How to Actually Learn a Language
Hint: not with Duolingo...
I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse.
-Charles V
I often tell people that nothing has changed my life quite like learning a foreign language. It might sound hyperbolic, but it’s true — in a scarcely foreseeable twist of events, I’ve seen Charles V’s quote reflected in uncanny ways in my own life. I’ve worshipped in Spain, married an Italian, done business with Frenchmen, and learned just enough German to speak to my horse (“willst du den Apfel?”). Admittedly, however, my terrestrial domains are far less expansive than Charles V’s continent-spanning empire ever was.
But despite that small inconvenience, the point still stands: learning a foreign language opened up opportunities for me I never dreamed possible. And I don’t mean just economically speaking — language introduced me to authors, artists, and thinkers I never would have discovered in the English-speaking world.
For anyone who desires to discover exotic worlds and different cultures, learning a language must be a top priority. The only question is, how do you do it?
Today, I’m pulling from my nearly two decades of experience to share what I’ve learned about language learning. To be clear, there aren’t going to be any magic bullets or secret tricks — what I’m sharing are simply concrete principles and practical wisdom to help you stay consistent in your efforts, no matter what language you want to learn…
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Set Expectations
The first thing to do is to set your expectations for what it actually means to learn a language. There are several ways of doing this, but I’d simply break it down into two categories: time, and scope.
Let’s start with scope: when you say you want to be fluent, what kind of “fluent” do you want to be? Most people’s “fluency” is domain specific, and never all-encompassing — just because you can hold casual conversations doesn’t mean you can understand rap lyrics, medical terminology, or the political/cultural charge of certain terms.
Your “fluency” in a language is bound to be domain specific. For example, although my overall vocabulary in French is generally more extensive than that of my Italian, my knowledge of everything baby-related (diapers, cribs, pacifiers, etc.) in Italian is far greater than it is in other languages, including at times even English!
It’s healthy to define the scope of the areas in which you do want to be fluent, such as in casual conversation, medical related terminology, or your specific professional field. In doing so, you’ll allow yourself to come to peace with the areas in which you aren’t fluent, such as when visiting the mechanic, understanding cultural references in song lyrics, or being able to read 19th century novels.
Lastly, a note regarding time: there are tons of videos online with misleading titles such as “I Learned Italian in 7 Days.” Whatever you do, do not take these seriously. No matter how compelling these videos look, there is always something the content creator is hiding, such as which languages they grew up speaking, or how many languages they’ve already learned. And, in almost every case, they are trying to sell you something.
For a more accurate look at how long it’ll take to learn a certain language, the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has classified foreign languages into categories based on the time it takes for native English speakers to reach “Professional Working Proficiency” (equivalent to B2/C1 on the CEFR scale). This is far more realistic and can help you set healthy expectations.
Immerse Yourself
Now, let’s dive into the practical ways of learning a language. First and foremost among them is full immersion, though this is often difficult to achieve. Money is the main impediment, since personal travel, study abroad programs, and intensive language learning retreats typically don’t come cheap.
But let’s say you do get the opportunity to go abroad for a month to learn. Even here, many people fail to take advantage of their opportunity. They think that simply living in a foreign country means you will learn the language. Let me assure you, it does not.
In my experience, a language is learned by forcing yourself to think in it, and every time you revert back to your native language you disrupt this pattern. Admittedly, I was a bit pedantic about this starting out: my first time abroad, for example, I hardly texted any of my English-speaking friends and didn’t listen to music, watch a movie, or read a book unless it was in the target language.
It’s intense, but it works, and I know this because I’ve experienced the other approach as well. For example, despite the fact that I live in Italy and am married to an Italian, the foundations of my Italian are much weaker than those of my Spanish or French. Why? Because the whole time I’ve lived in Italy, I’ve worked in English. I’m not complaining, of course, because I love my job — but I can definitely tell that living and working in your target language, to the near exclusion of your native language for a time, definitely reaps benefits.
But shy of going abroad for full immersion, what can you do to learn a foreign language? What are the small, practical steps you can take everyday to help reach a solid level of conversational fluency?
Part of the answer is to stop using Duolingo, and get back to basics. In my experience, way too many people overcomplicate language learning with apps and “optimization” — but the best way to learn is to keep it simple, and focus on just a few core principles…