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

  1. Learn every day – Don’t batch in one go. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
  2. Don’t neglect any skills – especially speaking!
  3. Learn in a way that’s fun for you – it shouldn’t be boring!
  4. Habit is everything – don’t rely on motivation alone
  5. Avoid comparison to others. Only compare yourself to the past version of yourself. 
  6. 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?

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