The Language Learner’s NOT To Do List
To do lists seem like a good idea in theory, but they have one major disadvantage: there is an infinite number of potential to do items. With this in mind, Timothy Ferriss, best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek (and a speaker of 6 languages), recommends “not to do lists” instead. Since they isolate a finite set of behaviors that are getting between you and your goals, they are far more effective than traditional to do lists. This tool applies perfectly to language learning, where most learners waste a lot of time on ineffective methods and bad materials.
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Read the Transcript
Here is a transcript of the above audio, though I accidentally made a few minor changes while reading out the list.
1. Do NOT spend more than 5% of your study time on grammar, translation, vocabulary lists or any other overt information about the language.
Languages are acquired, not learned. And acquisition by its very definition happens subconsciously over time given proper input.Which leads us to number 2.
2. Do NOT spend time on materials that are too difficult or don’t interest you.
Motivation is one of the greatest keys to success in foreign language learning, and motivation’s favorite fuel is interest. There is a wealth of free language learning content available today; you need simply look.
3. Do NOT study in long, infrequent sessions.
Behind motivation, consistency is the most important factor in language learning. If you are strapped for time (and who isn’t?), it is far better to study a little bit everyday than doing marathon study sessions a few times a month. For example, if you only have 2 hours free per week to commit to language studies, it is far better to do 20 minutes per day, 6 days a week than doing the whole 2 hours on one day.
4. Do NOT worry about speaking too soon.
Although oral fluency is certainly the goal of most language learners, it takes the brain some time to assimilate enough input to be able to produce meaningful output. Babies listen actively to the language around them for up to 2 years before uttering a single meaningful word. Adults can get to the output stage much earlier if they follow the advice on this site, but they should not force themselves (or let themselves be forced) to speak before they are ready. This is perhaps the single greatest problem with formal language instruction: students are expected to speak long before they are ready, creating a great deal of anxiety and diminishing the student’s motivation and interest.
5. Do NOT memorize vocabulary out of context.
To have any chance of retaining or using new words, they must be heard or read (preferably the former) many, many times within a meaningful situation. “Narrow reading” is a good way to increase the repetition of key words in a meaningful way.
6. Do NOT try to learn new words, alphabets, ideographic characters or spelling using “rote”memory.
We have 5 senses at our disposal: use them! Integrate taste, touch, smell, sound and movement as much as possible. Use “imaginative memory” to visualize connections, stories, objects, etc. The crazier the story, the easier it will be to imprint in long term memory.
7. Do NOT overly rely on the written word.
Whenever possible, try to listen to a piece first before reading it. This trains you to rely on your ears first, and better follows the natural order of acquisition (remember: you learned to speak your first language long before you learned to read it!)
8. Do NOT look up words before making at least one full pass through each reading or listening material (or each section for longer pieces.)
Only once you have gone through once or even twice, then go back and look up words you don’t know. When you don’t interrupt the “semantic flow”, it’s easier to get a feel for the big picture. And this prevents us word-nerds from getting lost in unrelated vocabulary and new linguistic connections.
9. Do NOT let the “affective filter” put a damper on your language learning.
The affective filter is a fancy word for a simple and intuitive concept: your emotions and psychological state significantly affect your performance in a foreign language (or any skill-based act for that matter.) If you are nervous, angry, hungry, tired, or preoccupied with the fight you had last night with your significant other, your ability to speak well in a foreign language will go down faster than the current stock market. On the other hand, I am sure you have noticed that a few brewskies can significantly improve your ability to converse in a foreign tongue. Why? Because booze (like meditation, exercise, and experience) helps lower inhibitions and boost social skills like verbal communication. If your teacher makes you feel nervous or stupid, fire their ass. If your language partner does not see the logic in your incorrect, but nevertheless intelligent errors, replace them. You will never make any real progress if you are afraid to speak and are not free to make all the wonderfully logical, albeit incorrect, utterances that define both infant and adult language acquisition.
10. Do NOT forget to have some fun!
Language learning takes time, but it needn’t be difficult. If you follow the tips listed above and throughout the site, and approach language learning with a smile instead of a grimace, you too WILL succeed!
Presentation Format
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Translations
Some very kind Foreign Language Mastery readers have taken the trouble to translate the list into their native language. If you would like to translate the list into an additional language, please let me know and I will post the link here.
| German Translation |
| Korean Translation |
| Polish Translation |
I do generally agree with these points, but I think there are a lot of caveats to #1. It seems like it’s become quite fashionable on the Web to criticise traditional language learning methods. If you spent 50% of your time memorising and studying grammar (i.e. ‘learning’), and the other 50% actively engaging with the real stuff (‘acquiring’), I think you’d make excellent progress. 95:5 seems a bit extreme.
Also, I’m not sure about downplaying translation in that way. Translation is a real art and takes a lot of practice to become proficient. If you just want to communicate with native speakers then sure, it’s not that necessary. But I think learning foreign languages without studying translation skills is a real wasted opportunity.
Thank you for your comment. While some criticism of traditional methods may be a matter of fashion, I think the bulk of it stems from a growing realization that all the time and money spent in classrooms produces very poor results for most learners, while more and more are successfully acquiring languages on their own through intensive, self-guided immersion using readily available online (and offline) tools and an ever growing pool of both learner-specific and authentic content.
I have worked in translation and have nothing but respect for the profession (and the skills required to do it well). But it all comes down to each individual’s goals. Not every foreign language learner wants to become a translator; most just want to use the language as a communication tool at work, with friends, or on the street.
In my experience as both a learner and teacher, translation is one of the major impediments to reaching fluency. On the other hand, once you actually reach an advanced level of oral and written fluency in a language, learning to translate will be that much easier.
I agree with most of these, I think this is a pretty good list that will go a long ways towards getting a beginner on the right track in that it does address common mistakes people tend to make, though I would say that at the VERY beginning it’s useful to just rote memorize like maybe the 200 most common words in a language (“is”, “go”, “person”, “he”, “she”, etc.) prior to doing anything else, if you wanted me to point out an exception.
Cheers,
Andrew
Thank you for your kind feedback, Andrew. Memorizing a small set of basic words can certainly be a good way to jump into a new language, and there are many excellent tools to help one do so more efficiently (spaced repetition, Tony Buzan’s “Master Memory Matrix”, etc.). But in my experience, memorization of explicit information lends itself better to the written word, and does little for the ability to understand or produce the spoken language. WIth this in mind, I prefer to get my ears used to the language first, and then back up my listening tasks with reading.
By the way folks, these articles were originally posted years ago and have collected quite a few comments that I am now working to reinstall as I rebuild the site.
John, Great list. As always great stuff and good reminders. I just added this article in my “read more” section of a new ten week email program I have to help people get started. I am excited to send people over to your writing. Glad you got all the bugs worked out too and are back up and running.
Thank you, Aaron. While it is a hassle to rebuild the site, I am taking it as an opportunity to make things even better than before. And please feel free to include excerpts of any other articles you want.
I definitely don’t spend more than 5% of my time studying English formally. Very nice post!
Thank you “Miss Language Learning”.
Thank you John! I agree with all information in this post. I help learners to organize their time, life and learning. So this post is more than helpful.
Thank you very much, Lana! Life is learning, and I think it’s great you help people better manage time and free up more time for learning.
Of course everyday long-term communication with native English speakers on a
multitude of topics is a top priority and a paramount factor for developing good English language skills by learners of English. Exercises in listening, speaking, reading and writing in English that also cover English pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary belong to major English learning and teaching activities. Self-study and practising English on one’s own are
also indispensable, and substantially accelerate success in English. Communication with native English speakers can’t encompass all aspects of mastering English adequately and thoroughly, especially vocabulary, grammar, potential in-depth content of conversations suitable for real life needs of students for using English. It’s possible and effective to practise English (including listening comprehension and speaking) on one’s own through self-check using transcripts, books, audio and video aids. I have created articles for self-study and self-practice of English. One of my articles is below and is suitable for self-practice of English as well. In the past I studied German (including grammar) and I have advanced knowledge of German. So as an ESL teacher I also have extensive experience in learning German.
HOW TO PRACTISE ENGLISH LISTENING COMPREHENSION AND SPEAKING SKILLS.
In order to have good skills in listening comprehension in English and to speak it fluently, a learner should practise listening to audio and video aids in English (dialogues, thematic texts and narrative stories) with subsequent speaking. It is preferable to have English transcripts of audio and video material. I suggest that learners practise listening comprehension with subsequent speaking on a variety of topics and with materials for all levels on a regular long-term basis in the following sequence:
1. Listen to each sentence several times. Alongside listening see and read each sentence in the transcript.
2. Make sure you understand everything clearly in each sentence in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
3. Without looking into the transcript, try to repeat each sentence (say it aloud) exactly as you have heard it. Being able to repeat a sentence means that a learner has remembered its content.
4. Listen to that particular conversation or text (story) in short paragraphs or chunks, say each paragraph aloud, and compare to the transcript.
5. Listen to the whole conversation or story without interruption several times, and try to tell the content of the whole conversation or text (story) you’ve heard. You can write key words and phrases, or main ideas as a plan, or questions on that particular dialogue or text to
make easier for you to convey the content in English. It is important to compare what you’ve said to the transcript.
It is a good idea to record one’s speech on audio aid to compare it with the original audio/video recording. I believe that for practising listening comprehension and speaking in
English it is a good idea to include various practical topics for potential needs of learners with comprehensive vocabulary on each topic. As you know the content of materials matters a great deal. Ready-made thematic dialogues, questions and answers on conversation
topics, thematic texts (informative texts and narrative stories), grammatical usage sentences (in the form of dialogues and texts), and sentences with difficult vocabulary on various topics, especially with fixed phrases and idioms can be used in practising listening comprehension in English.
It’s possible and effective to practise listening comprehension and speaking in English on one’s own this way through self-check using transcripts, books, audio and video aids to provide additional solid practice and to accelerate mastering of English.
LOGICAL MASTERING OF A CONVERSATION TOPIC IN ENGLISH.
The actual conversation process consists of two integral parts: listening and speaking. In my view it is expedient to master a conversation topic in English in the following sequence:
1. Learners listen to and pronounce each sentence of
English conversations (thematic dialogues and narrative texts with
transcripts).
2. Speaking on each conversation topic (imitation of
dialogues (role play), ready-made thematic questions and answers with
helpful content for using in daily life, narrations/telling stories, talking
points and discussions of issues).
3. Learning of additional conversation sentences and
vocabulary from English phrase books, conversation books and general
thematic English dictionaries that provide useful usage sentences.
Making up one’s own sentences with difficult vocabulary for potential
use in daily life.
4. Extensive reading of thematic texts and materials from various sources.
Telling the content of thematic texts.
5. Writing on real life topics.
My idea below may be important to you to improve your English materials.
As
you know word combinations (collocations) in speaking are
unpredictable. There are different word collocations/phrases and synonyms to
convey a thought in English. It’s possible to encompass in ready-made materials a
wide variety of English phrases for each conversation topic. It is a good idea to prepare a potential
list of phrases with sentences on each conversation topic, for example
fixed conversational phrases that do not require English grammar
knowledge (greetings, forms of addressing a person, thanks,
well-wishing, apology, agreeing, disagreeing, emotions, etc.). Practising
English with such materials can help a learner easier choose the most
appropriate word combinations to convey a thought. Multiple
frequent reading of such sentences in English will gradually ensure firm
memorisation of English vocabulary and contribute to developing good
speaking skills. By combining the
most inclusive English phrase books, conversation books, general English
thematic dictionaries, software, audio and video aids and websites you
can create the most practical and thorough content for mastering each
conversation topic in English for all levels including a wide selection
of ready-to-use phrases, vocabulary and sentences for daily use. Your own ready-made materials could be superior to (more helpful than)
any conversation book or a phrase book in terms of useful comprehensive
content and vocabulary.
And on this one, too.
Awesome article! What are your recommended methods of input? Should I listen to audio in a foreign language even if I don’t understand barely any of it?
Thank you, Jack. I recommend audio, video, and text input (in that order of preference) that fits your interests and is not too far beyond your level of comprehension. That is more difficult in the beginning of course (when almost all input will be incomprehensible) but you can help make sense of audio or video input with the help of transcripts and sub-titles. I usually pick podcasts which have transcripts available and then alternate between listening only, listening while reading, and reading only.