School got out last week, and I’ll admit that finals broke me. I stopped learning my flashcards, and basically Farsi. I’ll admit that the past year my Farsi actually got a bit worse. I just had not put the time in. I realized it when a classmate saw us and is 100x better than me now. There are a bunch of factors, but the main one being I didn’t put the time in.

Rule 1) To learn a language it takes time. Just putting the time in some form of learning makes you learn, regardless of how effective that method is. Just like investing (as long as you don’t count venture capital and stock market trading).

Tonight I spent the evening at Ava’s. It’s a coffee shop owned and ran by Persians. A new worker from Iran, Ramin, was working. He came and sat down with me and a few friends and we spend the next few hours speaking and discussing Persian. I learned more in those 3 – 4 hours than the past six months in Farsi. It reinvigorated my desire to learn.

Rule 2) Stay motivated. Even when you’re not, just force yourself to. It helps reinforce your willpower to do rule #1 of putting the time in.

Also last week my resolve strengthened when I acquired a HUGE dry erase board. It must be 4′ x 8′. I am using it for daily words and solely Farsi practice. I am a linguistics major, and I hope to one day make a language learning method that outshines all others. In that vein, I am trying every possible language learning method out there, from flashcards to whiteboards to immersion to syntax deconstruction.

Rule 3) Try learning your target language with as many possible methods as possible. Eventually, you’ll find one (or many) ways that you really enjoy, or keep you motivated, or teach you the language quicker. For me, I have learned Flashcards. Whiteboard seems to help too. Some write it down in notebooks, but I get disorganized too quickly. I have yet to try computer or audio programs.

A while back I got frustrated with a lack of good guidance on learning a language, nor a useful word frequency list for the different dialects, so I just opened a dictionary and began learning the vocabular one letter at a time. I got to C before I realized that many of the words are esoteric and rarely used. I have since then changed my plan to include the aide of friends and knowledgeable Farsi/Dari speakers. I am giving my dictionary to friends and having them highlight the words used most often, then focusing on those FIRST. I will eventually learn them all, but it’s a concise, 8,400 word dictionary, and I need to get crackin’ on the good words, stat.

Rule 4) Don’t be afraid to adapt your style or methods to suit you. A lot of methods are out there, and they all work perfectly, for some people. If you’re doing something, and it isn’t working, change it. I could say “hell, I’m 3 letters in, I might as well stick it out and impress people like Malcolm X learning the Dictionary in prison”, or I could just adapt to the realities of word frequency. Until I find a good frequency list, that is. ;]

Other than that, my free time is a lot more this week and the rest of September. I look forward to revamping this blog and making a lot of Farsi-only (and Dari-only) blogs, as well as a comprehensive flashcard set.