Language learning: Why Harry Potter works for so many
So many language learners swear by Harry Potter, yet there’s little information on why it works so well or how to get started.
You’ll forget you’re studying, because you’re in a magical world
This is probably the biggest takeaway from language studying. You need to choose materials that you’re genuinely interested in. When I’m listening to Harry’s frequent trips to Hogsmeade in the Prisoner of Azkaban, I feel like I’m actually in a snow-covered magical village and completely forget I’m studying Finnish. If studying a language feels like work, you will treat it like work and dread your study time. I find Harry Potter to be an intricate story with themes that persist into the muggle world, such as perseverance in seemingly dark times.
It’s easy to follow, because you already know the story
The advantage of a familiar story is huge when inferring new vocabulary. Even simple pairs of words or compound words help you learn. For example, Hagrid’s Hut in Finnish is Hagridin mökki, but you already know that mökki means hut without even looking it up. Or for Kielletty metsä (forbidden forest), just the association of these two word makes it so much easier to learn them.
