I often get asked, how come you learned to speak so well by yourself? or how did you learn that without a course? I call these types of questions the "how come" questions. It is a type of question that takes an undeniable perspective that assumes the other side has achieved something great despite choosing a less common and less effective path to do it. There is a huge value in identifying a "how come" question and flipping the perspective. What if I learned several foreign languages because I chose self-study? What if this person has succeeded only because of her/his difficult life journey? What if one has revolutionized a skill because one has created a unique process that forges new patterns?
Immersion, immersion, and one more time immersion. There is no more important factor for the success of your learning process than immersion. And by immersion, I mean how well can you create an environment that facilitates and provides you with the right (relevancy and intensity) learning resources, exposure, inspiration, interactions, and practices. When building a learning meta map, the first thing that you should be thinking about and designing for is the immersion environment.
Learning and knowledge acquiring is not a linear process and therefore it is followed by non-linear progressions. The frustration, the confusion, the "clicks", the doubts, the "Aha moments", the questioning, and the reflecting are all expected to arrive at unexpected moments. In fact, the only thing that is somewhat certain is the misunderstanding and the challenge. This is absolutely not a call for everyone to "push forward" blindly with their learning process nor a manifestation in the favor of constant reflection and questioning. One must trust the process and at the same time have a space for self-reflection in a way that keeps the real practice as the main activity. appreciate the hops forward, don't get attached to the plateaus.
The title "7 tips for easy, fast and fun language learning" and its siblings should be a big warning sign for any serious learner. Easy and fast are all the places where significant and profound progression can not be found. The idea that we can find real learning and development in a convenient, not demanding, and comfortable process is a delusional one. Learning should be hard - your brain should be melting from
exposure to new information, your face aching from foreign pronouncing sounds, and your spirit alleviated from the sensation of seeing the blur becomes clear, understandable, and possible.
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