Learning is only enjoyable when you remember to have fun with it.
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Do you want to learn something?
You are often told to focus very hard on it. While it is very important to immerse yourself in your desired skill, it is not advantageous to deprive yourself of downtime.
So, I want to offer a method that will help you get better much faster. I will use the example of language learning, but you can apply it to many things.
In 1999, I fell in love with a Brazilian girl. I did not even know that Brazil’s language was Portuguese. Although, I found out quickly.
When this Brazilian girl started talking to me, her broken German made it clear that she did not speak the language.
So, the following day, I bought a book and a CD to learn Portuguese. The one thing I quickly realized is that Brazilian Portuguese is very different from the dialect spoken in Portugal.
Despite the challenge, I quickly engaged in doing many things that involved the language. I just wanted to increase my ability to communicate with her.
I started studying daily. I learned a few foundational skills from the book. Although, I did something quite uncommon. Not only did I start listening to Brazilian music, but I made it a mission to engage with anyone that had even a remote knowledge of Brazil.
It did not take long before I had a decent collection of Brazilian music. So, I started by listening to the songs repetitively. This is the first step in passive learning. Once you get used to being around this music, you will start to hear or identify single words that you can engage on a phonetic level. You still might not understand the lyrics, but you will become familiar with it quickly.
At this point, I attempted to write out some of the lyrics. Additionally, I had a native speaker to write some of the lyrics that were most familiar to him. Afterwards, I started reading the lyrics and sang along with the music. It was not long before I started to learn the meaning of the lyrics.
Within weeks, I was singing every song from memory and understood all of the lyrics. Eventually, after gathering new music and learning new lyrics, my vocabulary naturally evolved around all the common words that I heard in songs.
There was a moment where I was not yet fully capable to forming all of my preferred phrases. Ultimately, I did not really care about the mistakes. My motivation was learning enough to be able communicate with her.
It was through passive engagement that I picked up the words and pronunciation. I have learned that everything you need in a language tends to be a little slower in love songs than spoken language. Moreover, you also get the benefit of hearing a clearer pronunciation of the words.
I bet most of us have a favorite TV series. There is no doubt that most of us know the lyrics of the theme song. This is the power of passive learning. You are exposed to something on a regular basis, while your brain stores and increases its retention for future reference.
As stated previously, learning intensely overloads our conscious mind. If we view our conscious mind as a computer RAM, we only have so much of it. Once it is full, you will not learn anything new until it is transferred to the unconscious short term memory. It is through passive learning that will reduce the exertion on your conscious mind.
A good example is our children. They do not have any specific learning rules. If you ask an adolescent about their favorite basketball player, they will tell you all of their statistics. They never really tried to learn it because they just exposed themselves to it often. They were surrounded by it and did not find it difficult to remember it.
If you asked someone who hates basketball to learn all of those statistics, they will feel some anxiety and agony. However, if you asked them to watch a couple games in the company of their friends, they will have a stronger likelihood of remembering a few things. Moreover, they will understand more details over time.
They might not like it, but now they have built mental connections. It is about getting familiar with it.
As I got familiar with the Portuguese language and culture, I was conversationally fluent in just a few months. I did not worry too much about mistakes. However, I did notice my mistakes and made appropriate corrections. The great thing about our brain is that it reminds us of the necessary adjustments needed to become better.
It is important to play with it by engaging ourselves and not worrying too much about mistakes. Do not worry about making mistakes, but make a note of your common mistakes. Do not worry about understanding everything. It will come to you within time. Learning is only enjoyable when you remember to have fun with it.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Spot on. Being passionate about learning a language is key. Without that it is sometimes too hard to overcome the obstacles. It, as you say, also motivates you to put in the hard yards (ah..that girl! 🙂 ) The other thing is that as you want her to understand what you say exactly as you mean to say it, it makes you pay more attention to how you speak. The list could go on. That is why boring classes, textbooks and methods do the opposite to what they were intended for. They turn you off and eventually most give up!… Read more »
Love it, yes, exactly what I am doing, in pretty much any study I delve into. Watch videos, listen to music, test it out myself, teach it to others, anything fun that I can think of. And when I say fun, what I mean is actual fun, often in the beginning things are not as much fun and maybe you don’t have a certain kind of motivation as I had in 1999, but if you look for it, you will often find methods that make the learning, exposure and engagement fun. The mini successes are important in the beginning. Once… Read more »