I was someone who thought that learning foreign languages were impossible. Or at least it is possible only at childhood. My language learning journey always start with buying, grabbing, downloading, stealing, and borrowing all the resources that I can find for learning the new language. This phase is usually pretty exciting, but very quickly the excitement replaces with fear, anxiety, and decision paralysis. In this post I want to tell you what I think is the secret of learning a new language that no one talks about.
When learning a new language, input is much better than output. It does not matter if you do not have a conversation partner or you are not even in the country that the foreign language is spoken. What matters instead is immersing yourself in reading and listening to acquire new words, new phrases, new connections and new ways of expressing thoughts. Speaking and writing is important, but they only reinforces the things you already know. If you have never heard the word "spatula" once you won't be able to say it.
Consuming a large volume of input in the foreign language is actually important for having a real conversation too. When we speak, we just need to be able to say something in one way or form: "Would you like to have a drink?". But when having a conversation you need to understand all of the following statements: "Up for a drink?", "Wanna grab a drink?", "Do you feel thirsty?", and a dozen other phrases.
When you want to read or listen contents in foreign languages, utilize the literature that is produced for native speakers. Even books for very young children will give you a full range of vocabulary, advanced language features, and grammatical structures.
Learning a bunch of words in a flashcard style is not useful. Words are very complex linguistics units and they have different meaning, connotations, feeling, and use in different context. Instead, we need to learn new words exactly how toddlers learn new words. Your flashcards should include sentences, phrases, expressions, quotes, and fragments of an actual text. This way you learn the words in combination to verbs, other nouns, their prepositions, and everything else that comes with the word.
Do not use generic flashcards that are produced by others. You will feel lost, bored, or worse dumb and you sooner or later you will realize that you can't continue. It is not interesting to repeat words that are divorced from any feeling, emotions, or experiences that you had. The best way to learn the word "horse" in English is to travel to countryside, find a horse, touch the horse, ride a horse, look at their beautiful eyes, and even smell their shit. For most people this is the experience of a life time and after that, they will never forget the word "horse".
The second best way to learn the word "horse" is to read it in a story, hear it a plot, or learn it through a conversation. When you are having fun while learning a new language words tend to stick much better.
That does not mean you do not need a flashcard system. You definitely need to use spaced repetition for memorizing these words that you learned through a genuine experience first. Just uttering a word that is stripped from any experience over and over is not going to make things easier for your brain.
Be realistic with the amount of time you put in. If you compare yourself to a native speaker you're comparing yourself to someone who has had 24/7 practice in the language for many many years. Don't get tricked by the vague word 'fluency'. A 6 year old can hold a conversation and knows a great deal of words. He is also easily confused by simple words like "tax" and has very little spelling ability.