Looking for a faster way to learn a language? Try historical linguistics

In recent years, language-learning apps, websites, and podcasts have exploded in popularity, promising fun and faster ways to make us fluent. But a new study conducted by UBC English James Stratton finds that one of the best ways of fast-tracking your language acquisition may be to learn a bit of language history - at least when it comes to learning a historically related language. In his study, students who were taught the history of words and how sounds have evolved over time significantly outperformed students who spent an equivalent amount of time following traditional language learning methods. The students who received historical training were also able to correctly predict the meaning of cognates (foreign words that have a common root) they hadn't encountered before. "The results, in my mind, are quite groundbreaking, because no one has tested this empirically before, at least not to the extent that I have and on the languages I looked at," Dr. Stratton said. "It shows that knowledge of historical linguistics can have a practical function in society." We spoke to Dr. Stratton about his study which was recently published in The Modern Language Journal . How did you conduct this study and what did you discover? .