Learning languages is a difficult process for anyone. Some people seem to have a special knack for learning languages, seemingly picking it up without a sweat. I, like most people I'm sure, often wonder how they can do it so easily. I've asked a few I know who are fluent or near-fluent in their second language the secret or key to their language prowess. One thing is for certain....none of them are apathetic. Indeed, they are the antithesis of apathy. They are usually the kind of folk who need to be crowbarred away from their second language to be separated from it. Indeed, these people are passionate and curious. Both passion and curiosity are unteachable, I believe. Only inspiration can work to rouse those in an individual. Where you get that, well...the possibilities are endless. Inspiration, however, can be short-lived. I know first-hand since that is a constant struggle of mine.
Learning Japanese has been a love-hate relationship for me. I love it because I enjoy expressing myself in another way and enjoy communicating with people whom I never thought possible to communicate with. And I hate it because, well...it's hard, duh! It's been the proverbial uphill battle for me. I began a year and a half ago, and since then relying soley on self-teaching methods. What are self-teaching methods, you ask? Well, it depends on the person. But usually, I surmise, that most people's self-teaching method, is a just a hodgepodge of "What the hell am I doing?!" with a little "How do I say that in x-language?" and a great deal of jumping from textbook to textbook who's teaching method is very similar. Without organized structure, we are often felt as if we are left in the dark. And that's how I've been feeling lately.
So, the purpose of this blog is to teach myself Japanese by learning Japanese and learn Japanese by teaching Japanese. Hence the "double" before "teach" in the title. But also, I will use this blog, and use my superb "mastery of English" (
or having been lucky enough to be born in an English speaking country and half-paying attention in school skill) to complement my current job as an English teacher, and teach English to beginner/intermediate level Japanese. So, the blog's method is two-fold and it's goal is two-fold. Again, hence the "double".
As for the most effective way to learn (now finally addressing the title of this post!). That is a question I hope to answer as this blog and my learning/teaching progresses. But I think that most effective way is more than simple trial and error and see whatever works. That way is a akin to the self-study method, and it got me nowhere. But I will be approaching this much like a scientist would. By having a hypothesis, and performing experiments and tests and trial after trial to reach my ultimate conclusion. Hopefully, as this blog develops, my conclusion will come into view.
My hypothesis: Groups and Over-time repetition
Why learn things in groups?
We remember things in groups because the associations are easy to "jump to" in our mind. It's easy to think of words like "hot" and "cold" together just like it is easy to think of more advanced vocabularly like "construction" and "destruction". Likewise, it's easy to remember words like "sink, faucet, nozzle, tub, conditioner, soap" because those items are found in the same location. Also, learning similar sounding words like "dystopia" and "dysentery" can help us remember as well as figure out parts of words like "dys" (meaning "ill" or "bad"). Furthermore, when we learn parts of speech in groups (like we do when we are growing up), it becomes harder for us to make mistakes (for example, remembering the words "He thinks..." together and "I think..." together. Learning things in groups is the natural way our brain works, I believe, and is the most effective way to learn a lot of vocabuarly and grammar quickly.
Why over-time repetition?
Too often at school we have studied and crammed a list of words, or events and dates, etcetera, memorizing them all completely for the next day's test, but then as soon as that test was over, our brain's hit the reset button, and all the information was flushed away. Sound like you? Good, it should, since that is the way most students study and the way most education systems encourage us to learn (which isn't learning at all!) The problem with this, is not that our memory can only take in a little information at a time, but for anything to be impressed into our heads, it must gradually put in. Over time we memorize. I think it is better to see and hear a word four times over the course of a few weeks or months than it is to study and go over a word 100 times in a day. Our brains must have time to shut down (sleep) and save the files over a period of time. Think about it, have you ever had to study the words "recalibrate" or "nymphomaniac"? Are those words used a lot in daily conversation? I think not. Yet, somehow we memorize them because they pop up from time to time in any given situation.
So, as this blog develops out of nativity, I will post more rants in the future. Until then, please enjoy!
