I like a combination of 3 approaches:
- Learning tool such as pimsleur, rosetta stone, or duolingo
- Watch movies, shows, read interesting material in the language of your choice, change facebook/twitter to spanish etc
- DSSS - this is Tim Ferriss method for learning languages
Deconstruct - what are the minimal learnable units you should start with?
Selection: pick the 20% of the language that is used the most frequently.
Sequencing: how do you choose the order you want to learn things? (this is covered well by programs)
Stakes: How do you set up stakes so that you have incentive to learn? i.e. plan a trip to visit another country that speaks the language, make a bet with a friend, etc
That seems like a solid approach. Do you have any personal experience with this?
A little, but I always fall off the wagon. To me the most important part is stakes: having a reason to continue studying is pivotal.
Question though: do you prefer 30 minutes a day or a longer session a few times a week? It's easy to get into a rhythm with 30 minutes a day but I think longer sessions are more likely to promote flow states that may lead to better retention.
That's a really good hypothesis. A lot of times, we end up doing more than one 30-minute lesson per day, but at different times throughout the day. As a general rule, I'm doing it every day of the week, though. I think it ensures that the lessons don't get forgotten from day to day.
Ah, Tim Ferriss, gotta love that guy! He knows how to hack the hell out of everything it seems lol. Interestingly enough, @shenanigator and I did add stakes to our Spanish learning. We said every time we don't do a daily lesson, we have to contribute $5 to our travel fund. That fund could ONLY be used to travel to a Spanish-speaking country.
I'll have to see if switching social media sites to Spanish is doable at this point. I remember doing that for fun in high school once and couldn't figure out how to switch it back! lol