How to Language Episode 0

What's the best way to learn a language?

Jeremiah: [00:00:00] [Duolingo “correct” sound effect] 

Nice. Okay. “Mi gato es muy elegante.”

[Duolingo “incorrect” sound effect]

“Mi gato es muy elegante.” 

[Duolingo “incorrect sound effect]

Come on. “Mi gato es muy elegante!”

[Duolingo “incorrect sound effect]

When am I ever even going to say this?

[upbeat electronic music plays]

Marina: Hey there! I'm your host, Marina Bydalek, and with me is my cohost and husband, Jeremiah Baxter. You're listening to episode zero of our new podcast, How to Language, where we unlock the science of language acquisition through conversations on evidence-based learning. 

Jeremiah: There's a question that underpins this entire show and it's probably the question that drew you, our listeners, to the show. What's the best way to learn a language? And while this question [00:01:00] is simply stated, the answer, if there is one, is far more complex. That's the purpose of our show: to help language learners improve their learning by untangling the web of second language scholarship in an accessible, conversation-based format that we hope will be insightful and informative.

Marina: Jeremiah and I have both been working in education for the past six years. We both hold advanced degrees in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, as well as degrees in linguistics. We've worked as teachers and tutors for all ages, from elementary to adult, and we've had our own fair share of language learning experiences ourselves. In addition to English, we both speak Spanish. Jeremiah also speaks Latin, and I speak Japanese, and we've both studied several other languages to varying levels of proficiency.

Jeremiah: Suffice it to say we know one or two things about language learning. 

Marina: Everything that we're going to be talking about in subsequent [00:02:00] episodes will draw upon and be informed by real scholarship and educational theory, not just anecdotal evidence.

Jeremiah: That said, we'll always try and leave you with practical, actionable advice that you can apply to your own learning as a learner or your own teaching as a teacher. Theory is important, but it only matters if we act on it.

Marina: In future episodes, we'll tackle big issues and questions. Like, "How do I make the most of my language class?" "Is immersion really the best method?" "How do I get past the intermediate plateau, and what even is that?" "What makes someone a native speaker, and does it really matter?" "What's the deal with polyglots?" And much, much more. 

Jeremiah: Finally, to bring it back to the question we posed in the beginning — "What's the best way to learn a language?" — learners and teachers have been trying to answer this question for thousands of years. This podcast is our attempt to collect their findings, interrogate them, [00:03:00] draw connections, and present you with some conclusions. What you do with them is up to you. 

Marina: We look forward to seeing you in our first full-length episode, which will be coming out on October 4th as part of our three-episode premiere. In the meantime, you can stay in the loop and enjoy some good memes by following us on Instagram or the platform formerly known as Twitter @howtolang.

Here's a quick preview of Episode 1 on the Intermediate Plateau. See you soon!

[upbeat electronic music plays] 

Preview

Marina: Those are difficult things. Learning a language is always going to be difficult, but there's no one language that is more difficult than another. So blaming the language is not very constructive. 

Jeremiah: That's a contentious claim, by the way. Like, not among scholars [00:04:00] obviously, but like for listeners who might be hearing that for the first time, that no one language is more difficult than another language, we might have to elaborate on that.

Marina: So what I mean by that is that the difficulty of a language is always going to be relative, you know, so if you're, for example, a first language English speaker, then languages that are more closely related to English are going to be more or less easier. Kind of.

Jeremiah: Kind of. 

Marina: You know, a lot of the vocabulary might be similar. A lot of the grammar might be similar, but there is going to be new stuff. There's going to be new difficulties no matter what language you're learning. And so, yeah, no one language is more or less complex than another. Therefore, there's no language that's easier to learn than another. 

Jeremiah: Yeah. Objectively.

Marina: Objectively. But for the purposes of what we're talking about here, it doesn't really make sense to [00:05:00] blame the language for the difficulty because this is would be the case with any language.