1000 Tage lernen
Learning something on your own is both a challenge and a self-discovery experience. I recently passed the mark of one year studying German daily on Duolingo - hence the 1000 days of learning in the title - a good milestone to reflect a little on learning and self-teaching.
One point is how to deal with the infinite paths that the Internet offers. On the one hand, the freedom to follow the direction you want and to be able to change course at any time. But at the same time, how to know if you’re going in the right direction, or measure how much you’ve actually learned. I read about this a couple of years in William Oliveira’s book and I agree with the author. If you know nothing about the subject you want to study, it’s worth researching paths, maps, videos, course syllabi and the like that are introductory to that topic. There will probably be online courses, books, websites, etc. that are repeated in these recommendations, a good sign of where to start. However, in this sea of information there must also be posts, lives, reviews and the like that are actually advertising to buy certain material, it’s up to you to differentiate what is a genuine suggestion from what is marketing.
It’s important to keep in mind that each person has their own affinities for a certain type of content, I personally prefer texts to videos to learn something. In addition, there are materials of various levels, it is useful to look for those that are compatible with your current knowledge. If I were to learn Chinese today, I would have to find content for those who know nothing, not an advanced course for someone who is going to live in China next semester. In this screening of materials it is pertinent to test: leaf through, watch, listen, use the app or whatever it is. See if you liked that approach, the content, etc., if you felt confident and interested to move forward in that direction. There is no one-size-fits-all recipe, each person will have their app, book or website that they found most suitable and comfortable to learn.
Once the route is chosen, it’s time to walk, because just having the best study material in the world saved on your phone or in your closet won’t make you learn anything. How many plans have we all made one day that were never put into practice? Learning something requires repetition: reading, practicing, summarizing, acting, rereading and so on in a daily circle. This is the step that is both simple and difficult, going beyond the initial excitement and building a habit.
This is a translation of a post in portuguese. The original text can be found here: https://0jonjo.github.io/blog/2023/400-dias/
