Dear Duolingo: Why can't I speak my new language in the real world

Welcome to another week of Dear Duolingo, an advice column just for learners. Catch up on past installments here.

Hey there, learners This week's question is a good one for learners of all languages-and in all contexts! It reminds me of challenges my students faced when I taught in classrooms, too.

Our question this week:

This is a very common experience among learners: It's in part due to how our brain works, and in part due to how we typically study languages. There's not a lot we can do to hack our brains… but how you study is within your control!

First, you'll need to develop good study habits, but even after consistent study, most learners still find real-life communication daunting-even if you're doing well in your Duolingo lessons (or on your classroom assignments).

Here's what's going on and how you can help yourself.

Challenge: Use the language authentically from the start

Right from day one, use the language in all the ways you want to use it in the future.

For example, if your goal is to read classics in the language, find ways to read the language right away-that could be in small doses on social media, or finding your "goal" book and flipping through it to find words you recognize.

And if you, like most learners, want to eventually have conversations in the language, you'll need to speak in the language as soon as you can. And I really mean as soon as you can-like, from the very first day and the very first lesson! You can find language practice in unexpected places, and one of those resources has been with you all along: you.

Yes, you! Start by talking to yourself. You might feel ridiculous, but if you've ever tried to learn a new skill, like a sport or instrument, you know that it's totally normal to be unimpressive at the start So much of what's hard for learners is just piecing words together, so make yourself your first conversation partner and talk, talk, talk! (And to minimize feelings of angst and the skeptical eye of the public, practice thinking in your new language, too.)

Challenge: You'll need more than consistency

Be sure you're spending enough time studying during your sessions-and that is going to mean doing more than one review lesson with sound off at a concert / wedding / club just to keep the flame lit

To effectively learn the language well enough to use it out in the world, learners need sufficient input and exposure to the language: You have to see it enough, hear it enough, use it enough, need it enough to make it stick in your brain.

So how much time is enough time? That'll depend on your goals and timeline. When I had about four weeks to prep for a trip to Germany, I was completing about two Duolingo units per week and doing work with what I learned, like taking notes, doing writing practice based on my lessons, and making up little dialogues from the vocabulary and grammar I learned.

That was in part because I had a deadline, but you might compare your study habits with what you'd be doing if you were paying college tuition to learn at pre-set times: You'd be in class an hour (or more!) 3-5 times a week.

Related to getting significant exposure is also getting the right exposure: do new lessons and don't only review old ones. It's really tempting to feel like you need to know new information absolutely perfectly before you move on to the next thing. But that pressure is both unrealistic and not actually good for making progress. Although it feels uncomfortable, seeing familiar information combined with some brand-new grammar and vocabulary is the best way to maximize your learning!

Challenge: Your brain has learned a single context

Language is all about generalizations: learning a conjugation pattern and applying it to new verbs, making a guess about new vocabulary based on the words around it, and understanding new speakers, accents, and dialects from your overall system of language knowledge.

Context is no different! Our brains process all parts of our environment to guessconnections and learn patterns-and if you always do your language lessons on your couch, in the evening, with a couple of tea, you've turned that into your peak learning environment. That's not a bad thing! But to maximize the transferability of that learning to other contexts-like using the language in real life-make sure you are also including variety in your language exposure. That could be by switching up your practice in the app, listening to podcasts (like Duolingo's!) on your next walk, trying side quests and Match Madness, or even reading the Duolingo blog in other languages (we've got Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Portuguese!).

Another easy way to incorporate the language into more contexts is to use it in your hobbies. Create playlists of music in the language (or listen to ours), try recipes in the language, read online forums and engage with fandoms in the language, and more-whatever your interests are, there are people who speak that language who care about the same thing!

Challenge: Conversations are the hardest part of learning!

Understanding spoken language is incredibly hard-but then participating? Actually responding in real-time to a speaker of the language who is probably trying to get something done (like help you, give you directions, get information, or share their enthusiasm)?!

Learners tend not to give themselves enough credit when it comes to the difficulty of conversations in a new language. Sounds in new languages can be hard to identify and understand, much less produce. Speech doesn't have convenient spaces between words. It takes us more time to "look up" the meanings of words in our brain in our new languages, even for words we really do know. Learners have to process the words, sounds, and grammar to get to the meaning of what was said-and by then, the next thing has already been said Not to mention that real people have more dialects, accents, language differences, and slang than can ever be taught. Learning a new language is really about building a system for understanding whatever gets thrown at you. It's more than a matching task!

So what's the solution? Practice. Practice and patience, especially with a patient language partner (whether human or machine!). My recommendation is again to feel foolish by talking to yourself in your new language anywhere you can, get used to putting together ideas from scratch, and start with small, simple sentences as soon as you have a couple of lessons under your belt. Do it in writing as well, to get better at putting words together. Focus less on grammatical accuracy and more on getting the words and ideas from your brain out into the world!

The best speaking practice is… speaking!

Building variety into your study routine isn't just good for learning vocabulary and grammar-it helps you stay motivated throughout your whole learning journey. Be sure you're doing lots of different things with your language, on Duolingo and in your everyday life, to get to your speaking goals!

For more answers to your language and learning questions, get in touch with us by emailing [email protected].

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