How Do I Study - Tips for Rapid Language Learning I

During my stay in Romania and even before that I learned many tricks that allow for faster language learning. Many of them are inspired by http://www.fluentin3months.com/. Maybe some of them will also work with you, so here is the brief list. Because I promised I will keep my posts short, the list will come in two parts.

1. Use Anki

Or other SRS system. SRS stands for Spaced Repetition Software and it is based on the idea of flashcards. Flashcards are paper cards with a word on one side and its translation on the other. Except for providing these flashcards in a software form that is certainly more practical than the physical ones, SRS also helps you concentrate on the words you have problems with and does not bother you with words you already know. How does it do that? After seeing a word and guessing a translation, you evaluate how well you knew the word (e.g. "very easy", "hard" ...) and based on that, the software will show you that specific card in a few days, or later.

2. Learn outside

Try to sit down behind a desk, open a textbook and study. After a week of doing that every day, you will be so burned out that any next attempt to study will just end up in procrastination. This moment will come for sure sooner or later, but there is a trick to postpone it. Take the book and go learn outside! In a park, on a beach, anywhere. And change places often.

3. Use every moment that would otherwise be a wasted time

Waiting in a line? Travelling in a bus? Take out your book or your smartphone and study. You will not feel nervous to wait and you are actually using that time effectively. These shorts bits of studying are not that tiring for your brain, as studying for long hours. I bought my first smartphone just to be able to use Anki flashcards when I was walking to work.

4. Use italki.com

Or other social network for language learning. At italki.com, you fill what languages you know and how well and which one you are learning. You can find people that want to learn languages you know and can teach you the language you are learning. You can then speak with them via Skype. It also contains a feature called "notebook", where you can write short texts in the target language (a story, sentences to train grammar) and the others can post corrections of your text.

5. Speak

This rule is hard to keep when you are a complete beginner in the language, but it is important to try. If you think the native speakers will not be patient with you, try to find somebody who is learning the language as well. If you are not in the country where the target language is spoken, find somebody on the internet.

If you go out with native speakers, from my experience it is better to go out with just one person, rather than with a larger group, because a single person tends to be more patient with you when you make mistakes. Also, usually you get to speak about "deeper" and more personal topics people are usually shy to discuss in big groups. That forces you to use a more complicated vocabulary.

6. Write

A rule that might not be for everybody, but writing texts helps me immensely to remember words and grammar rules. It is an ideal way to put into practice things that you have just learned. Bit by bit, every day. If you put your text on italki.com, you get a feedback and that encourages you to write on.

7. Read real books, not just textbooks

The problem with textbooks is that they usually contain artificial dialogues and they are booooring. On the other hand, if you read a real book, about something that you like, it will be much more fun. Even though you might end up looking up every fifth word in the dictionary, it is worth it. At the end of the book, you realize there are pages on which you did not scribble any note with a translation of a word and that you are actually reading in another language! In the early phases of learning a comic book might be a good alternative (thanks to Michael Őlvedy for this tip).

8. Watch cartoons

They are fun. And usually, they speak clearly there, using simple constructions.

None of these tricks help unless you put serious effort into the process of language learning. However, they can speed things up.

Romanian Mission: Completed!

After a pause from blogging lasting more than one month, during most of which I was trying to spend every moment studying, the Romanian mission is successfully behind me. In the middle of August I quit in the water park and turned my dorm bed into a battlestation equipped with bunch of books, a dictionary, my mobile phone and the internet connection. I dove into studying.

The C2 exam was awaiting me on 14 of September in Bucharest. On the 13th, I said goodbye to all the people that I became friends with in Constanța and left this city that had become my home for three months. After spending a night at a very nice and cheap Happy Hostel (guys, you were great, I am sorry you are closing down), I went for the test. And I am happy to announce that I passed and am now an owner of the C2 certificate in Romanian!

All these people wanted a certificate! From left to right:
Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, 3× Romania, Spain

Then I was just enjoying. My friend Roman came from Brno and we had a beautiful ride back to Slovakia/Czech Republic through pretty places of Romania. We tasted the nightlife of Bucharest and took some pics in front of the royal palace of Peleș in the Carpathian mountains (they did not let us in due to some exhibition—as if that was more important than us). We spent a very pleasant evening in Brașov, a medieval city with part of the city walls reconstructed and a Hollywood style sign shining over it, passed through Transfagarașan—a mountain pass coming very close to the highest point in Romania—Moldoveanu peak.

Bucharest!

Bucharest: The Unity Square (Piața unirii)

Bucharest: Casa Poporului (The House of the People),
the second largest office building in the world after Pentagon,
Ceaușescus's heritage

Peleș castle

Czech and Slovak tourists in Romanian mountains.
Only socks in the sandals are missing.

The last stop was Sibiu, where we spent another night. Sibiu has a beautiful medieval city center and is becoming one of the most important industry centers in Transylvania. Interesting enough, the hostel in Bucharest was half the price of the hostel in Sibiu (7 euros vs. 12 euros). In Sibiu's hostel, there was a Dutch manager, who lived there for several years and did not really know much from Romanian. That kind of made me feel good about my progress and made up for all those moments when I felt I did not improve at all and that I could not possibly get to the C2 level by the end of the summer.

Then, we set off for home. One thing worth noticing was the tempo of highway building we have seen on our way back. There are huge parts of the Romanian A1 highway that are being built now and by the end of 2013, Romanians want to finish new 550 (!) km of highways. And they are really progressing fast. Might be because of the laws they passed, but it still looks pretty impressive, especially compared to the Slovak tempo of highways' construction.

Anyway, back to the main point. In the beginning of the summer, I set in front of myself a goal. A goal, fulfillment of which I did not really consider probable. I knew it was doable though, so I went for it. From the beginning, I was willing to fail. Failure always have to be an option. For me, it would have been better to have tried and have failed C2 than to have gone for B2 and have won it. But I studied with the idea of success in my mind, and worked my ass off, trying to subordinate my every daily activity to this goal in the last three months. And to my surprise, here I am, C2 in Romanian. A little-big victory of mine that strengthens my believe that anything is achievable and our only limit is our own imagination. I am happy, thankful and keen for more!