Learning Must Also Involve Your Body - Here's A Guide On How You Can Start

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

The Latin adage mens sana in corpore sano takes on a vast array of meanings. The statement is so ingeniously broad, it can also be applied to knowledge acquisition. Learning a language must involve your body more so than it involves your brain.

When it comes to language and this particular method of learning (and others), a learner's preference doesn't quite matter. I'm referring to that one dreadful agree-to-disagree kind of sentence language coaches hear all the time, "Hmm, I feel like this doesn't work for me," or "Personally, I believe this and this works better for me instead." Then they break into a sweat when they have to order coffee in Italian--or whatever foreign language.

The only thing that matters is what works and what doesn't. That is not determined by preference. It is only determined by commitment and constancy. Involving your body in your practice belongs in the preference-doesn't-matter category.

Here are a few techniques that will unslump you from the language slump you've been in for so long.

ALWAYS AND EXCLUSIVELY ALOUD

This is the most basic yet most important and effective rule in language learning. There's no debating this. There's no "yes, but..." or "sure, but maybe...". If you do not involve your diaphragm and lungs, up to your larynx and vocal chords, oral and nasal cavities and the muscles and organs that populate them, and produce sound each time you practice, you're never going to reach a desirable level of speaking skills in your target language. With the precise intention of putting too fine a point on it, this applies to your native language too. Give a ten-minute speech on a subject of your choosing in front of a one-person audience without rehearsing it aloud first. See how that goes.

Bottom line, toss pen and paper and do every exercise in your book exclusively aloud.

Remember, a language is spoken, not thought.

BRING THE LANGUAGE TO THE GYM

Here there's plenty of wiggle room for personal variation. This is where you can experiment with creativity and customize the practice to your own individual preferences and needs.

Let me demonstrate the technique with a few examples. Imagine you have trouble remembering the teen numbers in Italian. From now on, each time you go to the gym you're going to count your reps in Italian out loud using the teen numbers (undici, dodici, tredici, quattordici, etc.).

You can do the same with any lists you need to memorize.

You can never remember what to call a decade (60s, 70s, etc.) in Italian? Then you'll count your reps saying out loud "anni venti, anni trenta, anni quaranta, anni cinquanta, anni sessanta, etc.). You want to work on centuries? Fine, then "decimo secolo, undicesimo secolo, dodicesimo secolo, tredicesimo secolo, etc.).

I can assure you after a couple of months you won't be counting reps in your native language ever again.

PRACTICE WHILE YOUR BRAIN IS ENGAGED IN AN UNRELATED PHYSICAL CHORE

This particular way of practicing works well for entire sentences, verb conjugations, and other structures that are limited in length.

Home chores are specifically well suited for this type of routine. Think sweeping or mopping floors, washing dishes, dusting, shoveling snow off your driveway, hanging your wet laundry on a drying rack, etc.

Conjugating verbs or working on short structures while your mind is engaged in a simple physical action adds a layer of realism to your practice. After all, we're always doing something while talking to someone.

The idea behind this type of practice is that the physical task acts as a natural interference to the focus. Your mind at this point cannot be efficiently involved in your language practice, leaving it to muscle memory and speech reflex to handle it. Muscle memory and speech reflex are two necessary components of fluency.

PRACTICE WHILE PERFORMING A HOMOGENEOUSLY LONG-LASTING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

The kind of activities involved can be rope jumping, running, skipping, doing jumping-jacks, step-ups or box jumps on plinths, going up stairs, etc. Something physically less demanding will also do. For example, you can sit down, back straight, and alternate clapping your hands with tapping your thighs. Initially you can alternate clapping twice with tapping twice. Once you become more comfortable with this type of practice, you can alternate clapping and tapping in a more random fashion. If you want something more engaging, you can try Stan Laurel's Kneesy earsy nosey.

Make sure you can perform your movement of choice for one solid minute. While performing, you can give a quick speech on a subject of your choice, explain a concept with a bit of elaboration in simple words, etc. You can alternate talking about a specific topic (1 minute) with saying freely anything that comes up your mind (1 minute) and right off the top of your head. Make sure to always include the structure(s) you practiced on previous days.

Jumping is known to facilitate releasing all physical tensions especially at shoulders, arms, neck, and face levels. Relaxed upper body muscles are an essential component of comfortable, smooth, and confident speech.

For context, lessened muscle tension is what you get after a couple of glasses of wine. Why do you think we say in vino veritas?

I understand some of the exercises I described in this article can seem a little silly. However, between silly but effective and serious but useless--such as what language teachers will have you do--I know which one I'll pick.

Word of advice: whatever you do, don't do this while driving, swimming, welding, free-soloing El Capitan, or doing anything else that for your safety and that of others around you requires your full focus and brain function.