Translator, traitor
To really understand a culture, you have to speak its language.
I've been learning languages for the past few years because they're the best way to understand another culture. When you learn a language, you learn how its people think — their cultural differences, how their society works, their customs.
If you want to study Shakespeare, you have to read him in English. A translation isn't the same thing. Different languages have different words, and every translation, no matter how good, is imperfect. The Italians have a phrase for it: traduttore, traditore — translator, traitor.
Over the years I've picked up a few tools that I think you'll find useful.
1. Anki, for vocabulary
Every language has a step that's pure memorization: vocabulary. You don't need to understand any rules for it — you just need to memorize, and Anki is built exactly for that. It's a flashcard app that uses spaced repetition to help you memorize as efficiently as possible. It's a real cheat code for memorizing anything fast. Around 2,000 words will get you through most everyday conversations, so if you're committed to a language, Anki is a great way to get there.
2. The IPA, for pronunciation
Most people struggle to sound like natives because they focus on the sound itself, not on what produces it. When you hear a sound you want to reproduce, you need to know which parts of your mouth are making it: where your tongue is, whether it uses your throat, whether any of it is nasal. That's what the International Phonetic Alphabet is for. It maps every sound in a language to where and how it's produced, so you learn a sound by learning where to make it.
3. Put your language into your daily life
To really improve, you have to bring the language into your everyday life — and reduce the friction until it becomes a habit, or even automatic.
I learned English in school. Classes started when I was very young, and I slowly picked it up over the years. But the big shift came when I started actually using it every day, by watching YouTube videos in English. English is great for this, because it opens up a whole world of information. It's the most spoken language in the world when you count non-native speakers, so searching in English gets you far more content, and usually better content.
More recently, I started using Wispr Flow, and it's become one of the best ways I've found to keep sharpening my spoken English. I now speak thousands of words a day through it, and I can feel the difference.
Languages compound
The best part: the more languages you learn, the easier the next one gets, because features carry over. When I studied Arabic, I struggled with its throat sounds — Arabic has six of them. Once I learned them, any other language with throat sounds became easier, because I could draw a parallel with Arabic. That goes for everything from pronunciation to grammar.
Languages also come in families. Most are connected to ones you already know. If you speak English, Swedish might not be that hard, because they share a lot. Learning languages is a fascinating way to explore the world.
What feature of a language has fascinated you the most?