Mark’s Pocket Technique for Learning a Foreign Language

I’ve been working on learning Russian, and trying to pay attention to what works (and what doesn’t work) as I go along. The biggest thing I’ve noticed so far is that I really need to expose myself to Russian every day if I’m going to make any progress. I’ve come up with a way to do this which I’m calling the Pocket Technique. The basic idea is to always have some kind of study material in your pocket so that whenever you find some free time, you can study.

Items you will need for the Pocket Technique:

1. A Pocket
2. Flashcards
3. iPod Shuffle

A Pocket

Fairly self-explanatory, you put the other two items into the pocket. I suppose you could use a purse or a backpack if you wanted to, as long as you always have it with you.

Flashcards

Flashcards are an easy way to increase your vocabulary. The key is making sure they fit in your pocket. I cut a 3×5″ card into 4 pieces. Don’t bother trying to keep all the cards together on a ring. Just make a big pile of them, jam a handful into your pocket, and you are good to go. Now anytime you have a few spare moments, pull out some cards and look at them. Walking to the bathroom? Look at a card. Waiting for someone to show up for a meeting? Out comes a card. Walking to your car after work? Time for a card. The beauty of this is that even though you might only look at a few cards before you have to put them away, you’ll find yourself thinking about the words that were on them for the next couple minutes. There are literally dozens of opportunities to look at the cards during the day, so this can add up to a decent amount of time.

iPod Shuffle

Flashcards are good for learning new words, but to learn how to put sentences together, to learn the flow of the language, I found that audio lessons were essential. With an iPod Shuffle, it is really easy to have hours of audio lessons in your pocket at all times. (Obviously other music players will work, but they must fit in your pocket!) Get some instructional CDs (I like the Pimsleur Russian CDs) and put them on the iPod. Now stuff it in your pocket, and find a chunk of time during the day to listen. Unlike the flashcards, this only seems to work if you actually devote a block of time to it. Listening to 90 second snippets throughout the day doesn’t help much; I found that listening to a single 30-minute lesson in one sitting worked infinitely better. If you commute, that’s an obvious block of time when you could be listening to the lessons. Breakfast might be another good time. If you go to the gym regularly, that could be your time.

The Single Most Important Part of the Pocket Technique

Like I said at the beginning, the most important tip I’ve found is that you have to spend time with your language every single day. This is really, really crucial if you want to make progress. Every time I took a couple days off, I’d start forgetting words. Then, when I started studying again, I had to struggle to remember these words (even though I knew I had learned them before). This wasn’t any fun at all, made me feel stupid, and the lack of progress really killed my motivation. In contrast, when I spent time with the language every day, I could feel the momentum. I wasn’t forgetting words (which made me feel smart instead of stupid), and it wasn’t nearly as frustrating. So, my advice is to never skip a day.

Tried it?

Hey, if you try doing this, leave a comment and let me know how it goes. Or if you have another favorite approach, share it in the comments!