The Best Language Learning Hack…No Teacher Ever Taught You

Five foreign languages in, thought it was time to share the best way I’ve learned each. How? A pocket notebook.

Here’s the way to build vocabulary in the easiest way:

1. Get a pocket dictionary and carry it around with a pen. (Note: Using your contacts in a smart phone is another way, though somehow typing on a phone isn’t as effective as writing words down).
2. Each time you hear a new word or phrase, first write its translation on the right side in your native language (we’ll use English in this essay).
3. Find a way to remember the new foreign word. Think of a mnemonic device. For example:

— nyaman (“comfortable” in Indonesian): Think about a guy lying on a beach in the Caribbean saying “ya man!”

— kawaii (“cute” in Japanese): Think about the good-looking island of Kauai in Hawaii. Putting them together: KAuai haWAII.

— mubarak (“congratulations” in Urdu): Think about former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak raising a wine glass to say “congrats” (ok, a cheesy example but it worked).

4. Then once you’ve put the foreign word in your flash memory using the mnemonic trick, and your memory will hold onto it for five seconds, write it in the left column (we’ll see later why left side is best). Write it slowly and clearly, for writing it quickly and sloppily will make it harder to remember.

5. Every Sunday, make a flash card for the new words you learned through the week. Index cards cut into three parts work well. You can use this as a mini-quiz, writing the English on one side first and guessing what it is in the foreign language. Then write the foreign language on one side. Voila!

6. Bring the stack of flash cards around town with you and keep drilling yourself until you correctly guess the foreign word twice.

7. You can also cover the left side of your pocket dictionary (the foreign language words) and try to guess them. Look at the English word first and try to translate it into the foreign language.

8. **To turbocharge learning, when going around town, and you’re not able to say something in the foreign language, write down what you want to say in English on the right column. Then when you have access to a dictionary or a language teacher, find out the foreign language word or phrase and write it down on the left column.**