Realistically How Long Does it Take to Learn a Language?

A classic but very loaded question with almost infinite answers. At best we can only make an estimate based on specific parameters. We can take a look at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) study which is based around class hours but still that is not very accurate to the individuals circumstances and doesn't state what their level was at by the end of the programme.

So what are the major factors in the time it takes to become proficient in a language:

• Time spent with the language
• Language distance
• Learner's motivation
• Resources available.
  

Let's take a deeper look at these factors and how you can use them to benefit you.

FSI estimates for English native speakers

The Monolingual Transition and How to Approach it

What is the monolingual transition?

For those who do not know, the monolingual transition, popularised by the Mass Immersion Approach, is the process of transitioning from learning via a known language to using the target language itself to learn the language. Many learners do not seem to grasp the reasons or the process behind the 'transition' even though it is in the name.

Often learners take to 'trying it' or simply brute forcing it and spend hours deep diving into the dictionary searching up every new word until they can finally understand one. Many also like to think, as with everything, that it is either or, you're either 100% monolingual or 100% using your native language.

Due to similarities of close languages you may never have to use a monolingual dictionary as the words have roughly the same meanings and usages although some words obviously stray from this the majority of words can be exchange 1:1 due to them stemming from the same origin and similar culture.

Monolingual dictionary showing multiple meanings and synonyms.

The Role of Grammar Study in Language Learning

If you have ever taken a look at my fluency path you may notice that the focus on grammar quickly dwindles after the beginning stages. Many education institutions tend to put a focus on grammar instruction and focus on using that information for output. This partly contributes to a lot of students feeling like they make no progress due to not being able to spit out constructed sentences on the fly or people telling them they say things weirdly. This is even more evident in languages that are distant because ideas are expressed in completely different ways and words rarely overlap in exact us

In institutions and self teaching the focus has to be shifted from learning grammar to, output to using grammar for understanding content. Using this mindset we can take the stress off of trying to remember 100 grammar points by brute force and instead acquire them from content we consume making it much easier to output by way of copying native speakers instead of making up language by ourselves. There are many times where the meaning of grammar makes more sense when you pay attention to the intonation and tone in which it is said.

Useless grammar tests

The Role of Listening in Language Learning

Being one our main methods of receiving information being able to correctly hear and understand what other speakers are saying is invaluable to human survival. As a language learner, the majority of your time with your target language will likely be through the audio component and if your aim is to have meaningful conversations with natives and other speakers, then you will want to be as good as you can be.

Our listening ability is affected by many factors that we can improve to make listening easier, yet in the end we still need to expose ourselves to thousands of hours. Throughout or time learning a new language the experience of listening will change drastically from sentences sounding like incoherent noise to having instant understanding and even predicted the next noise that is about to come out of someones mouth. 

The time taken to go through these stages is highly dependent on the languages you know and the sounds it uses. I am also highly convinced some languages due to phonology take longer to be able to distinguish sounds, languages ending in mostly vowel sounds such as Italian and Japanese make it a bit easier to tell where word boundaries are. 

There are other variables such as information speed, information density and total number of sounds. Although I could not find any studies based on whether certain languages are objectively harder to hear over others so if you come across such please let me know.

It is highly recommended that you spend a lot of time listening to your target language, just to increase your hours spent with the language. It's very easy to spend a lot of your day listening even if you consider yourself a 'very busy' person, unless you constantly have to talk to someone or be spoke to then you can fit some time in to listen. 

Talk To Me In Korean Book Review and Thoughts on the Curriculum

If you are reading this I will presume you know who Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK) are. Firstly let's talk about the free content available on the site. This book and curriculum review will be focused on the views as a learner and the worth of the content being provided in comparison to it's cost. It is perfectly fine to disagree, I am not affiliated with TTMIK, neither do dislike them, any criticism should be seen as constructive as I do honestly believe as the most influential figure they have the power to improve the community in turn.

Since the reshuffle of the website it now requires you to log in to view the free course material, although it is slightly inconvenient and may turn a few people away it, they are still the most popular recommendation when it comes to learning Korean. The main curriculum which can now be found in the courses section remains free to use, however the paid content is now the main attraction. I have not used a lot of the paid content so I will mostly be writing about the content I have used.

The Curriculum levels 1-10

7 sources from which to learn 경상도 사투리(Gyeongsang dialect)

Luckily due to it being the second biggest dialect in the country there is a huge variety of content that has been produced by speakers of the dialect and often a setting in movies. Much like the UK and many European countries you will find differences in peoples accent and words they use can vary even a village away.

Thankfully due to mass media we generally grow up hearing a wide variety of accents and although we will still likely not know every dialect specific word we can easily pick them up by spending time with or listening to natives of that region. 경상도 is also known as 영남 지방.