How to be travel fluent in 8 simple steps – Essential travel phrases

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Usually, overseas trips are quite exciting. You are filled with pleasant emotions and anticipation of a great adventure. But at the same time, there is a fear of how to navigate a new country, especially if you do not speak the local language.

Traveling abroad will be much more fun if you do not have to face the language barrier all the time, or seek the assistance of a translator and tour guide. Most often you will have to speak with foreigners in standard situations: at an airport, restaurant, shop or hotel. And it’s easy to prepare for these situations by learning a few versatile phrases. Moreover, even a few keywords and phrases can incredibly enhance your travel experience.

What Does It Mean to Be Travel Fluent?

You may mistakenly think that you will survive anywhere using English. In most situations, you will survive, but in the best case, English can become a barrier between you and local culture. How can a temperamental Italian tell you about his country in all colors in poor English?

And in the worst situation, you can find yourself in a totally helpless situation in the countries where they speak only their native language. Try to imagine you were left behind by your group in an unknown place, or you lost your phone and have no cash with you.

So, before visiting a new country, it is highly recommended to master its language at a basic level. The local language will help you feel the flavor of the country, communicate with residents, get acquainted with their culture, and easily cope with possible obstacles.

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8 Steps to Become Travel Fluent

Here are some simple rules that will help you avoid uncomfortable situations, relieve your emotions, and make your trip abroad absolutely safe and as exciting as possible.

Write and learn a story about yourself

It will be a big advantage if you are able to tell about your background in a foreign language. While traveling, we always meet someone new. So you will be able to introduce yourself, tell about your country and hobbies. It means a lot for a conversation and building your self-confidence in new surroundings. Besides, this knowledge can help you in many other situations and emergencies.

Go through the grammar basics

Even if you have little time to master a new language, try to get acquainted with some fundamental rules: the procedure for constructing sentences, three simple times, the degree of comparison of adjectives, etc.

Of course, it is difficult to learn a lot within a short period of time. But you can easily introduce new language classes into your daily routine by using online tools. You can learn from anywhere and at any time.

Arrange your travel vocabulary

It will be very helpful if you prepare in advance some cheat sheets that will help you during your trip. During the trip, you will find many situations in which you will need local words and phrases to find and settle in a hotel, call a taxi and get to your destination, navigate in an unfamiliar city, make purchases, etc. So choose the key phrases for the following situations: at the airport, on the plane, at the hotel, shopping, asking for directions.

Put together vocabulary for a restaurant

Going to a restaurant or cafe to eat is a great way to practice foreign language skills in a new country. Depending on your needs and lifestyle, you may need certain words when buying or ordering food. For example, it’s important for vegetarians to know phrases that help them order meat-free meals.

And people with allergies and dietary restrictions should learn the translation of forbidden products. It will also be wise to check in advance what are the main dishes of a country’s national cuisine. If you are going to a new place, learn their ingredients so as not to be taken aback when the food arrives.

Saying hello in various langauges

Learn phrases for greetings and pleasantries

If you start talking in the local language, you will immediately feel a friendly and benevolent attitude towards yourself. This way you will show the locals that you respect their language and culture and even were able to learn something specifically for the trip.

People will understand you even if you speak with the simplest sentences and a strong accent. In a foreign land, you often have to thank someone. On the street, in transport, in a store. Everywhere it is customary to respond politely. Without these colloquial phrases, it will be difficult to travel through an unfamiliar city.

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Think about your security

It is a must to know how to ask for help in the event of an emergency. Try to simulate unforeseen situations in advance and learn phrases related to asking for help. You should know them by heart, such statements can save your life in case of danger. You should also know all the basic information about yourself in the local language. It is a minor thing to learn but can hugely support you.

Take a phrasebook with you

It may help on any trip. It contains the most common phrases and basic questions/answers that are actively used in every country. But paper phrasebooks have shortcomings as well. It can hardly teach you the correct pronunciation. And it is a high risk to be misinterpreted. For example, there are many languages in China and you are very unlikely to succeed with a standard phrasebook. For this purpose, it is better to use online applications for immediate translation. You may like iTranslate Voice 3, Microsoft Translator, Google Translator.

Find out more about the language of gestures

If you forget a word, sign language can help you out. In almost all countries, non-verbal means of communication (which include gestures and facial expressions) play an important role in communication.

However, first, you need to check which of the movements is worth using, and which are better to avoid. What is considered the norm or even a friendly gesture in one culture may seem offensive and insulting in another. Even simple head-nodding does not always mean agreement. And not to get into a mess and not be misunderstood, it is advisable to learn the basic gestures that are used there and their meanings before traveling to a new country.

You can easily find plenty of good resources with essential travel phrases in many languages. Do not be intimidated by difficulties, have fun during your study. And step by step, you will develop perfect skills in any language of the world.

How to study effectively for your language exam

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Studying for any exam can be quite a daunting prospect. What makes a test even more stressful, is when you’re not fully prepared for it. Preparation is everything when it comes to exams and knowing how to study for a language test properly, ensures that you can approach this challenge with calm and confidence. 

Knowing the best way to study for a language test, and understanding the most effective means for long-term learning will place you in an empowering position to pass your language examination and other tests with ease. Here are 5 tips to help you get started on your new journey

School photo created by Racool_studio – www.freepik.com

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Prepare physically, well in advance

Preparing well ahead of time for your language study requires you to pay attention to many different facets of your health. These encompass:

  • staying hydrated
  • taking proper care of yourself nutritionally
  • supporting your overall health with exercise

Always drink enough water to keep your body and brain hydrated. Staying hydrated supports focus and concentration on your work, whereas being dehydrated will cause confusion and forgetfulness. Get a quality supplement to enhance brain health, and which boosts your memory. 

Adding a supplement to a healthy diet will make all the difference in the way you understand how to study for a language test, and becomes vital if your diet is not optimized to nourish your brain and body overall.

Caring for your brain and body with water and good food and supplements is important. Physical exercise is another essential way to prepare for exams. Staying in tip-top physical condition helps to promote your energy levels. 

You won’t tire so easily, and neither will you stress so easily if you engage in regular physical activity like riding a bicycle, playing tennis, basketball or going to the gym at least three times a week, for example.

Other practical preparations to consider

Looking after your body and mind from a practical viewpoint will definitely help you to prepare for your language exam. Other ways for how to learn effectively and fully prepare you to write your language exam include the following:

  • listen attentively in class
  • take comprehensive notes in class and in homework

Of course, your language exam doesn’t start two weeks before your test. It starts with your first class, so listen attentively to your lecturer, pay close attention to what she says, the handouts provided and the homework required. These collectively all point to what needs to be focused on to write an excellent exam. 

Taking notes while in the classroom is an obvious form of good exam preparation for your language test. Once at home, go over these notes as soon as possible to clarify anything in your mind that does not make sense. 

The sooner you go over your notes and make corrections, the better you will understand what is required of you. Don’t see this as a waste of time, since it is actually just one more way in which you will be preparing yourself for your final language exam. 

By simply engaging in this activity, you will be reinforcing your learning experience, promoting understanding and contributing toward your effective long-term memory.

A reputable dictionary, frequent reading and loads of writing

A good dictionary is always needed when studying a new language. A recognized dictionary is the best way to study a new language. Make sure you purchase a dictionary that is reputable since you need reliable language support from a quality product that makes for an excellent learning and reference tool. 

Again, making notes as you go through your dictionary will be helpful. Add to your learning curve by setting yourself a goal to use at least ten new words every week, and make sure that you include these in your writing.

Using your new words in your writing process adds to your language exam preparation. This is a fun way to improve your learning skills, and to remain excited and stimulated about your topic. 

Using both reading and writing regularly, not only increases your vocabulary but also enhance your grammar. That is exactly what is needed to ace your language study and test. While practicing writing, use a plagiarism checker free online. It will help you to monitor your progress in terms of original writing and the use of your own fresh ideas. 

School photo created by teksomolika – www.freepik.com

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How to learn effectively using online tools

Use as many mediums as you can find to stimulate your senses and your interest if you want to know how to learn effectively. Since the internet is available to most people, this is a brilliant tool to use to augment your study process. 

Do some research online and find a site that uses flashcards to help improve your vocabulary and grammar, in addition to the points mentioned earlier. A digital dictionary is another way to support your exam preparation, especially in you are able to grab 10 minutes before another class or during a break, but don’t have your dictionary with you.

Language apps are another fantastic way to prepare for your language exam. These apps will help you to learn how to pronounce words correctly, provide sentences to verbalize, which also enhances your grammatical skills, all the while promoting your understanding and pronunciation. 

Plagiarism and grammar checks can be found online at no cost to you. These tools also help with spelling, grammar, overall comprehension and improvement of your language study skills. 

The use of these handy elements will save you losing unnecessary points when delivering essays where marks are included in your exam total. Where online tools are excellent to promote learning, having a study buddy is one more way to prepare for your exam.

 

Find a partner and create a mock test

Having a study buddy is like having a sounding board to bounce ideas off of. You say one thing, he says another. You encourage a discussion in a certain direction, and they provide further stimulation in another area. 

Having a study partner adds to the learning process, creating extra interest and memorable moments as you exchange notes and ideas. There really is no one best way to study for a language test, but rather there are a combination of ways to increase understanding when preparing for that moment. 

When prepared, you will also be calm and confident so there will be no need to worry about exam nerves getting the better of you.

Add to your language test preparations by creating a mock-up test between yourself and your study buddy on a weekly basis. Cover everything in the test that has been addressed in the classroom. 

Each of you should come up with separate tests for the other. Also, ask your lecturer to prepare mock-up tests for you or give you access to previous exam papers to test your language test preparation skills.

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Conclusion

Studying effectively for your language test is so much easier once you’ve been pointed in the right direction. Understand how to look after your physical and mental health properly by staying hydrated, eating well, getting a good supplement and exercising regularly. 

Promote your language learning and comprehension by listening effectively, taking notes, purchasing and using a reputable dictionary and then reinforcing learning by frequent reading and writing. Lastly, get yourself a study buddy and create mock-up exams to make the entire preparation process a fun activity that will remain in your memory for years to come.

Author Bio:

Susan Wallace is a talented freelance writer, editor and proofreader working for a publishing firm manager and an online writing service. She also works as an English language teacher for international students in the USA. In her free time, she works on her sports blog, attends yoga classes and tries DIY woodworking.

7 Sure-fire ways to drastically improve your vocabulary

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Words are the basic blocks of the language, and one of the key predictors of someone’s education level, profession and social status. Yet most students struggle to increase their vocabulary effectively, as new words go one into one ear and out the other.

It’s not that we have difficulties grasping the vocabulary when we see it. Rather, we struggle to recall when we get the opportunity to use it, or worse yet, forget to use frequently enough only to end up back where we begun.

Below I describe ten proven tactics to overcome this struggle and learn new words faster, recall them more effectively, and remember them forever.

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How to improve your vocabulary

1. Make use of spaced repetition algorithms (SRSs)

 

Although the scientific community is still debating some aspects of learning, there is consensus on how memories form, and solidify in our brains.

The basic concept of spaced repetition is that memories begin to fade shortly after they’re formed, and disappear into oblivion lest we are exposed to the information again.

Spaced repetition curves

With each exposure, the ‘forgetting curve’ of the memory becomes longer, and longer until it eventually outlasts your lifetime. This is why reviewing what you’ve learned regularly is so important to effective learning.

The biggest benefit of using a spaced repetition approach to learning, whether you follow the Leitner system with your old paper flashcards, or go for spaced repetition software on your phone or computer (have you tried LinguaLift yet?), is that it prevents you from wasting time on vocabulary that is still fresh in your memory.

The way most students use flashcards is by adding more and more cards to the deck, and then reviewing them all together every day, or every week, or eventually never at all. No surprise, given how unmanageable the pile becomes after a few learning sessions.

SRS goes beyond regular flashcards by predicting the point when the memory is about to fade based on your past performance, and then reminding you at this optimal moment. In theory, if you review regularly every day, you shouldn’t see the word more than 4-5 times before it enters your long term memory!

2. Study vocabulary in context

Research shows that the vast majority of words are learned from context. I can’t emphasize this enough, as learning in context of situations and sentences has huge benefits for all three aspects of vocabulary acquisition: learning, recall and retention.

This means that you should never learn vocabulary from isolated lists of unrelated vocabulary, without seeing them as part of a wider picture.

Think of words as puzzle pieces–when they’re scattered around the table, it’s almost impossible to remember or use them for anything useful. But once you combine even just a couple of the pieces together, a more meaningful context begins to appear, and the end result no longer appears unattainable.

There are many ways of introducing context into your vocabulary learning, the simplest being to learn vocabulary in sentences. This has additional benefits of introducing you to several words at a time, and clarifying their meaning, which may not always be obvious from a simple dictionary translation.

Beyond sentences, you can experiment with learning words with stories, songs or just everyday situations. For example, rather than learning weather related words on their own, look up a weather forecast online, and try to imagine a conversation about weather next week, and how it’ll affect the fishing trip you’ve been looking forward to so much.

Finally, you can also embed the vocabulary right into your surroundings with post-it notes. You’ve probably tried this method with nouns, but there’s no reason to stop there! Simply prepend the label on the fridge with ‘white,’ the clock with ‘wall,’ and the notebook with ‘my.’

3. Make the vocabulary personal, and emotional

You’ve probably heard stories of car crash survivors who can remember every little detail before the accident. We’ve also all experienced how difficult it can be to forget something we’ve been told that touched us to the heart.

Neuroscientists have flashed different words and sentences in front of subjects, scanning their brain activity. Unsurprisingly, the heatmaps lit up like a christmas tree whenever the subjects were exposed to personally relevant and emotionally notable information.

This effect can be put to great effect in vocabulary learning when combined with the previous tip. Rather than settling for a boring sentence like “The photo is on the table,” try something like “The photo of my wife fell of the desk just when I got the call.”

The benefit is three-fold. There’s now a very visual story forming around the vocab, it is emotionally impactful, and assuming you keep a photo of your significant other on your desk, also immediately relatable!

Throw that sentence into your SRS, and I can guarantee that you’ll never forget the words photo, desk, or wife ever again!

Try to think of new vocabulary in context of the people you know, places you’re familiar with or important events in your life. Just make sure not to go overboard with the imagery, lest you get traumatized every time you need to use one of the words…

4. Read regularly, and from a variety of sources

Reading exposes you to the same vocabulary at regular intervals, integrated it into the context of a longer story, personally relatable once you identify with the main protagonist… all central characteristics of effective vocabulary learning.

This makes reading one of the most effective ways to increase your vocabulary. The stereotype might portray bookworms as boring and asocial, but studies have in fact confirmed repeatedly that regular readers are much more expressive if you give them a chance to speak.

While you read, pay close attention to words you don’t know, but don’t try to look up everything right away or you’ll fail to appreciate the narrative and eventually burn out. Instead, highlight words that appear to be particularly useful or central to the story, then try to figure out their meanings from context before checking the official definition.

Make sure to engage with material on many different subjects, and in different formats. The language will be very different depending on whether you’re reading pulp fiction, a glamour magazine, or daily newspaper.

If the book you’re reading is also available in audio form, you should also consider listening to each chapter before or after you read it. If the text and the audio match accurately, also make sure to try shadowing, an extremely effective learning method I’ve covered before.

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5. Link vocabulary with mnemonics and word associations

Once you get a hang of the language, learning new words gets easier and easier as you can associate new vocabulary with homonyms, roots and other components you know already. But what about given names and locations? How do you remember what are often just random sets of letters?

Last month, I’ve asked this questions to Mattias Ribbing, a three-time Swedish Memory Champion, and Grand Master of Memory.

Matthias travels on speaking gigs around the globe, encountering hundreds of new faces every month, yet he never forgets a name! What’s his secret? Rather than putting pen to paper, or resorting to cheesy smartphone apps that would break the flow of the conversation, Matthias follows a simple, three-step approach every time he comes across a new name:

  • Think of an image that clearly represents the name. This can be a common association (Mary > Virgin Mary), sound resemblance (Siegel > Seagull), etc.
  • Enlarge the image in your head and combine it with the person you want to associate it with. If your contact’s name is Bree, for example, don’t just think of a small slice of cheese, but imagine Bree balancing an enormous round of stinky in her hands!
  • Remind yourself of the image through the day, and a few more times throughout the week, to solidify it in your memory via the spacing effect.

And that’s it! Follow these three simple steps and you’ll never be the one awkwardly thinking of a way to attract someone’s attention without admitting you forgot the name their mentioned just five minutes ago.

Bird surprise learning

Mnemonics are a bit of a controversial topic in the language learning community, but they can be incredibly effective for some people. The key here is to use them as yet another tool, not the be-all, end-all learning method.

Like with example sentences, to make this method really effective, make sure that your mnemonics are both visually and emotionally powerful–hence the benefit of thinking of a funny visual, and enlarging the object in your memory beyond natural proportions.

6. Pool new vocabulary from a frequency list

Before you can use any of the above learning hacks, you’ll need a list of vocabulary to start learning. Ideally, much of that vocabulary should come from encounters in daily life, whether through reading, listening to songs, watching movies, or paying attention to conversations in the elevator. In reality, you’ll likely need to supplement these with more abstract words to target.

A common theme across my suggestions, and earlier blog posts, is that language should be learned in a way that allows you to use it at the earliest opportunity. That is a key value of learning in context, of learning vocabulary that is personally relevant, and generally engaging with words as blocks you can use to construct something bigger, rather than individual pieces of information.

It should then come as no surprise that my preferred source of abstract vocabulary are lists ordered by the frequency at which they are used in day-to-day language. I’ve rarely seen this approach in classroom settings, but found it extremely effective and popular among many successful language self-learners.

In many languages, learning just 1000 basic words will make you understand 90% of the spoken language, and even the first 250 most common words will give you a good sense of the conversation.

If you acquire just 10 new words a day, getting up to speed in a conversation will take less than a month of casual learning. Learning a language is a huge undertaking, and it’s misleading at best when edutech companies promise fluency in a matter of months or even weeks, but mastering a core vocabulary list will make you very comfortable in all day-to-day situations. And from there, it’s just a matter of faking it, till you make it!

7. Have some fun with the words you learn

Word games may not be enough in and of themselves, but they’re a fun and effortless way to increase the recall speed of the vocabulary you know already, as well as to pick up an occasional new word from your peers.

Arabic scrabble

Crosswords and Scrabble are a good place to start if you’re learning Arabic or Indo-European languages. Boggle is also great fun and localized for several languages using the Latin alphabet. Quiddler is a good way to improve your vocabulary, but unfortunately only exist in English.

Languages like Japanese or Chinese are unfortunately not well suited for these types of board games, but looking through the app store on your mobile device should lead you to at least a few options adapted for phonetics and writing systems.

If you don’t want to spend money on board games, or prefer meeting with friends over coffee or hiking, you can try playing a spoken word game instead. Some old time favourites include Word-chain or Shiritori (reply with a word starting with the last letter of the one that preceded), Associations (quickly say the first word that comes to your mind after hearing the preceding word), and Metaphors (think of metaphors for things you see around you).

Bonus: Appreciate the language

You can try every learning method you want, but at the end of the day, you’ll only make rapid progress when you begin to truly appreciate the language… for its expressiveness, its intrinsic beauty, the subtle differences between seemingly identical words and phrases.

Find yourself using the same word again and again? Open the thesaurus and try to integrate a few nuanced alternatives into your language. Notice a pattern? Try looking up the word’s root, prefix, and suffix, and how they’re used in other vocabulary.

Rather than learning words as meaningless syllables, discover their etymology. More than half of English words come from Greek and from Latin, and most advanced Japanese vocabulary comes from Chinese.

Learning about the origins of the words you use can be very effective at solidifying the connections in your brain, and guessing the meanings of the vocabulary you come across in the future. Once you know that ‘ortho’ means straight, you can quickly guess the meaning of complex words like orthodontist (a doctor who straightens teeth) or orthography (the proper way of writing).

Beyond the practical benefits, etymology can also be inspiring, and incredibly fun! Did you know that the word dim sum (點心; small little dumplings from Hong Kong) means to ‘touch the heart’ or ‘dotted heart’? There are countless legends explaining the hidden meaning behind the word.

To Learn how LinguaLift has incorporated these concepts into our Language Learning Program, check out our Home Page at Lingualift.

And while you’re there, be sure to get a free copy of our e-book – Language Learning Secrets.

Language Learning Secrets

The psychology of language learning apps: Motivation, memory & the mind

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This post is from Paul, an English teacher who lives in Argentina. Paul writes on behalf of Language Trainers, a language teaching service which offers foreign-language level tests and other free language-learning resources.

What does it take to learn a foreign language? At first glance, it might seem straightforward: with hard work, consistent study, a good language learning app, and lots of time, you’ll eventually master the complexities of another tongue. However, in terms of psychology, it’s not so simple. And good langauge learning apps should take this into consideration.

There are many psychological factors—such as your reasons for learning the language, as well as the methods you use to learn new words—that can drastically affect the language-learning process. Additionally, learning a language confers several practical and cognitive benefits that you might not expect. Here, we’ll take a look at the underlying psychology of language learning by examining the three Ms of foreign languages: motivation, memory, and the mind.

Why falling in love is the best way to learn

It’s no secret that you need to be motivated to learn a language: without motivation, you’ll never find the drive to go to class or pick up your course book. But motivation comes in many different forms. For example, if you’re studying Japanese, you may be motivated to learn the language because you love anime and want to experience it in its original language.

 Alternatively, you may be motivated because your job is offering a big raise to employees who can communicate with Japanese clients in their mother tongue.

These two examples point out an important distinction between two types of motivation.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within; it’s borne out of personal interest (such as loving anime).

Extrinsic motivation comes from outside; it’s a response to our desire to achieve some sort of unrelated goal (such as getting a raise at work).

As it turns out, intrinsic motivation is the much more powerful of the two: when we’re genuinely interested in learning a language for the sake of learning it, we learn faster and more efficiently.

This is why falling in love with a foreign language speaker is such a great way to become fluent: what could be a stronger intrinsic motivator than communicating with your beloved?

This distinction also explains why language classes often produce lacklustre results. If students are forced to learn a language that doesn’t interest them solely for the sake of passing a test, they are operating entirely on extrinsic motivation, and are unlikely to retain any real language skills.

Keep this important fact in mind when searching for the right language program. A good language learning app will not only teach you to speak, read and understand the language. It should teach you about the people and cultures that use this language. This is the truly enjoyable part of learning a new language.

Currently, the best apps that cover the cultural aspect of a language, are LinguaLift, MosaLingua, and TripLingo.

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Maximising your ability to remember

If we could flawlessly memorise everything we see after looking at it only once, learning a foreign language would be a much faster and easier process. Unfortunately, we still haven’t figured out how to make our memories perfect. But there are some measures we can take to optimise our ability to remember words and phrases, and speed up the language-learning process as much as possible.

Probably the best-known memory strategy in the language-learning world is spaced repetition, which has become something of a buzzword among foreign language learners. Spaced repetition refers to the presentation of vocabulary items throughout long-term intervals. This has been proven to help us remember vocabulary much more robustly than cramming words into a short period of time.

Without complex computer-generated algorithms, it’s not easy to take advantage of spaced repetition by yourself. But luckily, digital flashcards like Anki and online language courses like LinguaLift utilise spaced repetition, and thus constitute great tools for the everyday language learner.

Another simple and actionable way to improve our retention of words is to take advantage of what is known as context-dependent learning. When we remember a given piece of information, our brains also store a lot of extraneous information—such as our environment and surroundings when the memory was formed.

Have you ever had the experience where you remember a certain word or phrase because you can visualise where it was located on the page of your course book? This is because of context-dependent learning: your brain stored irrelevant information (the word’s location on the page), and recalling that information helped you remember the word.

The take-home point here is that you should keep your language-learning context as consistent as possible to maximise the rate at which you retrieve and consolidate memories. For instance, if you’re studying Spanish vocabulary, do so (to the extent that you can) in the same place, at the same time of day, and with the same materials.

How bilingualism benefits your brain

This is a perfect time to talk about your committment to learning a new language, because this will have a big impact on what language learning app is right for you. If your goal is to become fluent in a new language, you need complete programs like LinguaLift, Busuu, or Babbel. If you are interested in learning a few words and phrases, apps like Memrise or Mindsnacks might be better options.

If you’re all in, that’s great! Learning a foreign language allows us to connect with an entirely new population of people and better understand a different culture. It’s also undeniably chic to be able to bust out a different language at a moment’s notice. But in addition to communicating with and impressing those around you, there are some surprising ways that learning another language improves your mind.

We’ve established that memory is an important part of language learning. It should come as no surprise, then, that bilinguals have been shown to have a greater memory capacity than monolinguals. Knowing two (or more) sets of vocabulary, then, expands our ability to remember things in general.

Other studies comparing bilinguals and monolinguals have also shown that bilinguals are better at inhibiting distractions, and show enhanced multitasking skills.

This makes sense when you think about what it means to speak in a foreign tongue: not only do you have to use the foreign language, but you have to inhibit your native language. Therefore, whenever you speak a foreign language (and thus inhibit your mother tongue), you’re prepping your brain to inhibit other distractions, which makes you more efficient in your everyday life.

Finally, the brain-boosting properties of bilingualism can even protect us against neurodegenerative diseases that often appear later in life. Indeed, bilinguals have been shown to have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s than monolinguals. This suggests that learning another language does for your mind what exercise does for your body, enabling you to retain your language skills into old age.

So, in the grand scheme of things, what does this mean for language learners? Well, first, if you’re motivated to learn a language, that’s the first step: congratulations! Next, you’ve just got to arm yourself with memory-improving strategies, like keeping a consistent study space or incorporating spaced repetition software into your language-learning regimen. Then, you’ll be well on your way to fluency — allowing you to not only speak in another tongue, but also to improve your multitasking skills and say “no” to wasting time by scrolling through your Facebook newsfeed.

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What’s your favourite way to get motivated? Got any great memory strategies to share? Have you noticed you’re less distracted after learning a language? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook!

How do people learn languages? Language study habits infographic

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Self-learners can feel very lonely. It’s hard to gather motivation to persevere faced with convoluted grammatical concepts, and tones of vocabulary piling up in your SRS database. Over time you develop study habits and study schedule and may wonder — am I the only one who studies this way?

There are countless Facebook groups and reddit forums to help you connects with other language fans. If you have ever been to one you might have come across language evangelists who not just swear by their specific learning approaches, but also dismiss what others do. The truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all study style 🤷‍♀️

That said, thousands of people have achieved progress with LinguaLift in shorter time then they expected. You can join them too.


Anyway, we were really curious to see how these successful LinguaLift users approach language learning — are there any trends, commonalities, surprising discoveries? Looks like our students also love data, because they had no problems supplying us with a lot of answers. All the replies served as input to create this wonderful infographic (yes, you can applaud me now).

Curious to see how others learn? Investigate below 👇 and share feel free to
share this infographic with your language learning friends!
More cool data described below the infographic!

Language learning habits

There were a few other questions we asked that didn’t make their way to the infographic, sorry!

The ability to study anywhere achieved importance of 6.99 (ok, let’s make it 7) on a 1-10 scale. Surprisingly almost 1/5 of the respondents said they “don’t really care” about it.

Perhaps the most interesting question we asked was about the one thing you can’t study without. A fair number of answers specified things related to the:

  • environment: comfy chair, blanket, or a quiet place. Other answers that can be included in this category are cat plush and miserable weather 😹
  • study aids and technology: pencil, scratch paper, laptop, internet, headphones. One person mentioned poems — how artistic!
  • food and drinks: full belly, snacks, water, tea, coffee — yup, we can empathise with the latter for sure! Chocolate 🍫, iced latte, and cucumbers were each mentioned once too.

A few very specific answers that were hard to categorise were: anime, hairpin, my jacket, clothes (fair point, better study in clothes!).

Three people mentioned dogs, and one of the students exclaimed: “I am bound by no object”.

No doubt we learned a lot from this exercise!

Are you ready to start learning? 😉

How to use a foreign language dictionary to learn faster and improve your style

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We’ve all used a dictionary, whether it was to look up an unfamiliar word in our mother tongue, or a translation in a foreign language. But, like any tool, dictionaries have the potential to do more harm than good if not used properly.

Let’s look at some of the common types of dictionaries and how to best leverage them in your studies!

Bilingual dictionaries

Level: Beginner–Advanced

Use: Look up vocabulary translations

A bilingual dictionary offers direct translations between two different languages. It is an indispensable tool for any serious language learner, and there are still significant benefits to using a paper one over a digital version.

In a good bilingual dictionary, you can find the following:

  • translation of a word in your native language
  • correct spelling and pronunciation of a word
    grammatical information about a word
  • the register (level of formality) of a word
    example sentences and expressions

When to use a bilingual dictionary

If you resort to a dictionary for every new word you see or hear, you’ll quickly burn out and cease to enjoy using the language. Efficient language self-learners are careful to choose which words to look up, and the right time to do so.

When you come across a word you don’t understand, keep reading until the end of the sentence, or better yet, the paragraph ☝️ If by the end of the passage the word still seems important, and you still haven’t guessed its meaning, go look it up.

Similarly, when you hear a new word in class or presentation, keep listening. What the speaker says next may give you more context and clarify the word’s meaning. If the word appears important, quickly jot it down and later ask your teacher or a fellow student.

It’s also an indispensable tool to find the correct word in your target language. Say you want to find out how to say ‘jumper’ in Italian.

Tips on using a bilingual dictionary

One word can have several translations

Vocabulary in different languages rarely matches one-to-one. An example often quoted as an illustration is the Inuit language, which, allegedly, has over fifty nuanced words for ‘snow’. Worse yet, a foreign word can encompass several meanings that are mutually incompatible in English:


Entry for 青い (blue) from the Japanese-English dictionary Weblio.

Does the Japanese word 青い (aoi) mean blue or green? 🤔 You’ll be hard pressed to answer the question without looking at some example sentences:


Example sentences for 青い (blue) from the Japanese-English dictionary Tangorin.

Ah, that’s better, 青い means green in the context of traffic lights, but blue when you’re talking about the sky… Looks like a tricky word to use correctly. It would probably be worth discussing its usage with a native speaker, or reading up on the Japanese perception of colours.

A word can be untranslatable

Some languages have more nuanced vocabulary than others, and some use complex grammar patterns to convey a meaning of just one English noun. Russian, for example, may resort to diminutives rather than adjectives to convey emotional context.


Entry for ‘dépaysement’ from the French-English dictionary Wiktionary.

“In France, the feeling of being an outsider is known as dépaysement (literally: decountrification). Sometimes it is frustrating, leaving us feeling unsettled and out of place. And then, just sometimes, it swirls us up into a kind of giddiness, only ever felt when far away from home. When the unlikeliest of adventures seem possible. And the world becomes new again.” — From “The Book of Human Emotions: An Encyclopaedia of Feeling from Anger to Wanderlust”, by Tiffany Watt Smith

That’s certainly a word I can relate to! I might just start using it in English… 😆

One word can belong to different parts of speech

Many English words can act as nouns, verbs and adjectives. This is however, much less common in many other languages.

Entry for ‘best’ from the Russian-English dictionary Academic.

In the abbreviated example above, the English word best maps to different Russian adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs.

Grammar words can be misleading

Words that are more a matter of grammar than vocabulary are best learned outside of a traditional dictionary. One of the best examples are prepositions. You might think finding the translation for the French à, for example, would be straightforward, but that is not the case:

  • Elle est à Paris. — She’s in Paris.
  • Elle va à Londres. — She’s going to Tokyo.
  • Elle est à la banque. — She’s at the bank.
  • Elle prend de l’eau à la rivière. — She’s getting some water from the river.
  • Elle a une robe à manches. — She has a dress with sleeves.

In cases like this a bilingual dictionary is just not enough, as it is necessary to learn the relevant grammar patterns before you can use the word correctly.

Fixed expressions break the rules

Fixed expressions, or groups of words that are always used together can add further difficulty to learning new words. Individual words in these expressions can gain a completely different meaning or even refuse to obey any grammatical rules!

For example, in English, we can ‘push’ a button, a stake, or a wheelbarrow, but in French, all three would use a different verb 😮

Entry for ‘to press’ from the French-English dictionary Le Grand Robert & Collins

A good dictionary will have a list of nouns paired with each verb, and some example sentences for context, but it’s impossible to make the list exhaustive.

Additionally, unless the dictionary has an extensive list of good example sentences with translations, you may not always be getting the word that you’re looking for. Asking somebody how old they are in Japanese isn’t as simple as looking up the word for ‘old’ or ‘how’. You may not know that the correct way to ask somebody’s age is いくつですか？without reference to an external source.

Monolingual dictionaries

Level: Intermediate–Advanced

Use: Look up same-language definitions

Monolingual dictionaries provide definitions in the same languages as the words you’re looking up.


Entry for the antagonym ‘sanction’ from Merriam-Webster.

You can use a monolingual dictionary to look up:

  • the definition of a word
  • correct spelling and pronunciation of a word
  • grammatical information about a word
  • the register (formality) of a word
  • examples sentences and expressions

Although we don’t support the popular position that students should switch to monolingual dictionaries exclusively early on in their studies, they do have some unquestionable benefits for language self-study.

Monolingual definitions, especially in dictionaries adapted to second language learners, are written using easier vocabulary than the target keyword ✍️ This gives you an opportunity to review vocabulary in context and with a clear goal, two key ingredients for long-term retention.

Starting to use a monolingual dictionary can be a daunting tasks, so here are some tips for making the transition.

Tips on using a monolingual dictionary

Find a dictionary adapted to self-learners

There are two types of monolingual dictionaries: those adapted to native speakers, and those for foreign language learners. If possible, try to get hold of the latter version as it will have simpler definitions, and in case of Asian languages, furigana/pinyin (Chinese character readings).

Start with simple words on the tip of your tongue

To dip your toe in, start by using monolingual dictionaries for easy words that you’ve mastered a long time ago, but struggle to remember now. By the way, having a personal vocabulary book 📙 where you write the words that were difficult to remember or understand for you is a great idea, you will be able to remember them more easily when writing them down and have material for your thesauri use.

Use monolingual dictionaries to pick the right definition

Early on, we recommend using monolingual dictionaries together with their bilingual counterparts. As we’ve discussed above, very often a single word in your mother language can have several definitions in the one you’re learning.

A great way to figure out which of the available translations fits your needs is to look them up in a monolingual dictionary and peruse the detailed descriptions.

Use bilingual example sentences with monolingual definitions

To get more comfortable using a monolingual dictionary, start using it to look up new words, but continue to refer back to bilingual example sentences. Think of them as training wheels that give you the confidence to go forward 🚲

Thesauri

Level: Beginner–Advanced

Main use: Look up related vocabulary

Once you reach the intermediate level in your target language and start writing longer texts (or poetry!), you’ll want to get a third type of dictionary, called a thesaurus.

A thesaurus doesn’t give you detailed definitions or much insight into grammar and usage, but instead lists vocabulary related to a target keyword.

The entry for 言う (to say) from the Japanese thesaurus goo.

In a good thesaurus, you can find:

  • synonyms (words with the same meaning, ex. drunk and sober)
  • antonyms (words with an opposite meaning, ex. enormous, huge, gigantic)
  • homonyms (same reading but different meaning, ex. write and right)
  • related vocabulary with a broader or narrower meaning

A thesaurus is an indispensable tool, especially for languages relying on a wide range of nuanced vocabulary, such as English or Chinese.

Tips on using a thesaurus

Always look up definitions after using a thesaurus

It’s very tempting to open a thesaurus, pick a word from the list of synonyms, and call it a day. But some of the synonyms can be archaic, too casual, or make no sense in the context of what you’re trying to say! ☝️

The only reliable solution is to look up the definition of every word that seems promising in a monolingual dictionary. After some time you might find yourself guessing which word will fit your need best before confirming with a monolingual dictionary, but when you do take the time to look it up you are working towards making it your active vocabulary!

Online thesauri can save you time

There are many benefits to all online dictionaries, from pronunciation audio, to handwritten lookup, but it is the thesaurus that has benefited the most of digitisation.

Unlike in a traditional paper dictionary, where you’d be presented with a never-ending list of words, its online counterpart allows you to quickly click through to the right context:

The entry for ‘press’ from the English Thesaurus.com.

Even better, you can then filter words based on complexity, length, usage and more:

Once you’ve narrowed down the list, you can then find their definition in a single click!

Grammar dictionaries

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Main use: Look up grammar patterns

A lesser-known type of dictionary is a grammar reference. Grammar dictionaries are perfect for non-romance languages, since their grammar systems are really what provides the nuance, not the vocabulary.

Entry for あげる (to give) from the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.

Unlike French or Italian, where the grammar rules (although sometimes complicated 😬), tend to be consistent no matter what the tone or context, languages such as Japanese use grammar heavily to convey a more subtle meaning. Want to convey to your interlocutor that you’re passing on information that you probably shouldn’t have heard in the first place? A grammar dictionary will tell you of this!


Entry from A Comprehensive Russian Grammar.

A grammar dictionary will help you:

  • grasp the nuance between grammar patterns
    master exceptions to grammar rules
  • find more formal or casual ways to express yourself

Tips on using a grammar dictionary

Try reading the grammar dictionary like a book, not a reference

Although grammar dictionaries often called reference books, when you want to learn how to say something specific in your target language, a regular textbook is often a better place to find the answer.

Where grammar dictionaries excel, is as a place of discovery of new turns of phrases and nuanced ways of conveying the same information. This is why I prefer to read through them chapter by chapter, or have a peek at a random section every day 🤓, to make my language more expressive and learn to think like a native speaker.

Corpus dictionaries

Level: Advanced

Main use: Look up word usage in context

Very often you’ll come across words and expressions that are difficult to use based on dictionary information alone. In such situations, corpus dictionaries are a translator’s best friend 😌

A corpus dictionary allows you to search a word, phrase or expression and then highlights it’s in a side-by-side view of professionally translated.


English/Chinese results for ‘“is a dynamic process”’ from Linguee.

Consult a corpus dictionary to find:

  • equivalents of sayings and set expressions
  • translations of seemingly simple words in special contexts

Tips on using a corpus dictionary

Always check the source

See the little warning sign in the screenshot from Linguee? 😒 It means that the particular translation does not come from a verified source and could be wrong.

Even if the source is verified, like most translations from EU organisations, you should still take care to check the original document to see whether the word use matches the context and register of your work.

Look through at least a handful of translations

Especially when translating more culture-specific expressions, browse through the entire list to see how different translators approached the same problem.

In the example above, the same Russian word ‘Бог’ is translated as ‘God’, ‘god’, and ‘Lord’ depending on the publication and context.

Now you know all about dictionaries! What mistakes have you seen people make most often regarding using them?

Share this post with your fellow language learners to help them make the most of these tools!

How to kill language “stage fright” and secure speaking confidence like a boss

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You’ve worked your butt off to get to where you are, and now there’s that gigantic platform gawking at you. Your hands are clammy, and your throat is parched. The podium is impatiently waiting to introduce you to a staring audience.

Stage fright hits.

The Teach Yourself book was a dear friend for weeks.
You’ve devoted 30 minutes a day for the past month studying Spanish and reading the dialogues.
Lesson 32 is planned for tomorrow.

One of your friends thought it would be a great idea to introduce you to her friend Isabel from Spain. You heard that Isabel might even bring a few others along from Columbia and Mexico.

What if she laughs? What if she doesn’t understand? 😧 The thought just makes your lip quiver!

Regardless on where you stand on the language field of progress, one thing is for certain: we all at one point or another experience stage fright.

🌺 This post is by polyglot musician Fiel Sahir, author of the blog Between 3 Worlds. 🌺

What exactly is stage fright?

It’s that horrible feeling you have whenever you have to perform a task in front of others. When your nerves get the best of you and you can’t think straight.

Stage fright loves to strike when you have to give a presentation, play a concert, or act in a play 🙈 Common symptoms include: forgetting your lines, nervously looking about, stalling with “umms”, missing notes on the keyboard… You get the picture. If you’re wondering why it happens, it has to do with our fight or flight response.

Maybe it has happened to you too?

Whether you are Yo-Yo Ma or Joe Schmoe, it’s not about whether or not you have stage fright. What ensures your confidence is how you deal with it. Whether it be talking to someone in a native speaker or performing on stage, Do it like a boss.

For example: before you get to the bar and talk to Isabel, stop for a moment. Go over the dialogue in your head and take a deep breath.

In this post I’m going to explain how to put an end to stage fright 💪

We all want to get rid of stage fright without going on stage. But it doesn’t work that way. You’re probably sick of hearing it, but the only solution is:

Get up on stage and show them who’s boss. Again, and again, and again.

Let’s kill stage fright. 🤘

bike

Stop fantasising and practice

Remember the first time your parents bought you a bicycle? You’d thought riding it would be as easy as cake. All the neighbourhood kids seemed fine, but then you saw your older brother fall a couple times…

So instead, you wanted to be “smart” and avoid injury. You opted to have training wheels on your bike so you could be “cool” without falling off.

Yeah, that was me. Except, it was also me who was the older brother.

You realised that with the training wheels there was no way you were going to be as cool as the other neighbourhood kids. You ask your dad to take them off, but after having fallen a few times, you realise bruises suck.

The fear of getting another injury overrules your fear of biking without training wheels. You deliberately spend time everyday on the bicycle trying to achieve your goal. After a couple more days of deliberate practice you’re flying down the street like nobody’s business 😎

Whenever you learn something new, it doesn’t matter how much you know about the subject in theory…

Knowing is not enough.

You can observe people all day, but unless you take off your training wheels, it’s not really riding a bike.

Practicing speaking by yourself with a book isn’t the real thing. Get out there, find some natives and show them what you’re made of.

What does that mean?

I’m currently (very sparingly 😬) studying Dutch. I’ve always liked the sound of the language, and I have Dutch cousins whom I visit pretty often.

You may think that being a native English speaker and fluent in German would make learning Dutch easier — after all these three languages share so many common features!

It is definitely easier to learn Dutch with some prior knowledge of English and German, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need to practice… ☝️

When I’m at home my accent sounds pretty great or at least I think so… Yet, last time when I arrived in the Netherlands for Christmas even a simple question I asked came out with a strong American accent. I used the words incorrectly. It felt embarrassing. But, I got the job done!

When I speak with my cousins they laugh and giggle. It’s funny to see someone struggle with something so natural to you. I join them because I do sound funny! They kindly correct my strange mix of German words in an American accent, and suggest the words I need. Ultimately even though the “UI” diphthong still tickles their ears, I keep going and improvement comes along.

Make sure to “perform” each acquired skill in new, and different contexts.

The skill of communicating in a foreign language can be practiced in a variety of ways, for example by speaking in a classroom, talking with your teacher on italki, or sitting at a bar with a bunch of natives.

It would have been easy for me to get upset after making mistakes when speaking Dutch in the Netherlands. The truth is, I simply didn’t yet have much experience speaking the language!

Basic truths about practice

A lot of musicians, myself included, love to fantasise that hitting every note in the practice rooms will allow us to progress 😍 Once we’ve had enough practice to call it a day, we leave feeling great about ourselves.

But, when faced with a live audience, suddenly our knees knock. We play, but will often feel disappointed with our performance and make a multitude of excuses to justify our failure. Trust me, that doesn’t help.

“Everything starts out as a motor skill. When learning motor skills, we’re trying to teach our bodies something we’ve never done before. Nine times out of 10, our bodies object! You have to persist until it does.” – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian Fingerstyle Guitarist

In order to kill stage fright, you need to look for it in every situation that bothers you.

Practice the skill of speaking in each of the different contexts mentioned above. Think of it as working out. Exercising only your legs won’t make the whole of your body fit. The whole body needs a workout.

coffee

The filtration stages of fright

Coffee. Café. Kopi. Whatever language you speak, coffee is a popular drink, but you would never just go to a field, pick a bean and expect it to taste like coffee!

Our language skills are like coffee beans. There’s a long process before a bean becomes a delicious cappuccino at a café!

Each bean has to get picked, cleaned, sorted, ground, filtered, and finally: voilà!

Similarly, there are various “linguistic filtrations” we must go through before we are ready to use the language. Here is my recipe for the best preparation process:

  1. Study by yourself ✍️
  2. Record yourself 🎤
  3. Talk with a teacher 👩‍🏫
  4. Speak with friends 🗣
  5. Engage strangers 👋
  6. Journey through the target country 🌍

In order to improve our language skills, we need to constantly be challenged.

This means not stopping where we are, but continuously “graduating — moving from one stage to the next.

You might be fine having lessons with a teacher, but not be brave to speak with friends.

This is NORMAL.

I’m not saying that you must go through each and every one of these stages. But, bearing them in mind serves as a good set of guidelines to help you navigate through your growth process.

Musicians attack problems differently. We go for what needs to be tackled strategically and with different approaches, for example using a technique called chunking. Chunking helps us focus and prioritise what is most important in the now.

Here is a brief introduction to this method:

Breathe

Now, here is some practical advice you can implement next time you are faced with a new situation that causes language stage fright.

Visualise yourself having an awesome time conversing with Isabel and her friends. See yourself on stage moving your audience to laughter and tears.

Remind yourself that mistakes are nothing but learning opportunities. 🌸 Write down your mistakes and have them corrected. You won’t improve if you don’t remember when, and how you went wrong.

If you want to kill stage fright, here’s a truth to drill into our heads:

Learning opportunities like to disguise themselves as mistakes.

Words of Wisdom

Playing guitar
Me and Eliot Fisk

My experience learning Dutch reminds me of an important concept I’ve heard for years from my guitar teacher Eliot Fisk (who is also a polyglot).

I want you to go and perform your repertoire for your friends four days in a row.

By the time you perform at the concert, it will be the fifth time. There will be hardly any mistakes that could surprise you then. Can you really promise me to do that?

People do that all the time! You need get used to bringing your guitar to parties and playing it. You never know who might be sitting around. You’ve gotta get out of your shell and be as social as possible.

The best thing to start off your career is going to parties. There are people who sit in their practice rooms all day. When they have to play for someone they say: “I don’t know why I’m so nervous!” 😱

Playing for people is a skill like any other. And, like anything else, you’ve got to practice it. The more you play for people, the more mistakes you eliminate. Pay attention to what went well and what wasn’t so good!

Practicing performance is totally underrated. Every time you feel nervous consider: maybe it’s because you play for others only once a year? 🤔

If you want to become more comfortable with it you have to play for people all the time!

quotation

Let that sink in for a second.

There couldn’t be truer words!

One of the most famous polyglot personalities, Benny the Irish Polyglot always says, “You only get better at what you do.” Reading a ton of French grammar books won’t mean you’ll wake up tomorrow morning speaking the language. In order to speak French better you have to… practice speaking French!

Practicing by yourself doesn’t ensure success on stage, you have to learn to perform on the stage.

Have you killed stage fright?

“Have you personally gotten rid of stage fright?”

That’s a great question I often get.

The answer was revealed to me during my Junior year at the New England Conservatory. Since I enrolled, I made a point to play in front of people, especially at Eliot’s urging.

One month in 2014 I overbooked myself. Through the outreach program at my school I was given the opportunity to perform at parties and other events, and I had at least one, and sometimes two, performances each week 🙉

Whether it’s 30 minutes of music or a full concert performing is extremely tiring for the mind. But I was doing what I was supposed to: performing. As a result, my stage fright didn’t bother me anymore. I got used to performing.

What to do now?

Be proactive and seek out opportunities to practice your target language.

Your goal is to make speaking to other people feel more natural than brushing your teeth. Maybe your neighbourhood has a lot of Latinos and they have salsa dance classes once a week? 💃 Join!

Put yourself in a place where you have to use your target language.

Each time you learn a new language, phrase, or musical piece, using it in public the first time will bring a bit of nervousness. The more you use the new things you’ve learned, the sooner you forget it’s new in your system.

When you publicly try out new things, your confidence level afterwards will shoot through the roof. Stage fright leaves and you’ll hear a resounding, “I did it!” 🏆

You’re now on that stage again. This time, the hard work has shot your confidence through the roof.

You smile to yourself and think about all the improvement your efforts have brought. The platform feels welcoming and the podium is ready.

It’s showtime.

Want more tips on language learning from a musical perspective? Be sure to check out Fiel’s presentation at the Polyglot Gathering in 2016.

9 things bilingual people do

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They start the day by reciting poetry in two languages, doing 14 situps, and drinking a spinach smoothie with a dash of soy sauce. Then jumping out of a window onto a rainbow, they slide straight into their cool bilingual world.

Not really… they do what the rest of us do: get up (or not), work, make friends, do laundry, study, eat, travel on busses, and dream. And probably a lot more of the same usual, boring, utterly non-bilingual-specific activities 😜

A ton of articles are circulating the internet devoted to the “funny things” bilinguals do; their frustrations, and the problems “only bilingual people can understand”. Rather than imitate those lists, I thought it would be interesting to take a more scientific approach by trying to discover the neurological and societal factors that cause the, sometimes quirky, behaviour in bi- and multilinguals.

Don’t worry though, even if we’ll be referring to science, there can’t be a blog post from me without a dose of humour (and gifs)! 😬

Here are nine typical characteristics of bilinguals:

1. Have bilingual (dis)advantage

This may be a bit of a downer for some of you. You might have heard that people speaking multiple languages are better at what’s called “executive control”; that is the ability to efficiently switch between tasks, as well as maintain focus. If you’re a bilingual university student, it’s definitely a confidence booster to know you may have a natural advantage like this over your monolingual peers! 💪

However, despite a wealth of research on the topic, a meta-analysis of academic papers conducted by Angela de Bruin revealed that the claims of bilingual advantage are often overstated. While some studies do find that speakers of one or more languages do have certain advantages, these are “neither global nor pervasive”

So, contrary to the promise of the title of this post… “effective task switching” is NOT in fact what bilinguals do.

2. Mix languages

tshirt
image source

Maybe you know the claim that bilinguals sometimes “accidentally speak in the wrong language”.

With more than one language in one’s head it may be hard to quickly decide which is appropriate for the moment. Bilinguals often mix languages in a process called code-switching or code-mixing — using two different languages in one conversation.

Bilinguals are often unaware of changing languages in the same conversation, and the spread and nature of these switches is investigated with curiosity by linguists 🤔 Sometimes changing the language comes with a change of topic. For instance, when you talk about family you would use a different language than when you talk about work.

Switching languages depends on the context and the language attitudes of the speakers.

Code-switching also depends who you’re talking to — but it’s not as simple as the obvious decision of not using Czech to speak to your German grandma. Speakers adjust their code-mixing, taking into consideration the perceived language attitude of their interlocutors. That is, if your mother is very particular about speaking grammatically correct language and never mixes Czech and German, even if she is bilingual, you would likely not mix those either. At the same time, if such mixing is pervasive among your school friends, you will unconsciously do the same as a way of signalling belonging to the group.

3. Think in mentalese

This actually applies to everyone, not just speakers of multiple languages. Many of us believe we think in a specific language, but it looks like the thinking process can be independent, and the language choice happens only when we decide to turn our thoughts into speech. Steven Pinker names this hypothetical language of thought mentalese.

We may all think in mentalese, but our inner speech happens in a specific language.

PulpFiction

Thinking, however, is a process different from “inner speech”; it’s a more conscious practice of talking in our heads. You might have experienced it when waiting in anticipation for the teacher to reveal your grade. Your head might have been reverberating with the unspoken mantra “I wanna pass, just make me pass” — or maybe that was just me 😆

Jean-Marc Dewaele of University College London (UCL) investigated the choices that multilinguals make for inner speech. His study revealed that those choices could be governed by factors such as the context the speaker is in, the interlocutor, and the topic of the thoughts.

For instance, if your first language is Japanese, you study in Spanish, and shop in Italian, you are more likely to get internally angry in Japanese, think about your study topics in Spanish, and make a mental groceries’ list in Italian.

4. Use language creativistically

Languages and the metaphors they contain help us to see the world in different ways. Hence, speakers of multiple languages acquire more lenses through which to view the environment, and are consequently more creative.

This creativity doesn’t only apply to art but also to mathematical problem solving and the use of language itself. A deeper understanding of figurative language and metaphor can help make many bilinguals into poets and writers. British-Hungarian poet George Szirtes, writer Vladimir Nabokov, and author of the Notebook, Agota Kristof are just a few examples.

rubbish
image source

This is not the kind of language creativity I mean…

5. Good at joking?

Well… this is a controversial one. You might have tried to tell a joke translated from Russian, which was hilarious in the original version, to receive (at best) a complete lack of response, (or rolling eyes). But this is only one facet of joke telling among bilinguals.

joke

According to a study by Vaid, López and Martinez, bilinguals can distinguish between jokes and non-jokes much better than monolinguals. One can presume that would make them more sensitive to humour and, with adequate practice, better at joke telling.

6. Diversify speaking situations

Phone in Mandarin, books in Greek, TV in Portuguese. Linguistic diversity is the reality of multilinguals.

When you want to ensure you regularly use all the languages you know, you will purposefully seek out opportunities to practise them in your daily life. This will be in situations where it doesn’t matter which language you use because you do want to keep in touch with all the ones you speak.

It can get pretty annoying though when using the phone; changing keyboards, typing diacritics or using wrong autocorrect… When next time you see your bilingual friend shaking their phone in frustration, it may be because it has again auto-corrected their Spanish gracias to “grassy ass”.

phonechat

source

6. Better at making friends

Doesn’t it seem like bilingual people tend to be the centre of social attention? Well, if it does, there is science behind it.

Because of an increased sensitivity to the meaning of words and the ability to detect nuances (like recognising jokes), speakers of more than one language have better interpersonal and communication skills, or at least that’s what the research on bilingual children has revealed.

The good news is, you don’t have to be bilingual from birth to gain that skill, and it’s enough to be raised in a linguistically diverse environment. Who knows, perhaps even learning a language or two later in life could have a positive impact? It definitely doesn’t hurt to try!

7. Lost in thought?

Have you ever asked a friend a simple question about their day at work only to be met with a blank stare and a five-second hesitant “eeeeeh”? If the answer is yes, it’s not that they didn’t understand you!

Sometimes bilinguals can take a longer time to respond or be hesitant in their choice of vocabulary. The reason can be that they often use a different language to talk about a particular topic and so having to change to another one can cause confusion.

In other words, changing gear into a different language may result in longer pauses or hesitations.

A 2011 study on Croatian-English bilinguals found the need to change languages also results in more frequent usage of conversation fillers like “eeeh” or even nervous laughter and coughing.

nervous

So your bilingual friends don’t have their heads in the clouds! They’re just trying to find the right words to make themselves understood.

8. Look confused

A common misconception, still popular a decade ago, was that bilingualism causes slower development in children, therefore making them less clever than their peers. While it is true that being brought up in a bilingual home can delay the onset of speech, science has also clearly proved that early bilingualism leads to a better ability to focus and can therefore enhance academic performance.

With two or more languages available to chose from, bi- and multilinguals can take a longer time to find the right words. Research shows they experience that tip-of-the-tongue feeling more often than monolinguals.

And that’s not all. Have you noticed that look of squint-eyed confusion when a bilingual is watching a subtitled film?

confused

It’s not that they can’t understand it. Our brains are wired to always look at the subtitles, even if we understand the spoken language. If, because of the bad translation, the spoken and written texts don’t match… you can imagine it can cause a bit of a brain overheat.

9. Hate to be treated like machines

Oh, so you speak Macedonian? Say something! Can you translate this for me? Will you teach me!

Bilinguals are people too. And they want to be treated as normal beings not quirks of nature. While it’s sometimes flattering to feel like an expert or be able to utilise one’s language skill to help a friend, being treated like a circus animal or a translation machine is just a bit diminishing.

When you meet an accountant, do you immediately ask them to perform a calculation as proof of their expertise?

Even if it’s your first time to meet a bilingual or multilingual person, be sensitive. If you are kind and receptive then, trust me, if they want to talk about their multilingual lives they will. And maybe they’ll even tell you a joke 😝

Stop being so fragile: Grit in language learning

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During my university studies, I was an avid salsa dancer. Spending at least 14 hours a week at classes and socials, I watched people sign up for the classes, then quit. You’d think that students from the music faculty would be obvious candidates for dancing success, while those studying computer science and wearing Iron Maiden t-shirts would be less so.

However, after watching a few of the latter type become some of the most impressive dancers, and seeing the former ones drop out, I learned not to judge the newcomers*. I learned that their success in salsa depended not on any predefined qualities, but rather on perseverance.

Recently I spoke about the powerful effects of deliberate practice. One of the elements of this practice is motivation and a strong focus on the long-term goal. As much as it makes perfect sense in theory, when we try to apply this rule to our own life, somehow we get distracted by the omnipresent fairy dust.

Distracted by what?

Oops, sorry, my mind wandered, I was distracted.

I mean that in reality, our long-term goals often dissipate over time. Saving for a round-the-world yacht trip easily gets overshadowed by trying out an exciting new Thai restaurant, and the prospect of watching (insert your favourite show) on Netflix is much more appealing than studying for the B2 German exam. This would not be so depressing if it happened to everyone. But how is it that when we fail, we see our Facebook friend cruising around the Seychelles after 2 years of saving, and that awkward moustached guy from the German course acing the B2 exam?

You all started at the same time, had the same level of dedication (at least for a while) and had an equally serious goal. How is it that you didn’t succeed, when others did? You just lacked… perseverance?… motivation?

No. What you lacked was grit.

That gravel called grit

Just like the “10k hour rule”, habit-building and efficiency, the term “grit” is making its mark in the community of productivity hackers and expert learners.

The shortest definition of “grit” is “the perseverance of effort”. A motivation so strong that it makes an individual resiliently overcome obstacles and persist despite even long periods of plateau.

”To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year, in challenging practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight.” —Angela Duckworth, “Grit”.

Angela Duckworth is not a self-help guru. She spent years conducting academic research on the phenomenon of grit, only deciding later to use that term as an appropriate description of the trait. Her New York Times bestseller, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance sheds important light on what makes us persist in our decisions.

Humans are lazy animals

“Without directly experiencing the connection between effort and reward, animals, whether they’re rats or people, default to laziness.”—Angela Duckworth, Grit

Have you ever described yourself as a person who is “interested in everything”? You want to explore photography, read about neuroscience, master German, keep practising the cello, and be able to deadlift twice your own weight. You started to develop all those skills before, and you know you have the capacity — you’re clever so you can succeed in them all! The only thing that stops you is time — there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

Now, why is the above paragraph in a section about laziness? You’re not lazy, are you? Or, are you?

Get ready, I’m about to drop a bomb here: lack of commitment is laziness. Gritty individuals actually maintain consistency of interest.

Initially, like children, we develop an interest in an activity because it gives us pleasure. When this primary beginner pleasure wears off, though, we’re likely to abandon the pursuit. That’s the point where as children, many of us were confronted with adult intervention and statements like “you’ll thank me when you’re older”. After which we were forced to continue our practice.

Now you’re a conscious adult who is well aware of how much work is involved in learning a skill to a high level. Making a commitment to one pursuit would mean renouncing the temporary pleasure of a few other activities for the sake of making a prolonged effort.

Even if you do have talent, relying on that alone will make you fail.

As a result of this lack of engagement, we keep jumping between different activities, never really mastering any of them. As a justification we quote “lack of time” often fully aware that it’s merely an excuse. We live in denial of our own laziness, and passively accepting our wasted potential.

When activities are pleasurable and we see quick progress, it’s easy to maintain interest. But it’s virtually impossible to reach a level of proficiency in any discipline without having to devote effort, and without overcoming at least medium-sized difficulties. How many times have you started learning a language and never progressed beyond the basics? It feels so easy to learn a few greetings, yet when we start having problems in memorising vocabulary or wrapping our heads around a new grammar concept, it becomes a challenge to keep going.

Here is an actionable piece of advice: Don’t quit before reaching a level that allows you to experience the benefits of what you were learning.

Angela Duckworth asks her children to pick any activity they want to learn, be it ice-hockey or pot-making, but on condition that they stick to it for a year. We may not be ready for a year-long commitment, but why not start with a month? It will be a month of genuine focus on ONE activity accompanied by habit-building and deliberate practice.

The good thing about this approach is that after the initial choice, you will remove the pressure of decision-making for the whole month. If you chose to practise bass guitar, there can be no pondering about French or hairdressing courses for the next 30 days. Your effort is focused on one thing. After 30 days you can decide to continue, or drop it and try something else.

“If you stop believing that you can reach a goal, either because you’ve regressed or you’ve plateaued, don’t quit. Make an agreement with yourself that you will do what it takes to get back to where you were or to get beyond the plateau, and then you can quit. You probably won’t.”— Anders Ericsson, Peak

This way you’ll not only practise perseverance, but you’ll probably get an idea of how much you can learn over a longer period of consistent effort. This approach is likely to get you hooked to one activity for longer than a month.

Growth vs fixed mindset

“Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.” — Angela Duckworth, Grit

Let’s say I introduced you to two painters, both established and regularly exhibiting. One of them has been described as a genius from the age of 5, and the other spent 10 years learning to paint and only rose to prominence in their late 30s. Which one would amaze you more?

Research by Tsay Chia-Jung of UCL found that faced with a similar scenario, most people have more respect for the “natural” talent, in spite of the relatively little work the person did in order to achieve such results!

We’ve dealt with the somewhat misplaced notion of talent before. Now that you’ve read this far into this post, I can assure you that you have the potential to achieve whatever you want. There is no need to take any intelligence or aptitude tests to prove it. If you are reading about self-improvement, you clearly want to improve yourself. And if you really want to, you will.

Picasso-Le-Picador

Picasso painted Le Picador at the age of 7.

Cesanne-Judgement-of-Paris

One of the first works by Cezanne, Judgement of Paris, completed in his early 20s.

Now the question is how to tap into your potential to get the results you want. How you go about it depends on your approach to self-development.

People with the so called “fixed mindset” tend to fall for the “cult of genius” and believe we are born with fixed capacities that can hardly be improved. They’re the people who say things like: “I’m simply no good at this, it’s not for me, I don’t have a talent for it”, or “it’s not worth trying, I know I’ll fail”. It’s clear how this approach cultivates a pretty pessimistic view on life.

On the other side of the spectrum we have the “growth mindset”, a conviction that any skill can be gained and improved with the right method and enough time. It’s the people with the growth mindset who you’ll see jumping into new tasks head-on, always on the look-out for solutions, actively seeking different practice methods, and learning from others who are more accomplished. This is a very energetic and optimistic approach, and Duckworth calls those who have it “Strivers”.

Stop being so fragile!

The growth mindset, with its eagerness to jump into the unknown and take up new challenges, will lead the Striver to many failures.

We’re conditioned to see failure as something negative, bringing contempt and shame. As a consequence, many of us seek to avoid it at all costs. After years of experience working with university students, Duckworth says: “I see a lot of invisibly vulnerable high achievers stumble in young adulthood and struggle to get up again. I call them the ‘fragile perfects.’”

In the world of Strivers however, failure is not a sign of defeat. On the contrary, it’s a proof of doing the right thing — eliminating methods that don’t work, and breaking one’s own limits. What most of us see as vulnerability, the Strivers have transformed into an asset. The growth mindset is associated with grit.

“The reality is that most people have an inner fixed-mindset pessimist in them right alongside their inner growth-mindset optimist.” — Angela Duckworth, Grit

Of course it’s hard to find individuals completely on only one side of the mindset spectrum. Simply being aware of our thinking patterns can help us change them, however. Do you really think a pursuit is not worth your effort, or are you simply afraid of failure?

Gritty people, with their unstoppable drive forward, can make grittiness seem a bit of a psychotic trait. And it’s true, it will mean you sometimes have to ignore the opinions of people around you, and perhaps you’ll even need to forget about your own well-being for a while. Athletes know that if they don’t “break” themselves, they won’t improve. When others stop, they keep going — persevering through a painful stitch, burning muscles, the feeling of nausea and the early symptoms of fainting. That explains the emergence of the training routines named “Grit”!

Get ready to break yourself to grow!

Build up your grit

“Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t.” — Angela Duckworth, Grit

Where does grit come from? Some individuals are grittier than others, and many are even unaware that such a quality exists. Like many of our character features, grit too originates from our upbringing and surroundings. But just as we can still learn to swim even if we weren’t brought up near a lake, grit is also a trait we can develop.

You should aim to make grit a part of your identity. It’s hard to get up everyday at 7am to go jogging, but once you’ve told your co-workers you’ve been running, your neighbours have already seen you, and you’ve bought some cool running gear, jogging is likely to become part of your identity. Rather than someone who is “trying to run”, you’ll start to see yourself as a “person who runs”. Consequently, you’ll adopt the behaviours of a “person who runs”, such as drinking a lot of water and going to bed before 11pm.

Being gritty is essentially a habit you have to develop and nurture. Where to start?

Download a free habit-building PDF here.

Surroundings

”If you want to be grittier, find a gritty culture and join it.” — Angela Duckworth, Grit

There isn’t really much more to add to this quote. We tend to adopt the characteristics of the people we spend most time with; in other words, it’s easier to eat a vegan dinner if you flatshare with vegans.

If you want to develop grit, identify the gritty individuals around you, spend time with them and emulate their behaviours. More specifically, you can hang out with people who are learning the skill you want to learn. Whether by example or by bringing out your competitive spirit, their perseverance will push you to work harder.

Change your world to change your habits

Little decisions

Grit is not something that, once acquired, you’ll have for life — it’s a sum of little daily decisions. Making a commitment to have a salad for lunch for a month seems huge. But all it really involves, is saying “no” to other meals 30 times. Each time you’re faced with a decision, stop and try to align it with your new identity: a person who eats healthily doesn’t eat a fatty burger for lunch.

At a moment of crisis you can resort to telling yourself “I’ll keep it up for just one more week, or even for just one more day before I stop.” Chances are you’ll be past your crisis the next day, and the following week you’ll already be hooked to your own progress.

Enthusiasm and endurance

“Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” says Duckworth in her book. With the focus on perseverance, we can’t forget that we have chosen our goals because of our enthusiasm for the field of study. This perseverance and enthusiasm lead to a powerful endurance. which can keep us going, and prevent the practice from turning into a chore.

Reminding ourselves of the reasons for our passion should be an integral element of practice. Take time to regularly visualise yourself in a world where you have fully learned the skill you’re working on. How does that world differ from the present? What emotions does it give you?

Spend time with people who have already achieved the thing you’re aiming for. It will remind you of the kind of person you are planning to become. When practice gets too hard, take a break and use the skills you already know to get in the state of flow.

Flow is like a positive drug, addictive enough to motivate you to go through the pain of practice just to get a stronger hit.

Goal structure

“A lack of grit can come from having less coherent goal structures.” — Angela Duckworth, Grit

It has been found that the most gritty people split their long-term goal into smaller, mid- and short-term goals. In a structure like this, their every action contributes to the final accomplishment.

Of course, we all have a few other things to do, and I’m not asking you to quit your job and devote yourself 100% to learning Russian. However, dividing your goal into clearly definable components will help you measure your progress. With a goal like “language fluency”, your mid-term goal could be to have a 10-minute conversation with a native speaker, for instance. This can be further divided into short-term goals of, for example: learning greetings, practising pronunciation, or breaking the speech fear by sending voice messages to native speakers on HelloTalk.

Take time to sub-divide the skill you’re working on into smaller goals.

Are you ready to get grittier?

*Yup, not even by their Metallica t-shirts.

Reach your peak with deliberate practice

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Try googling “best way to lose fat” — you’ll inevitably get pages of results listing different super foods, “simple” diets and exercise plans “that really work”. Each will promise better results in a shorter time. Apart from the obviously bogus strategies (the grapefruit diet?!) all those approaches are probably right to some extent. That is to say, there will be at least one person who would benefit from them.

Doesn’t that remind you of different approaches to language learning?

I remember preparing for a maths test at school. All 30 of us in the class passed. How? We did share class time, but ultimately each of us prepared in a different way, choosing a revision method that worked best for our preferences.

If you were (un?)fortunate enough to have been put through the 10+ years of standardised education, you would have had a lot of time to develop strategies for learning within that particular system. Or, if not to learn, you developed strategies to please your teachers and pass the tests.

When acquiring skills as adults, we don’t have the luxury of so much time to spare. Based on my personal experience, the older I get, the number of things I want to master seems to be growing exponentially.

With so much to learn and so little time, it’s no longer only the question of choosing what to learn. We have to start investing time and effort into optimizing the ways in which we learn.

How we fall for “foolproof” fads

Coming back to the diet articles (stop thinking about that triple chocolate muffin!), if you look at them closely, they are all variations of four simple pieces of advice: exercise, eat healthily, drink more water and sleep more. However, because such a straightforward answer to the dieting question looks too simple to be believable, it tends to be embellished with extra specifics, such as precise quantities of foods and exact numbers of reps.

In our desire to accomplish our dream goals, we want to find one foolproof strategy for realising them. Our despair of achieving them pushes us to seek authoritative answers—hence the successful click-bait of articles offering the “true”, “ultimate” and “tested” solutions. However, the number of ways to achieve any goal will always equal the number of people who try it. While the broad direction of progress stays the same, the nitty-gritty of the path will be different for each individual. Let me rephrase:

There are as many ways to achieve a goal as there are people.

It’s the same for every skill you want to learn. From cooking to computing, there will be an endless number of courses and approaches to try. Having a variety of choices is good — it makes it easier to find a method that suits your personal style. Yet, just as we can identify the basic factors involved in weight loss, there is a core approach for each skill you want to gain.

In fact, I’d even go as far to say there is a component that underlies gaining any skill . It’s the approach to learning, the way we practise.

Down with talent, in comes deliberate practice

Now, bear with me. This article is not a roundabout way of selling you another “magic” approach to changing your life. There is plenty of science to support what I am about to say and, just for you, I’ve done my reading.

First things first: talent. The only application of the notion of “talent” is to serve as an excuse for our laziness. We say we can’t achieve something because we are not talented enough.

As Anders Ericsson points out in his book Peak, we often mistake years of hard work for talent. While in certain disciplines people can have some natural advantages—think of the height of basketball players— in most fields such natural assets can be outmatched through effort and the development of skills.

”A major difference between the deliberate-practice approach and the traditional approach to learning lies with the emphasis placed on skills versus knowledge — what you can do versus what you know. Deliberate practice is all about the skills.” — Anders Ericsson, Peak

Yes. Deliberate practice is all about gaining skills, and skills are only acquired through effort. So here is the first uncomfortable truth: to acquire a new skill you need to apply effort. There is no way around it. I told you there wouldn’t be any magic spells here.

That doesn’t mean that merely putting in effort will guarantee progress, however. The crux of the matter lies in knowing where to direct our efforts in order to maximise the gain.

“Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t.” — Angela Duckworth, Grit

Rules of deliberate practice

“Even the most accomplished of experts start out as unserious beginners.” — Anders Ericsson, Peak

Maintaining high-levels of practice, and witnessing constant improvement can turn us into experts. But how to keep up the pace? Just as with improving our diet, there are four simple components to take care of.

Motivation

This is not an empty word—you really need to be ready to exert effort and be prepared to overcome hardships.

At the toughest of moments, when you feel stuck, reminding yourself of the reason you’re doing this should be enough to stop you from quitting. Always keep your long-term goal in sight.

Consistency + deliberation = an expert learner

“If you stop believing that you can reach a goal, either because you’ve regressed or you’ve plateaued, don’t quit. Make an agreement with yourself that you will do what it takes to get back to where you were or to get beyond the plateau, and then you can quit. You probably won’t.”— Anders Ericsson, Peak

Repetition

This is also why you need motivation. Deliberate practice requires repetition.

As a language learner you hopefully already have a habit of revising and practising pronunciation until it is perfect. With deliberate practice you will put the ultimate concentration into every repetition, and keep practising your skill until you reach the desired level.

Continuity

The tasks or practice you engage in should build on your existing knowledge, and take you a step further. Deciding on the right exercise requires a high level of self-awareness and an honest self-assessment. You will have to identify the skills you lack and set yourself exercises that are challenging, but not overwhelming.

In terms of language practice, once you’ve learned a few pieces of vocabulary, try to form sentences. If you have problems setting the right level for your training session, you should consult a mentor, which leads us to the fourth component of deliberate practice:

Feedback

You need regular feedback on your work. Consult someone with a higher level of skill than yourself, and ask them to correct your work and provide tips on how to improve. Ideally, the feedback you get should be immediate, so you can introduce corrections promptly to quickly override the memory of the mistakes you had made.

Again, to put it into the context of language learning: speaking sentences aloud to yourself will not show you whether a native speaker would understand you. Speaking to a teacher, however, will quickly allow you to address flaws in your phrasing and pronunciation.

To effectively practice a skill without a teacher, it helps to keep in mind three Fs: Focus. Feedback. Fix it. —Anders Ericsson, Peak

Time and the 10k hour rule

Fair enough, you may say, but I don’t have all that time to practice to develop the skills I want—why bother trying?

Maybe you have heard of “the 10,000 hour rule”. In short, it is a popular notion that to achieve mastery in any field, you need to invest 10k hours into practice. The concept has been presented and popularised in the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Even though the message the author wanted to convey is not that simple, that’s how it is remembered and is still perpetuated.

Based on what we said before, the flaw in the 10k hour rule is obvious. It’s not the number of hours or effort that we put in, but the quality of practice that allows us to make progress. I’m looking at you, all LinguaLift students who excuse their lack of studies with being busy!

Anders Ericsson, author of the book Peak, notes that expert performers (in any field) limit their practice sessions to an hour maximum, and the amount of daily practice to five hours. And that’s if the skill you’re working on is a part of your job! If you’re learning as a hobby, there‘s no shame in devoting much less time to deliberate practice.

By virtue of its intensity and the focus it requires, deliberate practice is tiring. After a day of school or office work, you will inevitably get tired very quickly. There’s no need to force yourself to study more — a tired mind will not process or absorb information effectively. Ericsson notes that expert performers nap after draining practice sessions. So, if you feel like hitting the pillow after the vocab review, perhaps you’ll be doing the right thing!

Loneliness and the sweet spot

You know that feeling when you learned a few conversational phrases and had a few successful exchanges on HelloTalk? It feels so good to always know what to say and feel comfortable with your language! You may in fact feel so comfortable that you find yourself repeating the same conversations with different people, and counting the time spent on it as your daily language practice.

Don’t fool yourself. When actions become automatic, it signifies you have mastered a skill—repeating the action won’t teach you anything new.

Ericsson refers to a famous piece of research in his book about violinists at the Berlin Academy of Music. Students at the music school were asked to sum up the number of hours they spent on different forms of practice: solo practice, concert practice, and practice with a teacher. The most talented students, those described as having the best chance of becoming orchestra musicians, spent the most time practising alone.

In contrast, those considered less talented, and seen by their mentors as future music teachers, not only spent less time practising, but also devoted most of their practice time to playing with other musicians.

In a language class you might spend 30 minutes listening to others reading through a dialogue, 90% of which you already understand. Practising on your own you’d spent half of that time focusing on the missing 10% that you find challenging. This is deliberate practice.

At its core, deliberate practice is a lonely pursuit. While you may collect a group of like-minded individuals for support and encouragement, still much of your improvement will depend on practice you do on your own. — Anders Ericsson, Peak

Deliberate practice vs. flow

Now, you might also be familiar with the term “flow”. Flow is a state of deep focus, enjoyment and a level of involvement in an activity so complete that it makes us oblivious of time. It’s like when you spend a whole afternoon fixing your bike, or when you lose all track of time playing tennis, for example. There is a level of overlap between flow and deliberate practice. But it doesn’t mean the two are the same—one crucial difference lies in the level of enjoyment.

The relationship between deliberate practice and flow puzzled Angela Duckworth, the author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She noticed that if we have enough motivation, working towards our goals should be pleasurable. Yet, at the same time, improvement involves exposing our flaws, and constantly finding shortcomings in our skills can be daunting. We have been conditioned to think about failure in negative terms, but most successful learners embrace it as a necessary step to improvement. If you don’t fail, it means you remain in the same place—in your comfort zone— and that’s not where progress happens.

To illustrate this point, let’s use a gym metaphor. If you want to train your muscles, you can lift weights according to your capacity until you reach exhaustion point. Reaching your limit is not a failure! And regardless of how strong you are, there will always be a weight too heavy for you to lift.

By reaching your limits each time, you’re just gradually moving the boundary of your maximum capacity.

Polishing your skills requires effort, and exposing yourself to the feedback of experts can make you feel vulnerable. Understanding this finally made me realise why I always felt stressed before my drumming classes: I knew there was a 90% chance of hearing criticism. And as a perfectionist, I don’t like to have my flaws pointed out.

Allow yourself the freedom to be imperfect and understand that the teacher’s aim is not to put you down, but help you grow.

So, where does the flow come in? You will experience flow as a state where you are using your existing knowledge and having fun with the new skill you acquired through those hours of practice. You are in the flow when you play through a song you have been learning, when you spend hours absorbed in painting a landscape or when you talk about your favourite films in Korean. In a sense, all our goals are variations in reaching the state of flow.

“When you quit something that you had initially wanted to do, it’s because the reasons to stop eventually came to outweigh the reasons to continue. Thus, to maintain your motivation you can either strengthen the reasons to keep going or weaken the reasons to quit.” — Anders Ericsson, Peak

It’s important to allow yourself to get into a state of flow when you reach a part of your goal. By demonstrating to yourself how far you have come and how much pleasure you derive from the activity you are working to master, you will gain an extra motivational kick. Flow reminds you of what the deliberate practice has been about and shows that more is possible.

Ready to reach your peak?

There are no more excuses. If you truly want to improve, the steps are clear.

Whatever skill you’re working on, no teacher or app can do it for you. A network of like-minded individuals and mentors will provide necessary support, but you can’t outsource your own progress.

Start working on it, for flow’s sake!