What You Need to Focus on in Language Learning

Everybody's thought of learning a foreign language, yet many give up in a few weeks. You've probably done it. I've done it countless times.

School has taught us that languages were boring. You should learn lists of words you don't care about, tables of conjugations, and a whole lot of grammar. Who wouldn't get bored by that?

When I was 15, I had average grades and did the bare minimum to pass language classes. Now, 15 years later, I speak 6 languages and know the basics of many others.

What change?

I turned my focus to what matters: fun.

Fun Makes You Consistent

Games are addictive because they are fun. I've spent more than 700 hours playing Super Smash Bros: Ultimate because I had fun. If you enjoy running, you feel compelled to go for runs. If you think yoga is fun, you'll do it again and again.

If you think learning is fun, you'll keep learning.

If you enjoy wordlists, learn wordlists. If you think they are boring, then don't use them. If you enjoy reading, make reading your primary focus on your learning journey. If you prefer videos, then focus on that.

You can never remember something you find boring. If you learn a language in a boring way, you'll give up.

I tried to learn the endangered dialect of Hokkaido, Ainu, but gave up. I enjoy talking but couldn't find any native speaker to practice with so the language lost its most fun part for me. On the contrary, I made a lot of Japanese friends and was thus able to keep coming back to the language.

Anything Can Be Fun

Enjoy videos? Great. You can turn your Netflix binges into a whole new experience with the Language Learning with Netflix extension. This extension lets you have subtitles in two languages at the same time. You can also the video stop whenever you need it if you want to dig deeper into a word's definition. If you're learning two languages, you can even put the subtitles in both those and kill two birds with one stone! I've written a full-fledged story about how to use this extension here.

Do you hate textbooks? Why not make textbooks fun too? Just like a chair that you can use to sit on or as a stool to reach something high, you can use your textbook in various ways. Here are only a few:

• Use it as a resource full of sentences and grammar patterns to pick whatever you want to learn
• Use it as writing practice by modifying sentences in it
• Use its audio as background in your daily life to improve your listening skills
• You can even create your own textbook!

Anything can be fun, but nothing beats the power of a community. You can play a game for a long time, you'll still stop if you have nobody to challenge you or talk to about it. Find other people who learn the same language thanks to Meetup or language-exchange apps like HelloTalk. There are even platforms for all language learners of A language learners’ forum.

Having people to support you will also help you stay accountable and remind you regularly to study. You won't feel much pressure because everybody on those platforms is learning for fun.

Keep it Short

You probably hate learning languages because you remember sitting at your desk for hours before an exam. Instead of repeating this error, keep your sessions short.

If you enjoy long sessions, that's fine too! Chances are your study sessions will get longer as you fall in love with the language. But until you can't stop learning, keep your sessions to shorter lengths. 5 minutes every day is better than 1 hour every Saturday.

Have a few 5-minute sessions each day and combine them with 10 to 15-minute sessions. These are short enough to fit any schedule and avoid skipping because "Your day was too hard and you're tired". Add longer sessions once in a while but make sure to keep the short ones consistent.

Takeaway

Learning a language is a magnificent journey. I couldn't recommend it enough. It changes your life as it changes you. The world opens to you as you realize your view of the world was so narrow before. You get to exchange with people from all around the world and discover new ways of thinking.

You can get all this by focusing on this simple idea. Keep everything fun. Experiment. Find new ways to break your rhythm. Talk to people. Read. Watch. Listen. Write.

Your journey will evolve with you. In no time you'll be looking back wondering how you ever lived without the language in your life. Enjoy and see you on the other side!