Suggested Tips for Language Study at FSI

Last month, I attended a seminar on study tips offered to current language students by the Foreign Service Institute’s (FSI) School of Language Studies (SLS). At any given point, hundreds of Foreign Service Officers are engaged in long-term language training at FSI. Successfully reaching the required scores for our overseas language-designated onward assignments is “the why.”

I’ve aggregated here some of my favorite language study tips from SLS consultants, fellow students, and my own experience. I’ve categorized them into two groups: strategy (what you do) and mindset (how you approach what you do), though the division is probably subjective. If you have a favorite tip for succeeding in FSI language study, feel free to add it in the comments!

STRATEGY

• Create a consistent routine. Set aside study time when you can focus effectively and eliminate distractions.
• Get a good night’s sleep and try to exercise. Both facilitate learning.
• Be on time for class and as prepared as possible. (We’re all human, but “showing up” is a huge part of success.)
• Get your daily dose of reading, listening, and speaking in the target language, leveraging class materials and external sources like podcasts and news articles.
• Choose focus and concentration over shortcuts and “hacks.”
• Spend time listening to the news in-language. Even though you won’t understand much (if anything) at first, listening will “tune” your ears. As time goes on, you will be able to identify more and more familiar words.
• Consider the PRP method: practice something new the same day you learn it; review/revive what you’ve learned daily; and preview the next day’s materials – familiarization primes your mind for learning.
• Select the words most important to you and practice them in useful phrases and sentences – creating language building blocks – until they become automatic. Regularly reflect on how you will use the language.
• Practice speaking out loud as much as possible. Use what you are learning with anyone who will listen – including plants and pets!
• If possible, find native speakers in addition to your instructors to talk to. You get very used to hearing your instructors’ voices. Conversing with others can help comprehension and fluency (and avoid boredom!).
• Alternate your learning activities.
• Test yourself (“active retrieval practice”) when reviewing learned materials versus passively restudying them.
• Use spaced repetition – reviewing material on a regular basis with progressively expanding intervals in the interim – to aid with memory. There is evidence that spaced repetition aids learning.
• Monitor what helps you learn and what doesn’t. Try different strategies and reflect on their effectiveness. If something isn’t working for you, don’t bang your head against the wall trying to force it.
• Ask your instructor for feedback on your progress. No one hears more clearly your strengths and weaknesses in the language.
• Ask your colleagues for their tips. What pens – notebooks – apps are they using? Every time I do this, I learn about things I’ve never heard of. The idea isn’t to use every resource to the point of overwhelm; the point is to find extra resources or perspectives that work for you (keeping the End of Training test in mind and without irritating your instructors by introducing non-curriculum).
• Every few days or at the end of each week, consolidate or re-consolidate everything you’ve learned thus far – vocabulary, grammar rules, and notes. For me, this often includes identifying questions I want to ask, noting construction formulas, and grouping topical words onto the same page in my notebook for easier use. I need a larger consolidation at the end of each major unit. This practice can also be a form of spaced repetition.
• Spend a little time thinking about process. Do things that help you specifically – whether it’s making flashcards, three-hole-punching all your stray papers into a binder, or arriving early to mentally prepare for class.
• Trust the program, but be aware of your own needs and advocate for them – early and often. If the classroom dynamic isn’t working for you, if anything isn’t working for you – bring it up to your instructor or your language training supervisor. All of the language instructors I’ve personally worked with have been deeply invested in students’ positive experience. FSI wants language students to succeed.
• If your program has an immersion opportunity, strongly consider taking it. My 2019 immersion trip to Quito, Ecuador during FSI Spanish was so helpful (and fun!).
• Do attend any SLS brown bag study tip sessions and/or any planned regional area studies courses.
• Do familiarize yourself with campus resources, including computer labs and quiet/green spaces!
• Take breaks from studying and learning – your brain needs downtime to process and consolidate new information.

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MINDSET

• First and foremost, understand that it is not enough just to go to your daily five hours of class. You will also need to average a couple of hours in daily independent study. The class pace will proceed accordingly – don’t get left behind!
• Be willing to put in the time to do the work. Find your own intrinsic or extrinsic motivations. (Fear can be a motivation. Kidding…)
• Come to class with a positive, professional attitude. You’re at work. But wear what you want. Seriously.
• Believe you can do it! Guard against negative myths, e.g. “I never understand grammar” or “I’m bad at remembering vocab.” I’m sometimes still guilty of falling victim to myths.
• It’s a privilege to study a language as your full-time job. AND, it’s not always fun. You can hold simultaneous space for both these truths.
• Your classmates are your colleagues. You’re part of one another’s support system – they are not your competitors. Everyone is on their own journey to the evaluation goal. Support your classmates and be kind. Understand language class can sometimes be a painful and vulnerable place for everyone.
• Classmates can also give you helpful perspective and advice on your study (if you ask). Who besides your instructors knows your journey as a student best?
• Concentrate on what you can say versus what you want to say. Don’t overcomplicate your sentences or trap yourself into silence because you can’t say exactly what you want, how you want.
• Be OK with ambiguity and incompleteness during the learning process.
• Don’t be afraid of making mistakes; they are essential to your progress, and you learn from them.
• Don’t give up or despair when you hit a rough patch. Surrender as much of your ego as possible and try to remain constructive.
• Don’t be the instructor: your classmates will make mistakes and they aren’t for you to correct.
• There will be times when you hit a wall and the goal ahead will feel unmanageable. It’s OK to take a day off when you reach critical mass and can’t take any new information in.
• Celebrate your successes (no matter how small) and have patience with yourself. Think how much you can do now that you couldn’t when you started!
• Be patient with yourself. Sometimes language study will feel like one step forward, two steps back. Remember: you are doing a very hard thing that most people wouldn’t even attempt.

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A lot of us joke that we’re “too old” to learn yet another language to meet the infamous “needs of the service.”

But research has debunked the idea that one can be too old to learn a language. Neuroplasticity means human brains can reorganize and restructure our own synaptic connections. While it’s true neuroplasticity decreases with age, mastering a new language as an adult is more about that adult’s ability to think flexibly versus any inability to learn. Flexibility is a skill FSOs have in spades.

Much is made of the advantages younger language students have. But it’s fair to note that while adults often have more time-consuming and stressful obligations to balance, they also possess greater life experience, more sophisticated mastery of their native language, and an ability to grasp abstract concepts.

Happy studying…

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