Learning a new language

I admit it, I sucked at French in high school. I did not like reading it, I did not like speaking it and I certainly did not like learning it. But now I look back at those years in regret, wishing I had put more effort in it. Luckily the internet came up with a solution which my brain seems to enjoy.

One word: Gamification. Whatever is a chore to you, turn it into a game (like an RPG where you get points as rewards) and chances are you will do them without much hesitation. The newcomer on the scene who just had a Kickstarter is HabitRPG, its simplicity is astounding but it has an incredible effect on your habits.

There’s a ton of sites out there to learn languages but so far I’m the happiest with DuoLingo (for learning words in context and sentence translation) and Memrise (for pronunciation and vocabulary). I easily spend 30 minutes a day on both Spanish and French since I’ve started using those sites.

These sites managed to turn something that felt like a chore in something my brain wants and needs to do before it feels satisfied with my day. Pretty incredible if you ask me.