Why Reusing Systems for a New Language Doesn’t Mean You’ll Succeed
An all-too-common mistake I've seen (and done) too many times
I’ve studied over 20 languages and can speak 6. On paper, you could easily think I’ve got this whole “language learning” thing mastered and each new language is damn easy.
And it’s easy. er.
Easier.
It never truly gets easy because I’ve never found an exact formula that’d get me to an exact level in exactly the same amount of time and effort.
Each language is different. And we’re different for each language we start.
I’m not the same person I was when I started learning English (20 years ago), Japanese (15 years ago), or even German (2-3 years ago).
The tools at my disposal aren’t even the same.
Nothing stays the same
It’s incredible how much we want to stick to things we’ve done in the past.
I don’t know about you but if someone asked me if I’m the same person as my 3 or 5 years younger self, I’d say hell no. There are things I’m shocked I did.
For instance, watching 3+ hours of American TV shows during weekdays and 7 hours during weekends and still meeting up with friends and going to class during my last year of high school feels like an impossible feat but I still did it!
The intensity with which I studied Kanji for two months back in 2010 is also cemented in my mind. And I know I wouldn’t be able to be as stubborn now as I was then, plunging through a boring textbook.
What worked well for me back then doesn’t work as well today.
And it’s fine. Absolutely fine.
We change. What we enjoy changes. And what works change for us.
Tools change too! I probably would have studied languages very differently had I had access to ChatGPT and/or ElevenLabs’ on-point AI voices.
AI has changed the game and we need to embrace it.
But one thing stays the same
Our brain hasn’t changed.
Well, not enough for the techniques behind learning to stay the same.
We still need to get some repetition for our memory of words and expressions to stick. We still can’t speak well a language out loud if we never practice speaking it out loud. We still need a combination of passive and active study, and can’t ever hope to have the same level of active skills as our passive knowledge.
Our brain works the same way it’s always done.
What we need is to learn to use new tools (like AI), understand our new environment—working and being a student aren’t the same thing—, and our new goals.
I know my goals and thirst for speaking German are nowhere near what I had for Japanese and Korean so expecting my level to increase as quickly as it did is ludicrous.
We need to learn to accept this.
And, if you’re wondering, I’m writing this just as much as a reminder to myself as I keep forgetting. I’ve been thinking about goals for next year and realized I struggle not to get stars in my eyes thinking of all that’s possible when, in reality, learning languages is less of a priority than it used to be.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, we’ll get back to this in two weeks. 😉
Cheers for reading,
Mathias, an average polyglot