What actually works in language learning

The internet shouts about CI vs. grammar drills, Anki vs. immersion, apps vs. textbooks. Here's a summary of the best way to learn a language, according to many sources on the internet.

What Actually Works

The language learning community is defined by a central debate that colors nearly every recommendation online:

Comprehensible Input

Stephen Krashen's View

We acquire language subconsciously through exposure to material we can mostly understand ("i+1"). Conscious grammar study only produces a surface-level "monitor". Real fluency comes from meaningful input, not memorization.

Dreaming Spanish · AJATT · Refold · LingQ

Skill Building

The Opposition

Explicit grammar instruction, output practice, and error correction are necessary for precision and fluency, especially for adults who learn differently than children.

FSI / DLI · Assimil · Pimsleur · Michel Thomas

Where the Community Lands

Most successful self-learners settle somewhere between the extremes. Reddit's r/languagelearning broadly agrees:

✓ Massive comprehensible input is essential for any language

✓ Some grammar study accelerates comprehension, especially early on

✓ Speaking practice can't be infinitely postponed

✓ No single tool or method is sufficient on its own

✓ Consistency matters more than the "optimal" method, and always will

Common critique of apps (Duolingo, Babbel)

Plateau at around A2. Functional survival phrases but nowhere near real comprehension.

Common critique of pure immersion (AJATT, Dreaming Spanish)

They work extremely well, but require enormous time investment and discipline that most people can't sustain.