How Do You Remember a Language for Longer?

As I go about learning languages, there are good days and there are bad days. Some days I am able to really focus my time and I feel like I'm making progress; some days I get distracted and don't take time to work on my new language. I could say I'm busy but the choice to do other things instead of practice is still mine. Missing a day isn't an issue, but when that day turns into two or three the gap can add up.

A primary model of learning is called "Spaced-Repetition" which helps convert short term memory into long term memory. When you learn something new, it will easily be forgotten if you don't refresh yourself of it quickly. The more times you review it, the more time you can spend between reviewing it without fear of losing it. This is especially important for language learning as you learn new vocabulary.The more you use a phrase, the more likely it is that you will remember it if you take a break from using it for a while.

Back when I was in high school I took four years of Spanish. During this time we did a block scheduling where you had the class for twice as long but only half of the year. Although I was able to retain a lot of information for short periods of time, my long term memory never truly gathered everything from each year. The first few weeks of each year were mostly reviewing the previous year instead of building upon it.

Why am I bringing up my previous language learning? I studied a language for four years and never really got to a successful or comfortable level that I could use. This is a lot to do with how I reviewed and the repetition.  My Chinese for example allowed me to have a conversation in less than a year. My conversation wasn't just with a teacher of the language, but somebody who didn't really have experience teaching it. If I go a longer time without practicing my Chinese, I notice it pretty quickly. The only time I really ever "tried" to use  my Spanish previously was when my family went to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico where everybody spoke English. I'd try to greet people and thank them in Spanish but that was ever about it. The first time I actually used it for practical purposes was just this past January when I was at an airport in Iowa and tried to help a few women who couldn't speak English. Being as I had gotten past the idea of trying to sound perfect but instead just tried to communicate, I was able to help them locate their plane.

Today's video is going to be a little entertaining to demonstrate this. I have Jessie joining me to have a conversation in Spanish, a language that I studied for four years, but haven't really "studied" for over eight years. How much will I be able to remember? I'm guessing a lot of simple phrases from the first year due to the quantity of repetition and getting moved further into long term memory, but most likely, not very much from the other three years. She also studied Spanish but actually used it during her time studying and continued even after her schooling so you can likely tell a difference between our levels. You can tell during the video when she realizes that I'm messing up but goes along with it as she realizes what I'm trying to say.

Until next time.