Learning

The Secret To Learning A New Language Faster

Clue: It’s in your hands

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

I am obsessed with learning things faster. I’ve embraced my impatience as a virtue, as it has led to the creativity that finds ways to cut learning time.

Learning a language takes more than Duolingo. It involves extreme immersion. Surrounding and submerging yourself with the language you want to learn so that it becomes second nature. My mother was an immigrant that learned basic English in a matter of months out of necessity. We often don’t have the same circumstances, but we need to create them if we really want to become fluent.

Important

According to Steve Kaufman, linguist master and fluent in over 20 languages, it takes about 360–480 hours to achieve basic fluency, which at studying one hour a day, takes about 1.5 years.

The good news is that along my language learning journey, I found an easy hack that anyone can do to learn much faster and less likely to give up.

It’s in your hands.

Really, it is. It's your phone. You know, the device you stare into 7-8 hours a day?

Every phone has a language setting that you can change to your desired language. Change it to the language you are currently learning…