What teaching taught me to do differently in language learning

1. Context matters. 

Learning words through word for word translation (eg Anki) doesn't work very well. It will help in the short term (eg if you have an important exam) but won't stick with your memory for long. You have to take the time to write and listen to phrases with your target words. 

One thing you can try is isolate the words you want to learn from a video or text you like and make an exercise on a website like quizlet. Then couple every revision of the vocabulary list with a rewatching of the video. 

2. It takes a lot more time than we think. 

The reality is that unless you already know a similar language (eg Italian and Spanish, Ukrainian and Polish), learning a foreign language to B2 level is a question of several years of consistent effort.

People who previously learned a language quickly (usually one related to one they already knew) or think they did it quickly (because they were children and forgot how long it really took!) often underestimate how long it will take to learn a new one and get quickly disappointed in the process. At any rate, personal experience suggests that the vast majority of learners enter the learning process with wildly optimistic assumptions (often expecting to learn Greek at B2 level in 2 or 3 years). 

3. YouTube is your number one resource.

Videos have image with is a big aid to understand what is being said and to memory. Textbooks are overrated on the other hand: they are expensive, overburden you with grammar early on, and set unrealistic expectations especially for A1 and A2 levels.

4. When to study grammar?

Grammar is great a) to get a bird's eye view of the language you are learning b) to understand better a grammatical phenomenon you are already familiar with.

Examples of (a): are there grammatical genders in your target language? How many? How do verb tenses work? How does word order work etc. Usually going over the wikipedia article for your target language is enough.

Examples of (b): you already have an idea of how the plular is formed but you are not sure which ending applies when. Or you keep hearing something you don't understand. 

5. Finding time and motivation.

If you lack time, prioritize consistency. 10 minutes five days a week will give you results in the long term. Also, find a community: if you live in the country, find supportive people who have the patience to help you. If you are abroad, join a community of learners either IRL or virtual. Also take a look at my next point. 

6. You don't have to be concentrated.

Most people think that to study a language you have to work in complete isolation like a student doing homework for school. As long as you pay don't completely ignore what hear or watch it's perfectly fine. Many people learned by leaving the TV open while cleaning hte dishes. I personally enjoy listening to Russian radio while doing other stuff, and after many months of doing so, I've noticed that it did help me.

7. Explaining pronunciation matters.

I've noticed that I often need people to point out to me what I do wrong in my target lang because I don't even notice I'm doing something wrong. Similarly, as a teacher, I hear learners add to and modify what is written in the text, but when I ask them about it, they are not always aware that they did it. 

In an October 2021 article, The Economist argued that poor teaching is an important part of why learners speak with a heavy accent. Outside an introductory chapter about the sounds most textbooks have little to say about things like rhythm and accent, which makes a good teacher an important factor.

8. Not all beginners are the same. 

There are at least three factors that I've noticed make a difference among people who in theory are equally beginners in learning a language.

(i) Do they already know a similar language? (ii) How well do they know their own language - and educational level in general? (iii) Do they already know many foreign languages?

(i) Should be self-explanatory, but let me re-iterate the obvious point: if the target language is Spanish, someone who already knows another Romance language has a huge advantage over someone who doesn't. Considering these two people as starting from the same starting point is completely wrong.

(ii) People who know their own language well and are well educated usually grasp the difficult grammar faster and know how to learn.

(iii) Knowing several foreign languages even if unrelated to the target one also seems to help people quite a lot. They have a better grasp of their end goal and how to get there - they did it before. 

What follows from this is that it is the job of the teacher to identify true beginners (that is people who don't have any of the three above), set realistic expectations for them and cater to their needs rather than (as is often the case) blame them for not being as fast as the rest. 

9. Not everything you were taught at school was true.

School education relies a lot on memorizing rules uncritically to pass exams. This won't help your long term learning. Grammar rules also won't help you much if your knowledge of the language is limited. My favourite example is teaching the accusative case: in most textbooks (and in accordance with the guidelines for A1) the accusative is taught in the first or second chapter, that is just a few weeks into learning the language.

At this stage the learner has no vocabulary and can hardly form phrases, but they are still required to memorize a series of endings for the three genderson the assumption that this will prove useful down the road. The reality is that learners invariably forget these endings a few weeks afterwards.

Take for example the accusative of the masculine in Greek: the rule is simple,remove the final -s.

But to apply this rule correctly when you speak or write you have to know a) which words are masculine b) how to use the definite and indefinite articles properly c) when to use the accusative (rather than say the genitive) e) understand the Greek word order. Learners don't know any of these after only a few weeks: it should obviously follow that their time would be better spent if they learned something that would be of more immediate use.

The main take-away point here is: don't overdo it with grammar and don't worry too much about mistakes - they are part of the learning process. Remember that at school you were taught the rules of a language you already knew, your native language, no wonder they made immediate sense. Don't expect the process in a foreign language to be as straightforward.

10. Duolingo isn't great

It will help with getting used to a new alphabet and to a basic vocabulary, but beyond this you might spend dozens of hours on it without progress. Think of it this way: when using duolingo you aren't really immersing to the language you are learning, you simply translate phrases often in a rather mindless way. The audio doesn't sound natural either. Personally, I'd rather use a more traditional application to learn the vocabulary (memrize or quizlet for example) if only because they let me choose which words I want to learn.

10+1. Watch this 15 minute video by Stephen Krashen

Disclaimer: These are  my reflections based on my experience as a learner and teacher. I might be wrong in a detail here and there but I'm quite confident that the overall picture is much closer to reality than what you will be asked to do in many language academies: mindlessly memorize grammar rules and word lists, do countless exercises and study for exams. 

Studying for exams is great if landing a certificate is your top priority, but only equate this with actual learning at your own peril.