Learn by Talking to Yourself, Master a Language, and Get a Job as a Result!
t's funny, isn't it?
All your life we've been told that the only place where talking to yourself can get you is a padded cell. And yet, somehow it landed me a job in one of the top corporations at this side of Milky Way.
You might ask - so what's so special about this story? Well, I learned Swedish in order to get the job in less than 4 months without talking to anyone in Swedish. And while working 50+ hours per week.
I also managed to break up with my fiancée and started drinking after a 1,5-year break of abstinence. So if you're expecting only rainbows and unicorns go somewhere else. I'm pretty sure there is a lesson somewhere in this story but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Here is how it happened, more or less, and how you can duplicate the results. Hopefully without crippling your private life.
Discovering Swedish - Beginnings
"It is such a beautiful-sounding language", I said to myself. I was standing in the middle of a bookshop in my hometown. My then-girlfriend who recently had moved to Sweden was pointing at some sentence in a textbook and asking me to read it.
I tried but my effort was mediocre at best. Why do you pronounce these f***ing letters so randomly?! Here is some foretaste:
It was about 8 years ago. Shortly thereafter we went our separate ways, and I was left with just a few words. Quickly I lost interest in this language and moved on with my life.
Rekindling Of Interest
About 2 years ago I started feeling this unbearable itch to switch a job. At that time I had been working close to 3 years in the Industrial Automation industry while teaching English, German and Statistics and I really started feeling bored.
After browsing some job offers it hit me that there is a considerable amount of positions for Swedish-speaking people and almost no competition since this language is considered a pretty exotic in Poland. And there was my solution - learn Swedish and go into corporate. With my skills and languages, how could I not make a career?!
I wish I could bitch-slap myself then and get back 11 months of my life. But that's another story.
How To Learn By Talking To Yourself
Word of warning
It's necessary to give you some background before I go into details. Back then I already spoke 5 foreign languages including German and English. Since they belong to the same language family as Swedish it gave me the upper hand I was also obsessed with mnemonics - that makes remembering much easier.
Approach
I've never been a big fan of language textbooks. Not only are they pricey but also (usually) structured in a pretty moronic way. I mean - who really needs to know the names of 30 professions when you can't even ask "where is the nearest toilet?".
That's why I bought just a simple grammar book and dictionary. Total cost? About 25$. Not bad for the skill which has brought me a hundred times more since then.
Limitations
Always know your limitations. I knew mine. One of the main problems which I had to face was lack of time. I had a full-time job after all. And a fiancée.
That's why I had to define my priorities. I knew that an interview would be conducted in Swedish and I had to be classified on (at least) B2 level to get the job. That's why I decided to focus my efforts on speaking and listening. Throughout the preparation period, I read only about 4-5 articles.
Flow, also known as Zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.
Enjoyment? What a load of crap. If you want to get results quickly, learning won't be pleasant. You can't have it both ways. If you don't feel exhausted after learning session it simply means that you haven't pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone.
Deep work leaves you drained (Cal Newport is the unquestionable authority in this field). That's why top performers don't do it for more than a few hours. And this is exactly all the time which I had during the day.
One of my favorite mathematicians of all time Henri Poincaré had the following routine:
He undertook mathematical research for four hours a day, between 10 a.m. and noon then again from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.. He would read articles in journals later in the evening.
And I do understand why. After every learning session, I felt like a shred of a man. Maybe I cried. I don't really remember. I wanted everybody to leave me alone - and they did eventually. Now I remember! The lesson is: there is a price to pay for everything.
My Chamber Of Madness
This is how I called my room at that point in time. What another name is there is for the room where you spend most of your time by talking to yourself?
But coming back to the story - after buying a dictionary and a grammar book I got home and for the first few days, I started outlining the grammar. That was an easy part. I knew that the biggest challenge lies in pronouncing things correctly. Back then I didn't have any consistent method for learning pronunciation.
I also started learning tons of vocabulary. And that's why my learning style is so different from others.
You might frequently hear that you don't need a big vocabulary to talk with someone in your target language.
And that's true. But the problem is that you need a lot of words to UNDERSTAND somebody.
It's natural that your passive vocabulary will always be bigger than your active one. Even in your native tongue. But you need to know them in order to understand because the context won't always save you.
That's why after learning about 2k words I started listening to Sveriges Radio and conducting my proper learning sessions. Remember Rocky training? It was exactly like this but absolutely different - I was sitting at the desk and talking to myself. For hours. I covered about 4k in Anki and created thousands of sentences.
Interview
On my way to the company's seat, I still was coming up with excuses for why I should call them and tell them that I found another job. Or that I got sick. Or that the homework which ate my dog got sick. Anything. Maybe the car will run me over.
She entered the room. I held my breath. I was scared sh*tless. Then I heard the first question:
- "Can you tell me something about yourself?". I did. In details. Who wouldn't expect such a question?
- "How did you learn Swedish?", she asked.
- "On my own. At home. I talked to myself a lot."
Awkward silence.
- "But I'm asking seriously", she gazed at me in disbelief.
- "That's the truth", I mumbled
20 minutes, 2 questions and one grammar test later the interview was over. I don't think she believed me. I don't blame her.
Results
Two days later I got results of my language evaluation. I was on the B2 level. The job is mine if I want it. I do. I want to work there. It turned out that I didn't want a relationship with my fiancée half as bad. I broke up with her. I couldn't stand constant arguments.
Conclusion
I'm not even sure. I guess it's better if you draw your own conclusions.
Brain wants more? Read this:
1 Great Tip On How To Find Lyrics In Your Target Language Of Almost Any Song- How To Improve Listening Skills In A Foreign Language – Learn a Language On Your Own (Part 5)
- How To Get Your Reading Practice Done While Increasing Your General Knowledge
- Setting Big Goals In Language Learning: 5 Reasons Why You Should Try To Take On Crazy Learning Tasks
- Interleaved Practice – When and How to Use It to Maximize Your Learning Pace
- How To Use Rules In Language Learning To Save Time And Stay Sane
- You Don’t Learn Languages Like a Child – Start Learning Grammar and Vocabulary
- Increase Vocabulary Size Considerably by Using The Word Substitution Technique
- Pictures and Images in Flashcards – Are They Even Useful?
- Want To Sound Natural In Foreign Languages? Create Your Own Feedback Loop Within One Minute
Hello Bartek, very helpful article 😁 but I have two questions. How mamy time did you spend with that language everyday and how mamy topics did you cover from iteslj? Thanks in advance for the answers 😁
Glad I could help 🙂 I wish I could remember. From what I can recall, between 3-5 hours each day depending on how much time I had available 🙂
As for the topics, please read this article: https://universeofmemory.com/conversational-topics-for-specific-language-levels/ !
awesome website, thank you 🙂
keep it up!
Will do! Thank you 🙂
great article! I’m trying to build my vocabulary in Japanese in order to understand more. Textbooks don’t work for me. I want to start actively using the vocabulary by speaking to myself, but I don’t know how. What to speak about? Certain topics or randomly? In any of these choices, I don’t really know what to say once I sit down and want to talk. Any advice please? Thanks lots.
You can speak about whatever you want but it’s always better to do it topic by topic. Here is a great website with a lot of questions to get you started: http://iteslj.org/questions/. Good luck!:)
Thank you for the very interesting story, even your break up story was inspiring. It made me think that I should always avoid arguments in my relationships.
I would like to know more about how did you exactly practise speaking : did you put only words in Anki or did you add sentences as well ? Do you think that talking to yourself is only effective when you speak continuously in one session ? or you could memorize sentences and repeat them during the day as well ? I think the essence of the method is to form the habit of speaking in the foreign language so I think that spreading the repetition and speaking process throughout the day is also and maybe more effective . What do you think of this ?
Thank you!
1) I only put sentences in ANKI
2) No, it can be effective even when spread throughout the day
3) Yes, you can also memorize sentences – every little bit helps
ABsolutely, it’s all about making a speaking process a natural part of your day,
Hello Bartosz, How far can you go with talking to yourself? because I tend to think that the human component is necessary and might sabotage the results in the end. If it is possible to go very far with talking to oneself, that is an amazing news, because one of the languages I learn is Faroese, with only 49000 speakers, and till this day I havent happened to know any of them. And one last question, if the grammar is difficult, and there are no sources, how would you make sure that you are not telling load of crap to yourself?
Hello Rasmus! I’d dare say that you can go extremely far with talking to yourself. But you have to be aware that it involves a lot of different methods. One of them being – feedback loops.
You have to have some kind of system in place which can tell you whether the sentences you are creating are right or wrong.
My typical approach can be partially summarized by these two articles. If you master these techniques you might be sure that after some time, your sentences will be at least decently constructed.
https://www.universeofmemory.com/master-the-grammar-of-any-language/
https://www.universeofmemory.com/how-to-sound-natural-in-foreign-languages/
One more friendly advice, always question your assumptions. i.e. “human component is necessary”. It might sound like a strange question since we learn languages to communicate with others but why would this component be necessary? What part of learning how to speak makes it necessary to include a human factor?
Hope that helped!
I love it!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi Bartosz! I am kind of in a rut with my language learning but I needed a big push. My first step was to print this out and read every day. Thank you for the inspiration!
I’m honored that I could help you in some itsy-bitsy way 🙂 ! Good luck ! 🙂
Wow you’re an inspiration ,talking to yourself in other language,
You’re too kind. Thank you!
Wonderful post!
If you don’t feel exhausted after learning session it simply means that you haven’t pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone. >> I agree with you, 100%. If you stay in your comfort zone, you will never learn, you will never grow, and you will stay only in the “My name is ____” level.
Thank you! If only more people accepted this simple truth….:)
Thats true am out of comfort zone now
Great to hear it!
Great info. Thanks. Pronunciation is my big problem, My tongue will not go where I want it to, especially to form the French ‘R’, or any other sound that requires a vibrating tongue. Mine just relaxes and says “ya gotta be kidding”, and it goes back to sleep.
Thank you ! The trick is to keep on trying till you get this sound right, at least once. Then try to remember the position of your tongue and its movement. And then keep on repeating the same movement. Well, talk is cheap, right? 🙂 Good luck!
Good read. I’m learning Japanese in order to get a role there a year from now. I’m taking that long as I’m also changing direction in my career a little bit. And that’s down from the four years I had planned. I had spent a couple years already trying to learn the main writing system, which I restarted a few times. As I’m already single and live alone, I may just try your method.
Thank you! 🙂 Definitely, go for it. Although if you have a chance always try to get some private lessons. The feedback loop is much more effective then 🙂