The Process of Learning a Language

Hey /lang/,
I plan on starting to learn Norwegian - I've been collecting some resources (instructional books, etc) and I think I'm about read to begin. I just have one question.

I've tried learning other languages before and my biggest problem seems to be my lack of knowledge about what I should be doing outside of reading instructional books. I understand that when I first start out I'll likely not be able to do much other than just working through the books but what do I do outside of that? I know I'll need to work on vocabulary and the like, but how do I know what vocabulary to learn (especially early on before I can really read enough to find new words through reading).

Any advice for this? I don't want to fall flat on my face like other times I've tried learning a language.

what I should be doing outside of reading instructional books

Well, what are you learning the language for? Can you answer that? If you're just learning for the sake of learning, one possibility is to find a pen-pal or a skype conversation partner (there are websites for these, look for them).

As another anon has said before elsewhere here, the "textbook ladder" doesn't go to infinity — you have to *use* the language (speak/write/read/listen) to truly learn it.

>>2
what are you learning the language for? Can you answer that?
I'd like to live in Norway in the future and perhaps do some education there.

As another anon has said before elsewhere here, the "textbook ladder" doesn't go to infinity — you have to *use* the language (speak/write/read/listen) to truly learn it.
I know this, I just want to know what I need to do when I'm just starting learning the language and I still don't have enough grasp of the language to actually use it in any real sense.

Get word frequency lists for your target language (Wikitionary has a good collection here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Frequency_lists) and make an Anki deck out of them. You should aim to get the first 1000-2000 memorized as quickly as you can because with most languages the first 2000 words are about 80% of what you need most of the time (and the first 1000 are probably ~60%). It's best to have as little as possible English involved in this process (eg. by using pictures for the back of the cards rather than the English word) but if you want to just use English-backed cards it shouldn't hurt your progress too considerably.

Once you've gotten a large portion of the vocabulary done (and you've worked through a good chunk of whatever book you're using to learn), which should take place within the first 1 or 2 months if you're seriously studying then you need to start using the language. Find books that are written in your target language (or find books you like that have been translated into your target language - Harry Potter seems to be a popular choice for language learners) look up any words you don't know along the way and make note of them. Listen to as much of your target language as possible, whether it be through podcasts, TV/Movies (news can be great for learning a language, especially if you can find a 24/7 live stream or something of the sort) and sign up for a service like Lang8 to practice you're writing.

Getting good at speaking is a part many may have more trouble with. There are many websites that work as "language exchanges" where you can find someone who speaks your target language and who is interested in speaking your native language and you can get into Skype calls and the like to help improve each other's speaking. If you do this, don't be greedy, half the time should be spent working on your target language half the time on your partner's. Some people may be uncomfortable doing this (especially if you're on /lang/) and there are other ways you can practice if this is the case - Google is your friend.

And always remember, 30 minutes a day every day is better than 6 hours a week once a week. Set aside some time each day (how much you set aside depends on how seriously you want to learn) and work EVERY SINGLE DAY. If you're spending a large amount of time on language learning every day (as in, more than an hour) try splitting it up over the day so you don't burn yourself out. It also helps a lot of people if the time they start studying is the same every day - making a "ritual" about when (and maybe where) to study. It will be hard at first to get yourself to keep studying at the same time every day but eventually it becomes a habit and it makes language learning much easier.

Perhaps most importantly: make sure you're having FUN. Language learning can be fun if you're not doing something wrong. Set goals, use fun methods of learning and review and make sure you aren't burning yourself out.

I'm an accredited teacher of the English language living abroad (wa ha ha aren't I special).

A big mistake many language learners make is one about the "learnability" of language. Understanding how a language works really doesn't facilitate your usage of it. This is why textbooks are no longer grammatical primers.

Truthfully, foreign language acquisition is still a mystery at the highest levels where it is studied very intensely. No one knows exactly whats up with that.

But I think that most experts are in agreement that "exposure time" is a critical factor. And, in particular, "comprehensible input." That is to say that it doesn't do much good to flip on Univision and hope that if enough hours pass, you will learn spanish. Fatigue/a sense of hopelessness sets in and the language turns to noise and you're no longer being exposed to  the target language. Hence what you must do is try to get the greatest quantity of exposure to inout that you are motivated to understand and capable or very nearly capable of understanding.

In my own experience with Spanish, which I believe I have a satisfactory command of, the biggest factor was membership in community. Being friends with someone in another language (particularly women, as they really just like to talk) usually sets up good language learning situations. Or membership in a group. I joined a reggae band here in Argentina and it guaranteed that at least once week I was interacting with real native speakers and being that I'm a good musician, they wanted to talk to me, which is not always the case.

I suppose that most of this is applicable to language learning in country, but that's kind of the target learning situation. Try to imitate as much as possible. If there is any swedish community where you live, couchsurfers, one crazy old man that runs a swedish restaurant, get in touch with them. Barring that, try to join a swedish-speaking community online (difficult, as I imagine they mostly speak english online). Etc.

Hope this was helpful