Originally published on LinkedIn. Reformatted for Medium / zahradnik.io.
How to learn a language effectively? This is the question I started working on two weeks ago.
My first idea was to revisit good old satellite TV. I’m lucky that I still own a motorized dish. Within two days, I mapped free‑to‑air German, Italian, and Ukrainian channels. My fallback plan is online streaming — and yes, a VPN. This is still fully legal in Europe and therefore my recommended way.
I’m sure immersion alone is enough — but it’s slow. Kids need at least a year, and it’s their only language. I’m learning four at a time. Luckily, I could borrow a few ideas from my programming world.
Programming languages are artificial, but they are languages. Our brain has to learn to read them, understand them, and eventually write them. Only speaking is missing. The point is: I already know what worked for me when learning programming languages.
One thing I’m testing: writing in the target language right away. Studying theory only when I need it — and only the part I need.
I once tried learning Swift by reading a manual. It was slow and, in hindsight, wasted time. On the other hand, just typing examples is the opposite extreme — your understanding lacks depth. So I’m combining both approaches. Immersion and intuition lead. I try to guess how to form a sentence, what sounds right — and sometimes I simply look at a cheat sheet.
It feels a bit like playing an old adventure game: when you get stuck, you briefly open the guide — and then continue exploring on your own. Schola ludus.
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