How to actually learn a new language
A language is not a body of knowledge — it is a performance skill wearing one. Grammar study makes sense of what you have already tried to say; it cannot substitute for saying things.
The method
Use the language with someone from day one; study the grammar to explain what you already tried to say.
Speak and listen every session, with spaced vocabulary recall between conversations — never instead of them.
Where it goes wrong
You understand the lesson but freeze with a real person.
That freeze is the actual skill gap: production under pressure. It shrinks only with reps of speaking — which is why conversation belongs in every session, not at the end of the course.
The long plateau where progress stops being visible.
Plateaus are a measurement problem. Track retrieval (words recalled in use, minutes of speech survived), not chapters finished.
What mastery actually looks like
Not a grade — observable abilities. A plan should be able to say which of these it has evidence for:
- Vocabulary — retrieves words in use, not just on a list.
- Listening — follows real speech at real speed.
- Speaking — produces the language under time pressure.
- Pronunciation — is understood by people who don't know them.
- Grammar — explains why a sentence works after saying it.
Keeping it
Frequent short exposure and spaced vocabulary — a language decays faster than almost anything else you can study.
Common questions
Should I learn grammar first?
Study grammar to explain what you already tried to say. Starting from grammar inverts the skill: you get accurate sentences you cannot produce in conversation.
How much should I practise speaking versus studying?
The engine plans language study at about 60% active practice — speaking and listening every session, with spaced vocabulary recall in between.
Why do I forget vocabulary so fast?
Languages decay faster than other subjects. Spaced retrieval on a schedule — not re-reading lists — is the only strategy that keeps pace with the forgetting curve.
Engine values reviewed 2026-09-01. Related: writing, programming, anatomy.
Akiri turns this into your actual week: tell it your goal and your date, and it measures where you're starting from, builds the plan backwards from the deadline with this discipline's own rhythm, and rebuilds it as you go — in English, French, Spanish, Hindi or Chinese.