But an English classmate struggled quite a bit with them. The second is that learning a foreign language is a fairly personal process-everyone naturally learns some words or topics easier than others, therefore a class is not going to be able to address each student’s personal needs as well or in a timely fashion.įor instance, when I took Russian classes I found verb conjugations to be simple because I had already learned Spanish. The first is that the class moves at the pace of its slowest student. It means nothing to me, so it is less likely to stick with me.Ĭlasses Suck and Are an Inefficient Use of Time and MoneyĪll things considered, you get a really poor return for your time and effort in group classes.
Whereas I can blow by that same word 20 times with flashcards, and even though I may get it right, I haven’t actually practiced implementing it. So, for instance, if I look up the verb for “to complain” and use it in a sentence with a new friend, chances are I’m always going to associate that word with that specific interaction and conversation I was having with her. I believe the reason is that our minds place more priority on memories which involve actual human and social experiences, memories which have emotions tied to them. I’m no linguistics professor, but in my experience, staring and memorizing a word in a book or with flashcards 100 times simply does not stick the same way as being forced to use a word in conversation a mere two or three times.
The second reason is that language is something that needs to be processed, not memorized. 2 I don’t care how cool your study guide is, you’re going to be far more invested and motivated to communicate with a live person in front of you than a book or audio program on your computer. 1 An hour of conversation (with corrections and a dictionary for reference) is as good as five hours in a classroom and 10 hours with a language course by yourself. If there’s a “secret” or “hack” to learning a foreign language, it’s this: hours and hours of awkward and strenuous conversation with people better than you in that language.
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