🔤 Learning a new language - Step 2 to becoming a polyglot | Polyglot ABC

So you've taken the first step into learning a new language and starting to become a polyglot. What's next?

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Hello, Hallo (3), Halla, Hej, Hola, Ola, Ciao, Ni hao, Salut (2), Shalom, Privet, Zdravei, 👋🏼 (American Sign Language)!

Remember which language each "Hello" is from? :)
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The first step "🔤  Learning a new language - Step 1 to becoming a polyglot" into learning a new language and becoming a polyglot was obvious right?

The second step…

Commitment!

You've got to dedicate time each day to internalize and absorb a new language(s)! And that's actually quite easy, since you can even combine other activities while learning a new language!

I ended the previous blog post with a hint about which times you can dedicate to your new language learning… some time in the morning, some during the day, and some at night. More specifically, some time in the morning before leaving the house, any time during the day, and some time right before going to bed.

Let's break down when, where, how and combined with what, you could do this new language learning routine…

In the morning, when getting out of bed, you can have your new word or sentence of the day printed out/written down on a piece of paper… you can also have it as a note/text file on your laptop, tablet or smartphone… just any medium which you can easily pick up and look at when waking up. And that's all you have to do in the morning… LOOK AT your new word/sentence for the day!

Now, obviously, you'd have to memorize what you're looking at as well. How you do that is up to you… but here are some tips:

— As mentioned in the previous blog post, intensely read the list… left to right, right to left, top to bottom and vice versa. Say the words out loud, or if there are other people in the house that you don't want to wake up, just whisper. Try to see connections or oddities between words from different languages (one of the reasons you should be learning multiple new languages at the same time instead of just 1 ("🔤  Learning multiple new languages simultaneously, and not just one at a time (polyglot or not)"), and the reason why you should have it all written down/in a text file)
— Still in the morning, you can recite the list while in the shower, in the bathroom, while brushing your teeth (obviously while brushing your teeth you would just recite it in your head 😉), while making breakfast, while dressing etc. As you can see, you aren't taking extra time to study, you're just using the time you're already spending on your daily routine, to sneak in some memorization of a new language… AND incorporating your new language learning into that routine!

[~ In truth, you are taking an extra 5 minutes to READ the list just after you woke up, but since it is a list that you can take with you, you can even combine those 5 minutes with your morning bathroom visit, tooth brushing, or straight up wandering around the house while waking up ~]

During the day, at any time that you're sitting or standing around waiting, not having anything in particular to do… like: a boring moment at work, waiting for the coffee machine to pour out hot water, waiting at the bus stop, during public transport commute, waiting for your food to get done, waiting for your favourite show to start (or just before you start watching if you have your shows on demand)…

at all these moments, you can either pick up your phone/tablet, or better, if the environment allows it, grab a pen and paper… and WRITE DOWN/TYPE OUT the list (on a recent train trip, I just started scribbling on a newspaper that was on the train :) ).

Scribbling some 🇨🇳 Mandarin Chinese sentences on a newspaper found on the train while commuting 😀

And like I've said before, you can do this by just copying your list in front of you, trying it off the top of your head, or peek while writing if you're not sure. The main point is that you're ACTIVELY writing/typing the list! (And again, this isn't time you're taking away from anything else, it was already idle time, so you can now just use that time more efficiently for learning a new language)

— Still during the day, if you drive, cycle or walk anywhere, then obviously you can't actively write/type while doing so… but you can use that time/activity to recite the list out loud, or whisper if you feel self-conscious. Try to go through the whole list off the top of your head, but don't worry if you've forgotten or missed some… it's not a test, just an exercise.

At night, just before going to sleep, DO spend 10 to 15 minutes on writing/typing the list from the morning, off the top of your head, with occasional peeking (only when you really can't remember certain words) and copying when even peeking isn't enough to help you remember all the words.

Once you finished the list from the morning, make a new list for the next morning ➡️ shorter if you noticed you had to peek/copy a lot e.g. more than 3 words across all new languages combined, equal length if you had to peek/copy just 2 or 3 words, longer if you could remember the whole list or only forgot 1 word.

!!! You only have to make a completely new list every other day !!!
Utilizing a technique called 'spaced repetition', you repeat one list for 2 consecutive days. Don't throw away/delete the list! You'll use it again at certain intervals, which I'll discuss in another blog post.

As you can see, you actually only need to be taking about 15 to 30 minutes EXTRA each day to learn your new words/sentences of the day. All other learning opportunities happen during times that you're already using for something else.

BUT… You DO need COMMITMENT for that… You do need to ACTUALLY use that time to get in the practice. Don't wait for motivation or 'feeling like it'… just DO IT! The more you do it, even when you don't feel like it, and incorporate it into your daily routines, the more it will BECOME a PART of those routines. And before you know it, you won't even have to think about it, or push yourself to it anymore. Just COMMIT yourself to that first push!

Share *your* (new) language learning/polyglot experience in the comments section below:
- Do you think it will be hard to commit yourself to learning a new language?
- What would *you* need to keep a commitment to learning a new language?

Feel free to become a new language learning/polyglot friend on Facebook: Genaro van der Werff


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🇬🇧 GB, 🇳🇱 NL, 🇩🇪 DE, 🇳🇴 NO, 🇸🇪 SE, 🇩🇰 DK, 🇪🇸 ES, 🇵🇹 PT, 🇮🇹 IT, 🇨🇳 CN, 🇫🇷 FR, 🇷🇴 RO, 🇮🇱 IL, 🇷🇺 RU, 🇧🇬 BG, 👋🏼 ASL!

Remember "Hello" for each of these languages? :)
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