Re: [Talk] How to properly learn English(or any other language)
Last time I said I would continue in a week. Well,
I lied LOL.
Continue from last week. After you found out the most commonn words
you are likely to use in English, you should write down each word
in a card. You can do it on a physical paper or as an app on your
phone, use the one you prefer. I am going to describe the method as
if you use the physical method. For each word you write down, you
need to write the translated word in the back. If you are new to
the language, do 50 cards, and do not write down the words you
already know, this exercise is for learning new words. Then every
day, you should go through the cards, and try to recall the meaning
of each word until you can remember the word. It is important you
do this every day, or every other day at the least. Also, this does
not have to take too long each time, at least 10 minute is already
something than nothing, then you should adjust the time to suit
you personally.
I will emphasise this again, it is important that you do this every
day.
As for the reason to do it every day, I am sure you have heard of
the phrase "Practice makes perfect". In fact, this phrase is not
true, "Practice makes habits" is the correct phrase. Perfect in
context implies the right or correct way of doing something. But if
you practise with the wrong method, you will not become perfect but
flawed. On top of that, habits are hard to change, so it is very
important that you do it correctly.
Now I need to explain the science. The technique related to this
phrase is called spaced repetition, there are already scientific
researches done about them, and this technique is very reliable.
So what you are doing with the exercise I mentioned above is that
you are actively inputing the same information to your brain. For
the first few times, you are likely to forget the word quickly,
but as you repeatedly try to recall the word, in a spaced
timeframe, you are making your brain work on establishing the
connection bewteen the word and the meaning of it. And this process
is also converting shor-term memory to long-term memory. It is
easier use a language if that is in your long-term memory. If
you look at people Alzheimer's, they still can speak their mother
tongue, but they may forget the languages they learn later.
Another note, it is also easier to learn something you knew in
mother tongue than a word in new language associated with new
concept. So, say you are learning English word "water", it is a
word that exists in every language, it is also the case that you
can see the object of water, and what you are doing is merely
creating a link between the perceived object of water in your brain
with a new word. And spaced repetition strengthens the link. When
you speak, you are using audio in an attempt to communicate the
idea your brain is thinking at the moment. The audio irrelevant
to the idea, but this is not the point because it is this
representation of an idea we use to communicate every day. And
when you are learning a new word in the new language, if the
idea the word represents did not already exist in your language,
it will be difficult for you to grasp the meaning of it. For
example, you only learn there are germs everywhere when you have
a compulsory education at school or from your parents. So when you
learn the word bacterium, if you have not learnt the idea of
bacterium from mother tongue, you will have a hard time
understanding it because the word represents nothing from your
brain. I know this may sound abstruse but it is not very
important if you just want to know the learning techniques anyway.
Bascially, what I am saying is it is easier to learn a word if
if you already knew the meaning in your mother tongue. And
fortunately, most common words are something you already had the
idea already, even if the word is unique to that language, it is
not that hard to understand.
Maybe next post will be in two weeks. Stay safe!
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