• Microsoft noted that fixing the top 20% of bugs, prevents 80% percent of crashes
• The UN reports that the richest 20% of the world’s population control 82.7% of the world’s income
• Rule of thumb in business: “80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients”
• Perhaps we wear our 20% most favorite clothes about 80% of the time

The moral of the story is: Focus your effort on that small amount that gives you the most benefit.


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The 80/20 Rule in Languages

Pareto’s principle ALSO applies to learning languages. A few words account for the bulk of spoken language. When learning a new language, start with those!

• Just 100 words account for 50% of all words used
• Just 300 words account for 66% of all words used
• Just 500 words account for 80% of all words used

For further reference, you may view the wordlists below:

• Top English Words
• Top Italian Words
• Top Spanish Words

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{3 Disciplines: Writing, Speaking, Comprehension}

Aaaah, but learning to write, speak and hear are 3 veeery different disciplines. You can learn a written word, but being able to prounounce it accurately, and understand it when you hear it, is another story!

Once you learn a word, you need to ‘pound it in’ until it sinks in and it becomes second nature to understand it when you hear it in a conversation. That’s where songs come in!

To train my ear to recognize Italian, I used songs. Passively, the word definitions started to sink in, and the process was even… pleasant!

Below are Italian songs that are playing a lot on the Italian radio right now. Neffa is my favorite!

Giusy Ferreri -Click image to expand video in this same blog

NEFFA -Click image to expand video in this same blog

Dolcenera -Click image to expand video in this same blog

As a final note, I’d like to add that I swear by this process. Italian is my 4th language. Back in my Italian literature days 7 years ago, I used Italian music to speed-up my learning process.

Sure enough, I moved from Italian 1 to Italian 9 in only 2 months. The following year I was studying Italian literature in Italy, with Italian professors and Italian college students.

Steps:

• Choose songs you really like
• Write down the Italian lyrics & English translation
• But try to forget English! It gets in the way
• Learn the Italian concept behind every word
• Play the song over and over until you’re comfortable

No, this is not the only thing to do, but practicing hearing comprehension is an important part of a multi-layered process. Because learning a word is one thing, and KNOWING a word when you hear it is entirely another, and the only way to train your ear is to practice, practice, practice. So make it pleasant!