Languages Archives - Page 5 of 5 - The Universe Of Memory

Here Is Why Most Spaced Repetition Apps Don’t Work and How to Fix It

Regardless of whether you use Spaced Repetition Apps or not, you can’t deny that there is some controversy among language learners whether such programs are truly effective. Some people swear by it while others prefer more old-fashioned pen-centered strategies. It gets even better! Even among SRS enthusiasts, you can find different militant fractions. Some claim that Memrise is the best. Other that Quizlet is the way to go.

For many, it can be quite difficult to wrap their head around what’s true and what’s not. Let’s sort it out so you can finally know the answer.

What’s the scientific consensus about Spaced Repetition Apps

If you have ever seen one of the aforementioned squabbles online, the first thing you need to know is that opinions that SRS is ineffective are completely detached from reality. Spaced repetition is among the most thoroughly researched memory-related phenomena in the world. Its efficacy has been replicated in hundreds of comprehensive and extensive studies (read more about choosing the best language learning methods).

It is effective on a variety of academic fields and mediums.

Spacing effects can be found in:

various domains (e.g., learning perceptual motor tasks or learning lists of words) such as spatial44
across species (e.g., rats, pigeons, and humans [or flies or bumblebees, and sea slugs, Carew et al 1972 & Sutton et al 2002])
across age groups [infancy, childhood, adulthood, the elderly] and individuals with different memory impairments
and across retention intervals of seconds [to days] to months (we have already seen studies using years)

Source (probably the best article online about the spaced repetition, well worth checking out)

The benefits of spaced study had been apparent in an array of motor learning tasks, including:

maze learning (Culler 1912)
typewriting (Pyle 1915)
archery (Lashley 1915)
javelin throwing (Murphy 1916; see Ruch 1928, for a larger review of the motor learning tasks which reap benefits from spacing; see also Moss 1996, for a more recent review of motor learning tasks).

Heck, there are almost no exceptions to this phenomenon. Sure, there is maybe 5% of studies which haven’t replicated these findings. But upon reading more about their design and methodologies used, one might conclude that they are often an example of bad science.

The only notable exception I have seen so far is that children can often fail to exhibit a spacing effect unless they process learning material in a certain way. This, however, is a topic for another article.

Where does all this controversy about the effectiveness of SRS programs come from then? I will get to it soon.

First, let’s concentrate on what makes learning truly fast and effective.

Encoding – the most important criterion for effective learning

A simple model of memory

The process of memorization can be depicted in the four following steps:

Retention intention
Encoding – involves initial processing of information which leads to the construction of its
mental representation in memory
Storage – is the retention of encoded information in the short-term or long-term memory
Recall – is the retrieval of stored information from memory

Let’s concentrate on the second step of this process. Clearly, you can see that it’s a gateway to the land of remembering. But what does encoding really mean?

“Encoding is any kind of attempt of manipulating a piece of information in order to increase your chances of memorizing it.”

What’s more, there are two kinds of encoding.

Two types of encoding

Shallow encoding

Shallow encoding doesn’t help you to connect the piece of information with other meaningful information nor does it help you to further your understanding of it. It usually concentrates on meaningless banalities.

Example: you are trying to memorize the word “skada” (Swedish for “to damage”). The prime example of shallow encoding would be to start counting the number of vowels or consonants in this word.

Deep encoding

The absolute opposite of shallow encoding. This time you are trying to make a meaningful connection between different items. The more the better.

Deep encoding is so powerful for your learning that it even shows up in brain scans as increased activity in key brain areas associated with memory. It is this activity that appears to give deep processing its memory advantage. (source: How Memory Works–and How to Make It Work for You).

So what’s the example of deep encoding in the world of language learning? Creating sentences or saying them out loud, to be more precise.

Interestingly, every time I say it, there is always someone who seems surprised. I guess the reason being that we don’t appreciate enough how complicated it is for our brains to create a sentence.

Why creating sentences is so complicated

In order to create even the simplest of sentences you have to:

remember actively the words you are currently learning
remember all the other words in the sentence actively
connect them in a meaningful way
apply all the known grammar rules
choose the appropriate register of the sentences (i.e. a form of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting)
remember the pronunciation of all the words in the sentences
pronounce all the said words by using your muscles

As you can see, it’s not that trivial to produce a sentence. And that’s why this process is so meaningful and memorable for your brain.

Initially, a lot of my students grumble about having to create many sentences. They say it’s too exhausting. I agree. The thing is that producing sentences equals knowing and being able to use a language!

To make your inner geek happy, it’s worth mentioning that encoding is very often connected with two other principles of memory which make your learning even more effective:

The level of processing effect (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) – the more you process a given piece of information, the better you remember it.

The generation effect (Slamecka & Graf, 1978) – active production of a given piece of information increases your chances of permanently storing it in your long-term memory.

Read more about optimizing your language learning here.

Interesting, right? Now it’s time to answer the most important question – what if somebody is too lazy to actually go through all the trouble of producing sentences?

Consequences Of Lack Of Encoding (i.e. why most Spaced Repetition Apps don’t work)

I hope that the following paragraph will help you make a very important decision – never ever use or buy any learning app. I don’t care that you read that Gabriel Wyner is working on a revolutionary app or that Memrise has a better algorithm now.

The most important and effective thing you can do for your learning is to create multiple contexts (i.e. sentences) for a word you want to learn. Simply repeating ready-to-use flashcards, especially the ones without any context, won’t work well. This simple fact renders all the memory apps combined useless. ANKI is really all you need.

Think for a second about the solution those apps dish out to you. Most of the time they simply give you ready-to-use flashcards, often without any context! Or meaningless games which perpetuate shallow encoding. Or even when you see a flashcard with a word in the context, it was not encoded by you and thus it will be way harder to remember.

Time to stop looking for magical solutions. You won’t find them in apps.

To my chagrin, I don’t see any big company talking about this. Of course, the reason is obvious. If you pay for an app, you have to be convinced that it’s truly magical and life-changing. I don’t think they would sell well if the owners started screaming from the rooftops “They are sh*t! What’s truly magical is the effort you put into encoding your vocabulary”!

SRS programs are just a white canvas

The right way of thinking about such programs is seeing them as a white canvas.

Algorithms underpinning them are close to perfect in themselves. Unfortunately, some people crap in their hand and insist on smearing it until they get a one-eyed unicorn. The next thing you know is they are running around the internet and screaming that SRS programs don’t work. You can’t be lazy when you learn.

I know that doing ready-to-use flashcards seems “quicker” to use because you don’t have to invest too much energy into producing them. However, in reality, they are more time-consuming in the long run because you need to spend more time repeating words unnecessarily.

It has to do with the mechanism of passive rehearsal which is simply a mindless act of rattling off a cluster of pre-prepared information. Many years ago it was actually proven that it has little effect on whether or not information is later recalled from the long-term memory (Craik & Watkins, 1973).

If you ever want to use such flashcards, simply treat them as a source of vocabulary to learn. Other than that, simply encode your vocabulary and you will be fine. All ready-to-use flashcards can do is create the illusion of time-efficiency while slowing your progress down at the same time.

To sum up, currently there is no other technology, including virtual reality, which is as effective as spaced repetition programs. However, if you don’t actually put in the effort and try to produce sentences for the words you learn then you waste most of the potential of this software.

Quick learning is not about time but about the effort.

Done reading? Time to learn!

Reading articles online is a great way to expand your knowledge. However, the sad thing is that after barely 1 day, we tend to forget most of the things we have read.

I am on the mission to change it. I have created over 30 flashcards that you can download to truly learn information from this article. It’s enough to download ANKI, and you’re good to go.

Optimize Your Repetitions to Accelerate Your Language Learning (Part 2)

Bartosz Czekala 8 comments

It’s time for part two of my miniseries on optimizing your learning! If you haven’t read the first part – click here. This time I will show you how to optimize your repetitions.

People like to see effective language learning, or any learning for that matter, as something mysterious. The opposite is true. There are just a couple of essential principles which you should follow if you want to become a quick learner.

Don’t get me wrong – effective learning gets more complicated; the faster you want to learn. And the more long-lasting memories you want to create.

Still, these principles can be applied by anyone, regardless of his sex, or age because the very little known truth is that we all learn, more or less, the same.

Forget about learning styles – they do not exist. I know. It sounds shocking. And it is probably even more surprising than you can imagine – one study showed that 93% of British teachers believe it to be exact!

But you and I, my friend, are not glittery and special snow-flakes. There are rules. And they are not to be treated lightly.

Let’s dig in.

How To Maximize Effectiveness Of Your Learning

Below you can find my list of the essential rules affecting your language learning progress. It’s far from being complete.

There are other rules and limitations, but the ones below are one of the easiest ones to implement.

To maximize your learning, you should make sure that:

1) Focus on active learning

If you only concentrate on reading and listening, you won’t get far. Your brain is terrible at memorizing things that you encounter occasionally.

Why?

I will get to this in a moment. But first, let’s start with basics – the process of memorizing can be depicted in the following three steps.

1) Encoding – involves initial processing of information which leads to the construction of its mental representation in memory

2) Storage – is the retention of encoded information in the short-term or long-term memory

3) Recall – is the retrieval of stored information from memory

As you can see, the first step in this process is encoding. I can’t stress this enough – if you don’t encode the information you learn, probably you won’t retain it. You should always, ALWAYS, do your best to manipulate the data you try to learn.

Let’s try to prove it quickly.

If I told you right now to draw the image of your watch, would you be able to do it? Would you be able to reproduce the exact look of the building you work in? Of course not, even though you come into contact with these things multiple times per day.

You do not try to encode such information in any way! If the human brain were capable of doing it, we would all go crazy. It would mean that we would memorize almost every piece of information which we encounter.
But this is far from the truth. Our brain is very selective. It absorbs mostly the information that:

a) Occurs frequently in different contexts

b) We process (encode) –in the domain of language learning, the simplest form of processing a given piece of information is creating a sentence with it

c) Is used actively

2) Optimize Your Repetitions

One of the best ways to optimize your repetitions is by using SRS programs. But what is Spaced Repetition?

Spaced repetition is a learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between subsequent review of previously learned material in order to exploit the psychological spacing effect.

Alternative names include spaced rehearsal, expanding rehearsal, graduated intervals, repetition spacing, repetition scheduling, spaced retrieval, and expanded retrieval.

The science behind SSR

How does the program know when to review given words?

Most of such programs base (more or less) their algorithms on Ebbinghaus forgetting curve (side note: it has been replicated many times in the last 50 years)

The curve presents the decline of memory retention in time, or if you look at it from a different perspective, it demonstrates the critical moments when the repetition of the given information should occur.

In theory, it takes about five optimized repetitions to transfer a word into long-term memory. But come on! Learning would be damn easy if this rule would be true for most of the people!

There are a lot of other variables which come into play:

the difficulty of the learned material
understanding of the material
how meaningful it is
representation of the material
physiological factors: stress and sleep (among others)
the size of the material
processing of the material

And many others. Still, SRS programs give you the unparalleled upper hand in language learning!

3) Constantly step out of your comfort zone.

Why use the words which you already know, when you can use dozens of synonyms? You should always try to find gaps in your knowledge.

Of course, using SRS programs like ANKI is not to everyone’s liking. I get it. But let’s look at the list of alternatives, shall we?

What Happens If You Don’t Optimize Your Repetitions with SRS

Every learner has to face the following problems to learn new words (effectively).

What process do you go through to learn a new word?
Do you write it down? Where?
How do you revise it later?
How long does it take you to learn it?
How many times do you have to see it before you know it?
And how do you know when you really have learned it?

These aren’t some petty, meaningless decisions. These are the decisions that will heavily influence your progress curve.

Here’s an idea that a lot of people have: when you learn a new word, you write it down in a notebook. Then, every few days, you open the notebook and review all the words that you have learned so far.

It works well at first — you no longer forget everything you learn. But very soon it becomes a nightmare.

After you exceed about 1000 words, reviewing your vocabulary starts taking more and more time. And how do you know EXACTLY which words you should review or pay more attention to?

Usually, after no more than a few months, you throw your notebook into the darkest corner of your room and try to swallow the bitter taste of defeat.

Reviewing Algorithm Is the Foundation of Learning

It has to be said aloud and with confidence: you will never be as effective as programs in executing algorithms. And choosing when to review a word is nothing more than that – an algorithm.

Many oppose this idea of using SRS programs. And it is indeed mind-boggling why. At least for me. The results speak for themselves.

Currently, I am teaching over 30 people – from students, top-level managers to academics. And one of many regularities I have observed is this: Students of mine who use SRS programs regularly beat students who don’t.

How big is the difference?

One student of mine, Mathew, quite a recent graduate of Medicine faculty, passed a B2 German exam in just five months. He started from scratch and only knew one language before our cooperation.

At the same time, a Ph.D. from the local university barely moved one level up the language learning ladder. The only difference between them is that Mathew was very consistent with using ANKI (and other strategies).

Really. That’s it.

And it is not that surprising. The technology has been topping the most celebrated human minds for years now. Different AI programs have beaten top players at games like: chess, scrabble and quite recently Go.

Last year, deep learning machines beat humans in the IQ Test. It might seem scary. But only if we treat such a phenomenon as a threat. But why not use the computational powers of a computer to our advantage?

It would be ridiculous to wrestle with Terminator. It’s just as absurd trying to beat computers at optimizing repetitions.

But should everyone use such programs?

Should You Use SRS programs?

I know that you can still be unsure whether or not you should be using SRS programs. That’s why I have decided to create a list of profiles to help you identify your language learning needs:

1) I am learning only one language

If you are learning only one language, it’s reasonable to assume that you can surround yourself with it. In this case, using ANKI is not that necessary.

However, things change quite a bit if you are learning your first language, and you have NO previous experience with language learning.

In that case, better save yourself a lot of frustration and download ANKI.

2) I am a translator/interpreter (or pursue any language-related profession)

My imagination certainly has its limits since I can’t imagine a representative of any language-related profession that shouldn’t use SRS programs. The risk of letting even one word slip your mind is too high.

Just the material I have covered during my postgraduates studies in legal translation and interpreting amounts to more than 5000 specialized words.

If I wanted to rely on surrounding myself with languages to master them, I would go batshit crazy a long time ago. Who reads legal documents for fun?!

Even if you are not a translator/interpreter yet, but would like to become one in the future, do yourself a favor and download ANKI.

3) I learn 2 or more languages

Then I would strongly suggest using ANKI, especially if you would like to become fully fluent in them.

The math is quite easy. Getting to C1 level in 2 languages requires you to know about 20 thousand words. Of course, you should know at least 50-60% of them actively. This number might sound quite abstract, or maybe not that impressive, so let me put it in another way.

Knowing about 10 thousand words in a foreign language is equivalent to having an additional master’s degree. And you know damn well how much time it takes to accumulate this kind of knowledge! It is not time-efficient to acquire this knowledge without trying to optimize your repetitions.

Of course, you can find an exception to every rule. It is not that mentally taxing to imagine a situation where somebody uses one language at work and then another foreign language once they leave the office. Then maybe, just maybe, you can do without SRS programs.

Why You Should Optimize Your Repetitions – Summary

Trying to hold a vast body of knowledge in your head is challenging, yet entirely possible. The first step in the right direction is understanding that you have to optimize your repetitions. At least if you want to get to the finish line asap.

That’s why using Spaced Repetition Software like ANKI is undoubtedly a must for any serious language learners.

What do you think about SRS programs? Have you ever used any? Let me know, your opinion is important to me!

Done reading? Time to learn!

Reading articles online is a great way to expand your knowledge. However, the sad thing is that after barely 1 day, we tend to forget most of the things we have read.

I am on the mission to change it. I have created over 16 flashcards that you can download to truly learn information from this article. It’s enough to download ANKI, and you’re good to go.

Languages

Fail Fast and Fail Epicly – The Best Way Of Learning Languages

Bartosz Czekala 6 comments

Do you know what all the people who fail in language learning have in common? They don't think. They are dull and unoriginal. Actually, being "creatively challenged" is probably the main reason of failure in about anything you do.

Take a hard, good look at yourself. Are you one of them?

I know I was. For way too many years. I used to buy almost every memory book I could find. I was looking for the ultimate method to remember everything. To my disappointment, almost every book was the same. It took me a lot of time to come to realize that all the solutions are in my head. I just haven't discovered them yet!

Fail Fast and Fail Epicly - How To Do It Step By Step

Usually, there are three steps most people go through.

1) The First Stage - The Sleeping Giant

How can you tell if that's you? It's extremely easy to diagnose yourself. I've prepared a checklist for you. Or rather The Loser's Credo. If you tick more than one field, I have bad news for you...

you don't like to ask questions
you don't like to think about problems
you think that the old way is the only way
you are happy where you are currently at
you can't take criticism
people who are better than you in any way are either lying or born special
you don't see anything funny in this joke: "Dad what's ignorance?", "I don't know and I don't care"
you never question authority (The Big Lebowski anyone?)
you like to wait for the inspiration to act
you think that calling somebody "weird" is offensive
you try once, fail and never get back up

Frankly, I don't believe that any of you fall into this category. At least, not when it comes to learning.

But we're all there when it comes to other areas of life - relationships, the way we work, etc.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

But what if you know anyone who falls into this category? How can you help him? Well, you can suggest it as subtly as you can. After all, understanding the problem is half of the solution.

What's the next step? There is none. I'm sorry.

"We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation" - Jim Rohn

I changed my approach to learning due to desperation.

Many moons ago I was attending a German course at one of the local language schools. I felt very proud. It was my second language and after three years, the school classified my level as B1.

It was an amazing feeling. WAS.

After the first conversation with a native speaker The Evil Bubble of Hubris burst. I didn't understand much. I started stuttering madly. Much like a retarded version of Mr. Snuffalufagus.

So yeah. I was desperate. This soul-crushing experience helped me advance to the second category.

2) The Second Stage - The Awakened Mind

You read. Maybe a lot. Maybe a little. But definitely enough to know that there are many strategies to achieve your goal(s). So you read and read. And then read some more. But the moment comes when you get stuck. And you're desperately looking for people who might give you the answer.

But why would most people give you their best ideas. They spent years trying to come up with them!

Haven't you heard of the rule?

I hit this stage about 17 months ago. I can't recall any specific situation which led to it. I simply knew that I had to change the way I approach learning. And then I found myself in the third stage.

3) Third stage - The Creative Behemoth

There are three characteristic qualities of all the people in this category:

you question most of the things until proved otherwise
you start coming up with dozens of potential solutions to your problems
you never feel fully satisfied with your ideas

It's like the mental hunger you can't satisfy. You can only alleviate it with new ideas and concepts. Once I started coming up with new hypotheses on how to memorize faster, it took me less than half a year to achieve such results. And I'm not done yet.

The beauty of this stage is that you can question almost anything.

For example - why do we shave with foam or gel? Hell, I started to do it with a mix of shampoo and soap. And believe me - it's much more effective way to shave (try it and thank me later).

Fail Fast and Fail Epicly - How To Do It

There are two steps in this strategy.

1) Create the hypothesis

The planning process looks more less like this:

Define what the problem is

This is the question you have to start with. Let your brain know that there is some obstacle to overcome.
From that moment on, you'll start cracking it both consciously and subconsciously.

Learn the essentials of the subject you're trying to master

It's very important step. If you skip it, you might find yourself reinventing a wheel.
No need to waste your time like this.

Start with mastering the rules. Find out how others approach solving your problem.

Train your ability to observe

Start paying close attention to things which might contribute to the solution of the problem.

Create a hypothesis based on your observations

It doesn't always have to be very logical. Go with your gut feeling.

For example. It's generally proven that intensive emotions help us to remember better.

Start shouting out loud 4 random words every day with your best furious voice. Or go to the graveyard and check if the general sadness of this place contributes to better learning.

2) Perform an experiment to test those predictions

Give yourself one week to test your hypothesis. Then measure the results (here are examples of the things you can measure in language learning).

"There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery." - Enrico Fermi

In our case, a discovery simply means that the hypothesis wasn't very good. It's also great news.

Simply move to the next hypothesis.

If the results are better than the ones you got before, it's even better news.
You can start using YOUR new strategy right away. You don't need the old one anymore.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, the essentials of my method can be encapsulated in three points:

1
come up with hypotheses as quickly as possible
2
set yourself a suitable deadline to test the idea (for me it's almost always one week, but feel free to experiment with it as well)
3
test it
4
measure the results at the end of the experiment
5
draw conclusions
6
rinse and repeat

The faster you fail, the faster you can move to another potential solution.

Of course, there is one more thing to bear in mind. Before you start experimenting, measure your current pace of learning words or whatever else you're trying to do.

I failed more times than I succeeded. But the moments of victory brought me unbelievable results. And believe me - once you experience the thrill of discovering, you will never stop experimenting.

I see it that way:
If you want to be mediocre - stick with one method.
If you want to be effective language learner - try at least few methods.
If you want to be exceptional - try A LOT of them.

Fail fast and fail epicly.

Now, I want you to come up with your own method of learning and test it within next 10 days.

And as always, let me know how it goes.

Done reading? Time to learn!

Reading articles online is a great way to expand your knowledge. However, the sad thing is that after barely 1 day, we tend to forget most of the things we have read.

I am on the mission to change it. I have created over 10 flashcards that you can download to truly learn information from this article. It’s enough to download ANKI, and you’re good to go. This way, you will be able to speed up your learning in a more impactful way.

How to Learn Grammar Fast – How to Learn a Language on Your Own (Part 4)

Bartosz Czekala 15 comments

Can you feel it? We're going on an adventure! By now, you should have everything we need to start learning.

If you've read the first part of this guide you should have some grammars book. Internet sources are also acceptable but book is always more reliable.

But before we start, just a small disclaimer.

THE SMALL DISCLAIMER

The process which I'm about to present work like a charm for me. But we're all different, so remember that your approach might vary from mine. That's why you should consider tweaking them a little bit so they're more tailored for your needs.

This part of the guide will seriously get you started but of course, it's not possible to cover all complexities of particular languages. I'm selective.

I don't give a damn about being 100% correct at the beginning because nobody cares. You know what is really tiring? Stuttering with perfect grammar every second word.

Sure, you'll make mistakes but it rarely happens that they are serious.

- "I really do love rapes officer!"
- "Pardon me? You are a sick and twisted person! Oh, wait! Did you mean grapes?"
- "Oh yeah, me thanks and love you long time!"

You see? At least you're politely making a conversation.

TWO MAIN BRICKS OF YOUR LEARNING FOUNDATION

There are two things which you should know before learning anything - your baseline and general outline of the subject you're about to learn.

So what's baseline?

This is the manner in which you can refer what you already know to the material you want to acquire.
It's possible most of the time. However, sometimes you have to be really creative!

When you learn a new language, you can, of course, compare it to the ones you already know.

General outline

You should know more or less what the given language consists of. Why? Very important part of learning is knowing what you don't know.

Skimming through a grammar book can give you a pretty good picture of the language. You can learn how many tenses there are or conjugations.

Now the real art is to pick grammar constructions which are the most useful to us and will enable speaking as quickly as possible while maintaining a relatively high level of grammatical correctness.

I'll stress just for clarity's sake - you need a general outline of a language. You're not learning at this stage.

WHAT'S THE MAIN GOAL?

I'll try to describe in as many details as it's only possible how I usually approach learning languages.
Once again - my goal is to start speaking as soon as possible.

If yours is only to read or write - it's still the approach I would choose as it helps you to build a grammatical scaffolding where you can later set vocabulary.

Grammatical correctness usually follows quickly once you start speaking. To depict the said process, I'll use Esperanto as an example.

It's much easier than most languages and that's precisely why it is perfect. Just like scientists who use simple organisms to understand more complex ones. I'll use an easy language as an example so you can later transfer this knowledge to more complex ones.

HOW TO USE THIS PART OF THE GUIDE?

I suggest the following - go through it (more or less) step by step. It'll set you on the right path.

But the most important advice which I can give you is - ignore ALL the other things from further steps until you cover the ones you're actually trying to learn. It takes the burden of overthinking off of you.

When should you move to the next step?

Once you can use the structures from the current one with confidence.
Of course, feel free to change the order of these steps and adjust them to you if you feel it suits you better.

FIRST BABY STEP- Personal Pronouns

The first question which we have to ask ourselves is: what elements of language are the most important? The answer is - the ones which you can't substitute with anything else.

That's why I always start with personal pronouns (subject pronouns). For the sake of brevity, I'll limit my examples to a singular form.

mi	I
vi	you
li	he
ŝi	she

Step 2 - PRESENT TENSE

Once we get a grasp of subject pronouns we can move to present tense. This choice begs the same question as before.

Why present and not past or future tense? Assuming that we have really little time at our disposal, we can always say something like:

"I eat dinner yesterday"
"she goes there in 3 days"

Sounds terrible - I'm pretty sure we all agree here BUT It helps you to get your message across! If there are more than 1 present tense in your target language, it's better to choose the one which's used for general events

Step 3 - CONJUGATION

Esperanto makes everything simple. All verbs in present tense have endings -AS.

Obviously, in a language of your choice, you'll face more conjugations. And the great thing is that you know how many because you learned beforehand what the grammar outline of your target language looks like. (You READ it, right?)

Now we have to learn how to construct:

affirmative sentence
negative sentence
questions

Questions are least important as you can always ask one using an affirmative sentence and changing your tone of voice.

AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE (in present tense)

POSSIBLE TRAPS: In many languages the order of the sentence is fixed - e.g. The conjugated verb is always the second sentence element in German.

Be aware of it.

Let's select some verbs, so we can start creating sentences.

Short list of the most useful verbs:

an = povi
must / have to = devi
should = devi
might / may = povi
have = havi
be = esti
get = ricevi
give = doni
take = preni
want - voli
need = bezoni
buy = aĉeti
sell = vendi
go = iri
come = veni

and 3 nouns

money = mono
time = tempo
book = libro

Now the best part - building sentences:

mi prenas libro = I take a book
ŝi vendas mono = she sells money
vi havas tempo = you have time

Please note that these sentences are incorrect (we should add -n to nouns in this case) - I'm trying to show the process of grammar acquisition as precisely as it is only possible.

As for now, we know nothing about declension. Nevertheless, such sentences can be understood without any problem.

NEGATIVE SENTENCE

Typically, we can negate either a verb or a noun. The most important for us is how to negate verbs. In English, we use the adverb "not" to do so. In Esperanto, we can do it using "ne" before verbs.

Examples:

Mi ne havas mono = I don't have money
ŝi ne vendas mono = she doesn't sell money
vi ne havas tempo = you don't have time

QUESTIONS

Close-ended questions

Some most popular ways to form a yes-no (i.e. close-ended) question in many languages is to use intonation, inversion (present in English), inflection, auxiliary verbs (do, have, etc. in English) or a grammatical particle.

The latter is true in, among others, Polish, Esperanto and French.
In Esperanto, we use the particle "ĉu".

Examples:

love = ami
Do you love money? = ĉu vi amas mono ?
Do you have a book? = ĉu vi havas libro?

Open-ended questions

If we want to learn some more details, it's great to know the most popular interrogative words:

List of interrogative words

which
what
whose
who
whom
where
when
how (much, many, often)
why

Examples:

Who = kiu, what = kio
Who do you love? = Kiu vi amas?
What does he want? = Kio li volas?

Step 4 - OTHER USEFUL PRONOUNS

The final step to make our sentences clearer and fancier is to learn some more personal pronouns

POSSIBLE TRAPS: You have to be aware that in some languages you can encounter many categories of pronouns depending on the case.

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

my - mia
your - via
his - lia
her - ŝia

Examples:

Let's add two adjectives to spruce things up a bit:

big - granda*
cheap - malmultekosta*

* All adjectives in Esperanto end with -A

My book isn't big - Mia libro ne estas granda
His time isn't cheap - Lia tempo estas malmultekosta

OBJECT PRONOUNS

me - min
you - vin
him - lin
her - ŝin

She loves you (yeah, yeah, yeah) - ŝi amas vin
Do I need her? - ĉu mi bezonas ŝin?

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

Why are they so great?

Because you can simply learn them, point at some object and grunt:

"This!"
"Not this, that!"

Lovely, right?

this - (ĉi) tiu
that - tiu
these - (ĉi) tiuj
those - tiuj

This person is stupid - Tiu persono estas stulta
He gives that money - Li donas tiu mono*

* I still make mistakes on purpose. It should read "li donas tiun monon".

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

List of indefinite pronouns:

enough
little
less
much
more
most
several
few
fewer
many
more
most
no one
nobody
neither
none
everybody
everyone
all
both
someone
something
some
anyone
anything
either
any

Examples:

Someone = iu, everything = ĉio
She knows everything = ŝi scias ĉio
Someone wants you = iu volas vin

I've decided to skip reflexive pronouns. But feel free to read about them.

Step 5 - CONJUNCTIONS

Long and (almost) complete list of conjunctions:

after
although
as
as far as
as if
as long as
as soon as
as though
because
before
even if
even though
every time
if
in order that
since
so
so that
than
though
unless
until
when
whenever
where
whereas
wherever
while
and
nor
but
or
yet
otherwise
so
either...or
not only...but (also)
neither...nor
both...and

whether...or

just as...so

The ones that are the most important to me at the beginning are:
because, and, but, or, after, before, that, that's why, to, although, if, until, since, although, otherwise

Conjunctions give us this nice feeling of confidence when we speak. They combine two or more sentences and add a great touch of logic and cohesion to them.

Examples:

because = ĉar
I love you because you're pretty = Mi amas vin ĉar vi estas bela

understand = kompreni
I understand that's why I sell = Mi komprenas tial mi vendas

That's it when it comes to grammar basics. More to come!

REMEMBER:

You can create your own context and the world within a language. You'll have time to adjust the accuracy later.

As long as use logic and try to avoid any idiomatic expressions you should be understood.

CONCLUSION

Know the general outline of grammar before you start
Learn grammar step by step, once you feel quite comfortable within some grammar structure - move on
If you want to start speaking as fast as possible, learn the thing which can't be substituted with anything else first
Your brain craves sense and meaning - create your own context, have fun, start saying some silly stuff!
Embrace imperfection, we all have to start somewhere

Languages

Master Pronunciation Of A Foreign Language – How To Learn A Language On Your Own (Part 3)

Bartosz Czekala 21 comments

Why even bother with studying pronunciation?

Well, as always, there are no easy answers. Some say it's important to master the pronunciation of a foreign language. Some say it's a waste of time

The question is - why should beginners and semi-advanced learners care?

There are some obvious benefits - the better your pronunciation, the bigger a chance that native speakers will understand you. It means that there is always some minimal amount of work that has to be done in order to talk with native speakers.

Otherwise, each person will soon get discouraged from talking to you and leave or get black-out drunk to match your level of mumbling.

But what comes next after you reach the level, where native speakers have no problems understanding you? Does it make sense to reach for the Holy Grail of learning languages - speaking with no accent?

Considering the amount of time needed, I dare to say no. It's better to spend this time mastering grammar and vocabulary. I have never seen any point in pronouncing everything perfectly while still mixing up words and butchering grammar.

Many people claim to have achieved the level where there is no difference between them and native speakers. I believe that very often this is simply an exaggeration.

Typically, the longer someone talks to a native speaker, the bigger the chance that "the truth gets revealed".

Ultimately, I'll leave that for you to ponder. So what should you do to achieve good pronunciation as quickly as possible?

And to avoid such mistakes:

0. Brief (And Not So Boring) Theoretical Intro

It won't take long, I promise. If you're interested in practical tips, move to point 1.

To speak clearly, we must first understand what the (highly simplified) building blocks of pronunciation are:

Phonology - can be seen as "abstract, grammatical characterization of systems of sounds or signs". Which means - what is the difference between sounds. What makes French language French and English English (and Hodor, Hodor, Hodor)
Phonetics - deals with "physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neurophysiological status" of sounds. Basically, how to produce sounds.
Prosody - is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Well, this is kind of self-explanatory.

As you can see, mastering pronunciation requires learning the aforementioned elements of a language of your choice.

Now, how to do it practically...

1. Identify Alien Sounds

As children, we have the ability to distinguish different sounds and "assemble" them into words (in other words, we combine phonemes into morphemes/words).

The sad part about learning new languages is that we mostly lose this ability when we grow up.
It means, that without preparation very often we won't even know that we pronounce something incorrectly.

That's why the first step to get familiar with pronunciation is to identify the sounds which you might even be not aware of.

How to do it

Look it up in a dictionary

Every good dictionary has a description of sounds typical of the given language. What's more - as I've written before, always try to choose a dictionary which includes phonetic transcription of words.

Google it

" Language x (e.g. Swedish) phonology" will usually deliver best results.

Visit mylanguages.org

It covers 80+ languages. Choose the one you want and click "alphabet".

Now, after using any of these methods, you'll end up looking confused at the strange set of characters. They are part of the International Phonetic Alphabet. They look scary but are not so difficult to learn.

To become even more aware of the differences between your native and target language, you should learn the sounds of English language.

Here you can find an interactive phonetic chart for English.

2. Train Your Mouth To Pronounce Sound

Congratulations, by now you should know more or less, what sounds you should pay attention to. To imitate them as precisely as it's only possible, you need (ideally) combination of a couple of methods.

Learn how to produce sounds mechanically

It's a great starting point - grab a dictionary or some textbook and read a description of how you should pronounce given sounds. If the description is accompanied by a picture - even better.

Usually, the biggest problem is how to pronounce vowels. Since your tongue moves up and down, forward or backward, you have plenty of positions to experiment with.

Once (it seems that) you nail the target sound, try to memorize what the position of your tongue and lips was. And don't be too quick thinking that it is over. You have to check it first. (see feedback)

Start small

Choose only one or two sounds to begin with. Let's say that you have no idea how to pronounce /æ/.

You check how to produce this sound on Wiki. Then you pick up a word or two and try to pronounce this sound as closely as possible. Say, this word is "tab".

Once you are sure that the sound is pronounced decently, you can move on to other words.
Sounds like a lot of work but I assure you it's not.

When I was a child I suffered from a really bad speech impediment and couldn't pronounce a truckload of sounds in my native tongue.

Can you imagine how I talked to my parents or friends?
- "mc wohn sdno"
- "Yes honey, of course, we love you"

I used this method to learn how to express myself like a normal human being.

Record yourself

Find some interesting text, grab a microphone or use your mobile and start reading aloud using the aforementioned rules.

How can you tell if you produce new sounds effectively?

It won't be difficult - assuming that you did everything right, your mouth will hurt.
It means that you use muscles which haven't been used before.

Of course, If you're learning a language with a different alphabet, you should learn how to read it first.

3. Learn How To Hear The Sounds

Now, you can start practicing your hearing. You've successfully identified the sounds which are new to you. It's time you started noticing them in sentences!

Such knowledge gives you immediate head-start when it comes to listening to and communicating with foreigners.

Remember, however, that grammar rules concerning your target language might alter your understanding of speech. Some sounds blend, others are silent or reduced.

For example, in French "à" followed by "le" combine to form "au."

4. Be Aware Of Mistakes

It's always safe to assume that you pronounce sounds at least partially incorrectly until you receive some kind of feedback. Such assumption can save you hours and hours of tears and frustration.

5. Feedback

You need final confirmation of how awesome your pronunciation is. And who's better to do it than native speakers?

If you have a tutor or friends who can help you - then great. Ask them all the questions you have and to correct you if there's something wrong.

If you are on your own, try www.rhinospike.com
You can ask native speakers there to record some text for you and then you can use it to compare it with how you speak.

You can also use Google Translate or http://www.forvo.com/ to compare pronunciation of single words. But how will you know that you sound good enough?

You will sound in unison with the recording. Simple as that!

FINAL WORDS

As you can see, learning how to pronounce sounds can be turned into a relatively easy to execute the process. However, as always when it comes to mastering such complex task, the better you try to be, the more time-consuming it is.

And don't beat yourself down, if it doesn't work right away. Good things take time.

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it with your friends and join our community!

Done reading? Time to learn!

Reading articles online is a great way to expand your knowledge. However, the sad thing is that after barely 1 day, we tend to forget most of the things we have read.

Languages

Do’s and Dont’s of Learning Languages – How to Learn a Language on Your Own (Part 2)

Bartosz Czekala 2 comments

By now you should know clearly why you want to learn a language. Don't you ever forget about the source of your motivation! Let it be your guiding light and fuel for what's about to come. Now it's time to get familiar with do's and dont's of language learning

Do's and Dont's of Language Learning

1. Get Ready

Describing what it means to be ready is always quite tricky. The reason is simple - there won't be many situations in your life when you feel really ready and the conditions are conducive. However, in the perfect sugar-coated world your readiness should involve three elements:

Being ready physically

Comfort is important. Before you start learning, make sure that you're not hungry, tired or sick.Get some snack or a nap if you have to. Otherwise a few minutes deep into the learning you will start having dirty fantasies about rubbing a chocolate on your chest while being wrapped up in sheets.

Being ready mentally

"Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair." - Edmund Burke

Do your best to clear your head before you get down to learning. Stress is probably the worst enemy of effective studying. It dumbs you down drastically. Meditate, take a walk - do what it takes to unwind.
Anything is better than suddenly realizing that instead of being focused on learning you catch yourself plotting against your boss.

And come to terms with the fact that you'll probably never be able to speak a language like a native speaker. Let go of the ideal you nurture. I know it all too well. I combat my anxieties and fears on a daily basis.

Being ready emotionally

Incite emotions and get excited. Think about all the things you'll be able to do with your newly acquired language! Imagine the world of possibilities! Make it vivid, so vivid that you almost feel that it's real. Get yourself pumped.

Watch some motivational videos (like this one - Rise and Shine) or read an inspiring article.Or maybe create a set list which gets you in the mood. Survivor's "Eye of the tiger" seems like a natural choice here!

2. Create a Supportive Environment

Each one of us should have a safe haven. A place which immediately can be associated with learning.
The place which immediately triggers the willingness to learn in you.

But it's hard. It's hard to draw a distinct line between your working and play space and the one for learning.
Still, try to find yourself a nook you can call your own. Go to café or library if you can't find it under your roof.

Once you have it, get rid of all the potential distractions. Turn off the music*, put aside anything that may distract you.
And don't get too comfy. If you sink into an armchair it will smell your weakness and lure you into the oppressive clutches of sleep!

A supportive environment means also one more thing. Tell your beloved ones to give you some space and keep everything relatively down.

3. Focus And Have a Reminder

Now you have a place where you can learn! Congratulations! There shouldn't be many things left which may distract you.

Next thing on the checklist - stop multitasking. Decrease your cognitive load. Regardless of what you've heard - that's another thing which dumbs you down. If you do two things at once, divide your attention and intelligence by two. It basically makes you equivalent of a retarded shrimp. And I can tell you they're not very good at learning languages.

Get yourself a reminder of why you want to learn. It can be a piece of jewelry given to you by your ancestors/wife/husband. A picture of your dream house. Anything which gets you going is just fine.

If you're single, hang a picture of some person who inspires you.

Whenever you find yourself distracted let your reminder work its magic.

4. Be Regular

The chance is that if you've ever stuck to some routine I don't have to convince you why it's so extremely important to be regular.

If not, let me tell you what has been told thousands of time - it's better to learn 10 minutes per day than to do it once per week for 2 hours.
But why? The numbers don't add up. Well, math is a cruel mistress.

There are dozens of rules which govern learning. One which is (probably) the most important for you is:

Spacing effect - you remember things better if they are distributed over a long time span and the bigger the number of repetitions

If learning each day is not a habit for you, you should do all in your power to develop it.
Set some time aside every day for learning - e.g. 25 min at 19:00.

5. Learn In Small Doses

You might have heard this saying before - learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Truer words have never been said. But ...

When it comes to regular learning, try to slice your learning time into pieces if you plan to learn for more than 1 hour.

We're only human. Our attention span is anything between 20 -40 min. After that time your thoughts start wandering into unknown directions. That's perfectly ok. Just be aware of this fact and prepare beforehand.

Take a 10-minute break every 30 minutes. This is, of course, a mere suggestion.
You have to experiment a bit to see what works for you.

Also, don't forget about the Serial Position Effect. We tend to remember the most items from the beginning and from the end of our studying It means that the more breaks you have the better you take advantage of this phenomenon.

6. Create Systems (and why they beat goals)

I believe that goals are a great starting point. But it's only a first station in your journey.
They won't carry you very far. However, as great as they are, they have their limitations.

Let's assume that your initial goal was to learn 10 words per day or 15 min per day. If you fail to stick to this goal, you'll start feeling bad. "I can't even do this one thing right". Every time you fail, the chance that you'll return to your learning schedule decreases. After some time, caught in despair, you stop learning.

What if you manage to actually follow through? You might be so content with yourself that you'll stop there.

And this is a gist of problems with goals. They limit you in one way or another.

So why are systems better?

A good system is characterized by two things. It facilitates wanted behavior and makes it difficult to yield to unwanted one. Who needs strong will when you have systems?!

Example

I know that I have a very strong inclination to browse various websites after a few minutes of working on my computer. That's why I downloaded the app which blocked these websites for better part of the day (here you can find other blocking apps):

Leechblock - for Mozilla
StayFocusd - for Chrome

Thus, I increased my chance to stay focused while learning. What's more, the only objects which I keep on my desk are books and dictionaries. It considerably decreases the risk of getting distracted.

So go ahead. Think about how you can create the system to facilitate your learning.

7. (Learn How To) Love The Grind

"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." - Stephen King

Discover an appreciation for what you have to do. Anybody could learn in perfect conditions. But as I said, it rarely happens. Grit is born out of pain. Every time you force yourself to learn you build your habit. Brick by brick.

And don't compare yourself to others and their progress. Everyone has his own fight to do.
And we all start with different gear and skills.

Just show up. Day by day. That's the secret.

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

Languages

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