How to learn a foreign language?
Two types of memory.
Passive memory is when you understand the meaning of a word but don’t use it in
conversation with other people. Active memory means you understand a word when, for example,
watching a movie, and you also use it when speaking. The best example of a word stored in active
memory is a dog — it’s simple, clear, and you learned it years ago. It exists in both your passive and active memory.
On the other hand, we hit it off straight away might not be in your active memory. There’s a
good chance you’d say something much simpler, like we started to like each other from the
very beginning. Active memory often consists of simpler expressions you’ve heard frequently —
ones so common that you can’t help but use them. Only after you’ve had several opportunities to
repeat we hit it off straight away will there be a chance that you’ll eventually say it naturally.
The "use it or lose it" rule is also important. If you don’t
hear or repeat this phrase over the next three years, you won’t even passively remember what it means anymore.
How can you get the opportunity to repeat a phrase like “we hit it off straight away”?
You can watch and read a lot. That would be the best way to encounter it again.
But when will you actually hear that phrase again? After two months of watching Netflix? Or maybe after three?
That’s why it’s also worth creating a flashcard for it — to artificially increase the frequency
with which you come across that phrase.
How to train active memory?
To get more and more words into your active memory, you need to speak with someone
in your target language. This could be through lessons with teachers on Verbling.com,
spoken conversations with ChatGPT, working in a company where the target language is used, or living abroad.
It’s also important to keep expanding your passive memory and reviewing it regularly,
because at some point you’ll naturally use a word from your passive memory during a conversation —
and for a while, that word will move from passive to active memory. How long it stays there
depends entirely on your level of exposure to the target language.
If you live in a country where your target language is spoken, you’ll naturally use a word
like escalators more often when chatting with a friend on the street than if you only take
online lessons while living in your home country.
Another important factor is the quality of online teachers. One teacher might never correct
you, while another will suggest a more accurate word when you’re describing something.
For example, if you say that in the city you visited last week, teenagers were hanging around
the buildings and it felt unsafe, a good teacher will suggest the verb loiter:
A group of teenagers were loitering near the entrance.
To remember this word better, it’s best to add it to a flashcard, because it’s rare and you never know when you’ll
come across it again — in a movie, during an online lesson, or even in real life if you live in the target language country.
Do you have to live in the target language country to learn the target language?
That’s a very good question. Of course, it’s not really necessary, but it could be
quite helpful. Simply staying in a foreign country won’t do much by itself, since
you can watch Netflix or even local TV in other languages just by changing your IP
address. However, living in a country where your target language is spoken gives you
the chance to attend local meetups from sites like meetup.com. Local television will
also be more accessible than through IPTV. Another option would be getting a job there — if you have the time for it.
The main difference, though, is the opportunity to meet and talk with other people, for example through meetup.com.
Should you watch video content with subtitles or without?
I believe that for the first 3–4 years, you should comfortably watch something
like Netflix with subtitles. Of course, I mean subtitles in the target language —
for example, if you’re learning English, watch Netflix in English with English
subtitles. This way, over time your understanding of movies will reach 100%,
and by pausing the video when you encounter an unfamiliar word and translating
it on your phone using Google Translate, you’ll build a strong vocabulary.
It’s helpful to take notes somewhere — for example, on this website in the form of
flashcards. After 3–4 years, turn off the subtitles. Your comprehension might drop
to around 80%, and you’ll suddenly notice that you’re no longer writing down new
words from movies, because you won’t catch or understand them.
However, at that stage, what matters more is practicing understanding people speaking
at different speeds, with background music, and in various accents. Eventually,
you should aim to reach a natural state — after all, in your native language, you don’t watch anything with subtitles.
Different accents within the same language resulting from geography.
Within a given language — such as English, Spanish, or Portuguese — pronunciation varies
depending on where someone lives. A person from Brazil speaks differently from someone in
Portugal. Learners of English know this best, especially those who studied in their home
country. Textbooks usually teach the standard accent spoken by some people around London;
however, London today is such a multicultural place that you’ll probably encounter accents from all over the world.
Unfortunately, if you’ve only learned one accent at school, you’ll face serious difficulties
when you find yourself in Ireland, Yorkshire, Liverpool, or even in another city relatively
close to London. On top of that, pronunciation — and sometimes even vocabulary — differs in
the U.S., Australia, and so on.
Conclusion: if you’re learning a foreign language by watching Netflix, try to watch movies
from different countries where your target language is spoken.
If you move to a country with a specific accent — for
example, Ireland — you simply need to watch a lot of local television.
Summary of what to do to learn the target language.
Talk to teachers on Verbling.com for one hour a day, or in any other way you prefer.
Watch Netflix or another platform for one hour a day, following the guidelines from the paragraph
“Should you watch video content with subtitles or without?” Create and review flashcards to give
yourself extra exposure to rare words — the kind you might only come across in movies months later,
by which time you might have forgotten them again. This is the minimum plan.
You can expand the plan by traveling to and working in a country where your target language is
spoken, if you have the opportunity and it’s useful for your goals. You can also extend it by
exploring the websites listed at the bottom of the section “Summary of the recommended websites
mentioned above and others.”
Everything depends on your goals — whether you want to learn a foreign language well enough to
pass an exam, or whether you want to live in a foreign country and feel as comfortable there as
in your own. The second goal is quite ambitious, so consistency and regularity are key. You’ll
only achieve consistency if you do things in the target language that you actually enjoy.
That’s why I don’t recommend reading books — I personally prefer Netflix over books. Your
teacher should also be someone you enjoy talking to, who doesn’t stress you out, and who is
pleasant to interact with. Do enjoyable things in your target language, not things you have
to force yourself to do. Only activities that bring you pleasure will make you practice regularly and willingly.
Summary of the recommended websites mentioned above and others.
Verbling.com - for practicing active memory — that is, speaking with teachers;
Netflix, YouTube - for practicing passive memory — that is, watching content with subtitles in the
target language to expand your vocabulary, or without subtitles to improve your listening comprehension skills;
GoGetC2.com - a simple platform to log new words or expressions, view them in a table, and practice understanding;
Meetup.com - a website that allows you to join meetups with
people from the country whose language you’re learning, if you’ve decided to travel there.
Since the basic rule of learning is don’t do things that bore you, I believe that
using the websites mentioned above is perfectly sufficient. However, if you want to take exams
such as the Cambridge ones, I can recommend two more links (for learners of English):
https://engxam.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@tothepointenglishwithben
. — make sure to copy that final dot at the end of the link.
( his courses are on ttp-exam-academy-ben.thinkific.com )
If you don’t live in the country where your target language
is spoken but want to increase your exposure to it, you can also read for an hour
a day. Example websites for English include:
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/
https://www.bbc.com/