As someone who is highly obsessed and overly enthusiastic about learning languages, I have to try to rein in my enthusiasm if anyone ever asks me about language learning. I have gotten better at it as I've grown older, but I have to admit it's hard for me to sum up all the useful things I've discovered about language learning, or even just my top tips, into a concise package.

But someone recently asked me, "What if you were just in an elevator with someone and had to tell them the smallest useful thing about learning a language. What would you tell them?" While I find my mind pulled in a thousand directions, weighing all the different options which I think could be useful, the first thing that jumps out to me is "listening".

If I had one thing to tell someone in an elevator in the few seconds before I parted with them, I think it would be this. Value listening practice over everything else. And practice listening and repeating out loud exactly what you hear. Listen, listen, listen. Listen and repeat. These will get you far.