The Fastest Way to Learn a New Language
The fastest way to learn a new language may not be quite what you think. It’s not the “get fluent in 3 months package” or the “master a language in 30 days” viral video.
It’s contrary to both of these approaches because, you see, learning a language is about learning how to integrate that language into your day-to-day life. It’s about learning to speak, read, write and listen in that language as fluidly and fluently as you can in your native language - or even better.
The true fastest way to learn a new language is to enter this process of learning the language the way that you intend to use it, with a study pace that is sustainable for years, and an understanding that your progress is inevitable so long as you continue to follow and adjust the path you’ve created.
Learn the Language the Way You Intend to Use It
Do you plan to use your new language skills for a month and then throw them away?
Most likely not. This is not entirely what you are doing when you go through an intensive 30 day language program, but it will in many ways delay your progress even though you may feel like you’ve learned a lot during this time frame - and likely have actually learned a significant amount of information about your target language.
The problem with the learn fast approach is that, when it ends, you lose a significant amount of time rerouting your studies to continue toward fluency. It’s faster if you choose the way you intend to learn the language to fluency over a 3 to 5 year period and focus on slow and steady progress toward completing that program.
Granted, sometimes we have to change programs because of life events, but going through a serious of short programs (fewer than 6 months) is like changing your major over and over again at university because you’re trying to find the easiest one. Eventually you realize that you could have actually completed an entire degree in the years you spent trying to find the “perfect” program.
The fastest way to learn a language is to choose a path to fluency via a structured program and follow it until you achieve your goal.
Find Your Steady Study Pace
While our pace will naturally fluctuate, the goal is to keep your progress toward your goal of fluency in your language as consistent as possible. This means resisting the urge to speed up because it will actually slow you down.
A steady pace can be maintained for years.
A rushed pace will lead to burnout, long rest periods, and a more stressful learning environment causing you to not only reach your fluency goals more slowly but create a less enjoyable process as well.
Learning slowly is ultimately faster because
the brain learns more quickly when it is exposed to the language in smaller doses each day rather than study marathons. As a result, we spend fewer hours practicing, but use those hours more productively.
learning happens during the short rest periods that occur naturally between study sessions which is why studying an hour each day for a week is more productive than an 8 hour study day.
it becomes easier to continue learning than to stop once you get into the rhythm of your study style. The challenge becomes scheduling breaks and limiting how much you study instead of trying to force yourself to work more.
Therefore, to expedite our progress toward learning a new language, we must choose a well-structured program and follow it for years. This is faster than any short program.
Understand the Inevitability of Your Progress
Choosing a program to commit to for 3 to 5 years is no small endeavor. You’ll need to do your research on it and make sure that the outcome it produces aligns with your goals. For example, if you intend to use this language for work or school, you should check that it is an approved program. And of course, make sure that it’s a program that you can see yourself showing up to everyday because you like the community and overall structure.
Once you’ve vetted your program and you commit to it, your progress is inevitable so long as you continue. You may not always like what you’re learning, or even the program, but you’ll continue because you know that you love the program as a whole and you love the path to fluency you’re on.
The more you resist the urge to speed up and remind yourself that your slow and steady progress is ultimately faster, the fewer moments you’ll have where you dislike the program because you are constantly within your zone of optimal learning. You are challenged but not overwhelmed. You may feel the temptation to take more classes because you are experiencing success, but you remind yourself that you are experiencing that success because of the current structure of your studies.
And so you continue along your path until you reach your destination.
And then you choose a new destination.
