Habits of highly effective language learners

[Baeticus]

I'd suggest reading about the SMART Method (I found it out on the Psycology Today website), which is a coaching method fully applicable to this topic.

Briefly, the SMART Method tells us that, in order to achieve our goals, they must be:

Specific. Which language do you want to learn? How, where, and when are you going to practise it?
Measurable. Do you want to get proficient (C1, C2)? Or is it just about getting the basics for a normal conversation (B1, B2)?
Achievable. In other words, we need to be realistic. OK, we love learning languages, but we need to take into account our own circumstances (time availability, difficulty of the target language) so that we can build a solid learning strategy. Above all, there is no magic formula, and mastering a new language will always require time and energy.
Relevant. What do you want to learn this language for? Is it just for academic reasons? Are we looking for a job abroad? To what extent are you committed to overcome the bad days, all the mistakes and the usual frustration that comes with learning any new skill?
Time-oriented. Establishing deadlines is more important that it might seem at first sight. Taking exams (besides providing us with official certificates) may help us to establish more concrete goals and routines.

If I may add something personally, there was one thing that changed everything when I was learning English: emotional connection.
We get lost in grammar, vocabulary, common expressions... and eventually forget why languages exist. It is, at the end of the day, a way to build up bridges between human beings. When I made some friends from the UK and the USA, and started to be interested about their cultures, politics and stuff, I found myself not only learning a language, but acquiring a new understanding about the world around us, while enjoying the process.

[tiia]

I might not be the main target of this survey when the target is C1. I wouldn't even say I learned faster than others, but at least I work in a foreign language.

Anyways, for me the two most important factors were
- (internal) Motivation.
- to not give up, but to continue learning for years. (Shorter breaks are ok as long as they are short.)

[jonathanrace]

I might not be the main target of this survey when the target is C1. I wouldn't even say I learned faster than others, but at least I work in a foreign language.

Anyways, for me the two most important factors were
- (internal) Motivation.
- to not give up, but to continue learning for years. (Shorter breaks are ok as long as they are short.)

I think these are underestimated. Some people can be on and off with a language but it's the ones that put the hours in on a regular basis that will see the results.

[jonathanrace]

If I may add something personally, there was one thing that changed everything when I was learning English: emotional connection.
We get lost in grammar, vocabulary, common expressions... and eventually forget why languages exist. It is, at the end of the day, a way to build up bridges between human beings. When I made some friends from the UK and the USA, and started to be interested about their cultures, politics and stuff, I found myself not only learning a language, but acquiring a new understanding about the world around us, while enjoying the process.

I think this is very important! Actually using the language as a tool rather than the goal. I can see how that would help, especially in an immersive environment!

[StringerBell]

One disclaimer: I don't think of myself as being a highly effective language learner, I'm sure most other people here are way more effective than me.

As a monolingual adult who started seriously studying two languages in my late 30s, the things that were the most important for me were:

1) Learning to be consistent. I made a commitment to do something in my target languages every single day for 1 year; even if I was feeling awful, I would do at least 10 minutes of re-listening to a podcast or a YT video I'd already watched. Not allowing myself to start making excuses and eventually losing motivation was really important. There are really an endless amount of excuses we can come up with when we don't want to do something. Yet, the busiest person can always find time to waste on their smartphone, if that's what they want to be doing. Once I got into the habit of doing something in my target languages every single day, not doing something in those languages felt weird and uncomfortable. My routine became self-reinforcing and I didn't have to worry about losing motivation anymore. I make really good use of my dead time, like listening to audiobooks when I'm sitting in traffic, or listening to a podcast when I'm brushing my teeth. Instead of thinking sometimes that I don't have time (which is almost always a lie), I focus on how I can use my time better.

2) Dealing with the emotional issues that language learning brings up. It's amazing how trying to learn a foreign language can make a person feel like an incompetent idiot, and the more a person is used to being an achiever, the worse this feeling of incompetence is. I had to retrain myself to not immediately start telling myself that I was stupid if I couldn't understand some grammar concept or how to formulate a sentence properly. "I'll never be able to do this" was a recurring thought that I had to continually fight and devise strategies to deal with. Then there's how to deal with bad days where you're suddenly much worse than the day before and realizing that it's normal and not a permanent state. For me, language learning is really a mental game where my opponent is myself.

[sporedandroid]

One disclaimer: I don't think of myself as being a highly effective language learner, I'm sure most other people here are way more effective than me.

As a monolingual adult who started seriously studying two languages in my late 30s, the things that were the most important for me were:

1) Learning to be consistent. I made a commitment to do something in my target languages every single day for 1 year; even if I was feeling awful, I would do at least 10 minutes of re-listening to a podcast or a YT video I'd already watched. Not allowing myself to start making excuses and eventually losing motivation was really important. There are really an endless amount of excuses we can come up with when we don't want to do something. Yet, the busiest person can always find time to waste on their smartphone, if that's what they want to be doing. Once I got into the habit of doing something in my target languages every single day, not doing something in those languages felt weird and uncomfortable. My routine became self-reinforcing and I didn't have to worry about losing motivation anymore. I make really good use of my dead time, like listening to audiobooks when I'm sitting in traffic, or listening to a podcast when I'm brushing my teeth. Instead of thinking sometimes that I don't have time (which is almost always a lie), I focus on how I can use my time better.

2) Dealing with the emotional issues that language learning brings up. It's amazing how trying to learn a foreign language can make a person feel like an incompetent idiot, and the more a person is used to being an achiever, the worse this feeling of incompetence is. I had to retrain myself to not immediately start telling myself that I was stupid if I couldn't understand some grammar concept or how to formulate a sentence properly. "I'll never be able to do this" was a recurring thought that I had to continually fight and devise strategies to deal with. Then there's how to deal with bad days where you're suddenly much worse than the day before and realizing that it's normal and not a permanent state. For me, language learning is really a mental game where my opponent is myself.

I’m not a highly effective language learner yet, but I guess one thing that has helped is put a lot of effort into finding a study routine that doesn’t require too much willpower for me. Opening a textbook requires a lot of willpower, using anki requires less because it’s easier for me. I can use anki on my iPhone or chromebook. I’ll often spend some time using anki on my chromebook at a cafe. I currently enjoy using subs2srs decks since they have a lot of context. It took a lot of willpower to figure out subs2srs and create subs2srs decks in general. I use high willpower days to figure out technical stuff, but I still have no trouble studying on average or even low willpower days. Another new thing I started was using mango languages to study Biblical Hebrew when I’m waiting for the bus. Since there’s no cellphone reception I pretty much have to use mango languages to not be bored.

[Iversen]

The comment above speaks of willpower - and of finding study methods that don't require too much of that exquisite and apparently rare stuff.

I would prefer to speak about willpower on a more general level since its main role is to keep us doing those things that in themselves aren't too exhausting, but just need to be done on a regular basis for a very long time. And that's where it is practical to have things like text copying (with a margin for new words) and three-column wordlists, where the format is standardized so that you don't have to invent the wheel again and again (or spend some of your precious and all-purpose willpower). If you feel you need willpower to do a specific activity then there is something wrong in your study program since language learning should be a boon and a pleasure to behold.

My goodnight reading serves the same purpose as my wordlists because it happens as a standardized ritual. For others it might be Anki or having talks over Skype or whatever, but the important thing is that you have a standardized thing to do, and that you don't hate doing it.

And in between you can do the spontaneous and unprepared things - like studying some specific typic in a weird language because you have seen a TV program about it - and not necessarily in the same language as the TV program. For instance I have noticed that there are some quite good texts about paleontology in Catalan on the internet, so when I feel like getting an update on that subject I just find something in Catalan (or Russian) to read instead of reading about it once again and again and again, and again once more in our ubiquitous and all-pervasive common language English.