On Language: Language Learning as a Hobby
A Rant by Elly
Introduction
Something that I have taken to doing with my recent language learning endeavors is creative-writing in my target language. Even when I know next-to-nothing about a language or have just started learning it, I find that writing is a great way to learn and put my acquired knowledge into practice. The process itself is very grounded and causes me to think about the structures and vocabulary I am using on a deeper level. That being said, I know that not everyone is thrilled by the idea of writing in Chinese after their first week of half-heartedly learning on Duolingo.
The point I’m trying to make, however, is that there are so many ways to engage with your target language. You don’t have to stick with just one method, and you don’t have to use a method that makes you feel lost in the weeds and ultimately causes you to give up. While I do find it important to challenge oneself when learning, that can look like a lot of different things for different people, and people shouldn’t be confined to one approach that may or may not work for them. It can be hard enough to get ourselves to put in the necessary effort to learn a language, so we might as well make it as fun and engaging of a process as possible.
Having Clear Goals & Only Learning What You Care About
One thing I think is important when doing pretty much anything is understanding your goals when it comes to said thing. Basically, “Why am I doing this?” For example, when learning a language, maybe your goal is to learn enough to have a nice conversation with a family member. I’m not saying to manufacture goals, only that you should understand why you want to learn your target language.
When it comes to many languages, there are many areas of study that you could potentially focus on. Needless to say, some of these might not interest you or align with your goals in learning the language. For example, if you are learning Chinese in order to speak with your in-person friends, it’s probably not that important to you that you learn hundreds of Hanzi characters. All that to say, focus on what interests you. If there is something you don’t care about and that doesn’t further your completion of your goals, don’t do it. It’s more important to have fun than to cover every possible subject of learning when it comes to your target language. It’s all about what keeps you motivated to continue your learning.
How to Learn a Language
So, with all the preamble out of the way, how should you actually go about learning your target language? Well, this is the easy part and the hard part. Now that you hopefully understand your goals, everything comes down to sitting down and putting in the work. There are many methods that work for different people, but there are some general tips I can give you.
The most important method that you’ve likely heard about pretty much everywhere is “immersion”. I will try not to rehash what immersion learning looks like too hard, but I will say that I personally recommend reading long-form fiction like novels or playing story-focused video games in your target language. Those are two of my favorite ways to immerse myself in my target language. As previously stated, however, there are countless methods of engaging with your target language. I encourage you to try any methods you can think of. Even if they don’t work for you, you have tried and you can iterate on what does work for you.
Knowledge is Free
Language learning is, and always will be, free. If you at any point feel like you can’t keep learning without making a payment, you are being scammed. This goes for large apps like Duolingo as much as it goes for individual “entrepreneurs” like Olly Richards. So long as you have an internet connection, you can most-likely learn your target language. For many languages, there are hours and hours of free content and media to consume in your target language. That being said, please note that I’m of course not telling you not to purchase content or media in your target language. Buying a novel in your target language is not the same as being sold a course on learning a language in 5 days or some other bullshit. Just try to be vigilant. There is no magic sauce. There is no magic solution. Language learning takes work, dedication, and most importantly, time.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! Anyways, go do something in your target language for crying out loud.