Is Visualizing Good When You're Learning A Language + Practical And Powerful Language Drills

This is an AI-generated image. Contents on my blog, however, never are.

Language learners are often advised to visualize whenever they experience uncertainty, lapses, or when they simply get stuck during conversation.

What is it they should visualize? Perhaps a verb conjugation, an image, a diagram, or a pattern with some vector lines connecting dots here and there. There are even methods, for example, where a learner is required to use a system of images where each figure represents one word. Putting images together in a certain order makes sentences, and that's how learners are supposed to approach an entire language system according to the geniuses who came up with that stuff.

Do not do that.

Visualizing doesn't work. In fact, it's a detrimental habit that will slow you down even more. Here's a breakdown of why.

Our brain cannot normally process information at the same speed and simultaneously as improvised conversation is carried through. Therefore, any attempt to do so will result in slower reaction time during speech interactions. Negative consequences include conversation getting boring and especially heavy for your interlocutor, losing the thread, all the way down to losing self-confidence and motivation when speaking. Also, getting confused is a common occurrence when you realize that your head is getting filled with all thoughts and images but the one you are looking for; yes, there's a lot going on in our mind.

Our control over our thought processes is extremely limited, especially if we lack the proper training.

This holds even truer when our brain is already engaged in a moderate-speed activity. Unfortunately, most language students waste their time doing exclusively written exercises on textbooks. This results in a complete lack of hearing and speaking training. As a consequence, many students feel insecure and lacking in confidence unless they're able to see an unfamiliar word being written in front of them. If that doesn't happen, they feel like they can't understand, let alone use that word. Needless to say, this is not the right approach to any languages because regular conversation follows different rules.

Correcting this bad habit might not be easy if that's how you've learned to deal with a foreign language, but it's by all means possible. Here's what you can do.

1) Let go of pen and paper. Those are harmful tools if you are learning to speak a foreign language. Use them for when you're learning to write a foreign language.

2) Watch easy content (TV-news, documentaries, cooking shows, art shows, etc.) in Italian without subtitles. While watching, all you need to do is sit back and relax as much as you can. Relax your shoulders, neck muscles, eyebrows, and facial muscles. Do not try to understand. You mustn't make any physical or mental efforts. Just let the strings of sound come to you, and accept the fact that you're not going to understand some--or a lot, or all--of what is being said. It's much easier to relax if you can munch on some popcorn, have some ice-cream, drink some coffee, knit, or anyway keep yourself "busy" with a simultaneous physical occupation. At this stage you just want to get the general gist and ignore the details.

Do this everyday for ten minutes. You don't need more than that, but daily consistency is key.

3) Once you start understanding sentences here and there, you can add reaction time reduction drills. Learn three or four easy expressions that can apply to really anything you hear or that one could say to you, such as "Sono d'accordo", "non sono per niente d'accordo", che idea interessante!", "che razza di idiozia!", "d'altronde è così" (these are just examples. You can also come up with your own). Repeat them a few times aloud in order to be perfectly familiar with them and to say them smoothly. Then watch or listen to something in Italian. The moment you understand a sentence or a concept, react immediately to it by making one of the remarks above out loud. The difficulty lies in using the appropriate remark for the sentence you were able to understand (for example, whether you agree or not with a remark). But you're not choosing. You don't have time to choose because you're working to reduce your reaction time to what you just heard. You need to let a speech reflex take care of that for you. You'll make mistakes initially, but with consistency and patience, you'll get sharper and more precise while reducing reaction time.

4) As you gain momentum, you can replace the expressions from point 3 with short and improvised sentences. What really matters is that you reduce the amount of time it takes to react to something someone says. For the sake of this practice, let your mouth say anything. It doesn't have to be perfectly in line with the subject. Remember, the purpose of this practice is not for you to say something that makes sense. It is instead to abandon a bad habit and train yourself to a new powerful skill.

As an important clarification, you should not speed through whatever you're saying. You can take your time making sure to link the final sound of each word with the initial sound of the next one. You're not trying to speak faster. With this type of drill, you're working to reduce your reaction time to what someone is saying to you.

Also, this is just a drill. Please understand that in actual conversation, you're not supposed to react at the speed of light. To be a good conversationalist, you are supposed to let someone finish what they are trying to say within reason before you chip in your own thoughts. This drill helps you break yourself of the bad habit of visualizing when you're learning a language and letting any thought processes put you on perennial loading mode, thus destroying the pleasantness of any verbal interaction.

So there's that.