There's so much advice out there when it comes to learning languages: use this app, follow this technique, do this and you'll learn in record time, don't make these mistakes, learn this X amount of words and you'll be fluent, speak every day, don't focus on speaking first... it goes on and on. No wonder people who are new to language study can oftentimes feel overwhelmed by the ocean of information out there. Sometimes, they drown in it and quit altogether after a while of not seeing immediate progress, others, end up falling for the most articulate snake oil salesman who they happen to chance upon.

So, what can we do to navigate these murky waters? 

At times in my language journey (both as a teacher and as an independent learner), I would swear by such and such technique, book, or app. As time passed by and I progressed through a language I was studying, or I was learning more about language acquisition and pedagogy, it dawned upon me that the degree of success of any app or methodology depends on several factors. If you stick to one long enough because it connects with you and your goals at that moment, it will yield results. However, as you advance, you'll end up discovering that said practice might no longer serve you best, and you might need to shift perspective and apply other approaches. Let me give you an example of my own experience learning Japanese.

I first began taking Japanese way back in 2002, and I attended 3 levels at a local university in Quito. I was very enthusiastic about the language, so I absorbed everything pretty quickly. I would sometimes get bored because most of my classmates would lag behind and drag the class down. I would finish the exercises quickly and be bored while the rest were still at it. On the side, I would memorize lyrics to songs I liked, even if I didn't totally understand what they meant. You could say this stage of my learning was a bit slow, but it was nonetheless effective for memorizing all of hiragana and katakana (2 Japanese "alphabets", in a very basic nutshell).

After that, many years went by without me studying Japanese. I directed my attention to Mandarin because I had moved there and it became my priority. Fast-forward a few years to 2013, and I decided to take up Japanese again. I wanted to push myself to learn on my own, so I searched for advice online and plunged into it.

At first, I found some basic books and apps aimed at conversational Japanese for beginners. Many people will insist that these types of materials are not ideal, that grammar and translation do not help, and that you should focus more on input and speaking. While I do agree that grammar has been proven to not be the only thing you need to study in order to achieve some fluency, at the onset of my second period of learning, it proved helpful to review and remember some of the basics I had already learned previously but needed a little brush-up. Also, since my vocabulary was still limited, having a translation to fall back on was nice. 

Next, I read from many sources that most communication in any language can be done with 600-1000 words, and that spaced-repetition software (SRS) was key to memorizing them. So I began playing with an SRS app and creating my own digital flashcards to memorize the most important Japanese words. 

Online, there are many language gurus that support SRS software, and others that hate it and don't recommend it. My take? I think it was a fun, creative way to maintain a daily routine in the language at the beginning, and I feel it did help me to learn some new words I didn't know from before. Here is the caveat - after maybe a couple of months consistently adding words to my card deck, I began to get bored. I reached a point where I needed more than just the words or basic sentences, I had enough building blocks so that I could progress to the next step.

I should add that during my card-making stage, I tried practicing spoken Japanese with a friend I was lucky to meet at the time, but because I really didn't have that much language under my belt, the interaction was slow, a little frustrating, and not very productive overall. This brings me to another common piece of advice found online: "Practice speaking from day one". Unless your goal is to speak urgently due to an emergency or business trip, I would actually disagree with that advice. 

After getting bored with making cards and having some pretty bland speaking practice, I went on to an intensive combination of more grammar/textbook study and language input: I translated, wrote down, and memorized song lyrics, read short stories in Japanese, practiced with listening exercises for the JLPT online, then downloaded those conversations/monologues to my mp3 player and put them on repeat for a million times (well, maybe not a million, but you get the idea).

After going through all these different stages and techniques/methods, I felt I was readier to begin speaking, so I decided to look for language exchange partners, which is another common advice for language learners. After some diligent searching (and a lot of patience), I was able to make friends with two people, with whom I still have an excellent friendship to this day. Thanks to languages, we have been friends for over 10 years. 

So, what is the conclusion? You can see that I tried many things: apps and SRS, input, grammar study, trying to speak too quickly into the process and failing, more grammar and input (especially listening, LOADS of listening), then speaking practice once I had tried and tested all of these methods. In my experience, even though now I would recommend some less than others, I can see that each can have its place at a determined stage of the language acquisition process. Cards can be very visual and fun, but they can distract you from consuming real-world language that is necessary. Diving in too quickly with advanced input or conversation can be discouraging, and although ideally we want to drift away from grammar and translation as we make progress, they can still be a necessary aid when things are too culturally disconnected from what and how we are used to think in our own language. 

Therefore, my advice is to really take all advice online - including mine - with "a pinch of salt". No one holds the absolute truth when it comes to materials, techniques, tools, or habits. What may be useful to you, may not be for another person; and even what was once really useful to you at some point, may become out-of-date and disconnected from your needs as you make progress. Play, experiment, test things. You are in charge of your learning process, habits, needs, goals, and tastes. No one journey is the same.

Most important - and I think all gurus, teachers, and learners will agree on this one - HAVE FUN.



Andrés Barros