How to learn languages in three easy steps

The right frame: There are no "foreign" languages.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't–you're right.

– Henry Ford

You don't, can't, and won't learn a "foreign" language. A foreign language is a language you don't speak. If you speak it, it's not foreign. Even though you don't speak it perfectly, that doesn't make it foreign: You could spend your whole life learning a language, even your mother tongue, without knowing all of its subtleties. It's a perpetual journey. If you don't enjoy it, don't embark on it. There is no foreign versus non-foreign language, there are only various languages, and a level of skill in each.

If you don't want to learn a language, don't learn it. If you want to learn it, then you want to learn it, and you're learning it. That means you love it and are motivated to learn it. That means you enjoy learning it.

Happiness is forgetting to be unhappy. Learning a language is forgetting you don't know it.

There are no "foreign" languages. There are only beautiful languages giving you access to fascinating cultures and means of communicating with great people. You are about to enjoy this great experience: of learning a new language and enjoying every minute of it. It's both a journey and a destination.

The right method: You don't learn by learning, you learn by wanting to learn.

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The classical school system for learning languages is a farce. You don't learn words by learning words. You learn words by putting yourself in a situation where you're curious to learn words.

We're programmed for survival, not learning per se. Learning is a means to an end. If you're unclear about the end, get clear about the end first.

Don't learn tables of conjugation. Get yourself in a situation in which you're curious to know the conjugated verb form. Then, and only then, lookup the conjugation.

Don't learn grammar rules. You don't learn grammar rules by learning grammar rules - your brain will learn them by reconstructing them out of applied cases. In most languages, there are usually more rules, exceptions and special cases than there are actual application cases. You'll find out the proper way of saying things. Once you do, you might be curious about the rules to connect the dots. Check them out then - not before.

The right material: Cultural immersion

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.

– Isaac Asimov

It's quite simple when you think of it. Which language do you speak best? Your mother tongue. How did you learn it, through grammar books? No: through immersion and contextual deduction. It's a mystery to me why anyone would assume you should learn all subsequent languages in any other way.

You learn your first language by being immersed in a cultural context, surrounded by the language and people speaking it. Then, your brain uses contextual deduction to guess meanings of words you don't know yet from context and add them to your mind's ever-expanding "concepts <-> lexicalized concepts" dictionary.

Cultural context is the people you talk to, the movies you watch, the games you play, the books you read, the music you listen to, the language you take notes in.

The first option is the real immersion, where you need the language to survive. That's how you learned your mother tongue.

The second is the linguistic immersion you get when moving to another country, whatever the length of time. The only challenge there (failed by most people) is to stick to this frame, and not revert to some other language whenever you can.

The third option is the cultural immersion you can achieve from home, through books, music, movies, and computer games. Watch a movie, read a book. Think of something you want to say in the language. Lookup phrases whenever you think of something to say and don't know it yet. You'll find out quickly that whole conjugation tables are usually irrelevant. Think of a few common sentences you're likely to say, then check out only those. You'll find out what you really need is first and second person, of the most essential verbs: to be, to go, to want.

To get a kick start, a good method is audio programs. Many podcasts are available for free. This should help you get quickly to The Sweet Spot. This is the first practical phase of the learning.

Your first priority is to get into The Sweet Spot of the language learning curve. This is the spot where you know the language enough so that you can watch movies or play computer games in the language with subtitles in the same language. You're able to deduce most unknown words from context, and you can look up the few words you can't. Basically, you're learning effortlessly. This is the second practical phase of the learning. There is no third phase.

You should enjoy both of these practical steps. The first is the curiosity of sheer discovery. The second is the pride of not needing any learning-oriented material at all, and yet more discovery, combined with making sense of everything, filling the dots, and solidifying all that you already know. These two phases partially overlap and strengthen each other. If you get bored with phase one, phase two should get you motivated. If you get demotivated by phase two because you don't know enough yet to connect enough, phase one should get you in shape.

Enjoy the process, enjoy the journey.

Addenda (2017)

1. I found out afterwards that the great RAW said pretty much the same thing, in different words:

   The human brain is capable of mastering any symbol-system if sufficiently motivated. Some people can even play Beethoven's late piano music, although to me this is as "miraculous" as any feat alleged by psychic researchers; people can learn French, Hindustani, differential calculus, Swahili, etc. ad. infinitum—if motivated. When the first circuit security needs have been reimprinted and second-circuit ego-needs have been hooked to mastering a new semantic reality-tunnel, that tunnel will be imprinted.

2. Regarding the vocabulary needed to get you into The Sweet Spot, 1000 well-chosen words should be more than enough. Duolingo's 3000 words courses can do the trick, although they include too many unneccessary ones (animals, parts of speech, etc.). An approach that seems closer to ours is Language Transfer.