This is one of my favorite ways to practice my languages. Language cycling is my method of going through several books simultaneously in order to keep my languages alive and well. There’s national cycling and international cycling.
National cycling involves reviewing one language through at least three books at once. There are many techniques for doing this. You might do the Speakening method of phrase practice for one chapter in the first book (See my blog: What is the Speakening Method of Language Learning). Then proceed to do the same thing in the other books. Or you might do fly-by reading in each book (See my blog: Fly-by Reading). You can even mix techniques, doing phrase practice in one book, fly-by reading in another, and fast-talk reading in the third (See my blog: Fast-talk Reading).
International cycling is employing the same technique, but each book is in a different language. This is really fun. You can do phrase practice in Italian, Japanese, and Spanish over and over in one day. The next day, you can do it in Chinese, French, and Portuguese. Now you start to feel like a U.N. translator. Of course you can also mix techniques, but I prefer to do the same technique for each language in one day, changing the techniques on subsequent cycles through the books.
The essential feature of cycling is to spend a minimal amount of time on each book, cycling through all the books several times in one day. Spend five minutes on the first chapter of each of three books. Then repeat the process for the second chapter in each, proceeding through the third chapter, etc. Do as many cycles through the books as you have time for. At least do one cycle per day.
The benefits of cycling are numerous. First of all, your skill in all your languages will be constantly improving. Next, your confidence in using the languages will increase since they will remain fresh in your mind all the time. And last, but in my opinion most important, the benefit to the brain receives is incalculable.
After playing the piano or guitar etc., learning and practicing multiple languages as an adult is probably the best exercise available for the brain. Although adult language learning presents many more difficulties than learning your first language or a second language in early childhood, those very difficulties offer us the opportunity to exercise our brains in ways that first language learning does not. In other words, it’s not good news that you didn’t learn your second language as a child. It’s great news!
by John DePonte