Drills: A Deeper Look

Through being asked the same questions and giving the same stock answers each time, without realizing, you are drilling these situations until they became second nature. And when we learn a language, that’s exactly what we want to happen.

Tongue twisters

When speaking a foreign language, it’s one thing to know how to say something – but it’s something else to be able to produce the sentence automatically as required.

In theory, you might know how to explain why you are in the country, but the first time somebody asks, you will find yourself stuttering and searching for your words.

In a way, it’s a bit like saying a tongue twister. Try this one:

A proper copper coffee pot

The first time you try to say it, you’ll probably find you might mangle the words at least a little bit. You know what you want to say – and you can see the words right there on the page – but you just can’t get them out the exact way you want.

This is what it’s like when you try to speak a language without practicing. You know the words, but you can’t say them.

Now practice saying the tongue twister a few times, starting slowly and then increasing the speed. You will find it becomes easier and easier until soon, you can say it lots of times quickly without making any mistakes.

This is exactly what happens when you answer the same questions over and over – you become used to forming the sounds, and before long, you can say the words without any difficulty.

Thinking in a foreign language

When you repeat those same sentences in a foreign language, another important process is also happening. 

At first, you might find you have to think of each word in your native tongue before you say it, but after having the same conversation enough times, you stop thinking in it and speak directly in the other language.

This needs to happen because you can never become fluent if you always have to translate. If you are fortunate enough to be living in a foreign country while learning the language, this process is happening naturally each time you meet someone new or every time you take a taxi.

But if you aren’t in that kind of environment, you need to recreate the process artificially – so how do you do it? That’s right. Drills.

Study for mastery, not completion

One thing to keep in mind: many people tend to focus on the completion of exercises rather than mastery. This means they rush through as quickly as possible so they can move on to the next exercise, perhaps unconsciously believing that finishing the book equals learning the language.

However, with any language exercises, whether it’s answering questions in a grammar book or doing these drills, you don’t win any prizes for finishing quickly. The purpose is to master the language, not to finish the book, so learn to be honest with yourself and don’t move on to the next drill until you have mastered it.

Go back and repeat

We acquire language through repetition, so don’t be afraid to go back and cover the same material several times. If you do some drills today, repeat them next week – and then the week after.

This way, you will gain the maximum benefit from them, you will significantly improve your fluency and you will be able to produce the language automatically and without thinking.

Do the drills out loud

One of the most important parts of doing drills is saying the words out loud at a normal volume. Don’t do them in your head, don’t whisper under your breath and don’t mutter them to yourself.

Remember the tongue twister – you won’t learn to say it quickly and confidently if you just think about it in your head.