Everyone faces the same dilemmas when learning a new language

You start with Duolingo. You download the app, and it’s easy to get started, and you feel like this might actually work. There’s streaks and sounds and animations — it can only be so popular if it at least works, right? Yet, after months of using Duolingo, you are not getting the results you want. Maybe you even try the other big contenders - babbel, drops, mango languages, rosetta stone, the list goes on but the results stay the same.

You sign up for a language course. After all, if you want to learn something, where better to do so then the classroom? You enroll in this course, and attend once a week for weeks on end. You might even attend repeat courses until you get to the highest level they offer, but still you struggle to understand the language.

Then you hear about language acquisition. You’ve tried all the apps and even done some courses, but you see on YouTube someone preaching the Steven Krashen gospel. You decide to buckle in and try watching a bunch of content, listening to the radio in your target language on the way to work everyday. But it’s hard and draining in a way you didn’t expect, and even after weeks, you’re no closer to speaking the language.

You stumble across Anki. You saw online that there is this free app where you can configure everything, so you download it and set it up. You download a deck, or even make one on your own. At first it’s tough, but then you start to remember obscure words you would have struggled with before. Everything is going great, until one day you get sick, or go on vacation, or just slack off for a few days. All of the sudden, the thought of opening Anki again is insurmountable. By the time you do open it again, your account has been reset, and you never try again.

If this sounds remotely familiar, you’re not alone. I’ve gone through each of these stages, several times. The Phrasing Method was designed to avoid these pitfalls though.