Learn Why You Didn’t Actually “Forget”
Whenever someone asked me if I’ve ever learned a language other than Chinese, my answer is always “Yes, I took Spanish for two years in high school.” And more often than not, the next question would follow, “Can you speak it now?”
“Nope, but my Chinese is amazing!” Why is that?
Two years is a long time to be learning a language, especially intensively in a high school curriculum. So why can’t I hold a single sentence of conversation with a native speaker right now? After some time of (slightly guilt-ridden) reflection, I broke the reason down into 3 essential drivers.
- Speaking opportunities were slim
If you dropped me off in a restaurant with only Chinese speakers, I can easily find my around with much more than a simple greeting. However, if I were in a Spanish-speaking environment today, I would be hopelessly lost. Your environment and your persistence to engage with that environment are keys to retaining a language. By surrounding yourself with people who only speak a foreign language with you, your linguistic growth is exponential. By only hitting the books and not the conversations, you are only setting yourself further from fluency. - Not speaking, and also not listening
If you aren’t conversing in the language, you probably aren’t listening to it very often either. One of the best ways to retain a language is conversing with native speakers and learning the cultural mannerisms of the language from them. In my case, I grew up in a Chinese-speaking environment, so Chinese practice opportunities were pretty much never optional. However, in the case of my Spanish-speaking journey, it ended around the time I graduated. Do you see a pattern here? - The toxic cycle
Learning a language is hard. It takes perseverance and willingness to always challenge the limits of your comfort zone. Inside the classroom, you feel safe because your classmates share your level, and the teacher is facilitating your progress. Outside the classroom, however, you are more vulnerable to mistakes or perhaps even nervous to speak in real-life situations and to people. For some, this vulnerability and nervousness triggers a toxic cycle of shying away from these situations, thus creating a huge roadblock between you and true fluency.
There is no shortcut to fluency
If you are a beginner, stick to your books and videos, but also find a language partner to practice with to ensure what you are learning is truly useful and applicable.
If you are a more advanced learner on the road to proficiency, whether that be earning a certificate or just simply living in a foreign country long term--keep those flashcards as a supplement to your practice with native speakers!