Language Learning Blitz. How much can you do in a week?

You have one week before you need to communicate in a foreign language. You are traveling somewhere, you have to meet an important client, you are trying to impress someone you have a crush on, or you have simply set a challenge for yourself. Assuming that you have never studied the target language, how much progress could you make?

Well, firstly, let’s acknowledge a few things. You will not learn the language in a week. You will not be fluent in the language in a week. Do not believe the videos you see on YouTube or articles promising you language mastery with some incredible technique in such a short time. That’s just rubbish. No amount of daily study for a week adds up to sufficient time to master a language. No way.

Secondly, how much progress you can make also depends on your experience with language learning. If you already speak a few, if you are familiar with the grammatical structure of some languages, with the language learning process, you will make more progress faster. If this is the first foreign language you are learning, it is going to be difficult. As my father quipped: “The hardest thing is to learn the first six languages. It gets easier after that.”

Thirdly, do you have any experience in this language? Did you try to study it before? Is it close to the languages you are fluent in? That will influence the outcome.

Finally, remember, the best thing you can do is hire a coach. Getting a professional to guide you through the process when you have such a tight deadline is always a good idea.

But even if you cannot find or afford a coach, realistically speaking, you can make solid progress on your own. If you can, within a week, complete the following, you can reach the A2 level. Of that, I am sure. You can prepare for a specific conversation or even a couple of more or less standard interactions. You can “survive” and even enjoy a trip. Who knows, it might be a beginning of a langue journey that will last a lifetime.

Let’s dive in.

It is useful to start with some research. You need to understand what you are getting into. What alphabet or script does the language use? What does it sound like? In which countries is it spoken? Are there significant differences in pronunciation and vocabulary in the versions of the language spoken in different places? If so, which one are you going to study? For example, if your target language is Arabic, there is a significant difference between the Classical Arabic, Iraqi, Lebanese, Gulf, or Maghreb dialects. Even native speakers from different parts of the Middle East may not be able to understand each other unless they switch to Modern Standard Arabic. If you aim at Portuguese, European and Brazilian Portuguese sound quite different, though still is quite similar.

Then:

• Clarify your goals. Make them specific. If you don’t have a particular conversation or a trip to aim at, you could try a language test after you study for a week.
• Decide which language manual you will use. Any manual would do at this point. If your mother tongue is English, you can try Benny Lewis’ Language Hacking series (available for French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Mandarin) or a Pimsleur course for example.
• Getting dictionaries is no longer a problem, thanks to the Internet. But try to also find a frequency dictionary for your target language. If you cannot find a frequency dictionary, a good phrasebook will do.
• Download a good app on your phone for your target language. My preference is Babbel (available in 14 languages)
• Select a beginner-level podcast, for example, language 101 or coffee break languages
• Select a beginner-level channel on YouTube. My preference is Easy Languages.

Next, set specific daily targets, for example:

• Go through the manual (divide the book into 7 daily portions);
• Learn 1,000 most common words (150 a day);
• Finish Babbel’s Newcomer and Beginner levels;
• Listen to 1–2 podcasts a day;
• Watch 2–3 Youtube videos a day;
• Prepare scripts for 1–3 expected conversations

And so on.

Pay attention to:

• Pronunciation. Listen to how the language sounds, imitate, practice.
• Grammar. Don’t overdo it. Focus on essentials, most importantly, the sentence structure and how some basic phrases are shaped. By day 4 or 5, aim at understanding the use of the present tense and perhaps simple past and future tenses.
• Vocabulary. Try to learn the words in context, as part of phrases or even sentences, rather than separately. In addition to the survival phrases (including the very important — I don’t understand), learn the basic numerals (say, up to 100), the vocabulary related to greetings, directions, colors, things you eat, things you wear, transportation, your day. Learn the most common verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
• Speaking. This is the key. Prepare for typical conversations. The first one would be introductions, talking briefly about yourself, where you are from, where you live, what you do for a living, your hobbies and interests. Learn to ask some of the common questions to ask your counterpart some of the same things. You could prepare for an experience of having dinner with a native speaker, shopping, a meeting on a particular subject. This is where a coach, or a chat buddy on social media, or a specialized app, like italki, would be useful. You would get immediate feedback about how you sound, what you are getting right and what is wrong. You need someone, ideally, as of day one.

That is it. This is not going to insure you from problems. You will not understand things. You will not be understood. You will be misunderstood. That is perfectly normal. Ah, yes. Don’t forget to learn the sentence — I have been studying this language for only one week. :)

Once you tackle your challenge, if you enjoy the language, then keep at it! Language learning is a long-term process. You need to give it time. There are so many things you can only discover over a long period of exposure and study. If you decide to pursue the language beyond one week, check out my article Learning Languages — the only article you need to read.

Good luck!