I’ve been thinking recently about the various methods of language learning that I have used over the years. So, I will be writing about a few of them in the coming days mainly as a way to codify what they are and how I feel about them (at the moment).
And, perhaps this will be a useful resource for someone else.
With each method I really have two main things that I use to evaluate the effectiveness:
- Is this a natural way for human beings to learn a language? In other words, is this how we learned our first language(s)?
- Have I found this method to be effective in my own studies? What is my own experience with this method?
Here is a list of the different methods/approaches/systems. As I write about each I will link to them from this list. You can think of this as the “table of contents” for this series of posts:
- High Frequency Word Lists: Memorizing a list of the most frequently used words in a language.
- Studying Grammar: Learning the “rules” of the language.
- Speak from Day One: Using the language from the first day of exposure.
- Mass Immersion: Optimizing exposure to the language.
- Language Class: Being a student in a language class.
- Language Tutor: Hiring a private language tutor.
- Language Hacking: Using tricks of psychology and memory to learn a language.
- Pronunciation: Focusing on identifying and producing the sounds of the language.
- Pimsleur: Using the Pimsleur language program to begin your language project.
I may add to this list as I identify/remember other methods and approaches. But this should be a good start.
I should also mention that I’m currently in a program of studying Norwegian so my process of learning languages is something that has been on my mind quite a bit in the past few months.
Image by Biljana Jovanovic from Pixabay