Have you ever felt like this?

• Can't feel like I'm making any progress.
• Studied for so long yet I still can't hold a conversation or enjoy content in my target language.
• I can't make the time to study.
• I wanna study, but I often get lazy about it.
• I get upset because it's too hard and lose all motivation.

These problems might all have a solution. It ain't no miracle cure—I'm just saying, you might need to rethink your preconceptions about language learning.

Rethinking language learning

I've gone through English, Japanese, and now Mandarin. With this experience, a lot has become much clearer to me. The spontaneous method I used to learn English, I had to rediscover after I got discouraged learning Japanese, and I'm now making full use from the start while learning Mandarin Chinese. This study method I refer to in fact is no study method at all! At least, this is how I understand it.

Let me start by explaining what I mean by “study”. For that, I'll first make a distinction between the conscious act of “learning”, and the unconscious process of “acquisition”. When we study, and through a teacher's explanations, homework, textbooks, reference books, and other study materials, we consciously attempt to understand and memorize some knowledge. Therefore, studying is related to the former, the conscious act of “learning”.

Most people seem to think that this “learning” is the most natural way of gaining a new skill or knowledge. An activity done at a specific place and time, that might be difficult and boring, and which requires considerable effort.

On the other hand, acquisition is the phenomenon that may happen at any time, in which some new knowledge lodges itself in your brain. For instance, this is how young children learn to grasp their surroundings, by just absorbing information from all around. In opposition to “learning”, “acquisition” is something that occurs subconsciously, anytime and anywhere. And not just kids—adults do it too. Think of when you try some food you don't like, but after trying it a few more times you warm up to it, and end up liking it. Acquisition is just cognitively “getting used” to stuff.

Putting habits to good use

The idea of “acquisition” fits language learning perfectly. Everyone has already acquired their first language as babies. We keep absorbing the language around us, until we're able to understand, and ultimately utter it.

Now that we're not babies, we don't seem to have that luxury of an environment. But actually, we can create it, if only we make good use of habits. In order to absorb our target language while having fun, we can little by little change our habits to suit that goal. It's not something easy to do in one step, but I trust that it will resolve all your motivation-related problems, and before you realize it you'll be acquiring natural language while having fun.

My offer to you

Let me guide you toward this objective. With your own psychology in mind, we'll work together to turn your language learning into habits suited to your lifestyle, your tastes, and your current level. For instance, one big focus will be talking about the why, what, how and when of consuming native content. And of course, I'll help you tackle all your personal grievances related to language learning.

Anything else you wanna know? Don't be shy and ask away!