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Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome.
Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is …
I Can Do Less Work?
Or
Is Using the Pareto Principle a Good Way to Learn Languages?
Have you heard of the Pareto Principle, named after Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, who in 1896 observed that 20% of the people in Italy owned 80% of the land and also found this connection in other things? He didn’t name it, though. That was done by Dr Joseph Juran in the 1950s, who called it universal, applying it to many other things.
So, how is this principle used these days? Well, those who believe in it state that 20% of the effort, for whatever you’re doing, will produce 80% of the results. That means that 80% of the work only produces 20% of the results.
But does this actually hold true? Well, as with most of these things, there’s little in the way of actual scientific evidence to prove it, but plenty in the way of anecdotal evidence, particularly in relation to using it for learning.
So let’s look at this a little more closely with regard to learning languages.
If you think about vocabulary, for instance, it’s definitely true that there’s a core of words that are used much more than others, in any language, and that there are a lot of words that are rarely used, even by native speakers. That core might be 20%, it might be more, it might be less, but their frequency of use is beyond dispute. However, will knowing this help you with learning a language? Learning the core words is definitely a good thing to do first. But, if you only put in the effort to learn that 20% will those core words get you by in more than the simplest of situations? Because that’s how some people tout this principle - you only need to do the 20%. Well, that’s difficult to say, because your simple situation might not be my simple situation and your complex situation definitely wouldn’t match mine. I think we can safely say it wouldn’t get you by if you wanted to work in a specific industry in the language, but might give you enough vocabulary for a holiday. However, you really need to learn a lot more words to have a meaningful relationship with the language.
What about grammar? Can you apply this rule to that? If you only know 20% of the grammar, will you be able to construct 80% of the sentences? That seems unlikely to me. I mean, what is twenty percent? Only learning the present tense? It’s not like you’re living in a novel - and, believe me, writing constantly in present tense creatively can give you brain ache, if you’re not used to it. You cannot speak all the time in present tense without seeming odd. Your conversation will be stilted at best and you won’t understand what’s being thrown back at you, because everyone else will have the benefit of all the other tenses. I’d say you need a working knowledge of all the grammar, even if you can’t remember it all and that 20% just won’t do at all, here.
So, what about learning methods? Does 20% of what you do give you 80% of the benefit? Once again, that’s difficult to gauge. How would you know? Language comprehension tends to creep up on you. Is reading better than listening? Should that be your 20% when it comes to comprehension? Well, it’s a good thing to do, but it’s rubbish for getting a decent accent in the language. Nope. The idea doesn’t work for me, here, either.
The only situation I can see in which this does work for language learning is if you’re one of these people who only wants to be able to say a few simple things in a tonne of languages, so that you can introduce yourself, buy a beer, get directions, that kind of thing. Anything else and I think it’s just not up to the job.
That’s all for today’s episode. Don’t forget to join me again next time, for more language learning tips, tricks and tales and in the meantime, check out the A Language Learning Tale YouTube channel for additional, non-podcast content.
Ciao, salut, hwyl and bye for now.