Intro
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| Chigusa: Welcome to a special Inner Circle Audio Lesson! I'm Chigusa and I'll be your host. My co-host today is the founder of InnovativeLanguage.com... Peter Galante! |
| Peter: Hi everyone! Peter here. |
| Chigusa: In this Inner Circle, we’re talking about… |
| Peter: How to Get a Return on Your Language Learning Investment. |
| Chigusa: You’ll Learn... |
| Peter: One: One of the Biggest Reasons Why People Fail. |
| Chigusa: Two: How to Get a Return on Language Learning. |
| Peter: And Three: How to Track Your Results. |
| Chigusa: So you can master your target language and reach your goals! |
| Body |
| Chigusa: Listeners, welcome back to the Inner Circle. |
| Peter: Last time, you learned about the “Easiest Way to Start Writing, On Your Own...” |
| Chigusa: ...with our learning program. So, Peter. |
| Peter: Yes, Chigusa? |
| Chigusa: Last time we talked about a tactic for improving writing skills! Where you copy... |
| Peter: ...and write things out by hand, right? |
| Chigusa: Yes, that’s it! So, are you still writing out FrenchPod101 lesson dialogs? |
| Peter: I am. It’s actually a very easy routine to stick to. |
| Chigusa: Oh, really? Why is that? |
| Peter: Well, there’s no thinking involved. You don’t have to worry about “what to do...” |
| Chigusa: You just copy and write it out? |
| Peter: Exactly. So, as promised last time, I’ve been sticking with that. |
| Chigusa: Great! And what about speaking. You also promised us... 7 minutes of French conversation. |
| Peter: Ah, yes, that was... the... goal... |
| Chigusa: So? Results? Did you hit your goal? |
| Peter: I did not, Chigusa. I failed. |
| Chigusa: Oh, wow, you’re so upfront about your failure. Isn’t this the second goal you’ve missed, Peter? |
| Peter: Hmm.. Chigusa, what a great memory you have. It is! And this is why the Inner Circle is... the monthly, no-holds barred newsletter where anything goes. We’re not just talking about success, but failure too. |
| Chigusa: That’s very true. It’s also important to look back and ask.. Why did you fail? |
| Peter: Well said, Chigusa. The fast and easy answer is... TIME. I did not have time for it this month. Work got in the way. |
| Chigusa: I see. So you're still at 5 minutes of French conversation. |
| Peter: Exactly. I’ve been sticking with writing and reading, but speaking... if you remember last time with my skype teacher... |
| Chigusa: I remember, you couldn’t get ahold of your teacher. Usually, it’s the other way around! |
| Peter: Usually it’s the teacher chasing the student down... trying to teach them! |
| Chigusa: That’s so funny. |
| Peter: So because of that.. I fell out of that routine in April. I got ahold of her this month but then I got busy with work. |
| Chigusa: So you just didn’t get to put in the time. |
| Peter: You got it. And listeners, in a way, language learning is quite simple. |
| Chigusa: Above all else... |
| Peter: ...it's a simple equation of time. |
| Chigusa: It’s all about the time you put in. |
| Peter: And that’s the topic of today’s Inner Circle: |
| Chigusa: How to Get a Return on Your Language Learning Investment |
| Peter: Okay, let’s jump into the first part. |
| Chigusa: Part 1: One of the Biggest Reasons Why People Fail |
| Peter: Listeners, you already know the first big reason if you listened to the previous lessons. |
| Chigusa: But just in case you need a reminder... here it is again. |
| Peter: People often fail because they set big, vague goals like “I want to be fluent.” |
| Chigusa: The next big reason is... |
| Peter: ...lack of time. They don’t put in the time. |
| Chigusa: Learning language is a lot like a gym — you get in what you put in. |
| Peter: If you buy a dumbbell and do nothing, nothing happens. It can do great things for you.... |
| Chigusa: ...but it won’t work for you UNTIL you pick it up and curl it a few times. |
| Peter: So, if you put in 1 hour a day, you get results. |
| Chigusa: If you put in 10 minutes a day, you get results. |
| Peter: But, if you put in 0, you get 0. |
| Chigusa: But Peter, you did more than 0 this month. You did practice writing and reading. |
| Peter: You’re right. So this brings us to the next point. Let’s jump into the second part. |
| Chigusa: Part 2: Getting a Return on Language Learning |
| Peter: So, in the first part, we talked about “putting in the time.” |
| Chigusa: Yes. |
| Peter: That’s the most important step to take. But, you can put in 3 minutes and do a lesson... |
| Chigusa: ...you can put in 3 minutes and read a textbook... |
| Peter: ...or review 10 phrases for 3 minutes. |
| Chigusa: In all these examples, you can put in an equal amount of time... |
| Peter: ...but the results you get...will be different. |
| Chigusa: And that’s because some ways of learning are faster than others. |
| Peter: So, the second lesson is - you need to know what kind of results you get. |
| Chigusa: You need to measure and know the return on your time. |
| Peter: Listeners, with the FrenchPod101 lessons - the Absolute Beginner level ones I’m taking - I know that 3 or 4 audio lessons get me to roughly 1 minute of French conversation. This is the return on the lessons. |
| Chigusa: Wait, how did you figure that out? |
| Peter: Well, the dialog tracks are about 20 seconds... at least on the French Absolute Beginner ones. On the other sites they vary. |
| Chigusa: Yes, the dialog tracks are quick. Like 10 to 40 seconds. |
| Peter: And so 3 lessons, that’s 3 conversations |
| Chigusa: Ok, so 20 seconds a piece, that’s 60 seconds. One minute. |
| Peter: Exactly. |
| Chigusa: Wait Peter. If you know THIS, and you were at 5 minutes already... then you had to do just.. 6 easy lessons... to hit 7 minutes of French conversation. You could’ve done that in a few days! |
| Peter: Well Chigusa, I never sat down with the teacher to actually practice and time our conversations... |
| Chigusa: Ah... right, right... |
| Peter. So, I can’t prove it to you. I did the lessons. I just didn’t do the timed conversations part. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, you’ve gotta track and measure your results! I think this is super useful for listeners. |
| Peter: Exactly. Listeners, If you know that 3 lessons get you to... |
| Chigusa: 1 minute of conversation... |
| Peter: That can help you make a basic calculation. But we can’t count our 3-minute series grammar or writing lessons here. Just our conversational lessons. AND... remember, you still have to practice speaking. |
| Chigusa: Ah, that’s true. But if you know this, listeners... |
| Peter: You can know what results to expect. |
| Chigusa: If you do 20 lessons, you’re at about 5 minutes of conversation. |
| Peter: 40 lessons, that’s around 10 minutes or so of conversation. |
| Chigusa: That’s the power of measuring the results, |
| Peter: If you track your results, you know what to expect in the future. |
| Peter: And you can hit your language learning goals. |
| Chigusa: . Now, what can our listeners take away from this? |
| Peter: Let’s jump into the third part. |
| Chigusa: Part 3: How to Track Your Results and Hit Goals |
| Peter: Listeners, now that you’re in the 6th month, it’s time to optimize your language learning routine. |
| Becky: ...and to start tracking your time and effort. |
| Peter: And here’s why: At the basic level, language learning is simply... putting in the time. |
| Chigusa: You don’t need a high IQ. |
| Peter: Can you say that Chigusa? It helps. But what we’re trying to say is... you don’t need to be talented at languages. |
| Chigusa: You just need time. |
| Peter: The more time you put in, the more results you get out. |
| Chigusa: And aside from setting unrealistic goals... |
| Peter: the other reason why people fail at languages is... |
| Chigusa: ...they just don’t put in the time. |
| Peter: So, Iets look at 2 ways - an easy way, and an advanced way of tracking your time and results. |
| Chigusa: Let’s start with the easy way first. |
| Peter: Okay, here’s the easy way — simply track the time you put in. That’s it. |
| Chigusa: So, if you do a 10 audio minute lesson today, and then spend 5 minutes with Flashcards... |
| Peter: Note this as 15 minutes for the day. And write down what you did. |
| Chigusa: Then do the same thing tomorrow. |
| Peter: Now, it’s one thing to “hear” about learning tactics... |
| Chigusa: ...and it’s another thing to take action - and actually use this. Most people don’t. |
| Peter: And they’re missing out. Listeners, Picture this. Let’s say you know that if you came by and asked us for a free language audiobook..... |
| Chigusa: ...you would get it. You just have to ask. Get up and go do it. |
| Peter: But, if you never acted on that knowledge... you would gain nothing. |
| Chigusa: We want to help you take action. So, we’re including a timesheet in the PDF of this Inner Circle. |
| Peter: So you can take action, print it out and fill it in. You can apply this simple tactic. |
| Chigusa: Now, the goal here is to track the time and your effort. |
| Peter: Why? Again, since language learning is about putting in time... |
| Chigusa: You’ll want to track it and actually have measurable proof of your work. |
| Peter: And also, so you can review what you’ve been doing...and see your progress. |
| Chigusa: So, if one day... you realize don’t know enough words... |
| Peter: ...or maybe you don’t speak as much as you’d like... |
| Chigusa: Here’s what you do. You look at your timesheet. Review your work... |
| Peter: ...If you see that you’ve been just watching video lessons, you can spot the problem... |
| Chigusa: ...which is... you’ve done no actual vocab study or speaking practice. |
| Peter: And now you can start doing it. Problem solved. |
| Chigusa: You’re on your way to fluency. |
| Peter: Another way you can track your time and effort is..... |
| Chigusa: ...with the Dashboard on the site. |
| Peter: So, if you visit the Dashboard, you can see the lessons you’ve completed... |
| Chigusa: ...the number of flashcards reviewed... and hours studied. |
| Peter: Now, this is second tactic, and it’s an advanced one. |
| Chigusa: ...because not only do you need to track your time... |
| Peter: ...you also need to track your results, which is a bit trickier. |
| Chigusa: So, how can you do that? |
| Peter: With our conversational audio lessons, check the length of the dialog track. |
| Chigusa: If the dialog track is about 20 seconds.. |
| Peter: ...that’s the amount of conversation you can expect to master. |
| Chigusa: By the way, these tracks are anywhere from 10 to 40 seconds long. |
| Peter: As mentioned, with my FrenchPod101 lessons, I know that I need to master about 3 lessons to hit 1 minute of conversation. Those lessons have 20 second dialog tracks. Multiply by 3 lessons. That’s 1 minute. And that’s my return. |
| Chigusa: Now, if you’re studying words with flashcards... |
| Peter: ...take note of how many words you already know. So, if you studied for 5 minutes... |
| Chigusa: ..and can easily remember 7 out of 10 words, then that’s your return. |
| Peter: If you know this, you know what to expect when you learn new words. |
| Chigusa: You can expect to remember about 7 out of 10 with a 5 minute drill. |
| Peter: Another thing you can do is... boost that number to 10 out of 10. |
| Chigusa: Next, if you’re practicing your listening skills, |
| Peter: ...try to gauge how much you understand. |
| Chigusa: If you understood about 20% of a 3-minute lesson, then that’s your return for now. |
| Peter: Again, by knowing this... |
| Chigusa: You can now start asking questions like... |
| Peter: What can I do to understand 50% of this lesson? |
| Chigusa: Will doubling my time double my results as well? Will I understand 40%? |
| Peter: Will reviewing this lesson for a few minutes a day, everyday, work better than trying to memorize it all today? |
| Chigusa: So, then, you put these questions to the test and try them out. |
| Peter: And because you know your return... |
| Chigusa: ...you can see if it really works! So, Peter, you still owe us 7 minutes of French conversation. |
| Peter: That I do. I’ve done the lessons and learned the conversations. |
| Chigusa: But you still need to sit down with your teacher and time yourself! |
| Peter: Exactly. I missed the goal this past month. But I’m confident I can hit it next month. |
| Chigusa: Great attitude. By the way listeners, it’s totally OK to miss your goals... |
| Peter: ...as long as you keep going... |
| Chigusa: ...track your efforts... |
| Peter: ...and see what works for you. |
| Chigusa: And remember, if you want get started on your small, measurable monthly goal... |
| Peter: ..for example, master 1 minute of conversation... |
| Chigusa: ...then complete around 3 lessons |
| Peter: ..or 4 lessons... just to be on the safe side. |
| Chigusa: Alright, Peter, what’s the deadline on your goal? |
| Peter: July 31st. |
| Chigusa: Listeners, how about you? |
| Peter: What’s your small, measurable monthly goal? And what’s the deadline? |
| Chigusa: Will you aim for the 1 minute of conversation? Let us know! |
| Peter: Email us at inner dot circle at innovative language dot com. |
| Chigusa: And stay tuned for the next Inner Circle. |
Outro
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| Chigusa: Well, that’s going to do it for this special Inner Circle lesson! |
| Peter: Bye everyone! |
| Chigusa: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
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