Intro
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| Becky: Welcome to a special Inner Circle Audio Lesson! I'm Becky and I'll be your host. My co-host today is the founder of InnovativeLanguage.com... Peter Galante! |
| Peter: Hi everyone! Peter here. |
| Becky: In this Inner Circle, we’re talking about… |
| Peter: The 3 Powerful Language Learning Habits You'll Pick Up at the Gym. |
| Becky: You’ll Learn... |
| Peter: One, How to Approach Learning or Any Goal... |
| Becky: Two, How to Find Time to Learn a Language... |
| Peter: Three, Why You Don’t Need the Best Possible Routine... |
| Becky: And Four, How Peter Reached His Language Goal for The Month. |
| Peter: All so you can master your target language and reach your goals! |
| Body |
| Becky: Listeners, welcome back to the Inner Circle. |
| Peter: Last time, you learned how to learn and master words.... |
| Becky: ... with spaced repetition flashcards. |
| Peter: ...and why this learning technique is so powerful... |
| Becky ... especially for those that struggle with remembering things. |
| Peter: This technique is designed to help you remember words in the long run... |
| Becky: ...without forcing you to cram, study hard or write out physical flashcards. |
| Peter: I used this to learn 500 words last time. |
| Becky: So, uh, do you... still remember them, Peter? Can you recite all 500 out loud for us? |
| Peter: Becky, the great thing is... I don’t have to. |
| Becky: What? Why? |
| Peter: I’m still reviewing that flashcard deck. Except now, I get most of them right on the first try. |
| Becky: Ok, so you can recognize them and recall them. |
| Peter: Exactly. And that’s what it’s all about. I don’t need to recite all 500 for you. |
| Becky: What do you mean? |
| Peter: If I hear the word in a conversation, read it in an article, or if I want to use it... |
| Becky: ...You instantly know it. |
| Peter: Right. It comes to me. But memorizing for the sake of memorizing... isn’t really effective language learning. |
| Becky: I guess that’s true... |
| Peter: Again listeners, that’s the power of spaced repetition. |
| Becky: The goal is to revisit and review information over a spaced out period of time... |
| Peter: ...so that the information is ingrained in your long term memory. |
| Becky: Okay, Peter, you don’t have to recite anything. What about this past month’s goal? |
| Peter: I promised to do a Chinese proficiency practice test... |
| Becky: And? |
| Peter: I finished one. I reached my goal... BUT... you know how tests are usually an hour to two hours? |
| Becky: Yeah. |
| Peter: I didn’t do it all up front. I did a little bit every day over the course of the month. |
| Becky: Huh. Yeah, you hit your goal I guess, but why did you space it out? Tests are timed. You’re supposed to feel the pressure. |
| Peter: Good question. Actually, this approach was inspired by... going to the gym. |
| Becky: So let’s jump into this Inner Circle. |
| Peter: The 3 Powerful Language Learning Habits You'll Pick Up at the Gym. |
| Peter: And let’s get into the first part. |
| Becky: How to Approach Learning, or Any Goal. |
| Peter: So I started going to the gym again this past month. And the gym is great because it gives you a snapshot... of where most people are with their goals. |
| Becky: Right, everyone at the gym has one goal - to get fit. |
| Peter: Exactly. But not everyone is there yet. You have a handful of guys and gals that look like serious fitness models. |
| Becky: They’re probably there every day. What about the others? |
| Peter: Then you have around 20 or 30 people that a have good, respectable physique. The middle group. And then, the rest are still.... working their way up. The whole picture is very motivating to me. |
| Becky: Which group do you fall in? Are you part the of the fit top 5? Or the bottom of the totem pole? |
| Peter: Ah, Becky, always asking the hard-hitting questions... |
| Becky: Well, okay, I do want to ask... what’s so motivating about this? |
| Peter: Okay, I’ll answer your first question... I was part of the middle group some time ago. |
| Becky: You fell off? |
| Peter: Work, life, and language goals in the way. So I had to cut something out. |
| Becky: Very true. I can relate. |
| Peter: To answer your second question... it’s motivating because — and if you’ve been to the gym enough, you’ll understand this — it’s all about reps. A rep is the number of times you do a certain exercise. |
| Becky: Like 15 push ups is 15 reps of pushups. |
| Peter: Exactly. So, even those at the bottom of the totem pole have a fair chance of succeeding... |
| Becky: ....because it’s just all about reps. |
| Peter: If they do a little bit a day, over a long period of time… |
| Becky: ...they’ll get there. |
| Peter: And I say this after having seen results and then losing them because I stopped going. |
| Becky: So you know the process well. |
| Peter: Exactly. The process is simple. The more you do, the longer you stick with it. |
| Becky: ...the more progress you make. |
| Peter: And the same goes with learning language or any goal in life. It’s about putting in the reps.... |
| Becky:... a little bit a day, consistently, for a long period of time... |
| Peter: I like the idea of “doing reps” because it makes goals feel realistic and simple to reach. If you want to get bigger muscles, you pick up a dumbbell, and you do reps. |
| Becky: If you want to jog more, you do the reps. Jog once a day, every week. |
| Peter: If you want to learn more words, you do the reps. 5 new words a day. Want to learn even more? Add more words. More reps. |
| Becky: So everyone has a chance to succeed... |
| Peter: ...they just need to make the time. This is where the second gym lesson comes in. |
| Becky: Two. How to Find the Time to Learn a Language |
| Peter: There’s a reason why the people you see at the gym daily, especially at 10PM on a Friday... are the ones with the best results. |
| Becky: ....they’re the most consistent ones? |
| Peter: Exactly...but how do they get that level of consistency? |
| Becky: That’s a good question. |
| Peter: So every now and then, I like to ask the bigger guys about their routines, what they do for work, how they find time to train... |
| Becky: Are they athletes? Because if they are, that explains where they find the time. It’s their job. |
| Peter: A few are, yes. But, I’ve also run into accountants, business owners, dentists, and programmers. And usually, I get one of three answers. |
| One: They have plenty of free time after work so it’s a non-issue. |
| Two: The busier ones; they make time regardless of what their schedule is like. Meaning, they show up at 1AM just to fit in a session or they cancel other plans to make time. |
| Or Three: You have guys running on autopilot. They’re so in the habit of going that they don’t have to think about it. I can’t get a clear answer out of them. |
| Becky: Huh, I like the 3rd one. I think that’s the ideal place to be. |
| Peter: I agree. But most people fall into the 2nd camp. The cold, hard truth is, they have to make time.... |
| Becky: ...they have to cancel other plans. |
| Peter: Some wake up earlier to squeeze in a session in the AM. Some go late at night. |
| Becky: It’s the same exact thing with language learning. You make time. |
| Peter: Listeners, if that level of sacrifice scares you, don’t worry. |
| Becky: The good news is, you don’t need open up a lesson at 1AM. |
| Peter: That’s exactly why we suggest setting small, measurable, monthly goals. |
| Becky: That way, your daily routine is super easy to accomplish. For example.. |
| Becky: If you’re learning 100 words for the month... |
| Peter:...that’s about 3 words a day. |
| Becky: If you’re aiming to finish 25 lessons of an audio series in a month.. |
| Peter: That’s less than 1 lesson a day. |
| Becky: You don’t have to sacrifice much time to learn 3 words or take 1 lesson. |
| Peter: If you have 5 to 10 minutes to squeeze in a lesson on the app... |
| Becky: Or review your flashcards. |
| Peter: It’s kind of what I’ve been doing over the month…. |
| Becky: ...doing a few test questions a day. |
| Peter: But, there’s something you can learn from beginners and the guys in the middle too... |
| Becky: Oh? |
| Peter: Let’s get into the next lesson and third part. |
| Becky: Why You Don’t Need the Best Possible Routine to Get Results. |
| Peter: What I mean is... most learners spend a lot of time worrying about starting right… |
| Becky: ...instead of just starting and keeping at it? |
| Peter: Exactly. Some don’t even get started at all. They quit after the first try. |
| Becky: That’s so true. |
| Peter: And it’s the same with language and with fitness. If you start learning from a textbook and stick with it... |
| Becky: You will get results. You’ll improve your reading, vocabulary and grammar. |
| Peter: Of course, it won’t get you speaking. You only get good at what you focus on.... |
| Becky: ...but the fact is, you make progress. |
| Peter: Same with the gym, if you start off with bicep curls, you’ll see progress in time... but at some point, you’ll need to add in legs as well. |
| Becky: That makes sense. |
| Peter: So here’s what you can learn. The smart beginners know this. They don’t look for the best way to start.. |
| Becky: They just start and keep going... |
| Peter: Exactly. And once they have a consistent routine, they start optimizing. They improve their routine. |
| Becky: If you started taking 1 lesson a day... and can easily maintain that routine.. |
| Peter: ...then, you might realize that you want to practice speaking. You need to shadow that lesson’s conversation. |
| Becky: So, now you add shadowing to your routine. And that’s how you grow. |
| Peter: Same thing with the gym. The smart beginners make sure they do their reps and come in as much as possible. |
| Becky: Right. |
| Peter: And doing the basics is enough for them to build muscle. |
| Becky: And later on, they start adjusting their exercises and adding new ones. |
| Peter: But.... you will NEVER get to that point if you overthink yourself into inaction and don’t build that habit. |
| Becky: That’s a great point. So most starting routines, learning methods... |
| Peter: As long as you start and continue... they’re good enough, listeners. |
| Becky: You don’t need the best possible one right now. |
| Peter: You could have the best possible language book but if you don’t consistently use it... |
| Becky. It’s useless. So, Peter, let’s talk about your practice exam |
| Peter: Let’s get into the fourth and final part. |
| Becky: How Peter Reached His Language Goal for The Month. |
| Peter: It goes back to the idea of just putting in reps. Now with a 1 hour timed test... |
| Becky: ...doing that up front is too much. |
| Peter: Exactly. It’s like lifting 200 pounds on your first day at the gym. You won’t do it. |
| Becky: What you can do is start smaller.... And put in the reps. |
| Peter: That’s what I did with the practice exam. There are about 100 questions in total. |
| Becky: And they cover reading, listening and writing? |
| Peter: That’s right. What I did was, I just did 5 or 6 questions a day. I could easily make time for that. |
| Becky: ...so you took your time until you finished it all by the end of the month. |
| Peter: I wanted to get the questions right, have time to review, and understand and correct my mistakes... instead failing on the spot. |
| Becky: That’s pretty smart. And you passed the test... obviously, since you had all month. |
| Peter: I did. But here’s my goal for next month. I’ll take 2 practice tests. I want keep putting in the reps. |
| Becky: And since your goal is to pass the proficiency exam... |
| Peter: ...Doing more practice tests is the best way to go about it. |
| Becky: Sounds exciting! Deadline? |
| Peter: October 31st. |
| Becky: When do you have to take that Chinese proficiency test? The end of the year? |
| Peter: It should be at the end of November. I’ll have a concrete date for you next time. |
| Becky: Got it. Listeners, let us know as well. What’s your goal for the month? |
| Becky: Email us at inner dot circle at innovative language dot com. |
| Peter: And stay tuned for the next Inner Circle. |
Outro
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| Becky: Well, that’s going to do it for this special Inner Circle lesson! |
| Peter: Bye everyone! |
| Becky: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
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