Reflecting on the Last Two Years of Language Learning

Reading an article from a language learning website called "Fluent in 3 Months" by Benny the Irish polyglot has made me think about the language learning strategies I have been using for the last 2 years. Being out of school where language learning was structured, I felt the need to try out a few different methods of language learning. It's good to try different methods of course and pick out elements of each method that seem useful. However I think each language learner has their own tried and tested method and for me it has always been memorizing vocabulary lists.

That's right...memorizing lists!!

It sounds tedious, boring and pointless but it has truly worked for me. Of course I don't mean just looking at a word in a foreign language and then try to memorize its English definition. I of course look at the foreign word used in context. When I've memorized a set of words I move onto a new one but I always make sure I review the words at a set time in the future.

However the freedom I experienced after graduating coupled with the fact that I discovered and had more access to different kinds of learning materials has actually put me off course. I also think I have spent more time worrying about losing ability in a language rather than actually doing something about it.

This is where the previously mentioned article comes in.

The article states the key to language learning is setting small achievable goals. For every foreign language that I intend to use in the future, ie. Japanese, Mandarin, Korean and Cantonese I have to set different goals as my skills in each language vary significantly. In my next post I will write about my major and minor goals for each language.

I think I will just have to come to terms with the fact that I will not be proficient in Korean or Cantonese anytime soon, because if I spend too much time learning these languages, my Mandarin will suffer. I need to get my Mandarin skills up to professional level because I have gotten so far to just stop.

Hopefully sharing my experiences in this blog will help me keep track of my goals.