How to become a faster language learner
Anja is a 29 years old language enthusiast who speaks French, German, English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, and is currently learning Chinese and Romanian on the side. She occasionally writes guest-articles for Teach Pablo, an app that helps you note down and memorize your favorite vocabulary through swipe lists instead of flashcards.
I discovered my passion for languages early on, at school. We had to learn English, then another language (Spanish for me) in our teenage years already. Some would say that my passion came from growing up bilingual (German and French). Well, they are wrong. My brothers both grew up bilingual, and did not develop the same love for languages. The younger one (sorry brother!) even happens to be not so talented.
And then I started studying. I was given the opportunity to learn a new language. I went for Russian. Since then, I managed to reach a very good level and I have also learnt Portuguese. I am currently working on my Chinese (intermediary) and Romanian (just started).
A lot of people ask me whether I have studied languages. Or if I am working as a translator or something. Well no, not at all. I studied business, worked hard in finance, and am currently trying to build up a business online. So, this all had to be on the side. But I sure did invest a lot of time and some money in this passion. Just like someone would for piano, painting or photography.
Another question I get a lot is — “where does your talent come from?” And I’d say, like most talents it’s a matter of time and persistence. The 10,000-hours rule applies here, like everywhere else. But there is one thing that I would truly focus on if I were starting all over again and wanted to learn a couple of languages quickly: open-mindedness.
An open mind can swallow the world
I feel like what made me a faster learner than my peers at school was the fact that I was accepting very quickly that things could be so different in another language. I would not resist and ask — “but why on earth do the English say a blue car, and not a car blue, like they would in French?”.
Well, of course there are some things you should try to understand in a new language. I believe the grammar is a language’s structure and most of the time there is a logic behind. But sometimes, there is simply nothing to be understood. It’s just the way the language is. And you should accept it, if you want to move forward quickly.
Luckily, I am convinced that you can train this open-mindedness early on and over time. It works best when you listen a lot to the language. Because this will help you hear words and structures that you may be resistant to over and over again. You will get used to them. They will become reality to you and you will stop fighting them sub-consciously.
Now, once you have built this open-mindedness, what’s that thing that will make you learn a language quicker than others?
It may sound trivial, but I would say vocabulary. A lot of vocabulary. Funnily enough, overtime I have developed the ability to tell right away whether I will memorize a word quickly or not. For instance, I am currently learning Romanian. And for no apparent reason, I could memorize ușor (i.e. simple) right away (and it is not close to any word I know) whereas I am having trouble remembering întrebare (i.e. question). Why is that? I have absolutely no clue. But I could feel it right away. When I first heard both of these words, I knew that ușor would be easy for me to remember, while întrebare would cause me some trouble.
I would advise you to train yourself into spotting your resistance to a word or a rule in a language right away. If you are practicing mindfulness, this will surely help you a lot. Be cleverer than your brain, if I may say. When you are trying to memorize new words, take a step back and ask yourself whether it somehow sounds natural to you, or whether you may have trouble with that one. Filter out, and make sure you learn 10 difficult (from your perspective) words a day. The easy ones that you remember well, you can remove from your list right away. Once you have tons of vocabulary, it goes without saying that you will understand conversations better, and will start to be able to express yourself. This usually is so encouraging that you keep learning.
So there you go. Want to learn a language quickly? First, be mindful and open-minded. Observe yourself while you are learning, understand your strengths and weaknesses, so that you can spend more time on the latter. Then, focus on new vocabulary. Become less and less resistant to new words. Dive into the new world without fighting it. And use every word you are learning actively.
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