During my years at school, there used to be discussion with our teachers why do we have to memorise all the stuff that obviously we were not gonna need in our professional lives. Their answer almost always concluded that because of some sacrosanct rule: "it is in the scripts/ be in the exam ..."
To my immense relief, nowadays, as I do not attend any traditional academic formation institution, I am free to choose what I fill my head with! Suprisingly, at this point it's me who want to know more - how things work and especially what's the underlaying mechanism like. However, down to several lesson or learning sessions, I tend to question my decision again - the purpose of all my effort or better how am I gonna utilize this newly acquired knowledge: do I spend my free time simply just on self-fullfilling learning process or will it return some gain for me?
Pretty useful insight provided +Feynman Liang in his article after taking several +Coursera courses. If I understood his message correctly, all the hours spent learning make sense only when at least some of the info is applied in day-to-day situations i.e. if we look for "opportunities to demonstrate your knowledge" ( maybe at job interview or just explaining new stuff to fellow student or "giving your teachers insightful questions" :) Not only this approach keep us motivated but such an action confirms and imprint the knowledge in our brain - for later use.
Even more obvious become this process of finding purpose and adjusting our action, when it comes to learning mechanical skills. Recently I took paragliding course where first session was reserved entirely to theory. As I worked night shifts, I was free in the morning to drive there and take part. Unfortunately, even despite of unique endeavour of our tutor, I constantly fell in half-sleep. Later, during practical part, when students are flying on their own, directions came over a radio. However, one is commanded exactly what action to take right now - as the instructor has no time to explain why! So for me it remained unclear for example why should I already navigate to the final landing phase when I thought to be still high enough over the ground for another circle...
At some point I took the chance and took off from an unknown location - and at this moment all the data collection, evaluation and final decision making laid down on my shoulders. This "trial, error & lesson learned!" applied gradually in harder and harsher conditions gave answer to many of my questions. Combined with random smalltalk with fellow enthousiastic pilots, it was impressive speed that I did "roger that".
The same holds for learning languages. Before taking final - leaving examination at the high school, I struggled to memorise many A4 on topics totally unfamiliar to me - like travelling. It was just after I finished my high school studies, that I first set off abroad or more exactly travelled on my own. So how was I supposed to share my experience about travelling when I only commuted to school in the neighbouring town?
However, even today there are pupils asking for reason of learning foreign language. I know native english speakers do not need to learn any other language (sarcasm), but the rest of the world does. This is very true esp in further integrating Europe where definitely at least smaller nations and communities can only gain from language knowledge.
However, to find purpose of speaking foreing language in situation when you cannot (afford to) travel outside your country, one has to be creative and resourceful. If there is no other way how to expose yourself to situations where communication is a precondition like having a conversation over #skype or Google Hangout or any other way as +Benny Lewis suggests in linked video, then you need to arrange it yourself.
So my personal #languagelearningtip in a very unlikely event of not being able to connect with the world in any other way:
Change in the Settings the language of your smartphone to the one you are learning currently.
For more adventurous an alternative might be to adjust the language of all Google products under:
https://www.google.com/settings/account - Language / Primary language
(will be applied for all Google services - so don't be suprised to see more search results in your "new" language )
Suddenly you pay way more attention to what you touch. However, even simply setting it back to original mother language may not be that easy ... I bet, you would consult Google Translate service more frequently :) OR at last, you proceed a step forward, leaving any excuses behind and take on this challenge to incorporate your targeted language into daily life.
In my humble opinion, because of Google's aspiration to provide "global audience" an intuitive experience in their respective mother language, #Android app developers are encouraged and intrumentally equipped to include versions in several languages, even with variations for different regions. So be prepared to interact with our well-known apps in your "new language" as well.
Enjoyable time while learning :)
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