The 6 Rules of Language Learning
I’ve summarised my years of experience as a language learner and teacher into 6 (and a half) rules.
Just to be clear, I don’t really believe there are any rules in language learning – in fact, there are many ways to learn a language. But for those of you wanting some guidance to work with, I think these are the closest to rules we can get.
The Rules
- Learn every day – Don’t batch in one go. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
- Don’t neglect any skills – especially speaking!
- Learn in a way that’s fun for you – it shouldn’t be boring!
- Habit is everything – don’t rely on motivation alone
- Avoid comparison to others. Only compare yourself to the past version of yourself.
- Immersion doesn’t have to be in the country
Bonus rule: Anything is better than nothing – Don’t worry if you can’t study 4 hours a day like these YouTube polyglots. Just do what you can!
What do you think of my list? Agree? Disagree? Anything you’d like to add to it?