The Three-Pass Method

As promised in last week’s post, here I will explain a foreign language reading method that I discovered by happy accident while reading to learn Spanish. As the title of this post implies, material is read three times over in this learning process. The way you read the material changes somewhat with each pass, but each pass also has an important function for supporting your learning – I think you’ll understand why when you try this for yourself. Before getting into the three-pass method, here are the three main points to note:

-            How to perform the first pass, second pass, and third pass

-            This method’s effectiveness can be attributed to its use of repetition, context, and volume to reinforce the vocabulary you read

-            This method can advance your learning anytime you have a translation from English to French or English to Spanish, but consistent daily language study will eventually get your vocabulary to a size where you generally won’t need this technique anymore

Performing the three-pass method

To perform the three-pass method, the first thing to do is find an instruction manual for something you own that has both English and Spanish or English and French instructions. Feel free to choose whatever manual is most interesting to you. Open up to the beginning of the instructions in English and keep a finger on the page at the beginning of the instructions in French/Spanish. You are now ready to perform the first pass; going back and forth between the English and French/Spanish, carefully compare the words in the first clause or sentence of instructions in each language. Then move to the next clause or next sentence. Since French and Spanish are full of cognates with English, you may be able to recognize some words. This method probably wouldn’t work very well for an absolute beginner, but if you’ve been following along in this series, you’ve already been learning with the help of a language app or may have prior experience studying the foreign language you’re learning now. Finish reading the rest of the first page of instructions by frequently switching back and forth between the languages and carefully comparing the sentences. There will probably be some words you won’t memorize the meaning of after only the first pass, and that’s okay.

After reading the first page of instructions in the first pass, it’s time to read it again in the second pass. Here’s how the second pass is different from the first pass: in the second pass, try to read as much of the French or Spanish as possible without referencing the corresponding English. Glance back to the English for just the French/Spanish words you can’t remember the meaning of from the first pass, where you were carefully comparing the translations to learn words you didn’t already know. In essence, the second pass is your best attempt to re-read the French or Spanish page of instructions with minimal help from the English translation.

After carefully focusing and absorbing as much as you can from the first two passes, pause for a minute and then start the third pass. This time, try to only read the French or Spanish without referring back to the English translation at all. If you can’t remember a few words, before going back to the English translation, try to use the context of the sentence you’re reading to recall the meaning of the words. After trying this, if you need to reference the English page, focus on whatever words you didn’t remember successfully.

Whether or not you succeeded at remembering all of the French or Spanish words on the third pass, come back to this page the next day and try the second or third pass right off the bat – you’ll be surprised at how many of the new words whose meanings you remember.

What makes this method effective

There are three factors of this method that make it so effective at teaching you new vocabulary words: repetition, context, and volume. Repetition is achieved by reading the same material three times over, really four or five times considering that you read it in English as well. Context is achieved because you’re probably reading a series of steps to perform a process or learn about a feature of a product, so the sentences logically go together and flow. Volume of vocabulary is achieved by the fact that you are reading a page of material at a time; while many words will be familiar from your early language learning, you will likely see many new words on each page of instructions you read.

Read a page or at least a section or long paragraph of instructions at a time instead of trying to apply this method one sentence at a time. Only reading one or a few sentences at a time is not enough to establish the context, which is important for helping you remember the words when you see them again later.

Outgrowing the three-pass method

Keep using the three-pass method for as long as you keep frequently encountering unfamiliar words or sentences in your target language. As mentioned in previous posts here about foreign language learning, there’s no need to practice this technique for more than about 20 minutes each day. It can be interesting up to a point, but manuals usually aren’t very exciting and could bore you if overused. Remember that this is a transitioning technique – you are reading this material to rapidly expand your vocabulary to a level where you can start understanding podcasts or newscasts better and get into more interesting light reading that might not have an English translation available.

Conclusion

Now you know how to use the three-pass method for growing your French and/or Spanish vocabulary. Plus, you know what makes this method effective and that at some point, you will learn enough words in your target language that you can decipher word meanings from the context or an occasional dictionary reference instead of being assisted by a translation into English. Enjoy this method as much as you can, remembering that it’s a transitional technique to get you to the next level of the language you’re trying to learn.

Go find an owner’s manual somewhere around your house and try this method today!

First Words in French or Spanish

Your journey into mastering a foreign language has begun! After the previous two posts, you have good reasons why you’re learning and some rules of thumb to start with. Now, it’s time to start learning some words!

While you could start with other free resources like flashcards or bilingual library books, it’s probably more helpful for you to choose a tool that includes sounds of the language and provides some feedback as you begin learning. For that, I recommend downloading the Duolingo app onto your phone because it’s free and does a good job teaching the basics of French and Spanish (though you’re welcome to try another app, if you prefer).

Try learning the language through this app and see what you think for a month or two. Twenty minutes is plenty of time to cover a handful of daily lessons. As you complete your first few months, here are some stages to consider:

-            In the beginning, absorb as much as you can about the sounds of the language along with learning what new words mean

-            Use this phase as an easy way to get in the habit of 20 minutes per day – and while Duo gives you reminders, stick a reminder on your bathroom mirror anyway 😊

-            Eventually, you’ll reach a point when you’re ready to start heavier reading and listening to really advance – the pitfall to language apps like this is that they simply lack the volume of vocabulary you need to deeply and efficiently learn the language

In the beginning

If you haven’t studied a foreign language before, this is probably a very new thing to be learning. Everything will be very novel. This will hopefully make it easier for you to take interest in your language learning and focus well. That said, don’t take your focus for granted; study in a quiet place without distractions just as you would to learn anything else well. Remember that your goal is not just to learn the French or Spanish, but it’s also to help you get in the habit of learning effectively and making good use of your time and effort.

Since everything about the language is new, it could help to take some notes on what you learn while using the app. If a sound is unusual, write about it to help you remember the next time you encounter it. Rules like conjugations can also be learned faster and remembered better if you write down examples to get used to them. Keep your notes brief and simple if you really only have 20 minutes!

Habit, habit, habit

After a few weeks, the warm glow of the app will start to wear off, and you may begin to forget about making time each day to learn your new language if you don’t have effective reminders. Don’t rely exclusively on time reminders to tell you when to learn, as you might unexpectedly be someplace, doing something, or talking with someone at the time your reminder activates. In addition to any reminder on your phone, have a place reminder (like the sticky note on your bathroom mirror) that you may see at different times, but when you are in a place where you perform a daily routine. Ideally, it should be a place where you’ll see it when you aren’t in the middle of something and can choose to pause for language time.

Don’t be surprised if at first it feels like a little bit of a hassle to set aside 20 minutes for language learning each day. Habits are always hardest to form at the beginning. After a month or two of getting your new habit established, learning for 20 minutes each day will feel like part of your normal rhythm. You’ll still have to push yourself some – it won’t feel totally natural for many months, but use reminders to learn and reminders for why you are learning to keep you on task and motivated.

Moving to larger vocabulary volumes

After a few months on Duolingo, feel free to keep going if you enjoy the app and the pace at which you’re learning. But after that first few months, if you want to start learning at a faster rate, feel free to take on something meatier; just don’t bite off more than you can chew – it will probably be several months before you can pick out many words from listening to a podcast, although you can gain some benefit from listening to the sound of the language for a few minutes per day there. Don’t overwork yourself or set expectations that cause you to feel overwhelmed, burn out, and then give up.

From my experience of what works well, I recommend reading at a comfortable pace that allows you to start digesting your new language in a longer form. Reading will give you exposure to lots of new words but allows you to stop and focus on a word, examine the word’s context, and let its meaning sink in for you to recall the next time you see it. In the next post, I’ll share something I call the “three-pass” method, using instruction manuals as a handy resource containing content translated between English and French and (more often) English and Spanish. The three-pass method is effective because of the way it uses repetition, context, and volume of words to help you grow your vocabulary efficiently.

Conclusion

Using Duolingo or another language app as your guide, it’s time for the rubber to meet the road with your language learning! A language app will get you going with basic vocabulary, verb conjugation and other grammar, and getting familiar with how to pronounce the words. Remember the vital importance of habit formation, both to get you off to a good start learning the language and to strengthen your ability to form and stick to good habits, which will help you succeed at anything else you want to achieve. Frequently remind yourself not just to perform your daily learning process, but also why you are doing it! Finally, you get to decide when you’re ready to move on to materials that are more challenging but will allow you to learn the language much more rapidly and deeply.

If you haven’t done it already, download an app and start learning French or Spanish today!

How to Start Learning French or Spanish

In my previous post, Why Learn French or Spanish, I gave three practical reasons for why a native English speaker should learn French and/or Spanish. Now the questions is, how should you get started? With lots of free resources available, especially for Spanish, this won’t be too hard as long as you have a sustainable and effective daily process. It should be a process that you can reliably complete in about 20 minutes each day. Learning these languages will be easier and more enjoyable than you might think if you follow the advice of this and the subsequent posts on learning French and Spanish.

This series assumes you are a total beginner at learning either of these languages, and that you want to learn them for free. Before getting into specific resources for learning French and Spanish, let’s go through three considerations for how to go about your learning:

-            Create a learning process you can reliably complete at least almost every day, at the best time of day and with effective reminders to complete your process at that time

-            Focus on reading and listening first, practicing writing and speaking with the expectation that those will develop more slowly and require more effort

-            Set realistic expectations about pace of learning, be comfortable making mistakes, and remind yourself often of the reasons for learning these languages

Create a reliable learning process

In Process Goals vs Progress Goals, I explained about the importance of creating a reliable process for pursuing any goal you want to achieve. It has to be a process that you are able to reliably complete for so many days that it becomes natural and you actually become uncomfortable not doing it after a while, missing at most one or two days a month. There is no sprinting your way into mastering a foreign language, and just like in a marathon, you need to run at a sustainable pace that doesn’t wear you down fast. Along with that, ensure that you complete this process without trying to multitask; dedicate your full focus to learning in this process to make the most efficient use of your precious time.

While it’s great if you have more time to spend learning French or Spanish, at first set a modest target of 20 minutes per day. This will make it easier to make time for it, and with foreign languages, smaller increments of study each day is better than one big chunk of study each week. Remember that by creating a reliable learning process, you will study over many days, and your overall knowledge of the languages will gradually accumulate into something significant. It’s a great feeling when the amount you’ve learned sneaks up on you and suddenly you realize how much further along you are than you thought!

Focus on reading and listening first

Spending 20 minutes on learning a foreign language each day might not seem like much, it can actually give your brain a good workout if you are focused on whatever reading or listening material you’re learning from. Even reading or listening at a much slower rate than you can read or listen in English, you can still digest hundreds of words during that time. Some words will be familiar and you’ll be reinforcing your memory of them, and others will be new and reading or hearing those means you’ve just expanded your knowledge. A really satisfying accomplishment is when you learn to read or listen well enough that you can learn new words through context, not even having to look them up in a dictionary.

Set realistic expectations

It’s very common for new language learners to think they can become fluent in a matter of months. While this could be the case with a good tutor and the luxury of studying a foreign language full-time, that’s not the reality for most of us. This series and the recommended techniques are for those of us who only study for 20 minutes a day not because we want to exert a bare minimum effort, but because we are busy enough that 20 minutes is about all we can reliably sustain some days. So, first set a realistic expectation about how much time you can devote to language learning and keep in mind how critical it is to maximize the quality and focus of your effort during that time.

Along with setting realistic expectations on how much learning time you can make each day, set a realistic expectation about your pace of learning. Remember that walking up a mountain will take more time than running up, but that running up will cause you to tire out and need to stop. If you complete your daily language learning process with good focus, you have succeeded. Don’t worry about how many new words you learned or if you understood your content perfectly, and trust that you will get adequate exposure to learn the language with a large volume of words and variety of sources. And lastly, keep in mind the reasons for mastering a foreign language in the first place; put reminders of these reasons where you will see them often to keep your mindset positive even in the midst of challenging concepts, learning plateaus, or short-term boredom with the language.

Conclusion

Now you know some important rules of thumb for learning a foreign language. The biggest determinants are your motivation and the sustainability and effectiveness of your learning process. Language learning techniques to come in the next several posts will be effective if you practice them with good focus. Carefully consider and then commit yourself to a simple learning process that you can reliably complete in about 20 minutes each day, posting reminders in conspicuous places. Build a large vocabulary through lots of reading and listening first, then wade into writing and speaking as you get used to the language.

Be patient with yourself. Give yourself more time than you think you’ll need to learn the language well and remember that making mistakes is part of the learning process, not an indication that you’ve failed and should give up! The more frequently you remind yourself why you’re learning the language, the more motivated you will keep yourself to master the language to your desired level. Let's go take those first steps to climb the mountain!