3 things that will make learning a language addictive

Here are three things that will make the process of language learning addictive, to the point where you love it so much you naturally get fluent over time because you don't want to stop. Most people reading this will be intermediate. You're just struggling to have a conversation and speak with natives. These three things come from my 13 years of learning Italian and Spanish as a native English person.

1. Variable reward, which is similar to how social media pulls you in and keeps you coming back.
2. Measuring your progress.
3. Routine design.

1. Variable reward

Your brain is constantly searching for dopamine. Some people more than others, depending on how your brain is wired. From an evolutionary perspective, our brains want to feel rewarded.

Social media is the example. You open Instagram or TikTok and it shows you a different piece of content every time, and it's based on your interests, maybe gardening or kickboxing. You get a dopamine hit because you don't know what to expect, and when you open it you think, "Ah, there we go." That's why you can pick up your phone and before you know it you've spent half an hour or an hour scrolling. It bypasses your logical brain.

And we don't consciously think, "I want to feel good now, let's open it." The trigger is normally boredom, or relief from something you don't like doing. You're stuck on something boring at work, you get a notification, and you're in.

If platforms can keep your attention without you trying, you can trick your brain into doing that with languages:

• Set your social media feeds to your target language, or search for content in Spanish or Italian so the platform shows you more of it.
• On YouTube, there's a difference between watching videos that tell you the principles of language learning and watching native content, like Spanish people talking on the street. Search for the second kind. Every time you open YouTube you'll see different titles and thumbnails, so it becomes a variable reward.
• Flashcards like Anki are a good example. It's not as addictive as social media, but you don't know which word it's going to ask next, and when you answer it tells you yes or no. That's the reward.
• Any exposure to your target language helps, because your brain is trying to work out the language from the input.

Every real conversation is a variable reward too. It's not scripted, so you never know what the other person will say. It might be gossip, a joke, something you're curious about. Practising conversations with native speakers, online or at a language meetup, brings that in. And the bigger reward is noticing you can speak more fluently and understand more of what's said to you. That feeling releases dopamine too.

2. Measuring your progress

We don't like to be bad at something. Even if you've studied for months, in real conversations you can feel fluent one day and the next day forget the word for "and". If you can measure your progress, you get a reward chemical in your brain that says "that was enjoyable".

I hate grammar, so I avoid it. I'm better at karting than rock climbing, so I'd rather go karting. We naturally gravitate to what we're good at.

The problem with language learning is that it's hard to put a number on how good you are. At the gym, last week I lifted 10 kg and this week 12, and I can see that. Language learning is more like an art. Apps are good at measuring because they time you and mark your answers, but mostly they show you the streaks and the sticks.

Try to measure your progress as simply as you can, in a way that lines up with your goal. My goal, and probably yours, is to be more fluent and comfortable having conversations. I'm English and I don't know every English word in the dictionary. If I forget the word for umbrella, I'll say "the thing you hold on your head to stop you getting wet", and someone will laugh and say "here, borrow one". My goal there wasn't to be perfect. It was to be understood. Even in English people say "yesterday, we was going over there" and you don't correct your friends.

But in a different language our goal tends to be perfection, and if it isn't perfect we freeze. It should be: can they understand me? "Tomorrow, dog go walk" is terrible grammar, but the person opposite thinks, "he wants to walk his dog tomorrow, cool".

So if you want longer conversations, start with "I can have a 5-minute conversation about this topic" and build towards half an hour without a single English word. Pick one topic, like fitness, rather than switching between travel and politics. It's like an exam in one subject. It's easier to measure.

This is one reason I built Voco, which lets you practise spoken conversations with an AI persona you choose. It adapts to your level, knows your interests, and corrects you after the conversation. Because it's an AI voice it has the transcript and timings, so it can tell you your words per minute, your grammar accuracy (mine is about 20%, I hate grammar), and what words you've used. There's no judgment. The first three sessions are free. There's no team, it's just me, so I'm open to feedback.

3. Routine design

If you want to be addicted to something, it has to be dead easy to start. Instagram is an app on your phone. Netflix is on the TV in the evening and everything is right there. We do things regularly because they're easy and we're used to them.

So it's a bad idea to take time out of your routine to do something different. Many people say, "I'd have to sit down for 2 hours on a Sunday to plan." They don't, because they'd have to stop their normal schedule. Instead, look at what you already do:

• If you watch Netflix or YouTube, watch something in your target language. Align it with your interests. If you like police dramas, watch one in Spanish.
• If you commute, switch your podcast or radio to your target language. Download it first, because if the signal drops you'll get annoyed. If you commute half an hour each way, five days a week, that's a lot of input. You don't need to actively follow every word. Your brain picks up patterns, and you can daydream about your dinner while it does.

Choose things you're interested in. I love AI news, so if I can listen to that in my target language I'm engaged. When I listen to golf I don't care, so my mind zones out. Being engaged is the right emotional state for your brain to absorb language.

And don't change too much at once. Your brain likes stability and will reject too many changes. Change one thing and do it for 4 weeks, which is roughly how long it takes for a habit to stick. It's why the gym is packed for the first 4 weeks of January and quiet by mid-February.

I can only give you the principles, you'll work out what suits you. But if you design your routine around making your mind feel good when it practises a language, mistakes or not, you'll be hooked on the process. And if that continues for months and years, you'll have no option but to get fluent.