French

tldr; Looking to learn a language using cloze deletions and Anki? Click here. One challenge in learning a second language is the sheer amount of vocabulary required for fluency. For example, one study has shown that the average eight year old knows 8000 words, while the average adult might know somewhere between 20,000 and 35,000 words. University graduates might know upwards of 50,000 words depending on their specialization. As an adult learning a second language, exposure to a lot of different words in their context is one of the best ways to learn vocabulary. A common test for learning words in context is called a cloze test. ...

For the past year I’ve been making a concerted effort to learn French using the methods from the book Fluent Forever, which is an excellent resource for learning how to learn a language. For those not familiar with the method, it boils down to this: Learn Pronunciation: knowing how to correctly pronounce words in your target language makes everything else easier. Learn Frequently Used Words: not all words are created equal, learn the most frequently used words first. Learn Grammar: put together grammatical sentences using the words you already know. If you turn your head to the side and squint at that list, it somewhat resembles the steps you would take to learn a language as an infant — first understand the sounds of the language, then learn words (“mommy”, “daddy”), and finally put together correct sentences. In addition, as an infant you have a constant source of high quality input helping you learn words and grammar. You can imagine the following “conversation” between an adult and a hungry child: ...