A Review of Language Learning Tactics
I think I agree with Steve Kaufmann (a well known polyglot -- you can google him) that techniques aside, you really need 3 basic elements to learn a language<p>(1) attitude -- being willing to make mistakes (it&#x27;s actually part of the brain rewiring process -- we remember better when there&#x27;s an emotional connection). Also being willing to take the language as it is, and not imposing your own values on it from the get-go (e.g. why are there so many unnecessary cases&#x2F;conjugations? it&#x27;s stupid! -- people who are super-contrarian and judgy probably struggle more... they try to analyze everything but end up not learning anything. It&#x27;s a common attitudinal problem among many otherwise smart people.)<p>(2) constant contact -- you need to spend time with the language in small chunks (e.g. 1&#x2F;2 hour a day) over a long period of time rather than spend a week studying then stopping for several months.<p>(3) ability to notice things&#x2F;distinctions -- this is important because if you cannot differentiate sounds or details, it can be hard to get to a certain level. I believe this ability is at least partly innate; folks who have this ability in spades seem to be able to progress faster. (but I also believe folks who have a growth mindset and put in the work eventually get there)<p>With these elements, one can assemble a combination of  techniques tailored to oneself (everybody learns differently). For me, watching YouTube creators explain local culture is what interests me. Podcasts work for some people, but interesting content doesn&#x27;t always exist in my target language, so I&#x27;m perfectly happy to reject that as technique for acquiring certain languages. Taking classroom lessons actually works really well for me because I like structure, so I do it weekly. Some people like music for learning languages -- it doesn&#x27;t really work for me because I don&#x27;t get to learn intonation (music obscures intonation and vowel lengths).<p>Learning techniques have to necessarily be bespoke because we come at languages with different backgrounds and interests. But I believe the 3 elements above have to exist.<p>In my opinion -- this is only my opinion --  immersion by living in a country is overrated as a technique. It helps for sure, but it really isn&#x27;t necessary. The elements above are what are needed -- without these, even immersion is ineffective. I&#x27;ve met Irish guys living in Barcelona who couldn&#x27;t speak any of the local languages. I&#x27;ve first hand experience living in several places where I never learned the local language because there was always a way around it.