How To Train Your Brain To Learn A New Language

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How to railroad train your encephalon to flip to a new language

Eoin at Bitesize
Feb 9, 2011
8:42 am
21 Comments

This is a guest post past Rubén, who writes on Mostly Maths virtually programming, productivity and fourth dimension direction. A math PhD student and aspiring procrastinator, he writes about fighting time expenditure and continuous comeback.

When yous kickoff learning a new language, common wisdom suggests that you accept two possible goals (not mutually sectional). One is passing an examination. Maybe yous took French while in Loftier School with no other goal than getting a adept grade, non giving a damn about the country, the language or the people. The other mutual goal is the dreaded F word, fluency. Forget common wisdom, in that location is something more of import than the vague notion of fluency.

The term fluency is very ambiguous, because there is no scale in measuring fluency. Personally, I can become by in nearly situations with English language, but I only consider myself fluent when talking about mathematics, where my vocabulary is almost complete and the grammer I know is enough for all possible themes that can occur.

When I am starting with a new language, I don't prepare my views in some abstract fluency. I want what may exist called working fluency, or as I put in a mail in my blog, getting to the linguistic communication switch. What is the language switch?

It's similar feeling that unexpectedly, you lot have a button in your brain. When you button information technology you can get thoughts straight to your target language. This is not the same every bit being fluent, because you can get to the bespeak of being able to push the switch way earlier you are fluent. You can be happily talking (or writing) in Irish gaelic and suddenly i of the words you lot desire to say just isn't there. You take a pocket-size short-circuit in your switch, easily repaired by learning (or relearning) the troublesome discussion.

Once y'all are at that place and have a nice switch inside you, you can exist pretty sure of at least being able to interact with locals and stop feeling out of identify. Maybe you lot will have to stop in the centre of a phrase and look at your dictionary, or ask in some common language, or simply point your finger to the moon. The meg dollar question is then, how do you get there? More to the signal: how do yous get there when your target language does not accept a lot of speakers?

The linguistic communication switch is not built, it is trained. As Vince Lombardi said, Perfect exercise makes perfect. Keep on drilling standard phrases. For example, something I usually do is maxim to myself Komdu sæll og blessaður! when I pass a man by the street and komdu sæl og blessuð! when I pass a adult female. These are two common greetings in Icelandic, and you demand to get used to the correct form for men and women. The best fashion to make information technology part of y'all is just to drill it in some funny way like this, until information technology is as natural as saying Hello!

You can also utilize old business cards (or here in Espana train tickets, which are credit card sized) to do verb conjugation. Write in the blank side of one the conjugation of 'to exist' (in Icelandic, að vera, in Irish bí) and put it in your pocket. Whenever you have a few spare seconds, like waiting in queue to pay at the store or waiting for the street calorie-free to turn greenish (equally a pedestrian), accept a look at it and repeat them to yourself. You will be amazed how easily this hard-wires constructs into your encephalon.

Yous tin can extend these "cheap 'n easy" drilling techniques to harder stuff like conditional forms, time to come, colors, numbers and whatever just by sheer persistence and a constant playful spirit. Throw a few dices and say the number they spell. Count your pocket money in Irish. Program your weekend in Icelandic. Exist creative! If what you actually want is being able to communicate, being playful is a must. This is specially important if you're trying to pass an exam!

Continue in mind that perfect practice makes perfect. You should endeavor to pronounce words correctly and (if necessary) have a clear thought of how they are written. And mixing different kind of drills will also assist: proceed a stack of verbs past your door and pick ane different each morning!

Practise a trivial of this each day and without fifty-fifty realising yous will exist able to generate phrases without endeavor, either to speak or to write. Read a picayune daily and the time to come with your language could not be whatsoever brighter.

Bitesize Irish Gaelic is a site with online Irish gaelic Gaelic lessons.

This article has been translated into Japanese here.

21 thoughts on "How to train your brain to flip to a new linguistic communication"

This was so informative and inspiring! Thank you lot. I think Irish Gaelic is a cute, beautiful linguistic communication, and I would dearly honey to get in touch with my roots past learning it. Your method sounds like a good idea.

Oh, by the way, the other website is in Chinese, not Japanese. 🙂
This is a neat article.

Making a language part of your life is essential. Language learning is non difficult at all It just takes lots of repetition and fourth dimension. People frequently perform badly with language only because they don't repeat enough or they give up as well soon.

You've given me some nifty ideas for creating more of a bubble with my study.

Thanks! 😀
1. Thank you David! I'm glad you found it useful 🙂
  
  Ruben
Great article, and the motion picture of the true cat gave me such a laugh! I am learning Irish gaelic and the firm is covered in post-its. Which go along falling down and stick to my shoes. I accept a 4yr erstwhile, and can at present just nigh converese in toddler Irish. Short sentances repeated often. Will recommend your article, and this great website to the others in my Irish grade.
Sounds like a good thought. I am going to give it a try.
1. Please, share your experience with us one time yous start!
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ruben
Ruben! I very much enjoyed your post – going to try these hacks in the well-nigh future. Many thanks for all your support to my blog – so I idea I'd render the favor!!
-Jeff
1. Hi Jeff! Glad to run across you lot again. I similar reading it, so no need to thank me about it!
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ruben
I know this works!! I've never been able to explain it well to others. Half the battle is non to focus on how difficult Y'all Recall it is but to focus on what motivates you to desire to learn the language. Whether information technology's travel or curiosity, there'due south a reason WHY y'all're learning. Then immerse yourself in everything that is of the world of the language your learning! that's what I did when i learned Castilian and Hebrew. Now gaelic Irish. I fifty-fifty read romance novels, (that I would have never read earlier!) and they're based in Ireland and even use terms throughout the book! Not even to mention, the geographic terms they use and Ireland's history! Information technology just makes it more real until i can get there!! This Web log Rocks!! Thanks Ruben!
1. Y'all're welcome Janine, I'm very happy that you liked information technology!
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ruben
I definately agree with this! I recently started to learn Italian from a pocket-size book containing mainly phrases, no grammar. I tried using colors starting time in my mind and so i spoke with friends and now i can immediately tell any color i see in italian. and then to let it continue, like in above commodity im learning more and more like a native! Simply follow it through your mind like you are in the land speaking with fellow italians 🙂
1. Keep! Looks like you are enjoying your linguistic communication learning, and this is one of the well-nigh of import things to practise!
  
  Thank you,
  
  Ruben
A more efficient mode is to use Spaced Repetition Software. You will spend more fourth dimension in the items you don't remenber. Anki and Mnemosyne are good open up source softwares for linguistic communication acquisition.
1. I +one this comment, and +1 Mnemosyne
  
  ewan
2. These are clearly 2 fantastic options, but my suggestions should be just an add-on to these. Just add these tips to Anki or Mnemosyne and you'll learn more, past investing but a piffling more time!
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ruben
I enjoyed reading your post since I am a linguistic communication nerd myself. Learning a language drills down to just doing it, which is of crusade a chicken and egg trouble. I had great success by meeting foreign linguistic communication natives in confined and to talk near daily stuff. Social interaction works as an accelerator here.
Right at present I am developing a website that is dealing with bringing those language-interested people together and I am curious how this works out.
1. May I sign up when you are done?
2. I'll gladly sign up to that site!
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ruben
Interesting postal service. I definitely like the suggestion to steal piffling bits of downwardly time to study; when I was a tutor in college, I would recommend people have index cards with course notes with them so they could do just that.

I haven't explored the space, only I'd be willing to bet at that place are some skilful mobile applications to do these sorts of language drills. I know people (myself included) are often glued to their phones while standing in line, and then existence able to do something educational with those moments would be useful.
1. I'm glad you liked information technology! I'm as tech and geek oriented as anyone (ever carrying my iPod Bear upon and iPad around), simply when just continuing in a traffic light, 20 seconds, the quickest is just a simple piece of paper in your trousers. Of course, for longer stretches some tech gadget tin can be a lot more useful.
  
  Also, writing down helps memorising!
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ruben