My adventure with SuperMemo – Piotr Gniadek

Piotr Gniadek
This time, Piotr Gniadek – a foreign languages freak and an enthusiast of Spanish, German and Russian culture – told us about his adventure with SuperMemo.

Piotr is going like a bomb. He began learning with SuperMemo only a few weeks ago, but he has already started 19 courses and has completed over 20% of most of them. As you can see, he is a language enthusiast in the fullest sense of the word. Read the interview and see for yourself!

When did your adventure with SuperMemo start?

My adventure with SuperMemo began over a month ago, at first I wasn’t sure about it, because sometimes it can be very difficult, especially when learning a language from another language group. After 3 weeks, though, French became much simpler, especially reading.

How has SuperMemo helped you?

It has definitely helped me to read and improved my grammar significantly, some other tasks are much more demanding.

What are you currently learning?

I am currently learning English, Norwegian, Spanish, French, German and Italian. I had to give up Russian recently because of the lack of time for it.

What are your language plans?

I’m planning to learn a minimum of 10 languages at B2+ level, including 5 at a minimum level of C1-C2. I would definitely like to learn all the European languages. Every language develops you and offers new opportunities. For example, did you know that Russians have great comedy series? They are extremely addictive! Even if you have a bad day, when you have so many languages on your list, you’ll always learn something new, you’ll always have more desire for one of them. If someone learns a minimum of two, then they should always start the day with their favourite one, because then learning is the most effective. The only limit on the number of foreign languages you learn is your time and your determination, nothing more. There are no other restrictions, given current technologies such as SuperMemo. I don’t think that spending at least an hour a day learning is a problem.

What does your day with SuperMemo look like?

I choose the language which I want to learn most at the beginning of the day, usually Spanish, and more recently French, I process a minimum of 100 new “course” cards and additionally I repeat up to 150 cards for a given language.

What advice would you give to other users?

Determination, not letting even a single day go by without spending some time learning. Try to use it at every opportunity. The more time you devote to it, the faster you will see the results. You must have the “I can do it! I’m going to learn!” attitude. With this approach you will go faster and easier and you can learn practically any language.

What do you think is the secret to effective learning?

Consistency, determination and a minimum of 5 repetitions of all the material spread out over time.