You plan to come back to a language you once knew.
There’s just a problem – you forgot it and now your skills have rusted.
Whether you excelled in the past (or did horrible), because you need to use it in the present, you have to relearn it.
Maybe a new friend of yours speaks that language, a work opportunity requires fluency in it, or you need it for your travel destination.
Given you’re not as fluent as you used to be, or you had bitter experiences in the past, is it possible to relearn a language and regain the confidence you once had?
It might seem impossible at first (and takes a lot of work), but relearning is generally easier to do than learning a language for the first time.
The Key is to Start Small
This might sound like cliché, but starting small helps you set realistic expectations of yourself. Because when you’re trying to recover a language, you generally start with little to no momentum.
You used to know the language, but because a lot of time has passed that you didn’t use it, a lot of information has been forgotten in the process.
Still, that doesn’t mean you completely forgot everything. Your past knowledge and experiences with the language, whether good or bad, are forever yours. By relearning the language, you can resurface that knowledge and help you get back faster.
Even with small efforts at first, what happens is you gradually gain back some forgotten cues in the past, which help speed up learning and build momentum.
That said, how do you begin to relearn a language?
Tip #1: Study for a Short Duration
Spending time with the language is straightforward.
Whether you’re learning it with a teacher, a textbook, flash cards, or by immersing in YouTube videos and podcasts, you will make progress if you ACTUALLY dedicate the time.
A mistake learners could make often times is overthinking on the best language learning method before they even get started. Thanks to the Internet, there are plenty of language learning hacks out there, which I myself am guilty of bingeing. It did nothing but sap time from my learning schedule.
If you instead pick ANY method or resource then allot 5 to 15 minutes per day to it, you’ll get the necessary EXPOSURE that will put your brain into learning mode and kickstart your comeback.
Simply put, just begin with whatever you have.
Tip #2: Choose Light Activities
As a relearner, you’re free to choose which activity you’ll do. Your goal may be to read better, listen better, or just familiarize the alphabet of your language.
Depending on your goal, you decide on the smallest unit of activity you can realistically do, one that’s not too hard nor too easy for your current level.
Don’t just aim to learn everything again, having a more specific goal will provide clarity on which activity you should partake.
- Want to listen better? Do passive listening and occasional active listening
- Want to pass a proficiency exam? Watch videos of test question practice
- Want to expand your vocabulary? Add 5 new words a day to your flashcard app
- Want to enjoy the language? Relearn it through a language gaming app
- Don’t want to study? Watch or read cultural content related to the target language
Again, start small. There’s no point in going full blast and forcing yourself on the very first day of picking up your language.
Tip #3: Pick a Suitable Resource
Chances are, the materials and resources you’ve picked up were at a higher level when you left the language.
You may have already created advanced notes, built higher level flashcard decks, or bought a C1 or C2 graded textbook.
It’s okay if you need to step back down a notch or two, if that’s what you feel comfortable with using at the moment.
Eventually, you can come back to your original level when you’re ready and have recovered your lost knowledge.
- Head back to your study notes and read the parts you still remember
- Choose an appropriate textbook or material or content for your level
- Pick videos or podcasts you can understand well
I personally recommend not grabbing too many resources at a time, as it becomes overwhelming to consume everything. You’ll know if your materials are diluting your focus well enough to be distracted by them.
I’d rather stick with a decent book that I could already start using right away, than spend time optimizing on the best resource available in the target language at the present time.
Tip #4: Recall, Recall, Recall
This goes back to the essence of why we’re relearning in the first place – to bring back lost information.
Recalling gives straightforward FEEDBACK – you’ll discover whether you remember a piece of information or not.
In my personal journey, I find recalling to be a powerful mental exercise that challenges my brain. Retrieving something I forgot resurfaces the information and strengthens my memory of the language.
If you took a break from learning a language, probably because you got burnt out or for some other reason, recall becomes a more important activity.
How to do it? Generally, any activity that involves retrieving information from your brain without any (or little) hint is going to help you recall effectively.
- Create and regularly review flashcards for vocabulary and even grammar rules
- Use new words during conversation practice
- Notice words and phrases during immersion
- Close your notes and recite what you’ve just read
For optimal result, the trick is to recall something right before you forget it.
However, if something is taking you a long time to recall and you find it impossible to accomplish, that’s when you consult your notes or guide to determine the answer. The more right answers you can hit, the more you can put into your long-term memory.
The bonus as a language relearner, is you might reactivate some forgotten cues of your past knowledge and experiences, and so you might find some information easier to recall when coming back to them.
Tip #5: Form a Habit Streak
On top of spending time, choosing less intense activities, having a suitable resource, and leveraging recall, what cements all your attempts at recovering your language is consistency.
in short, forming habits is key.
Habit formation is powerful in every important area of life, which includes learning. Perhaps the biggest benefit, is that the more consistent you are, the more you affirm your identity of reacquiring the language.
Pick one tip above, combine it with forming a habit streak, and you’ll be sure to make REAL progress if you stick with it.
Someone who’s relearning Chinese for 30 straight days, regardless of effort and intensity, is better than someone who just crammed it for a day or two. The former gains my respect more than the latter.
That said, it’s important to have a lasting motivation when relearning a language you forgot. You already got the language once, why recover it back and what’s fueling you to do it?
The motivation you begin with will help jumpstart your relearning efforts, but the habits you formed will sustain them until you finally get back in shape.
Establish Some Confidence, Then Build Up From There
That said, relearning a language is not going to be pleasant at first.
But given you have a worthwhile purpose for recovering back your lost language, you’re not going to be wavered by the shortcomings.
Relearning a language is generally easier than learning the language for the first time. The knowledge is already in you, you’re just bringing it up to the surface.
With enough effort over time, you’ll eventually build momentum and pick yourself up pretty easily.
You’ll find your resources easier, spend more hours in activities, and then start conversing again.
But most importantly, you regain your lost confidence.
So what are you waiting for – put in the time now, start small, build up slowly but steadily, then reclaim your lost language.
