But what is statistical learning, and how do you apply it to learning a new language? Duolingo isnât going to make you fluent. Prasit photo / Getty Images. Have you ever heard the people speaking in the audio files accompanying English textbooks? However, many language learners make the mistake that teachers strive so hard to avoid—they dive into deep, complex literature and other texts that are well outside their reading level. While the unfamiliar Hangul characters may seem intimidating at first, the Korean alphabet is not very difficult to learn. Teachers guide you—they can’t inject the language straight into your brain. You can always give this route a try! Here’s a list of suggestions to get you started: Remember that social learning by definition is always going to involve another person, and that learning implies you’ll need to think about things at least a little bit. 4. There’s no real need to learn all words from classics, as no one uses them in everyday language anymore. While that's enough to get you a career or help you communicate with other people, learning a second language offers more perks. Study French Regularly, for a Short Time, not all in one Sitting. Too many language learners have this odd idea that speaking multiple languages is something reserved for geniuses and savants, but if that’s true then well over half of Earth’s population is incredibly gifted. We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in. The goal of statistical learning practice is building up that corpus of data you’re carrying in your head, and anything you do to that end should be focused on exposing yourself to natural instances of the language at a level at which you can understand part or most of it. Instead of thinking of a language as some concrete thing with black-and-white boundaries and hard-and-fast rules, think of it as a living process by which its speakers communicate and accomplish tasks socially. Secondly, books of classics may contain lots of archaic vocabulary (let’s take Shakespeare, for example). That’s all well and good, but we often forget about listening to a target language despite the fact that it’s key to understanding and communication. Instead, learn how native speakers use the language in their daily lives, and learn how to participate in that process. 3. © 2020 Enux Education Limited. If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn languages with real-world videos. By getting important stuff done in another language, your use of that language will be more focused on practical things, like setting up the Internet in your new apartment and getting to know your new friends better.