0Indispensable vs. Not Indispensable: prioritise what actually moves the needle
Language learners often waste time on alluring but low-return activities while neglecting what truly matters; use the Pareto principle — 20% of the effort produces 80% of the results. Indispensable items: daily meaningful speaking (even short), listening to varied natural speech, learning high-frequency vocabulary and chunks, practising pronunciation for clarity, and receiving timely corrective feedback. Less important (early stage): perfect accent matching, learning rare idioms, obsessing over every advanced grammar exception, or memorising huge lists of low-frequency words. Time allocation example: in a week, spend 40–50% of practice time speaking and receiving feedback, 20% on listening input, 15% on focused drills (pronunciation/grammar), and 15% on vocabulary consolidation. Practical prioritisation: identify which problems block communication (e.g., frequent misunderstandings) and attack those first. Keep a progress log: note what you tried, what improved, and what still fails in real conversation — this avoids repeating ineffective routines. Takeaway/activity: make a “what matters” checklist this week (3 indispensable tasks) and spend at least 70% of study time on those before dabbling in extras.
