what types of books are suitable for beginners:

✦ Parallel texts - These are my favourite types of books because you’re able to start reading at a native level right away, but won’t have to bother looking up words, because you can just look at the translation for reference.

✦ Thrillers - Although they may be difficult, thrillers and books of similar genres are a great choice because they really motivate you to keep reading due to the fast pace and mystery elements.

✦ Graded readers - These books are very helpful if you dislike having to read and look up a lot of words, but they can be a bit boring at times.

✦ Books you’ve already read - I would only recommend doing this if you really like the book you’re rereading, as it’s a lot less engaging than getting new information.

✦ Children’s or YA books - Children’s and YA books typically have simpler sentence structure and vocabulary, but they’re not always the most interesting to read as an adult.

This choice may depend on whether you’re reading a physical copy of a book, or a digital copy. If you’re reading a physical copy, I would recommend parallel texts or graded readers so that you don’t have to look up too many words. If you are reading a digital copy, you can look up words much more easily, and potentially use an app like Lingq, which will store all the words you look up for you. I found Lingq very helpful as tracking how much I was reading and how many words I was learning was very motivating, and I could also easily make flashcards from them.

However, looking up every word and making flashcards from them is not the best method to approach reading. Recognising when to look up a word, and when to simply move past it, will make your reading experience much more pleasant. To exemplify this, look at these two sentences, in each of which I’ve changed a word to an imaginary one:

“Once again they bought food for their lunch – new bread, farm-house butter, cream cheese, fresh spalice, fat red radishes and a bunch of spring onions.”

“I can’t believe she kaleted him, I don’t know what to do- I’m freaking out.”

In the first example, you can easily guess from context that it is a type of food, and unless you are very interested in food, it’s probably not a very important word for you to learn. However, in the second sentence, the meaning of “kalate” could completely change your understanding of what’s going on, making it much more necessary to look up.

When it comes to making flashcards, you can ask yourself whether it’s likely this word will come up frequently enough that you will learn it just through exposure, or, on the other extreme, if you will likely never encounter this word again and it is therefore not very beneficial to learn. Some dictionaries show the frequency of words which is very helpful for this purpose.

Memorising dialogues/poems/songs

Previously I did not think this method would be very helpful, but I had a Polish teacher last year who made us memorise many poems and dialogues, which ended up changing my mind at least a little. I think this is most helpful when you are a complete beginner, and it can be used to help you learn grammar points, vocabulary, orthography, and pronunciation.

The first thing I had to memorise in my Polish course was a tonguetwister, which improved my pronunciation. When I first tried to read it aloud I tripped over so many words, but by the end of the semester I was able to easily recite it, and I noticed an improvement in my ability to pronounce difficult clusters of words outside of this. Another purpose of this exercise was to practice the orthography, but I was already confident with it at this point.

The other poems we had to memorise involved vocabulary and grammar points. I found it helpful to have a poem memorised that contained many examples of the genitive case, and I could think of it when I was trying to remember when to use it. Obviously this is only something that can be used as a beginner, as if I had to recall this poem every time I wanted to speak, I would never be able to speak fluently. I also found it helpful to memorise dialogues of how to order food, and it made me feel more prepared for when I next visit Poland. But our teacher also stressed the importance of not being overly reliant on these dialogues, and being able to be flexible in what we say.

Tandem

Having regular conversations with a tandem partner is probably one of the best things you can do as a language learner; if you have the opportunity to have tandem conversations, I really recommend you take it. I have been speaking with a German tandem partner every 2 weeks for the past year, and he has helped me to improve my fluency massively. Having the opportunity to speak with someone you can ask questions to and recieve feedback from is invaluable.

It can be difficult to find someone you get on with who has a similar schedule to you, especially if your NL isn't one with many learners, but there are many apps and websites to help you. I've personally used language exchange and Reddit. I recommend trying to schedule weekly or bi-weekly calls, so that you stay consistent. In the calls themselves, we usually talk for half an hour in one language, and then half an hour in the other. Sometimes we discuss news articles or set topics, which can be helpful for the first few conversations to avoid awkwardness or if you're preparing for an exam, but usually we just talk about what we've been up to.

Textbook-based learning

A benefit of textbooks is that everything is neatly structured for you, and you can easily see your progress. However, they may also teach you things that aren't entirely relevant to you, and they can be less engaging than other methods such as immersion. I think they're most helpful if you're learning a language to live in that country, and/or if it's your first time studying a foreign language by yourself.

Total immersion

Immersion is absolutely essential for language learning, but I don’t think it is possible to reach a native level without other forms of learning. Many people promote this method by saying it’s how babies learn, but our brains are obviously very different to those of babies. In addition to this, we already know a language, which will interfere with any attempted L2 acquisition. That being said, if you hate studying grammar and only want to understand a language rather than speaking it, it might be more recommendable.

I’ve never truly tried this method, but I do have a few experiences with it. Before studying Polish, I’d listened to hundreds of hours of Polish music. This isn’t an ideal form of immersion, because other than cognates with languages I know, it was nearly impossible to guess what words meant. So I thought that I had learnt essentially nothing other than a few words from this experience. However, when I started studying the grammar, I surprised myself with how much I intuitively knew. The grammar came much more naturally to me than if I hadn’t had this exposure, and I was able to remember words more easily. Most significantly, my pronunciation was already very good before having had a single lesson. This was amazing for me as even in languages I speak at a higher level, I still struggle with pronunciation.

Another experience I have with immersion-based learning is via romance languages. I have only really studied Spanish, but last year, I started getting a lot of Instagram reels in French, and along with seeing it in books or in university, my ability to understand it quickly developed. For one of my university essays this year I ended up having to read an academic paper in French, and I was surprised how much I was able to understand, although I still definitely needed to google some parts. Listening to Portuguese music was a similar experience; the lyrics quickly became easier to understand. Still, this quick development was only possible thanks to my Spanish knowledge, and I can’t speak either of them beyond a few words.