Language Learning Time Management

Learn Fast

29 Apr

On January 16, 2017, I decided to take language learning into my own hands after spending 11 years learning English in school, paying for private tutors, and attending fancy language classes with native teachers, all to no avail. I wished I had spent those hours playing Far Cry or something.

Since then, people have told me that I am "talented in languages." However, the truth is that I simply changed my approach. Two months after taking charge of my own language learning, I passed the IELTS exam with a band score of 7.5. In September of that same year, I attended my first university lecture in English. The following year, I tackled French. This September, I am tackling Spanish.

Apparently, with the right strategy, nobody is hopeless.

The failure of language education is not unique to my case. That's why I want to share with you the system I used to manage my time most effectively and learn one language after another.

A word of warning: I'm going to focus on the time management side of language learning. If you're interested in techniques and all the "how-to"s, please follow the links I have provided.

Time Management 101: How to Waste Years and Not Get Results

Here's the rule of thumb: anyone who offers "once a week" language classes is a fraud. This applies to private teachers, online tutors, schools, colleges, universities, and proficiency test prep courses.

Let's get serious. You can't learn anything by showing up for your three-hour language class once a week. Dragging it out is counterproductive. Only intensive short-term learning effort, or ultralearning (to borrow Scott Young's wording1), pays off.

Ultralearning is a total immersion. For me, it translates into three to six months of intensive self-training (the time frame depends on the language, read more here). And by intensive training, I mean a 20-hour-a-week language learning marathon.

Spine-chilling?

True. But after this linguistic O-course, you become an independent speaker of another language. It's more than worth it.

Start by Building a Habit

Immersion is based on two things: time and focused effort. As a full-time student with a part-time job and a side project (which you're reading right now) who spends half of her life commuting to university and back, I'm familiar with the desire to have at least 30 hours in a day.

Adding three hours of language learning to my daily agenda in such circumstances is realistically impossible. So how do I manage to introduce a new language every year?

The answer is simple. I plan for learning another language, just as I would plan for going on vacation. For starters, I wait for the end of an academic year. I calibrate my availability at work. Finally, I reschedule all other tempting projects so that I can fully focus on one thing: learning a language.

However, I don't sit idle while my language learning project is on hold. Quite the opposite. During this time, I gain momentum by building learning habits.

Here’s how it works.

Learning Mode #1: Autopilot

After reading The Power of Habit, I discovered great pleasure in exploiting my brain's innate drive for repetitive behavior. In this book, Charles Duhigg explains how we can rewrite our cognitive patterns so that tough tasks like working out, reading, or learning a language become automatic.

Habit is what sets language learning on autopilot. It ensures that we do at least the bare minimum, regardless of the day of the week, how tired we are, or the magnitude of an earthquake near our house. That's why exploring the potential of this "autopilot mode" is the first step in language learning time management.

I build habits around all sorts of tasks that can be done on the go. Learning vocabulary comes to mind first, but there are many other ways language learning can be automated.

You can teach yourself a language while commuting, doing chores, or simply waiting. None of these tasks are cognitively demanding. Thus, you can safely combine them with various language learning activities without the fear of being perceived as a multitasker. (Check out my article How To Build A Bulletproof Language Learning Habit In 3 Steps to see how it can work for you).

Habits can also lighten your daily load. Those three hours of language learning don't seem insurmountable when you know that half of it would be done automatically during the day.

Resources:
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Ultralearning by Scott Young
Tools I use: Beeminder – the only habit tracker app that keeps me accountable

Introduce Deep Work

Habits help you get into a routine. However, these 5-minute attacks on French vocabulary with Memrise while waiting in line at Walmart won't take you far. To teach yourself a language, you have to devote some quality time to studying – and study only.

Unfortunately, the modern world cannot tolerate individuals doing one thing at a time. Distractions are everywhere. Messages, emails, calls, walk-ins – they all scream, "Pay attention to me! Pay attention to me!" and do everything to destroy your laser-sharp focus.

Giving in and checking your WhatsApp while studying a language is a bad idea. Numerous brain scans have shown that multitasking is not something we, as humans, are good at.

Productivity requires focus. And a high level of focus can only be achieved when you cut off all distractions and switch to a mode of deep work.

Learning Mode #2: Deep Work

Deep Work refers to any focused, high-intensity, and distraction-free activity. We owe the idea to Cal Newport, who wrote a remarkable book about the concept (a must-read for aspiring high-achievers of the 21st century).

In language learning time management, you switch to deep work mode whenever the task requires high concentration and deep thinking. I use Pomodoro to time my study sessions and stay productive for as long as possible. During 25-minute Pomodoro sessions, I either read in my target language or engage in pattern recognition to grasp the grammar. With zero distractions, I manage to enter a flow state, do quality work, and advance my language proficiency faster.

Typically, I complete four Pomodoro sessions a day, which amounts to 2 hours of deep work. I spend another hour listening to podcasts while doing random tasks around the house. It makes this daily 3-hour endeavor less daunting.

Resources: Deep Work by Cal Newport
Tools I use:
Freedom – my personal productivity police. It's a distraction-blocking app that makes it impossible to focus on anything other than studying.
Pomodoro Tracker– an online Pomodoro timer at its essence.

Set Up Stakes

Having a well-established vocabulary learning habit is great, but memorizing 30 words a day forever is not. You must know when to stop or switch gears. You must know what your "done" in language learning should look like.

That's why I always set up stakes, following the advice from Tim Ferriss's The 4-Hour Chef (a mind-blowing book that has very little to do with cooking, despite its misleading title).

Setting up stakes means that every stage of my language learning journey ends with a trial.

Learning Mode #3: Trial

A trial is an either-or, win-or-lose situation. It is the key to effective language learning time management.

It revives the fear of losing – something that, by far, has been the greatest motivator for humankind. A trial is always time-bound, meaning that you must achieve your goal by the deadline you set for yourself. It is often social. And, what's crucial, a trial must be "just the right fit": not too easy but not insurmountable either.

My favorite type of trial is taking a proficiency test three months from the start. These tests are costly, so failing one equals flushing $300 down the drain. Who wants to do that?

Passing the trial gives you a comforting feeling of completion. But don't rest on your laurels. There is always more to achieve. There is always more to learn. So keep learning.

Resources:
The 4-hour Chef by Tim Ferriss
How To Set S.M.A.R.T Goals For Language Learning
Tools I use: Beeminder – the only habit tracker app that keeps me accountable.