Fellow Science Lovers,
Game update: Nothing to report this month. I’m still revising Scribes Emerge. If you’d like to be a beta reader, please reply and let me know, but it would be a massive help if you read Scribes’ Descent and Scribes Aflame first.
New Release! Eight of my writing inspiration articles and flash fiction stories have been included in a new anthology called Dreams, Doubts, & Determination. Available on Amazon in paperback. If you’re an aspiring writer in need of some help, this book is for you.
Here’s the third and final installment of my How to Learn a Foreign Language series. Here are parts 1 and 2 if you missed them:
Those articles will give you some context, but aren’t required to understand this one, which focuses on building your vocabulary.
Some gurus claim you should never try to memorize words, but I disagree–especially when the target language is very different from your native one or when the words are seldom used. Let’s look at the right way to memorize vocab.
Word Collecting Spree
Once you’ve started consuming the kind of podcasts and YouTube videos I described in part 2, you’ll bump into lots of new words. Here’s what you do: pause the recording, look up the words, and store them somewhere convenient.
I use Google Translate, though it’s not perfectly accurate. The small margin of error is more than offset by how fast the app is, how easy it is to use, and how I can speak foreign words into the microphone and get the English translation right away (most of the time without having to type). Plus, listening to the word in context helps me decide if the app translated the word properly or not.
Study these words briefly, then go back to content and listen for them. See how much more of the story you understand now. Even learning only one new word can make a dramatic difference. Look at this paragraph, assuming you only know 3 basic words to start with (from, the, and his):
Xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx x xxxx xx xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx from the xxxx.
Xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx the xxxxxxxx xxxxx xx xxxxxx, xxxx xxxx the xxxxx xx xxxx xxx his xxxxx.
At this point, you know nothing about the excerpt. But lets “learn” two new words:
Xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx x xxxx xx army xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx from the xxxx.
Xxxxxxx watched xxxxx the xxxxxxxx xxxxx xx xxxxxx, xxxx xxxx the xxxxx xx xxxx xxx his xxxxx.
Just knowing the words army and watched gives this whole passage some context. Let’s learn four more words:
Xxxx footage xxxxxx x xxxx xx army xxxxxx driving xxxx from the xxxx.
Xxxxxxx watched xxxxx the material xxxxx xx xxxxxx, xxxx xxxx the guard xx xxxx xxx his xxxxx.
In total, we’ve learned only 6 new words, and we can already guess where this might be happening, who’s involved, and the kind of story this is. This is how I treat my vocab study–as puzzle pieces to slot into my content on the next listen. In this way, I’m using the words I study. And my curiosity is high. I want to know what this podcast is talking about.
Things get more exciting when you start recognizing words you learned from one place in a completely different one. It’s like bumping into an old friend somewhere unexpected. And each time you see him, he gets easier to recognize.
Flashcards
If you have the self-discipline and motivation to use a spaced-repetition flashcard app like Anki, that can speed up your learning. Especially if those flashcards have example sentences, pronunciation guides (syllable stress marks/romanization/vowel markings), and the associated audio. But if you hate using flashcards, then don’t use them. And if you do enjoy flashcards, don’t let them be the only thing you do. Duolingo users, I’m giving you side-eye 
Flashcards are just a tool to help you understand real content. If they don’t help with that, find a better tool, or just rely on context clues. Words are easier to remember in context, not in isolation.
The 3 Es
Skill with your chosen language should not be your focus. Instead, make it about your enjoyment, endurance, and experiences:
-Find content you enjoy that helps you make steady progress. You might spend weeks trying videos and podcasts until you find the right ones. That is time well spent. If you don’t enjoy the content, you won’t spend enough time with it to get the language inside you. And it must get in you before it can come out of you.
-Build your endurance. The idea of listening to 3 hours of podcasts in one day might sound overwhelming right now. Just start off listening to 5 minutes. Then 10. Then 15. Study a little longer every day. Same goes for reading. It takes time to build your training endurance. That’s okay. Within a few months of these incremental gains, you’ll be reading whole chapters and listening to hours of audio. On my recent drive to Georgia, I listened to 9 straight hours of Russian: 2 hours of Pimsleur conversation practice, 2 hours of Russian with Max podcasts, and 5 hours of the Russian audio bible.
-Find native speakers and speak the language with them. Doing this will let you experience life with the language. Last Sunday, I attended my first Russian church service in-person. I met native speakers, had long conversations with them, sang worship songs, and took notes during the sermon–all in Russian. My brain was exhausted afterward, but I was excited to finally use the words I’d been learning over the past 6 months. Yes, I stubbed my toes on noun cases, mixed formal and informal words in the same sentence, and misconjugated countless verbs. But people understood me. I made new friends and fun memories. I can’t wait to go back. 
By focusing on enjoyment, endurance, and experiences, your skill with the language will rise as a side effect.
Searching For Content
Let’s say you want to listen to a Narnia audiobook in Russian. If you type “Narnia in Russian” into a YouTube search box, you’ll get mostly the English version of the movie and audiobook. But if you search for “Нарния аудиокнига”, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for. When you use English search terms, the internet assumes you’re an English speaker. Conversely, if you type Russian into a search box, the internet assumes you’re a Russian speaker. So whatever your target language is, search like a native would–using their language.
How do you get the Russian translation of the title of your favorite book/game/movie? Just type it into Google Translate:
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I’ve found this to work most of the time, especially for well-known content.
What Else?
There’s so much more to cover about language learning: how to type in your target language, find practice partners, overcome common pitfalls with listening comprehension, prepare for overseas trips, etc… I hope to discuss these in later newsletters, but I’ll be getting back to science again next month.
But for those of you who are trying to learn a new language, I want you to follow these 3 steps:
1. Open a google search and type in “[target language] church near me”
2. Looking at the search results, click into the website of a church near you.
3. Take down the address and service day/time, and go there.
If you find no churches near you, or would rather not attend one, then follow these 3 steps:
1. Go to https://www.conversationexchange.com/search.php and fill out the form by describing the kind of language exchange partner you’d prefer, then click the Search button at the bottom. Here are my settings:
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2. Scroll through the results until you find someone you’d like to try an exchange with, create a free profile on the website, and schedule your first call with that person.
3. Show up to the call. If you’re terrified of doing a call, then at least exchange typed messages with the pen-pal feature.
Does this take courage? You betcha. Is making yourself talk in a new language hard and awkward and tiresome? Yep. But it will be more rewarding than you can imagine. Because language, like money, is not useful on its own. It’s all the great stuff you can do with it that matters.
Writing update: I’m on chapter 39 of my next revision of Scribes Emerge. It’s looking like this won’t release until January 2025. Revisions are taking longer than expected, and this is a much longer book than books 1 and 2. I’ll keep you posted.
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