💩 Why Traditional Language Programs Are Bad

The Problem of Language Formalization

Traditional educational programs begin with formalizing the entire language. Even the smallest things are described using complex, tedious, scientific rules. For example, at the beginning of most textbooks, the first five lessons might be devoted to describing the letters and sounds of the language. Then similarly complex descriptions of simple rules follow.

How Do Children Learn?

Who learns language most easily? Children. They don't read rules, but listen and imitate. They memorize words: surrounding objects, their properties, and interactions between objects. For instance, a child understands a structure like: the fence is wooden, the house is stone, the toy is rubber, the car is metal. Having understood how such phrases are constructed, a child can spend entire days reinforcing this rule, describing different things around them using this pattern. Then they practice a more complex thought: a red bird sits on a wooden fence.

A child never reads rules like: there is a noun, there is an adjective, they agree in gender, number, and case. A child listens to phrases and repeats them, starting with the simplest ones. And they grasp the rules intuitively.

Crazy linguists who have studied the language for 50 years have no idea what it's like for someone learning the language on their first day. To understand a rule, you don't need to read a page of brain-killing explanations. It's enough to read 5 phrases where it occurs! And if you read 30, you'll already have reinforced it and be able to apply it yourself.

Disruption of the Natural Learning Process

Traditional programs immediately disrupt this natural language acquisition process. They describe language as a complex science with many specific terms you've never heard before. And they present elementary language concepts in an exhaustive form, pointing out all exceptions, all possible variations, confusing and preventing you from grasping the main essence and reinforcing it.

The Problem with Traditional Exercises

Different types of exercises also confuse. Choose the right word. Complete the ending. Underline the subject and predicate. Even multiple criticisms of pronunciation in the first lessons can fundamentally discourage continuing to study. If a person is constantly criticized for supposedly mispronounced sounds, how can they continue learning the whole language?

The Best Way to Learn a Language

Is it possible to avoid all this and imitate the natural, childlike process of language learning? Yes!

1. Listen and repeat (after a foreign voice) as you hear it and as you can repeat it. And no criticism
2. Learn 10 new words and one rule per lesson. Reinforce this rule until it's imprinted in your memory, hearing, and tongue
3. Don't get distracted by rule descriptions (scientific terms, formalization of all possible cases and exceptions), take the very basics and focus on them
4. No different types of exercises. Memorize words, get familiar with the new language pattern and speak, listen, read. Speak, listen, read.

Throw away complex rules, various trainers, quizzes, tests - children don't do that. Learn from children.