How adults actually learn languages.
Six essays grounded in published research. Each one explains why a specific technique works, and how Habla puts it into practice. No hype. No streaks. No owl.
The Memory Trick That Lasts a Lifetime
Most language apps let you cram 50 words in a session and forget 45 of them by Thursday. The science of memory says there is a better way, and it starts with forgetting on purpose.
More from the Journal
05 essaysWhy Testing Yourself Beats Re-Reading (Every Time)
If you have ever highlighted a textbook, read your notes three times, and then blanked on the exam, you have experienced the illusion of fluency. The single most effective study technique is retrieval practice.
You Have to Speak to Learn to Speak
You can study Spanish grammar for years and still freeze when a waiter in Barcelona asks what you want. Understanding a language and producing it are two different cognitive processes.
How Watching TV Can Actually Teach You Spanish (If You Do It Right)
Stephen Krashen's most famous claim is that we acquire language through understanding messages, not through drilling grammar rules. Decades of research backs him up. But there is a catch: the input has to be at the right level.
Why 15 Minutes Beats an Hour (and the Science Proves It)
The traditional language class is an hour long. The traditional language class also has a dropout rate that should embarrass the entire industry. Research on attention, memory, and distributed practice all point to the same conclusion.
Adult Learners Have Advantages (Seriously)
"Children learn languages effortlessly." You have heard it a hundred times. The research tells a more interesting story. Adults actually outperform children in almost every measurable dimension of early language learning except one.