Stop wasting time with language apps!

Most aspiring polyglots in this age of digital convenience seek a panacea in language learning apps. They promise fast results, with the whole process gamified and a totally flexible system — learn whenever and wherever. But despite all of this, they might not be the best use of your time if you want to become truly fluent. Here's why you should reconsider your dependence on this digital tool and see into more effective ways of mastering a new language.

The Parrot Problem

This is one of the significant problems with language apps; they tend to turn their users into parrots. Repetition is surely key in language learning, but parroting sentences without understanding context, nuance, or cultural relevance only leads one to superficial knowledge. A lot of these apps are based around rote learning of phrases, which might help you in the purchase of a coffee in a foreign country but somewhat less in building a deeper conversation.

Language itself is necessarily social. It's a tool for communication, rather than being words and rules of grammar taken in isolation. Language apps do not have this interactive component that is present in real-life conversations. They only provide you with one form of interaction in which you respond to prompts—sayings, with little or no feedback on your pronunciation or context. This is very much unlike a real conversation, where you would listen, respond, and adjust on the fly.

They can lack customisation

No two learners are exactly alike; they will all have their strengths, weaknesses, and ways that they learn best. In general, language apps provide a one-size-fits-all approach in which the content and activities are the same for everyone. This lack of personalisation can be frustrating and inefficient. If you are struggling with a certain feature of the language, an app will not give you the tailored guidance to overcome this obstacle.

Overemphasis on vocabulary

While having a rich vocabulary is important, knowing many words does not mean that a person is fluent. Most language apps focus far more on the acquisition of vocabulary than on other crucial skills, in particular, learning how to listen and speak with the correct emphasis or intonation or stress patterns and about the culture of the host language. Fluency is the ability to use the language fluently and appropriately in different contexts, not just through memorising long word lists.

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Alternatives to Language Apps

So, what are the more effective ways to spend your time learning a new language? Some alternatives can provide a more holistic and practical language learning experience:

1. Language Classes with a Tutor

   This is, beyond doubt, the best way to learn a language. Personalised feedback from your human tutor, lessons that match your learning speed, and making live corrections are all benefits of learning with a great tutor. Even more significantly, classes are interactive and simulate honest life conversations where you are given practice to learn how to speak and listen in a supportive environment.

2. Language Exchange Partnerships

   Having language exchange partnerships is another exceptional practice method. A language exchange partnership is a situation whereby individuals seeking fluency in a target language pair up with a native speaker who seeks to learn the partner's native language. It'll be reciprocal since both will have an equal share of talk in each language and, at the same time, be beneficial in speaking and knowing about one another's culture. It helps improve conversational skills by exposing you to colloquial expressions and slang that you might never hear within formal surroundings.

3. Immersive Experiences

   Immersion is a powerful way to learn a language. If possible, spend time in a country where the language is spoken. Immersion surrounds you with the language in your daily interactions, and so, therefore, is the way to learn very quickly. If travel is not possible, it is always possible to create an immersion experience at home through movies, music, or books.

4. Attend Language Meetups and Clubs

   Most cities have language meetups and clubs where learners can practice speaking in informal, social contexts. This would mean the chance to communicate with more than one person or compels one to remain in touch with various accents or speaking styles. They also add an element of fun and remove the inherent isolation in a study by inviting a sense of community and support within the group.

Although language apps can be pretty helpful as an additional tool, overreliance on them wouldn't be a good strategy for achieving fluency. Most often, these are aimed at but miss delivering the interactive, personal, context-rich experiences that may be required to acquire appropriate proficiency in a language. For a better way, consider taking language classes, exchanging with native speakers, immersing yourself, meeting with others, and getting professional tutors. Humans learn languages to communicate with other humans, right? Therefore, in such an enterprise, there is no substitute for interacting with other humans. Use your time wisely, and you will speak confidently and naturally in no time.

Why we're not fans of intensive courses

Hola, Spanish language enthusiasts! A bit of a controversial one here, since we’ll go against the orthodoxy and what is a common practice in most language schools. But you’ve read it right: we aren’t fans of intensive courses. And here’s why.

We often get requests for intensive courses, especially from beginners eager to really get into the language, and most of the time we turn them down, even if it’d mean quick money. Beginner intensive courses are often a waste of time and money for the student. We used to organise this type of class but then we stopped since we believe it’s not in our students’ interest.

At Hackney Spanish, we understand that embarking on the path of language acquisition requires time, dedication, and a genuine appreciation for the process. Language learning is a practice that unfolds gradually, offering invaluable insights and experiences along the way.

In this post, we delve into the fundamental principles that guide our approach: the importance of investing time in language learning and why we steer clear of intensive courses for most students.

Language learning: a process of discovery

Learning a new language is akin to embarking on an enthralling journey. Just as a traveler needs time to soak in the sights, sounds, and flavors of a new destination, language learners need time to immerse themselves in the nuances, idioms, and rhythms of a foreign tongue. Travelling is a physical process — language learning is physical too, and it takes time for neural processes to become established.

Research has shown that true language acquisition takes time, allowing the brain to process and internalise the intricacies of vocabulary, grammar, and cultural context. At Hackney Spanish, we believe in fostering a deep connection with the Spanish language, one that unfolds through consistent exposure, practice, and engagement. We want our students to create a connection to the language that extends beyond the classroom.

The myth of quick fixes

In a world of instant gratification, the allure of intensive language courses can be tempting. However, we firmly believe that language learning is a process that thrives on depth and authenticity, not rushed memorisation (like with many apps that promise you’ll learn a language with 15 minutes a day!).

Intensive courses, just like many apps, often promise rapid results, but they can leave learners with superficial knowledge that fades quickly. We understand that true language proficiency goes beyond mere memorisation; it involves understanding the language's structure, its soul, its cultural context, and the joy of meaningful communication.

And for this to happen you need to create solid connections — we help our students achieve these.

The Hackney Spanish approach: no magic Recipes, but fun and consistent Work

At Hackney Spanish, we are passionate advocates of genuine language learning. We believe that there are no magic recipes or shortcuts to becoming fluent in Spanish. Anyone who tells you so is selling you snake oil. Instead, we emphasize the power of consistent practice, interactive engagement, and a supportive community that nurtures your growth.

Our courses are designed to inspire you to explore the language's rich tapestry, from its history to its idiomatic expressions and grammar, in a way that builds lasting proficiency and cultural and linguistic understanding. Our social events will make you feel part of a community.

So are intensive courses always useless?

No. That’s not what we are saying! We don’t believe intensive courses are good value for your time and money when you are giving your first steps. Unless you are willing to move to a Spanish-speaking country and do a month or so of full immersion, thus being completely in the language, we would advise you not to try to do an intensive course. Coordinating an intensive course while you continue to exist in your own language, with work, study, and family commitments, is not the best way to invest your time and money as a beginner.

We do agree to intensive courses when we get requests from students who have already learned the basics and have a certain level of Spanish. Many times life separates a student from a language and an intensive course will be a good way to reconnect with it. But for this to happen the student should have done the slow work before.

I’m a beginner, can’t I do anything to speed up my learning?

There’s lot of you can do to speed up your learning! Most of is free and flexible. We have covered this topic before. You can read all about it here and here (with a focus on listening, the hardest skill to pick up in Spanish).

Think of learning a language as a lifelong way to open up your world. And wherever you are in your journey get in touch today, since we can assist you to get beyond. You will be surprised how quickly you’ll acquire Spanish, without a need of spending all your time and money in a classroom!

Free online resources for students of Spanish

There are no limits to the things you can do to aid your learning of Spanish. Here are some things we’ve been using a lot lately. All of them a freely available online!

1. SpanishDict: lots of grammar help here! Vocabulary, conjugation, translations, etc!

2. Linguee: this one is great for looking for translations of phrases, etc. It will show you results from the work of translators.

3. Learning Language with Netflix: This Google Chrome plugin is a godsend! It lets you have subtitles in two languages. Why not have it in Spanish and English at the same time?

4. Radio Garden: amazing radio project. Look for stations in Spanish or Latin America and let time do the rest. Here are some tips of how to use it.

5. Conjugato (app): great free app for practising your verbs.

6. BBC MUNDO: Lots of international use. Top tip: try to read about things you are familiar with. Unless you are a rocket scientist going for that rocket science article might prove difficult.

7. Spanish Games: Classed from easy to difficult, here are some cool games for you to practise when you don’t want to engage with thorny grammar practise!

There are many more things you can do! Of course, we are always here to help if you fancy some guided learning. Our online classes (groups) restart on 20.07. And we teach one to one all through the year.

Get in touch today!

Getting better at listening

Yes, listening is hard. But here are some tips that will help you get better at it.

Anyone who’s been learning Spanish for long enough will agree that listening is one of the hardest things. This is to do with many things: the speed of the language, the many accents, the many things a person might talk about, the fact not every speaker is a professional voice artist, etc. This problem is further exacerbated by bad teaching creating wrong expectations about listening. Many students are trained to listen in class, wasting a lot of time in the process, with very little gains. We believe this is the wrong way to go about it.

The moment of listening in class should not be seen as specifically training listening skills. We use that moment to introduce concepts in a practical way, and to see how your listening is progressing. Think about it like going to a tennis class: you’ll still have to play tennis outside of class to get good at it — no one would think the class alone is the moment in which you get good at your tennis, or that you’ll go to class and do a simulacrum of a game, as if you were playing with mates. Instead you will see the class as a moment of learning, and your instructor will use that time to correct your posture, and to suggest ways of improving your skills, perhaps to introduce a new trick, etc.

So, if the class is not really the moment of playing / listening, when do you play / listen? Well there are many things to do in your own time, and none of them need to be a chore. There are things that you can do actively; and there are things that don’t need your attention 100%.

Actively, in a nutshell, try to listen to podcasts, watch things on Netflix with subtitles, listen to people talking and try to spot words, expressions, etc. There are many exercises that we teach our students for them to listen actively and if you want to learn more about these please get in touch because after wall we are a school! That said, there are no limits to the things you can do with free materials available online. Be inventive and just go for it.

In terms of non-active learning there’s a lot to do too. This is very interesting, very simple, and rarely exploited by language tutors (spoiler: we do; but we are also the best around, so there’s that). In our classes we talk a lot about the concept of unconscious acquisition. If this is something of interest there’s an article here about what this means in depth. Basically, it means that there are things that happen when we learn, when we pick up the language without really trying; listening has a lot to do here, and we still don’t know how this works but we know it works, judging from how kids continue to learn their mother tongue: did you mum or dad sit you down and explained the subjunctive to you or did you just pick up the language from them? More likely the second option…

So we need to try to replicate that situation of someone learning their mother tongue. For that reason it’s important that you spend time in the language — there’s a post here for you to see what we mean by that. But to put it simply, one thing you can do is having a radio in Spanish in the background when you aren’t necessarily paying attention 100%. This will improve your listening and your overall language learning, through that unconscious acquisition. We see this all the time — our students who do this learn much faster than the ones who do no! (We would have to say that they also learn faster and better than in other schools but that’s something for another post!).

So, yes, do some proper work with podcasts, etc, or get in touch with us and follow our method to go about this. But also, next time you are doing exercise or cooking, just blast a Spanish radio station instead of the latest Coldplay (yawns in Spanish). You’ll be taking a lot in without even noticing it!

FREE ONLINE RESOURCES:

Good podcasts: Radio Ambulante (www.radioambulante.org), El Hilo (http://elhilo.audio), Sobremesa, a podcast by Memrise (https://memrise.libsyn.com), Duolingo Podcast (https://podcast.duolingo.com/spanish).

A good place to find radios in Spanish:  http://www.radio.garden. 

Lots of news in Spanish: BBC Mundo (https://www.bbc.com/mundo)

And there’s a lot more online!

Learning online — some tips (and most important etiquette matters)

And then we all ended up learning Spanish (and other things) online...

You know well what happened before the “And then”, so there is no need to start talking about “these extraordinary times”, etc. For some this online life might be a new thing; for others a more radical version of things they were already doing.

We — as we have been offering online classes since our launch — belong in the latter group. So here are some things we’ve learned, tips, some matters pertaining etiquette and practicalities. We hope they might be of use to you.

1. A good internet connection helps a lot. Broadband is ideal; cable internet is better than wifi, unless you are close to the router. These things aren’t always possible, so if you can, make sure no one else is hogging the bandwidth at the same time you are taking your classes. If you are downloading things you should pause them until you finished your class.

2. Ideally use headphones. Otherwise other users will get an echo when their voices come out of your speakers and are taken by the mic. Headphones + microphone (like with most mobile phones headphones) are ideal.

3. Use a web camera, if you can. It is considered good etiquette that if other users make themselves visible to you they can see you too. If you can’t use a camera — for example because your internet is a bit slow — or don’t want others to see you — for example because you haven’t shaved since February — let them know at the start of the class. This gives other people the chance to turn off their cameras. Most of the time they’ll leave them on anyway!

4. Monotask. This applies both to your computer and you. Keep open only the apps in use (Zoom, Google Meet Hangouts, Skype, etc), notes, any PDF you are working with. Do you need Safari or Chrome open? If you don’t quit them. And yourself: resist the temptation to go on social media or the refreshing the live coronavirus blog at the Guardian. Focus on your class. You’ll have time to procrastinate later. You’ll have a lot of time.

5. Have your desktop arranged so that you can access all things at all times, so that everything is visible at all times. That stops a lot of unnecessary tabbing. Check out this photo. That’s how an ideal desktop should look like during a class.

The ostrich toy is not included in our tuition fees.

6. Be familiar with the rules of the classroom. Delivering an online class is slightly different from delivering a class in person. Your tutor — if it’s good like our tutors ;) — will minimise this by leading the class in a more managed way. S/he’ll probably use your name more, indicate when you are expected to talk, and so on. When you are teaching an online lesson you miss many of the normal indicators that you’d have in a face to face (irl) setting, but there are other way to compensate. In our first class, we always make sure to make the rules of the classroom clear, whether for online learning or face to face. If you mistakenly decided to learn Spanish elsewhere make sure you ask in the first class how things will work, so that you can get disappointed when no one knows how things will work, then come to us. (That’s a joke by the way — you should come to us without wasting time elsewhere first!). The reality is that once these things are clear, e-learning isn’t that different from learning in a classroom.

If you mistakenly decided to learn Spanish elsewhere make sure you ask in the first class how things will work, so that you can get disappointed when no one knows how things will work, then come to us.

7. Don’t have in your computer anything you don’t want others to see! Sometimes during an e-class you might be asked to share your screen in order for the teacher to see how you did a certain task. In fact, not having in your computer things you don’t want others to see is a motto you should incorporate as part your whole life.

8. Avoid the “dolly shot”. We teach very creative people and we invite creativity in our classes. We would love to make films too. But leaving the laptop / tablet / phone still while the camera is on, instead of taking it for a walk around the house, is good etiquette. Otherwise you will end up with a dolly shot like this one by Spike Lee. It’s a great dolly shot. But it’s likely to make others in the class dizzy.

9. The mute button is your friend. Really. Use it. You will be very likely at home. There will be interruptions. Just hit that mute button when you need to attend to whatever is not a part of the class.

10. Get to know the class software before the class starts. Most likely you will receive a link for the class with plenty of time in advance — log in a few moments before the class and explore your virtual classroom like you would do with a real classroom on the first day of your course.

11. Relax and learn. Online classes are flexible, comfortable, and a great way of learning and meeting people without leaving your home. Ideally we all like to meet irl. But when and while this is not possible, make the best of your online experience. The important thing is to keep doing the things you want, with the people you like.