Learn a Language in 10 Days Challenge Two Approaches

Learn a Language in 10 Days Challenge Two Approaches Learn a Language in 10 Days Challenge: Two Approaches Challenges are fun.There are a lot of people out there who enjoy doing  language learning challenges.Doing things fast is also fun.And trying to accomplish the great mental feat of  learning a language as fast as possible is tempting for many.One famous language learning challenge is the Add1Challenge, which lasts 90 days. Another is the 6 Week Challenge.As a language enthusiast, Ill freely admit that I daydream about being able to learn a language at lightning speed.But have you ever heard of someone learning a language in 10 days?Sounds impossible, right?Well, like with so many things, it all depends on how you look at it. Speed Learning vs. Deliberate Learning: What Does It Mean to Learn a Language in 10 Days?We can look at that figure, 10 days, in two very different ways.Most people would probably think of that as 10 calendar days, one right after the otherâ€"one weeks Tuesday to next weeks Friday.Learning a languageâ€"in any senseâ€"within that time span is obviously really to ugh, if not impossible, so youd have to pick and choose what to focus on in order to make as much progress as possible. Theres simply too much to manage. Youd have to cut corners in your learning, so if a situation came up that you didnt drill for, youd probably be stuck.Also, fast learning usually means fast forgetting. Unless you continue to work almost as hard to maintain your level after your 10 days pass, youre not likely to retain much in the long term.Theres another possible interpretation of that figure, though.We can take the number of total waking hours in 10 days (160 hours) and spread those study hours out over a longer period of time.This type of deliberate learning is going to be way more effective in the long run. Were talking a night and day difference with exactly the same number of hours in both situations.If you spread this out to five hours a week for eight months, youll see huge gains in ability. Suppose were talking about a language closely related to English l ike Spanish or Frenchâ€"dont be surprised if you find yourself reading newspapers and having conversations before those 10 days are up.Still, we thought it might be fun to consider potential plans for both options. Were not suggesting its possible to actually completely learn a language to fluency in 10 days either way, but considering how you would go about it if that was your intention could be a great way to kickstart learning a new language. Depending on which approach you use and how exactly you go about it, you might be surprised how much you end up learning in a 10-day period.Whichever route you takeâ€"even if you do both!â€"youve got to go at it with a plan.Learn a Language in 10 Days Challenge: Two ApproachesFor either of these plans, youll want to use at least one beginner resource that allows you to work on the specifics laid out below. There are plenty of affordable options for this, and youll want to choose something thats suitable for your own goals.However, we would r ecommend using FluentU  regardless of your goals, as its easily adaptable to either approach. FluentU takes real-world videosâ€"like movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talksâ€"and turns them into personalized language lessons.With FluentU, you hear languages in real-world contextsâ€"the way that native speakers actually use them. Just a quick look will give you an idea of the variety of FluentU videos on offer:FluentU really takes the grunt work out of learning languages, leaving you with nothing but engaging, effective and efficient learning. It’s already hand-picked the best videos for you and organized them by level and topic. All you have to do is choose any video that strikes your fancy to get started!Each word in the interactive captions comes with a definition, audio, image, example sentences and more.Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab, and easily review words and phrases from the video under Vocab.You can use Fluent U’s unique adaptive quizzes to learn the vocabulary and phrases from the video through fun questions and exercises. Just swipe left or right to see more examples of the word youre studying.The program even keeps track of what you’re learning and tells you exactly when it’s time for review, giving you a 100% personalized experience.Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes store or Google Play store.Approach #1: Learn a Language in 10 Days FastDecide Whats Important to You and Make a PlanThe first step with the fast approach is to decide where you want to cheat. Unfortunately, you cant have it all.The guide below is going to focus on the goal of having a short conversation at the end of 10 days with a native speaker. If you have different goals, you can draw up your own plan or tweak this one to suit your needs.Keeping that goal in mind, you dont want to spend much too time on writing exercises or an ything that isnt speaking and listening.For 10 days, youre going to have to devote just about every waking hour to this if you want to do well.And since youre doing so much cramming, its important that you review your material over and over to really get as much as possible into your long-term memory.Acquire the Basic Structure in the First Few DaysWith such a short time to learn, almost everything that you do learn is going to need to be pretty straightforward.Dont spend too much time thinking about how the grammar really works or why this preposition goes with that case. You probably dont even need to talk much about he, she and they. A short conversation is mostly going to be about I.Learn phrasebook-style sentence patterns that you can reconfigure and drop new vocabulary into at the drop of a hat.For instance, you could learn My name is X. From that pattern, you can quickly learn My name is Y, My name isnt X, its Y, His name is Z and so on.The main grammatical points you should focus on in the first few days are:How to negate sentences.How to switch pronouns out.How to turn sentences into questions (and vice versa).These are extremely useful and extremely common grammar things in any language. Theyll come up in even the simplest of spoken interactions.Heavily Drill Set Phrases and Simple VariationsWhether youre in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam or Moscow, Russia, people always ask the same things:Where are you from?How long have you been traveling?How long have you been learning this language?Why are you learning this language?Where are you going next?If you can give answers to those five questions, youll sound like an expert in whatever language youre speaking.Think about some of the most common questionsâ€"just like thoseâ€"that youll be asked when you first tell someone that youre learning their language.Use those questions and their answers as a framework for learning vocabulary and grammarâ€"for everything you learn, think about how and when it might appea r in your conversation.Focus on Structure and Vocabulary over AccentNormally, I would advise spending a lot of time on getting your accent as close to perfect as possible, right from the beginning.But that takes time, which is a luxury you dont have. Youre going to have to do your best to match your voice to whatever you can hear.If you have an ear for accents or can at least get the rhythm of native speech down, youll impress whoever you’re speaking with anyway.For the first five or six days, really drill those set phrases and structures while imagining yourself using them in conversation.Use any extra time you have to increase your vocabulary. The more words you can find to express yourself, the better it’s going to feel when you actually start speaking in 10 days.When you do, you should be able to perform surprisingly well in conversation as long as you stick to your patterns and phrases.10 days of practice is certainly enough time to build up a respectable repertoire of memo rized phrases, plus the grammar and vocabulary necessary to build off of them spontaneously.Approach #2: Learn a Language in 10 Days SlowChances are, if you follow the plan above, youll be amazed at your progress after 10 days.But after 30, 40 days? Not so much. Youll retain a handful of words and phrases, but most of that knowledge is going to disappear fast.However, this next approach will show you how to use your time in a way that gets you permanent results.Spread Your 160 Hours over a Longer Period of TimeBy carefully spreading out your time, youll simply remember much more from every study session.The natural cycles of waking and sleeping are closely linked with memory and learning. Spreading out your studying over days and weeks really does have a strong impact on how much you retain.Youll also build a habit.In fact, you may want to take advantage of spaced  repetition technology (which is proven to enhance ones ability to remember information in the long-term), using apps or software.No, 160 hours still isnt enough to master a language. But sticking to a regular schedule for that time  is enough to build a strong habit of studying your language, even well after youve passed that 160 mark. When spread out, its also enough time to build up a good base of permanent knowledge that you can continue to add to.By contrast, if you try the 10 days of full-time learning, it may still be fun and rewarding, but youll more than likely be burned out, and have little to no long-term vocabulary retention.So lets see how to do this the smart way.Specifically, Spread Your Hours over 4-8 Months at 5-10 Hours a Week5-10 hours a week is within reach for most people, even those busy with everyday obligations.A regular 45 minutes a day puts you just over five hours a week, so youll hit your 160 hours in about six months.45 minutes a day sounds like a lot for busy people, sure. But three 15-minute sessions, or a 30-minute session and a 15-minute review? Those are perfect leng ths of time for study.Lay Out Your GoalsA course can let someone else do the thinking to set your goals for you, section by section. However, youll still want to have some goals of your own in the back of your mindâ€"the course writers werent necessarily expecting people to be on a tight schedule.To get the maximum benefit out of your 160 hours, youve got to be realistic with yourself about what youd like to achieve.At a minimum, you can and should be able to describe yourself and people you know. What they do, what they like and dislike, and where they live.You should be able to ask for the prices of things and know the general vocabulary youre likely to come across when you visit or travel in a place where the language is spoken.These are achievable goals, and holding on to these abilities over time will make you proud of what youve accomplished.Benefit from Short Study SessionsFind a solid course that keeps you moving at a good pace. Floundering around looking for ways to learn i snt going to be helpful, especially not when youre trying to make the best of the limited time youve got.Youll want to set things up so that you can simply log into your app or flip to the next chapter in your textbook for a couple of short chunks a day. Dont want to look at a screen? Put on your headphones and cue up an audio lesson.These little bite-size sessions are short enough to keep you focused (no nodding off in front of a long lecture) and yet long enough that youll find yourself getting into a groove and internalizing the language.Language learning is work for a lot of people.But its fun for a lot of us, too.Personally, I enjoy a time-limited challenge like the ones here.It doesnt necessarily matter if one way happens to be more efficient than the other. Opening your mind to new things in new ways is what learning is all about.