Published on the 6th of Squid 157 at 5:1:7.
Learning languages is probably my biggest hobby. Here, I will try to outline my main approaches to learning languages. Keep in mind that this is somewhat subjective, and what applies to me will not apply to everyone.
Reasons for learning a language
Many people seem to think that the only reason one learns a language is either to talk to people or for better career opportunities. I generally do not learn languages for either of those reasons – although, the latter is debatable since I’m technically a linguist. I actually hate talking to people and loathe most social interactions. Instead, there are perhaps three main reasons why I learn a language, and not all of them apply equally to every language I’ve studied:
- Media – This is probably the strongest motivator for me when learning a language. If there is some form of media (e.g., music, animation, memes, etc.) that I really like and is only accessible or truly appreciable in another language, then I will be driven to learn that language so I can access and fully appreciate that media. Examples of languages where this was a driving factor include Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, and Indonesian.
- Aesthetics – This is another very strong motivator for me. If I simply like the aesthetic of a language (e.g., its phonology, orthography, grammar, etc.), then I will be driven to learn that language and immerse myself in that aesthetic, similarly to how I might listen to a song I really like on repeat over and over and immerse myself in that song. Examples of languages where this was a driving factor include Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, and Finnish.
- Linguistic curiosity – Often times, I simply like to see how other languages work, and you can only go so far with a meta linguistic approach, such as reading a grammar or formal paper on the language. There are all kinds of fascinating things in languages that can only be discovered by getting your hands dirty and immersing yourself in the system. Examples of languages where this was a driving factor include pretty much every language I’ve ever studied.
Clozemaster
This is the language learning app that I use the most and highly recommend. Essentially, you are given sentences with a word left out, and its your job to fill in that word. This can either be via multiple choice or typing. Alternatively, you can do listening practice where you either type in the missing word after listening to the sentence, or you transcribe the entire sentence after listening to it. Sentences are usually provided based on the language-wide frequency of the words in the sentences, with sentences comprised of more common words appearing first. Additionally, you can make your own collections containing custom sentences, where you have the choice to manually select the missing words or let Clozemaster automatically choose the words for you. Some languages also have a cloze reading mode, where you read articles or stories and fill in missing words in the sentences as you read.
There are several things I really like about this app and its approach to language learning. First of all, I think that learning words in context is the best way to learn new words for several reasons:
- Words are not just definitions nor do they have direct translations in other languages. Words have contexts in which they are more appropriate, often stemming from frequency, specific nuances in the meaning of the word, or specific usages that depend on syntactic, pragmatic, or socio-cultural factors, which can only be acquired through context. When you’re learning a language, you’re not just memorizing words, but you’re learning an entire culture and its system of socially acceptable or socially “expected” communication.
- Context makes remembering words easier in a similar way to a mnemonic. Rather than putting a single form-to-meaning mapping in your brain for each word, you can create a web of form, meaning, and context that all serve to reinforce each other. The context itself becomes the mnemonic.
- Learning this way is more efficient. Instead of seeing a single word-definition pair for each word, you see an entire sentence made up of other words, all of which serve as a review of those other words. While learning new words, you are also constantly reviewing other words at the same time and seeing those words in more contexts.
Another thing I like about this app is the flexibility in learning and the amount control you are given over what you learn. Not only are you able to create custom collections, but you can choose to ignore sentences that you do not benefit from. Likewise, I like having the choice between multiple choice, typing, or listening and transcribing. Normally, for a language that I am really focused on, I will go through new sentences the first time using multiple choice; then, on the first review, I will use typing; and finally, on subsequent reviews, I will go for transcribing the full sentence from audio.
The one other thing I really like about this app is the statistics. Clozemaster gives you full access to the statistics of every day since you start learning a language on their app. You can track everything from how many sentences you’ve learned or reviewed in a day, your overall accuracy, how many sentences you’ve mastered, or even the distribution of sentences you’ve typed as opposed to using multiple choice or listening and transcribing.
Despite all the aforementioned pros, I still have some criticisms of Clozemaster. For one thing, not all of the sentences in their premade collections are mistake-free or natural. Often times, you may find typos or very awkward translations; and while you can edit the translation, you cannot edit the actual sentence in the target language. Instead, you have to start a thread on the forum for that sentence, and at least in my experience for the languages I’ve used Clozemaster for, nothing ever happens after that. Another issue – which to be fair, is something that all language apps suffer from – is the disproportionate care and attention given to the more popular languages. When I initially started using Clozemaster, I was very hopeful that they would continue to update the app at a reasonable rate with more languages, including very rare or unpopular ones. This, however, has not been the case, and despite many, many requests for new languages over the years, the list of available languages has not changed. There is also no transparency in how they choose or add languages, new sentences, etc., which is something that would be really nice to have. Despite these complaints, Clozemaster is still an amazing app – in my opinion, the best language learning app out there – and my only hope is that they do not go the way of enshitification, like Duolingo, prioritizing revenue and retention via highly curated gamification over actual learning, personalization, and providing an invaluable resource for learning low-resource languages.
Chatbots
Chatbots are another great resource for learning languages. They are also highly flexible, and the limit of what you can actually do with AI in language learning may, in fact, be your imagination. I still don’t think that I’ve even begun to fully realize the potential of this technology. The following are just some of the things that I’ve used chatbots for in language learning:
- Chatting and roleplay – This is the primary way in which I use chatbots (i.e., chatGPT) for language learning. Simply open up a new chat and start up a conversation with an entity that never tires, can answer any questions you have whenever you want, and gives you full reign over the conversation. You can even tell the bot how to act, roleplaying certain scenarios or characters, or if you have some basic programming skills, you can use the OpenAI API and make a custom bot where you define the bot’s personality, history, etc. No only can you use this for text-based practice, but you can also use TTS and speech recignition to practice sound-based interactions with the AI.
- Unique story generation – Whenever I want to read a specific story that either doesn’t exist in the target language or I don’t feel like wasting time looking for it, I can just ask chatGPT to make one up on the spot. I like to especially do this before bed sometimes as a form of bedtime story. If you’re up for it, you can then have a discussion with the AI or even have it quiz you on your reading comprehension.
- Looking up words – I also like to use chatGPT as a way to look up words and phrases, providing both in-depth definitions and examples sentences. For example, if I’m reading a book in a target language, I will usually open a new chat with chatGPT with a starting prompt explaining what it should do. Then, as I read the book, if I come across an unknown word, I just type it in the chat and chatGPT automatically gives me a definition or whatever else I need. I can then ask further questions about the word if needed.
- Proofreading texts – ChatGPT can also be a great way to get feedback on any texts you write in a target language. It can point out wording that doesn’t sound quite natural, propose other ways of wording things, and much more. As always, you can also ask the bot for further explanations.
Despite the absolute amazingness of this technology when it comes to language learning, there are a few things to be weary of. Firstly, the model’s knowledge of different languages can be highly variable and depends on how much it was trained on data in that language. If you’re using it to learn a widely spoken language—especially one with extensive online presence—its responses are likely more accurate and reliable. For more obscure languages, I advise extreme caution both with chatGPT’s ability to accurately produce and understand the language and the validity of any detailed explanations it gives about the language. Another thing to keep in mind is that, if you jump straight into using something like chatGPT, how the AI behaves can be limited by your own biases and limited knowledge of the language. For this reason, it’s really important that this isn’t your only resource and that you have plenty of exposure to natural and diverse content.
Textbooks and grammars
I rarely use textbooks and grammars unless I’m learning a language that is more obscure and lacks resources. And even when I use a textbook, I typically will transfer all of its contents to some other medium where I can efficiently review it over and over. For example, when I was learning Burmese, I pretty much compiled every resource I could get my hands on and then combined it all into a Memrise course. There are a few exceptions to this. When I was learning Finnish, a lot of my learning came from the textbook series Suomen Mestari, which is a really great resource for learning Finnish. When I was learning Korean, I at some point started using the Yonsei Korean textbooks starting from volume 3. Additionally, if I’m studying with the goal of taking a language proficiency exam (e.g., JLPT, TOPIK, etc.), then I use textbooks just to make sure I can cover everything that could be on the exam and to acquaint myself with the structure and style of the exam, such as the Shin Kanzen Master books for the JLPT.
Memrise
This is an app I used to use quite a lot before I discovered Clozemaster. Essentially, you learn vocabulary and form “memories” which depricate over time and have to be periodically “watered.” The main appeal of this was the customizability and ability to make custom courses. I still use this app occasionally if I’m learning a more obscure language or a personal conlang and need to make my own resources.
Media consumption
One of the most important parts, especially for passive linguistic abilities (reading, listening), is consuming as much media in the language as possible. In particular, if it’s media that you enjoy, then it can likewise act as a huge boost to your motivation in learning the language and can even replace your usual entertainment in your native language. For me, this typically means watching anime dubbed in the target language, reading manga translated in the target language, watching vtubers and streamers in the target language, or playing games in the target language. Of course, some languages have more media than others, and I generally struggle with continuing to learn a language once I’ve exhausted all the content that I personally can enjoy in that language.
Writing fiction and journals
This is someting I do for languages I’m more serious about learning or have a strong affinity for. I just sit down, open a blank document or my diary channel on my private Discord server, and just start writing in the target language. Writing journal/diary entries are a bit easier, especially if you’re simply describing what you did during the day, but they get very repetitive and very boring very fast. Because of that, I generally try to write more about abstract thoughts or just outright fiction.
Imaginary friends and talking to yourself
I may not be especially fond of talking to others, but I really enjoy talking to myself or pretending I’m talking to someone who doesn’t exist. Of course, this means I don’t actually get any feedback on my language production, but sometimes that’s okay, as it allows you to use the language freely under no pressure to be judged or understood. It’s also just really fun to sit down and flesh out a made-up character with a unique background and personality as a language partner. Before chatGPT and chatbots became a thing, I used to create private group chats on messaging apps that contained only myself. I’d then name the chat after the character or imaginary language partner and upload a picture I’d draw of them, and I would then just pretend that I was texting them by typing in the chat. I sometimes thought about pretending like I was talking on the phone so I could talk to them in public without people thinking I’m insane, but I honestly never had the courage to try it.
Finding real friends
This method, for me at least, is probably the most difficult and takes the most effort. I already struggle with putting in enough effort and time in making and maintaining friends in my native language. Nevertheless, I’ve had varying success with finding friends online through applications such as Discord, who I occasionally play games with and message in a target language. But other than that, I usually just lurk in servers, reading people’s posts, and enjoying the memes they share in their languages.