The 10 Essential Elements - Whole Script

The 10 Essential Elements for

Effective Language Learning
Introduction

There is no one best method to learn a language. Because every one of us
is different, one-size- ts-all solutions don’t exist. All successful language
learners share some traits and abide by certain principles. At LinguaCore
we call these principles the 10 essential elements for effective language
learning. If you wish to reach uency in your target language, you must
incorporate these elements into your language learning.

The following is a list of these ten principles, coupled with detailed
explanations of of each.
Element 1: Regularity

“Consistency is what matters the most in triggering something important to
your life” - Abdul Rauf

No matter what method you do, you must engage in language learning
regularly.
In other words, on a daily basis. Your success in language learning
depends on this.

There are a number of reasons why regularity is of the utmost
importance.

First, if you’re exposed to a language every day, you’re essentially telling
your brain that the language you’re learning is important to you–that it
should be given some priority amongst the innumerable stimuli you’re
bombarded with every day. Essentially, you’re feeding the language to
your brain, just like you would feed a young baby. For a baby to grow big
and strong, it needs regular feeding and a balanced diet. In the same way,
your brain needs to be regularly “fed” with healthy portions of the
language in order to grow more pro cient. Just as you wouldn’t allow a
baby to go a day without food, don’t allow your brain to miss a day of
language learning.

Second, learning every day is an incredibly effective way to make regular
progress. Language learning is not a linear process, but a progressive one.

Think of it like lling a bucket with water, one drop at a time.

If you asked a passerby on the street to estimate how long it would take
to ll up the bucket, drip-by-drip, it’s likely their estimate would be way
off. They think it will take a long time, when in fact if a drop of water falls
in the bucket regularly, the bucket will ll with amazing speed. This is
known as the “bucket effect”. Though you may not realize it, this
drip-by-drip process is analogous to how you learned your rst, native
language. From the day you were born up to this very moment, you have
been exposed to your native language every single day, quite literally
twenty-four seven.

The 10 Essential Elements of 1

Successful Language Learning

All effective language learners embrace regularity as part of their
language learning. These learners might have very different methods and
strategies, but they all work consistently, and on a daily basis.

Regularity is probably the most important element for effective language
learning. As obvious as that fact may seem, sticking to a daily learning
routine proves to be an incredibly dif cult task. No matter how hard we
try to stick to our routines, something inevitably gets in the way. Doctor’s
appointments, work deadlines, and even fun things like leisure and family
life can interrupt our schedules, overwhelm our decision-making, and
force our language learning to come to a screeching halt.

To avoid this, you have to add another essential element to the mix: time
management. To avoid routine-ending con icts, you must plan your time,
even before you begin learning.

TIP: Avoid feeling guilty if you skip a day. Sometimes there are priorities that
can’t be avoided. If you miss a day or two–or even a week–it’s not the end of
the world. The important thing is that you get back to your language with
enthusiasm and regularity.
Element 2: Time management

“The person who really wants to do something nds a way; the other person
nds an excuse” - Author Unknown

“I don’t have time.”

How many times have you heard that excuse before? The funny thing
The 10 Essential Elements of

2

about that excuse is that people don’t come up with it to justify their
negligence to someone else. Rather, they in ict it upon themselves, and
this common excuse often stops people from undertaking a lot of
worthwhile activities and projects in life.

I can guarantee you that viewing time in terms of something you either
“have” or “don’t have” is the wrong way to look at it. Time is not
something that you can possess. Instead, it is something that you create,
that you dedicate to activities and tasks that you want to undertake.

Think about it.

On a given day, if you really want to do something, you’ll practically
always nd the time to do it. Be it going to the gym, going for a run,
playing the guitar or listen to music–you’ll nd a way to make it happen.

For example, I know of people who, despite their busy schedules, manage
to go to the gym every other day. No matter what happens, the gym gets
done–even if they have to go at night, after a long day at work.

How do they do it? Simple. They don’t wake up and ask themselves “Do I
feel like going to the gym today?” Instead, going to the gym is automatic. It
is part of their plan. Monday? Gym. Wednesday? Gym. They don’t
question it. They just stick to the plan, no matter what.

The power of my friends’ “automatic” habits reminds me of a particular
story from my own life. One morning, I wasn’t very motivated to go
running, as I initially said I would. When I told my friend David about my
dilemma, he looked at me and said: “I’ll teach you a trick. Go to bed
wearing your running suit. When you wake up, you will not have to make
the decision to go for a run, you will just do it”. I tried it out, and he was


absolutely right. Prior to learning David’s trick, the idea of getting out of
bed, looking for my running suit and sneakers, putting them on, and
heading out the door just seemed like too much effort. When I woke up
with the running suit already on, going out was the easy choice. So I just
did it.

Like running or working out, language learning is also a kind of special
training. Just like those physical activities, it is best to organize your
training according to a set schedule, dedicating speci c slots of time to
them every day. In this regard it is extremely important that you plan
before you learn and stick to that plan. Doing so might be a bit dif cult
at rst, but once you have followed your plan for the rst two to three
weeks, continuing onward will become second nature to you.

To integrate your new time schedule with the regularity we established
in the previous section, make sure that when you plan your week, you
dedicate at least one block of time to language learning every single day.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “When is the best time of day to learn?”

To answer this question, you need consider another important element:
your levels of mental and physical energy.

Your energy uctuates throughout the day. Some people are more
energetic in the morning, and have a tendency to “crash” at night. Others
are the exact opposite. If you don’t follow an organized learning plan and
instead learn whenever you “have the time”, your periods of learning
might be sabotaged by low physical or mental energy.

If this happens to you when you just start learning a language, you might
carry on in spite of your exhaustion because learning a language is still


new and exciting to you. Once you’re further along the learning path,
however, your level of fatigue might overcome your desire to learn, and
you’ll skip a day because, quite frankly, you’re tired. Suddenly, being tired
becomes a valid excuse to skip learning, and you’ll have begun a
downward spiral that will likely be the end of your language learning
efforts altogether.

Don’t let that happen to you. Avoid the downward spiral by planning your
learning time, and organizing it such that it coincides with your peak
energy periods throughout the day. These “peak periods” may vary
slightly from one day to the next, but in general you will nd that they
follow consistent patterns. If your organize your time around these
patterns of high and low energy, you’ll be alert and energized each time
you sit down to learn, and you’ll be more likely to maintain your learning
routine in the long term.

To effectively manage your time and energy in this way, you’ll need to
follow three simple steps:

1) Plan before you learn.
2) Build a regular, daily routine.
3) Plan to learn during your peak energy periods of the day.

If you’ve read this far and have realized that you’ve struggled in the past
with regularity and time management, it likely means you’re lacking in
our third essential element: motivation.



Element 3: Motivation

”Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now” -
Mattie Stepanek

Motivation is one of the driving forces of any kind of learning, and
language learning is no exception. If you’re a beginner, it’s likely that
motivation is easy to come by, as you’re so new to the language that
understanding anything at all is hugely rewarding. However, once you
gain more experience, and the quick initial gains give way to slower, more
gradual progress, it is likely that you will give up—particularly when
learning becomes challenging, or tedious.

In the eld of language learning, the available methods tend to focus on
how to begin learning a language, instead of how to keep progressing
over the long-term.

Know this: there is not a single language learning method in the world
that will work without the aid of motivation. Not one.

Put simply, motivation is the lifeblood of language learning.

Consider the following analogy:

A man goes to buy a car. He wants the best car he can buy, so he goes
all-in for a Ferrari. Bank account now empty, he drives off the lot and
takes the Ferrari for a spin. After a while, he comes to an unsettling
realization: the fuel tank is nearly empty! Having spent all his money on


his new car, he has none left to pay for gas. He’s now stuck, and the
beautiful car is now completely useless.

Language learners: if you put all your focus on nding the best method,
and not on building strong, sustainable motivation, you’ll end up just as
stuck as the man in the Ferrari. Just like a Ferrari, your method can only
get you where you want to go if you have enough motivational “fuel” to
get there.

If you want your motivation to last beyond the “beginner’s high,” make
sure you build in lots of our next essential element: enjoyment.
Element 4: Enjoyment

“Learning is pleasurable, but doing is the height of enjoyment” - Novalis

It’s human nature to want to spend our time doing the things that bring
us enjoyment. With language learning, it shouldn’t be any other way. And
yet, the large majority of language learners try to go about their learning
by completing tasks that they nd boring at best, or torturous at worst.

Why is this?

You see, when the average would-be language learner thinks about
undertaking language study, they think that it must be done in the same
manner as they had once done in school–through rote memorization of
vocabulary, conjugation tables, dry textbook dialogues, and more.

This is simply not true.


In academia, languages are often lumped together with subjects like
math, history and physics–subjects to be studied, memorized, and
dissected.

In real life, however, languages are living beings, and studying them
allows learners the pleasure of communicating with other people and
creating a greater sense of humanity than would be possible through
knowing just one language.

And let me tell you, those are immensely enjoyable experiences.

So, I implore you: don’t force yourself to learn a language by doing things
that you nd boring, arduous, or even painful. If you do, you might keep
up with it for a time, but there’s a serious chance that you’ll give up
sooner rather than later.

Of course, every person is different. A study method that I nd boring or
unpleasant might be the method that brings you the most joy. The things
you hate to do, by contrast, might be just right for me.

So keep in mind that when you’re looking for a method to follow or a
product to buy that just because someone swears that a particular
method skyrocketed him or her to uency, it does not guarantee that it
will be a good t for you.

To give an example, some people love using translation to gure out the
patterns of a language because, according to them, it’s a very fun and
ef cient method. If you take this approach and nd it boring, don’t do it,
no matter how much others may like it. Remember: If you don’t enjoy
what you do, you’ll be likely to stop doing it in the future.


Element 5: Variation

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different
results” - Albert Einstein

It’s the Middle Ages. You’re the commander-in-chief of an army that is
about to lay siege to an enemy castle.

You see two options ahead.

You can send in a battering ram to break down the main gate, with all of
your other forces waiting behind. Boom. Boom. Boom. The attack on the
gate will always come from the same direction, so progress will be slow,
and tedious.

Or you can follow a different plan. Instead of just relying on the battering
ram, you could send in the battering ram and have your other
troops–infantry, archers, and knights–split up and attack the castle from
different sides, all at once.

With the rst plan, you’ll succeed so long as your enemy does not nd a
way to defeat the battering ram. And given how long it could take the
ram to break through the wall, that’s unlikely to happen.

Following the second plan, the enemy will be forced to defend itself on so
many sides that they will likely be quickly overwhelmed. Once you break
through, the victory will be swift, and decisive.


As a language learner, you are the commander. The castle is your target
language, and your troops are the four skills of language
learning–speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

Like the medieval commander, your efforts to “conquer” the language will
not succeed if your “attack” comes from one direction. Instead, you’ll
need to vary your efforts–take on the language by developing all four
skills at once, ensuring victory and minimizing loss of time and effort.

Variation is a key component of any type of successful learning, and
generally allows you to do two important things:

● Develop separate skills in harmony with one another.
● Avoid the boredom characterized by endless repetition.

Though language learning is divided into just four principal skills
(Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing), the amount of variation you
can build into your study routines can be much, much greater than that.

Using each of the four skills, you can engage in a number of different
activities.

For example, when people think of speaking, they normally think of one
thing:

Speaking with another person.

But you can also:



● Speak to yourself
● Speak into a microphone and record a message for someone to
listen

These activities serve a different purpose than just simple conversation.

Speaking with a person means interacting and using the language “on the
y”. It helps you develop your linguistic and social skills simultaneously.

Talking to yourself means practicing articulation of sounds, and
becoming accustomed to the way sentences are formed. It is a form of
rehearsal that will pay off when it comes time to interact with others.

Recording messages in your target language is useful because it helps
you practice conveying information properly, without the immediate
stress of getting your point across in the moment. According to research,
such practice may also increase your capacity to remember words.

Just as the skill of speaking can be practiced using a variety of different
techniques and aims, the same can be done for reading, listening, and
writing as well.

When learning a language, the number of possible activities you can do is
truly endless.

Just make sure that when you choose the activities that you will do, that
these are activities that are both varied and enjoyable, in accordance
with our essential elements of learning.

Remember: Your brain needs novelty to thrive. So feed your brain right,
and you’ll go far.


Element 6: Attitude
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his
goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude -
Thomas Jefferson
If you’ve ever traveled to other countries, or know someone who has, it’s

likely that you’ve heard the “horror stories”. “People in other countries
are so rude!” they’ll say. In these stories, the innocent travelers are often
subject to less-than-stellar treatment from the locals, just because
they’re expected to adhere to local customs or use a little of the local
language to get around. “But we’re tourists! We shouldn’t have to learn
their language or act like they do!” is inevitably how the story goes.

When such issues arise, it is usually the result of attitudes. Tourists expect
locals to act a certain way, and when the reality does not match this
expectation, con ict ensues. The same goes for the locals, who expect
the tourists to always adhere to local customs, but nd the reality of the
situation to be entirely different.

Each group goes into the interaction with different biases, prejudices and
expectations about how things should be. Neither side is necessarily right
or wrong, but it is the interplay between these con icting attitudes that
can often lead to the misunderstandings we hear so often about.
Here’s a piece of advice that will get you far, no matter where you may be

in the world: If you are nice to people, they will generally be nice to you.
The law of action and reaction. It’s not foolproof—some people just won’t


be nice to you, for whatever reason—but it’s a rule that will make all your

interactions with people tend towards the positive end, rather than the
negative.
And just as the rule plays an important role when traveling, it plays a key
role when learning a language, as well.
We all have preconceived notions about how the world works. As a
human being who has survived from infancy long enough to be reading
this document, you have lots of life experience (no matter what your
parents may tell you!). You use your past life experience to make
judgments and predictions about how the future will go.
These prejudgments and preconceived notions are usually helpful to you.
They use your library of past experience to keep you alive, and out of
harm’s way.
Unfortunately, however, these preconceived notions can often work too

well.
In language learning, one such notion is the idea that a language is simply

too hard for you to learn.
Another could be the thought that making mistakes in front of native
speakers is embarrassing, or that if you make any mistakes at all, no one
will want to speak with you.
Ridding yourself of these limiting thoughts is the rst step towards
developing (and nurturing) a great attitude towards learning.
We believe that the right attitude for language learning is founded upon
four pillars:
1) Interest:



If you are interested in the material that you are setting out to learn, you

will:

● Spend more time learning. Interest is a kind of compulsion. If you
feel that compulsion towards a language or culture, you’re willing
to sacri ce large quantities of time and energy in order to nd out
more about it. This compulsion is the antidote to boredom, and
with it you’ll be able to learn for longer periods without stopping.

● Maintain tighter focus. Focus is what allows us to zero-in on one
stimulus (or type of stimulus) without being distracted by other,
newer ones. This is the key to progress, as distractions are in nite
and inevitable. If you succumb to them, you’ll simply never get
anything done.

● Retain new information better. Information that is regarded as
“interesting” is given higher-priority storage and recall by our
brain’s memory systems. This is why you’re able to remember
every episode of your favorite TV show, while simultaneously
being unable to recall what you had for breakfast last Tuesday. If
you nd the language you are learning interesting to you, the path
to getting all that information into long-term memory will be a
much quicker and smoother process overall.

2. Curiosity.

Interest implies attraction to a topic. Interest inevitably breeds curiosity,
which is the desire to know more about something.

When you develop curiosity, you:



- Search for more information. A curious mind is never sated. It is
always hungry for more information, more connections between
that which it knows and that which it does not. There are
countless domains throughout language learning in which
curiosity can run wild.

While reading, for example, you’ll almost always stumble upon
new and unfamiliar words. An incurious mind would gloss over the
word, quickly moving back to the security of what it already
knows. The curious mind, however, sees in that unknown word an
entire world of possibility. That one word could spark you to
search for its meaning, but then also lead you to discover
examples, synonyms, and alternate meanings. An inquisitive mind
will seek to connect the once-unknown word to a pre-existing
network of elements, which could include related concepts and
bits of information. Remaining curious in this way will make this
knowledge network strong, and exible.

- Ask a lot of questions of both yourself and those around you.

- Of yourself. The brain is never idle. So long as you continue
to focus your mind on a language, new associations, ideas,
revelations and doubts will continue to form in your mind.
You will wonder how to construct new linguistic patterns,
and how to label the things you experience in your daily
life. You will challenge your own understanding, and nd
gaps in your knowledge that you will nd yourself
compelled to ll.



- Of other people. You’re trying to acquire a language that is

not your native one. Inevitably, you’ll nd people who
speak your target language natively, and you’ll look for
ways to make their knowledge your own. With every
question you ask, you’ll gain social, cultural, and linguistic
insight into the language that would have been impossible
to gain otherwise. The relationships you build through such
curiosity, (so long as they are built upon trust and mutual
consideration) will be extremely bene cial for the other as
well. With this other person (or people) you’ll be forging a
bi-directional exchange of cultural information that will
bene t you both greatly.

- 3. Open-mindedness: To be open-minded, one must regularly
engage in two key practices:

- Seize opportunity.
- Learn from every result.

- Seize opportunity. An open mind is one that searches for new
opportunities everywhere. If new opportunities are not found,
then that same mind will create novel options where none
previously existed.

A large part of nding new opportunities is refusing to take
anything for granted. If you cultivate the habit of constantly
questioning your interior mind and your exterior world (as in the
last example) you’ll be able to overcome both real and imagined
barriers to opportunity and progress. Don’t give to fears,
prejudices and insecurities—whether your own or someone else’s.


Walk your own path. And when there is no path ahead, forge
ahead, and create one.

- Learn from every result. Tony Robbins says that there is no such
thing as success or failure, only results. This is the kind of mindset
you need to cultivate in order to succeed as a language learner. If
you try to chat with a native speaker and end up stuttering and
stumbling over your words, that’s not a failure—just a result. And
if you got one result through one set of actions, you can always get
a better result through a better set of actions. Keep going, keep
pushing past limits, and keep seizing opportunities, and your
actions are guaranteed to improve. Once that happens, better
results aren’t far behind.

- 4. Imagination

Imagination is one of the most powerful tools that we, as human beings,
have at our disposal. Though our physical selves are constantly stuck in
the present, we can use our imaginations to build a vision of the future.
This vision can be used to develop a course of action that will end with
you becoming the embodiment of the vision itself.

Try this. Whenever you start a learning session, imagine the person you
will become as you master your target language. Picture yourself in
colorful conversations with locals, visiting new and exciting locales, and
even building friendships and romantic relationships through the
medium of the language. See a version of yourself that is constantly
growing and expanding your horizons, all by learning and using your
chosen language.



If built and maintained properly over time, this vision will become a
driving force for your learning and a constant source of motivation.
When you picture that person you will become, you will feel compelled to
move towards your goal, and to ensure that you one day will reach it.
Element 7: Proactivity
“The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active” - Octavia
Spencer
We at LinguaCore believe in one, central truth of language
acquisition—that languages cannot be taught, they can only be learned.
This goes against the prevailing models of how languages are acquired.
Normally, teachers stand at the front of the classroom, and they are
expected to take their own language knowledge and “deposit” in the
minds of students. This idea of “language transmission” is inherently
passive, and students who are subjected to this model generally do not
pass beyond the beginner or low-intermediate levels of language
pro ciency, even after years of classroom study. If you believe that
language is a thing to be given to you by another, you will not go very far.
The ipside of this passive model is an active, learner-centered one.
Instead of being wholly or partially dependent on a teacher for his or her
learning, a student of the active model is one who takes decisive action.
These students do not require a teacher or tutor to tell them what to do
it, when to do it, or even how to get it done. Instead, they lead
themselves, and make decisions based upon their own desires and short-
and long-term goals. Even if such proactive students are con ned to a
classroom some of the time, they are well aware that language learning


success is highly correlated with work done outside of class, rather than

in it.
Let’s think of a few typical scenarios that classroom-based learners nd
themselves in, and we’ll show you the difference that being proactive can
make:
Passive students allow others to choose language learning material for
them, or they settle on the rst resource they can nd, rather than doing
some research into the best available options.
Proactive students search continually for language resources, trying

each out for themselves before settling on those which work best for
them.
Passive students tend to avoid conversations with native speakers,

generally waiting until they “know enough” to start speaking, if they ever
start at all. If they do nd themselves in conversations, they stick to what
they know, take few risks, and rarely ask questions.
Proactive students grab every chance they can get to use their target
language, and actively seek out ways to get more and better practice as
their pro ciency grows. These learners are active participants in every
conversation. They’re endlessly curious, and do not hesitate to ask
questions, and expand their knowledge whenever possible.
Element 8: Repetition

“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and
emotion will one day become a reality” - Earl Nightingale


19

As complex as it is, human memory is not magical; you can’t just turn new

information into memory at the blink of an eye. Instead, the human
memory is more of a machine, with internal mechanisms that work step
by step to turn the appropriate input into the desired output.

Like a machine, memory must be utilized by following a very speci c set
of instructions. Just like you need to open a speci c program on your
computer before you can use a certain le, your memory will not work if
you don’t follow the right formula.

The formula that we depend upon most often is known as repetition.

For learning to take place, we have some intuitive sense that if we repeat
new information several times, we won’t forget it as easily as information
we’ve only encountered once.

This is, for the most part, true. How many times have you had to ask a
new colleague for her name before it stuck? How often do you forget a
phone number you were given before you had a chance to write it down?

Repetition helps learning, without a doubt.

The real problem is not repetition itself, but what kind of repetition you
use to learn, and how you go about using it.

Let’s take a common example:

Jim, a new language learner, wants to describe the items in his house.

With his phrasebook in one hand, and a dictionary in the other, Jim
comes up with all of the words he thinks he might need. He nds words


for toaster, table, chair, and refrigerator. Later, he adds the words for bed,
cup, computer, and coffee maker, among others. Altogether, the list comes
to about thirty words.

Jim assembles these words into a list, just like the ones he was given in
school.

He prints this out, and every day he repeats the list to himself aloud, over
and over again.

If Jim continues this for thirty days, he may very well succeed at
memorizing the entirety of the list. However, such a success will have
come at a high cost:

● Jim will have expended a lot of time and energy just to retain a
small amount of information.
● This information (the words) may not be entirely useful. Though
he may understand these new words individually, he will likely
have dif culty using them in a sentence, as words can often
change depending on their roles in a phrase.
● In having to stare at the same set of words every day, Jim is likely
extremely bored. Such dull, unvaried repetition is not pleasurable
to the brain. As such, Jim will be unlikely to want to keep learning
this way for the thousands of words it takes to reach uency.

So, at the end of the day (or at the end of day 30, according to our
example) Jim may nd success in the short-term, but his use of such a dull
and inef cient form of repetition (known as rote memorization) runs the
risk of jeopardizing his success in the long term.



What Jim should do instead is combine the bene ts of repetition with
the essential elements of learning, as described above. For example:

● If Jim nds rote memorization boring, then he should look for
varieties of repetition that are enjoyable. For instance, if he really
wants to memorize his chosen words, he could try to make a game
out of using them. Perhaps he can try to see how many different
sentences he could construct using all the words. He could even
challenge himself to see how many words he can use in a
conversation with a speaking partner. Anything goes, so long as
Jim enjoys what he’s doing.
● For 30-days, Jim did little more than look at the same printed
page, his eyes scanning up and down as he mentally tested his
knowledge. This goes against the essential element of variation.
Even if Jim liked mentally testing his knowledge of the vocabulary,
his brain would be better served by incorporating other, new
practice techniques as well. He could even create a repertoire of
his favorite memory techniques and rotate through them, using a
different technique each day.
● For the entire time Jim was trying to memorize these words, he
never used them with real people. Instead, he waited until he felt
“ready”, and thus lost out on an amazing resource for
memorization: human conversation. To x this, Jim could have
simply tried using his words in conversation as soon as he rst
learned them, automatically giving a deep and meaningful
context to each word.

If Jim had only tried to use a varied, enjoyable, and contact-driven
approach to learning these new words, he would certainly have
committed them to long-term memory much sooner, and have had a

22

much more pleasant time of the memorization process than he actually
did.

Avoid Jim’s mistakes. Employ instead a varied, enjoyable, and context-
and contact-driven approach to learning, and you’ll be sure to commit
new vocabulary to long-term memory much sooner than he did, while
having a much more pleasant time of the process.
Element 9: Resources

Nowadays, the language learning industry is absolutely ooded with
resources. If you’re learning a major world language, you’ll have
countless options to choose from.

With so many options, you’ll be tempted to settle for the rst resource
that falls within your grasp. While this may save time, you’ll be much
better off in the long run if you educate yourself on how to choose the
right resources for you. This way, you’ll avoid the risk of burning yourself
out on an incompatible resource, and giving up language learning
altogether.

When choosing learning resources, there are 3 important factors to take
into account.

● The quality of the resources.
● The quantity of the resources
● The nature of the resources

Quality


You can think of quality in terms of content, portability, and appearance.

The content of a resource must be interesting, comprehensible, and
progressive. If you don’t like the material, or can’t understand it is trying
to tell you, you won’t gain anything from it (besides frustration).
Progressive content is content that is structured so that each new unit is
built upon the previous ones. No single part of a language exists in
isolation: everything is interconnected, and it is imperative that you
choose resources that recognize this.

The portability of a resource refers to how readily you can access it at
any given moment. The biggest printed dictionary available in your target
language may be lled with hundreds of thousands of words, but it won’t
be of much use to you when you’re asking for directions on the side of a
road. Try to purchase print-based resources that are small and
easy-to-carry, or else look for “weightless” Internet-based options.

The appearance of a resource means, quite simply, how visually
appealing it is. I don’t care how good the information on a website, if it’s
written in 28-point Comic Sans in magenta text on a blue background,
you’re not going to read it. Look for resources that are well-ordered,
easy-to-handle, and pleasing to the eye. When you nd them, you’ll be
much more enticed to use them, both now and over the long-term.

Quantity

There are more language learning resources available to the layman now
than there ever have been throughout the entirety of human history.



As a result of this, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the more
resources one uses, the better one’s learning will be.

This is not the case. Dabbling in fty different language learning books in
a month (or even a year) is liable to cause more harm than good. By
forcing yourself to repeatedly adjust and re-adjust to the demands of
different materials, you’re heading towards confusion, overload, and
eventually burnout.

A better approach would be to choose one or two resources and try to
learn as much as you can from them before moving on to new materials.
This may mean rereading the same material several times (Repetition) or
nding new and diverse ways to approach the same information
(variation).

Such an approach will afford you better focus and retention of the
linguistic concepts you’re trying to learn. It’s also a bit lighter on the
wallet!

Nature

As your pro ciency in your target language grows, the types of resources
that are “right” for you will change as well.

At the beginning of your language learning journey, you might nd
phrasebooks to be challenging and satisfying means of learning new
expressions. Later on, however, phrasebooks will likely bore you, as you’ll
have to turn to movies, television, and podcasts improve your repertoire
of phrases.


25

Higher pro ciency inevitably means you’ll need more complex and
challenging materials to grow as a language user.

Keep in mind that nding more complex and challenging resources
doesn’t always mean nding a new book, or podcast.
You’ve also got to think of people as resources as well.

Of course, you can’t (and shouldn’t) use a person like you use a book, or
an internet website. But you can learn from real people in just as many
ways simply by engaging them in deep and meaningful conversations.

Language is a human construct, so don’t underestimate the bene t that
each native speaker can have on your learning, no matter your level.
From simple questions, to full-on philosophical debates, engaging with a
kind, receptive native speaker will always be one of the best decisions a
language learner can make.

So, when looking at resources, try to take into account where you are in
your learning journey. If you’re a beginner, simple, easily-digestible
materials are ne. As you get more comfortable with the language, try to
branch out into more challenging digital and printed content, while
constantly keeping a lookout for native speakers to talk to and practice
with.

Don’t forget: as you change and grow as a learner, the nature of your
resources must change and grow with you.


26

Element 10: Clear goals

”No wishes are silly, no dreams remain dreams, for those committed to clear
and de nitive goals” - Maximillian Degenerez

After we learn our native language, we rarely have a real, biological need
to learn another one. Second languages aren’t like food, water, or
shelter—the staples that every human being needs to survive.

Since we are not given biological needs to learn new languages, any of us
who wants to learn a new language must come up with them ourselves.

These needs come in the form of clear-cut goals.

Essentially, before you can learn a language, you must know what you
want to achieve and why you want to achieve it.

Otherwise, you will not be compelled to keep learning in the long run,
and you’ll give up before you know it.

It doesn’t necessarily matter what your goal is or what your reasons for
achieving it are, so long as these things have enough in uence on your
psyche to compel you to act.

Want to learn French in order to visit family in Nice next month? Great!
Want to learn German to get an engineering job abroad next year?
Fantastic!
Want to learn Dutch to move to the Netherlands in June? Awesome!


Just don’t learn languages for any vague, intangible reason like:

● “It’s cool!”
● “It’ll impress people!”
● “I’ve got nothing better to do!”

These non-goals are not tied to any clear, measurable outcome. There
are no conditions that de ne failure or success, nor are there deadlines
that make them urgent. As such, these reasons will give you little besides
momentary ashes of motivation—certainly not enough for a long-term
project like learning a language.

If you want to nd the language learning reasons that motivate you for
days, months, and even years, you’ll need to work a little harder.

First, you’ll need a spark: an inciting point of contact between you and
your language or culture of choice that motivates you to start the
journey. Typically, this takes the form of a memorable trip to a foreign
country, a friendship or relationship with a native speaker, or a strong
connection to an element of culture. If you don’t have such a spark, focus
rst on going out and looking for it. You’ll nd it eventually, and once you
do, it becomes the groundwork upon which all progress is made.

Once you have found solid reasons for starting (and continuing) to learn,
establish clear and solid goals. A clear goal usually can be summed up as
the answer to these questions.

● What is my end goal?
● By when do I want to accomplish it?


● How do I want to go about accomplishing this goal?

A simple one-sentence example of such a goal would be:

I want to pass a German B2 exam by January by studying one hour per
day.

Clear goals like this allow you to look at your goal (Pass B2 exam) and
your deadline (January) and create a daily routine that will get you there
(One hour per day).

By creating a clear goal, you’ll be able to come up with your own deadline
and routine that will get you there in a easy-to-understand, manageable
timeline.
Conclusions

Whew! We’re done! You’ve now learned about all ten of the essential
elements for effective language learning:

● Regularity
● Time Management
● Motivation
● Enjoyment
● Variation
● Attitude
● Proactivity
● Repetition
● Resources

29

● Clear Goals

These elements form an interconnected network of factors that form the
foundation of any effective language learning endeavor.

Each element in uences—and is in uenced by—the others. Without any
one of the ten, the system is weaker, and risks falling apart. Together,
these elements reinforce one another and protect you, the learner, from
the harsh fate of giving up on something that’s important to you.

That being said, don’t think you have to master all ten at once. What’s
important is that you are aware of all ten, and that you gradually work on
each over time. When all ten come together, you’ll have achieved the
Holy Grail of language learning: a language learning formula that works
for you.

Once you’ve achieved that, there’s no telling where language learning
will take you.


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Element 2: Time management

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