This is probably the most asked question. And I will be totally honest now and give you some advice on how you should and how you shouldn’t study.
The ideal way of self studying a language
doesn’t exist. Or at least I haven’t found it. But there is no method which will give you a 100% success. You know that everybody is different and everybody learns different. I have made my self study plan (here) for Korean. In my opinion, it works awesome for me, and I think that I’ve created this one with common sense. But in this post I don’t want to go deeper in “which plan should I follow”. I’d like to focus on the methods you might use to achieve your goals.
Let’s divide it into 4 (and optional 5) sections: Vocab, grammar, listening speaking (and eventually signs).
Learning vocab is the foundation of your language. You can’t build a house only by a plan. You must also have the bricks. But I have some common “mistakes” people make. Here comes my list of what to avoid:
Long study sessions once a week
Reading the word 500x to think you might learn it this way
Letting the learnt words on the side
Not saying the words out loud
Making vocab studying monotone
Learning the unuseful vocab you’ll probably never need
Those are so important points. In several books I’ve seen that the brain learns faster if it repeatedly does something. Also if you don’t use the things you’ve learnt after a certain time again, you might forget it again.
Try those things instead:
Study sessions over the whole week
Reading, writing and listening to the word
Make a record of the words you want to learn and listen to it
Once in a while repeat also your “good” words
Say words out loud which are complicated
Make studying fun (Use flashcards, post its, make it comfortable, make yourself a tea)
Learn vocab which is very frequent or which you will need specifically for your needs
Grammar is a rather hard discipline. Also here common mistakes:
Learning the rules by heart and thinking “that’s it”
Only practicing the sentences in your book
Not making sentences on your own
Letting it be only because you’ve understood it once
Giving up on it just because it seems hard
Try to decode it before actually read the explanation.
Try to learn the sense behind the grammar.
Use what you’ve learnt and build your own sentences. You’ve got problems? Means that there are some points you should work on.
Grammar isn’t boring (okay sometimes) but you can make it fun if you use also like with vocab stuff you like. And also: If you always connect studying grammar with something what makes you happy, for example always make a smoothie if you study grammar, than it will also have an input on your studies. More about that in the next post)
Keep going and master the challenge
Sometimes it’s also good to take a break and try the next day. It might be that you’ve overworked yourself
And here again the top mistakes:
Not focusing on listening
Or listening to very fast music and complaining how stupid you are
Listening to “non real language”
If I say that a language must be spoken, it also means that there are people which listen. And that means that you also have to study the other side of the language. So many people neglate this part. This was also my mistake in Japanese. But I have some good replacements:
Watch TV soaps or dramas (the most natural language)
Start from the very first day
Don’t get mad. It’s hard to understand things, but you will get better
Celebrate if you’re right
Take notes if you’ve heard something interesting
Listening will get your best friend. It doesn’t only improve your ear but also your writing. Because if you know how the pronounciation changes, you’ll also know how to write better.
It’s hard to speak sometimes, but in this section you can also make mistakes by not even doing anything:
Not speaking from the beginning
Not learning the pronounciation properly
It really depends on the person how fast the progress is in pronounciation, but if you don’t work from the very first day on it, it will get hard for you. Replace those methods by this:
Try to find someone who might correct you
Learn the pronounciation properly
Try to get faster from time to time
Fluency comes where axienty goes (wow I should copyright that)
But don’t try to be perfect
Progress is made by many many little steps taken to get to a higher obstacle. Work smart and make those steps.
The probably hardest part for any Japanese/Chinese learner: the signs. I’ve seen and I’ve done even more mistakes. Use that and learn from me:
Writing a kanji over and over again
Thinking you might get along without signs
Buying course books which tell you how to learn “2000 kanjis in 2 months” or so
Not thinking when learning
Learning only one reading style
Learn a kanji and don’t repeat it
Okay guys. When I say that, please take me serious. You can’t learn 2000 kanjis in 10 days IF you don’t have a super brain. And I think it’s okay. Not everybody is talented, but there are other ways. And one way isn’t writing it 50 times per hour. Of course you have to write it, but not so many a day that you might get sick of them. And only because you’ve learnt one kanji, doesn’t mean that it will last for your whole life in your brain. Replace by:
Combine different methods
Buy if you are 100% sure you NEED that and if you’re not so sure about it, think while on work “Is it worth it that I am working for it now?”
Use what you’ve learnt. The feeling is so rewarding
Also here: Make it funny.
To self study a language it is best to develope his own style. But with some methods it will take you certainly much longer than with others. Try it out and see what works.
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