Andrey Ermoshin - Learn Languages Easily. Methods of self-regulation for successful learning

19. I am used to studying.

20. Even the first encounter with the new language was interesting and pleasant for me; and even if I had any tension, it has already disappeared.

21. The amount of information I have to learn is not a problem to me; I know that it can be acquired, step by step, and with accordance to my plan.

22. I learn new words, expressions, and intonations with pleasure.

23. Native speakers are my potential partners for new projects. I treat them with respect and without bias.

24. I easily acquire knowledge. My body absorbs it like a sponge. I feel how diverse my channels of perception are, and I see a large reserve of capacity in myself. Knowledge flows into me from every possible direction. I like to enrich my knowledge using every available source.

25. Situations, when I have to use the language, seem interesting; I keep my calm hands-on attitude in this situation and even feel excited about meeting a native speaker.

26. I have an easy access to knowledge. Words and phrases I need quickly find their way in my mind and flow in a conversation with my interlocutor. The flow of speech is calm and steady. My speech embraces the interlocutor and unites us in one whole. I like socializing.

27. When I pronounce foreign words, the sound appears the same way native speakers produce it. I vocalize the same way native speakers do.

28. I know how to enjoy socialization and put the information in a foreign language to good use.

29. Learning a foreign language is one of my favourite projects that I gladly work on. I see the new horizons of the self-realization that this knowledge gives me. By speaking the languages, I need to come closer to the completeness of my existence.

If you have a 100% match with all the statements as mentioned above, we can only be very happy for you. Nevertheless, even in this case, I would invite you to find out more about the techniques of increasing learning efficiency, i.e. how you can “corporatize’ your knowledge and organize it in a very accessible way. If you have found any discrepancies with the statements, consider each of these inconsistencies as an incentive to do the exercises that we will present right after describing our method.

Although our ability to speak is given to us by nature, we need to trigger it, to switch it on so that it would “work’ the way it should. The technique we will try to apply to the process of learning a foreign language will be like the one we have already experienced when getting to know our mother tongue.

Learning about the mystery of the language

‘The high priests’ of the language who teach the child the mystery of the language are the parents, guardians, and other adult speakers of the language. Is not it a miracle that those monosyllabic exclamations we exchange with a baby set the foundation for a beautiful system of communication with the thousands of words and endless expressions?

Between those first sounds produced by a baby and subsequent complex utterances, one would find the mystery of the formation of a “homo talking’. It looks like both parties are interested in it, that is why this mystery takes place: the spirit strives for culture, and the culture looks for a spirit to turn into its medium. Look how eagerly children absorb new words and expressions and how much they enjoy practicing the language! The same way a loving and caring adult would share their linguistic experience with a child! This is how the culture complements the spirit!

Just the way it happened in our childhood, we will do everything to provide our body with the necessary information. In order to learn it the same way, we will check if the necessary channels are open and if an easy access to information is available. There is a certain trajectory for each person and information he or she is going to absorb, and our task is to make this spirit and culture unite , like a module-to-module docking in space.

We will tackle this with the help of a special method.

Psychocatalysis is a method of regulating the body, including its autonomic level. Getting access to the regulated processes in the body is possible by paying a very close attention to the sensations in the body and by observing our internal space. There are three main phases in this process: exploring the initial state (a brief analysis), making a decision concerning spontaneous changes that have taken place earlier (what should move on and leave the body), and – finally – observing the changes (active “meditation’). This method is quick and efficient, and it allows refreshing the state of a person at all levels: at the level of the body as well as at the level of “the head.”

Catalysis is a term used in chemistry. Adding a catalyst can accelerate a slow-developing process. A lump of sugar can remain solid in cold water for quite some time, but if one heats the water, it will quickly become a part of the solution. The same way with the help of hydrochloric acid and enzymes, the food in our stomach turns into “chyme,” or a set of basic elements; however, without the enzymes, the food will remain hard as a brick.

In the case of our minds, the heater or the enzyme is our conscious attention. It is precisely our attention, which brings the energy and ideas necessary to trigger the processes.

A boy with a stick and a clock-master with a brush

Here is another image to demonstrate the idea of catalysis: it is spring, and there is a stream of water; some splinters formed a dam and did not let the water go through, and the stream stops as a result. A boy comes and moves the splinters aside; the stream keeps going and carrying the boy’s toy ship. This boy with a stick is our attention, and the ship is the useful information.

And here is an image of setting free from traumas which disturb normal course of psychological processes: a clock-master looks at the broken mechanism through a magnifying glass: he pushes back the spring, takes out a speck of dust, adds a drop of oil, and the clock resumes its rate.

Psychocatalysis is similar to the work of a clock-master, only that it deals with our minds which sometimes also accumulate “dams’ or “specks of dust’ and, sometimes, one needs to “pull the spring back’ or “remove those debris and oil the mechanism’ in order to keep the machine going.

The chilliness of culture cools down the heat of the spirit

Self-regulation and self-healing are the part of our regulatory system, but their potential is not limitless. M.E. Burno, whom I consider one of my teachers, called nature “a wise fool’. A fever is supposed to help our body fight the infection, but if the temperature gets too high, it causes problems, too. When it comes to our psychological health, then our excessive worries are similar to high body temperature. Then the chilliness of culture helps the heat of the spirit cool down to a reasonable temperature. Sometimes, one needs to “turn up the heat’ to speed up the processes which “have frozen.”

Nature does not restore everything automatically, and it looks like it left a part of its responsibilities for restoring the peace of mind to a human being hoping that we will be able to do it. So, we have to live up to nature’s expectations!

Emergency protection

I often compare the kind of protection that activates in the case of stress to an airbag in a car. This airbag saves our lives at a moment of the crash, but it never goes back to its place again. You cannot continue your way once it has been activated, and the car needs to be serviced. Our autonomic system works the same way: if it activated in a dangerous situation, it cannot switch off itself once activated. It is as if nature tells you: “I have saved your life, and you’re on your own. I haven’t really thought of that moment with calling the reactions back.” People tend to accumulate these “upsetting episodes,” and that is why they need to make a special conscious effort to restore psychological balance.