Unlock the Language – How to learn a Language

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes need a bit of structure with my learning, otherwise I get lost in the myriad of options that are either in my head, or are presented to me.

That all too familiar feeling of overwhelm, or just getting distracted a lot easier.

But this particular technique helps me a lot, and I hope it can help you too.

It gives me something to focus on, and it makes my learning more active by presenting problems to play with. And problems help you focus.

So I can get into that deep work sort of flow. Because I have a problem to solve, what I am doing feels more relevant, and my learning process becomes more active.

Plus, I just find it fun!

What it is:

SCAMPER

Honestly, the first things the word makes me think of, are the food Scampi, and the Bond villain Stamper from Tomorrow Never Dies.

Anyway, for those who don’t know, it is an acronym. And it is broken down below, also, it isn’t linear, so you use whichever part you want, when you want.

We’ll break it down, and then discuss some practical uses.

S- Substitute

C- Combine

A- Adapt

M- Modify (Magnify or Minify)

P- Put to another use

E- Eliminate

R- Reverse (re arrange)

Substitute — Replace things, such as words, phrases or sentence structures

Combine — Merge words, phrases or concepts together

Adapt — Change materials or methods to suit what you want to achieve

Modify — Change adjectives or adverbs to express different intensity, such as big or biggest

Put to another use — Change the context and add in some variable practice, write a short letter using the words you are learning, make a song e.t.c.

Eliminate — Take out anything you think can be removed, can you remove some words and still keep the meaning of a sentence?

Reverse — Reverse sentences, and change the order to see if they still make sense? Play with the patterns.

The above is definitely not exhaustive, but gives you an idea of how this can be applied to your learning.

Also, don’t make the assumption this is only to be done by yourself, for example, when using substitution, you can quickly turn it into a game, seeing who can create the most sentences, or taking it in turn to change a sentence, and your partner changes it again and so on.

This sort of engagement with friends or family members creates memories and emotions, which can help turn the abstract into concrete experiences, and improve encoding and therefore retention.

Examples of how to use it:

Substitute:

• Take a simple sentence in your target language like, “I eat an apple”.
• Substitute the main verb or noun e.t.c with different words, for example, change “eat” to “drink” or “apple” to “banana”.
• Write and say the new sentences aloud to practice vocabulary and sentence structure.

Combine:

• Choose two phrases or sentences you have learned or are learning.
• Combine them to make a longer, more complex sentence. For example, from “I like coffee” and “I go to the cafe”, create “I like coffee, so I go to the cafe”.
• Practice writing and speaking your combined sentences. Record them so you can come back and review!

Adapt:

• Take a short story, dialogue, or text in your target language.
• Adapt it by changing names, places, or situations to fit your interests. Self referencing can make things more memorable.
• Rewrite or retell the adapted version aloud to practice comprehension and vocabulary. Imagine if you were the one that caught the Snitch on the Quidditch pitch?

Modify (magnify or minify):

• Take adjectives or adverbs you know such as big or fast.
• Create exercises where you change their intensity or form, for example bigger, fastest or very big.
• Use these in sentences and practice both writing and speaking them.
• For example, the cat is big, the cat is bigger than the dog, the cat is the biggest in my house, and so on.

Put to another use:

• Practice writing a daily journal entry or social media post in your target language. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you could even try incorporate a specific time of day, when you only speak and try to only think in your target language.
• Use the language by chatting with language partners or recording yourself describing your day.
• Try teaching a language concept you’ve learned to a friend or yourself.

Eliminate:

• Take a complex sentence and rewrite it by removing unnecessary words, focusing on core meaning.
• For example, simplify “I am going to the store to buy some fresh, delicious fruits” to “I’m going to buy fruits”.
• Practice simplifying both reading and speaking.

Reverse:

• Write a sentence and then rearrange the word order while keeping it grammatically correct.
• For example, “She reads books every day” can become “Every day, she reads books”.
• Practice these variations to improve understanding of sentence structure. Again, this is an easy one to do with a partner to see how many re arrangements you can do, and any other little games you can think of.

And there you have it, a simple way to boost your language learning!

Using this gives me some focus, and turns it into a little bit of play for me, which keeps my attention. I also find it is useful for coming up with practical ways to create some exercises, introduce some variable practice for myself and give me some marginal gains.

I’m hoping you can find this a useful and enjoyable technique aswell, not just for language learning, but for any other creative exercise where this technique can be applied.

What are your thoughts/recommendations for other techniques like this?

I’m always on the lookout for ways to develop and things to learn, so any suggestions on your techniques e.t.c. are more than welcome!

Thank you for reading.