Here's Why You Need Physical Language Learning Resources

Most learning resource used nowadays is digital. Apps, AI tools, podcasts, webpages filled with texts or grammar… everything’s available right at our fingertips. I love it.

And I hate how inefficient it’s made me.

Tech tools are incredibly useful at making us feel like we doing something while keeping us inefficient. Pressing our phone’s screen or clicking away on our computers feels like we’re being productive but we’re not.

But that’s not the angle I want to touch upon today. Instead of looking at why screens are bad for us, let’s see why physical tools are good.

I love to-do lists. Checking things off feels great. We’re getting things done one after another.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve improved my set-up at home to use my tech tools in a better way, but I’ve noticed one aspect that’s gone down: the tasks I want to do often slip away from me.

I blame tech.

I’ve been creating small to-do lists on a regular basis on my digital diary where I write 750 words daily. Too often, however, I find myself the next day looking down on myself for not doing even half of what I had planned. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do get some useful things done, but rarely the more useful ones in the long-run, unless there’s a sense of urgency... but these don’t even require being written down because they bug all day long.

Having a digital to-do list is great because you can carry it around but a physical one doesn’t even need to be pulled out through your notification-plagued phone. It’s just there, on your desk, in your pocket, on the wall in front of you, screaming “Look at me!” 🔉

Setting intentions on paper not only feels better and more “important” because it’s different, but it also works better as a reminder.

No need to go look for it. It’s just there. Reminding you throughout the day.

For the past 3 weeks, I’ve switched back to paper to-do lists. I’ve done 90% of what I wanted. A far better result than my previous 30-40ish percent.

I won’t delve on this too much because we all know it.

Tech is made to keep us hooked. Even if you turn your phone into a “dumb phone” or make the useful apps more visible, our habits take over swiftly, turning us to Instagram or your favorite platform.

I started using Freedom again a few weeks ago, blocking apps during certain times of the day. Yet it took me over a week to stop trying to open YouTube and Instagram during my breaks. Looking at my screen, I told myself I could do something useful instead...and ended up choosing to finish my break most times.

Now that I’ve gotten used (or at least made the habit less strong), I often turn to a book, reflect on something I’ve studied, or just enjoy the time.

I also regularly grab a random textbook to flip pages for a few minutes and find something exciting to learn later on.

Distractions are today’s plague. Physical resources are the solution to eradicate them and focus on what matters.

I love to have pages open on my three screens when learning languages. I often find myself thinking “oh this is important” or “Alright, got that, I’ll try to recognize it next time.” And I never write down anything.

When I’m working on a book, textbook, or trying to create my own sentences, however, I begin writing a lot. By hand. Slowly. And I remember a lot more the next day.

When you write on a screen, it’s all well-organized, in beautiful letters one after the other. It’s a sight I love and one I find extremely inconvenient to learn languages.

Languages are messy. Trying to keep beautifully organized notes on a computer or phone doesn’t fit language learning.

You need to have paper, where you can have very uneven arrows that don’t go straight, underline words because you feel like it, change colors because you want to highlight a translation or grammar patterns.

Strangely enough, the fact we don’t have a Delete key on paper provides freedom in how we want to take notes.

Again, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love tech tools. I rely on them a lot to learn languages nowadays, and especially AI. I wouldn’t have written about how stupid it is to not use AI if I didn’t think so after all!

But we shouldn’t forget how useful physical tools are.

If you haven’t written down anything recently in your target language, read a book, or used a physical textbook, try it again. Take the time away from your screens and concentrate without the distractions.

The first few times may feel strange. Push through that uneasiness. And you’ll find your study sessions will become more efficient...and frequent!

And you know what the result will be: a better learning experience.

Cheers for reading,
Mathias