ALG on Creativity Hacker

Automatic Language Growth

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 18:19:42 +0000

While working on the ear training features for the FrankenTongues app, I stumbled across a reference to the Automatic Language Growth (ALG) model of language learning, and the moment I read it, I had to stop everything I was doing to investigate.

Because it resonates loudly with my own views on how we learn languages.

New Road Trip, New Trial

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:34:48 +0000

I’m sitting in the car, waiting to begin another long road trip, and in keeping with recent practice, this will be another chance to test my hands-free learning tools. But in light of my current ALG experiment, there will have to be some changes to the plan.

Norwegian Crime Kids

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 18:15:24 +0000

With my recent experiments in ALG-style language study, I needed to shift gears in my Norwegian reading practice. Instead of reading adult-oriented books and using translation tools to help me over the rough parts, I’m embracing kids books and white-knuckling my way through them without a safety net - no dictionaries, no translations, just context and guesswork.

Today I finished my first one, and thought I’d share some notes about this new approach.

Ears Don't Have Fingers

jeff@smithicus.com (Jefferson Smith) — Mon, 19 May 2025 15:32:18 +0000

While conducting my road tests recently, I had a bit of an epiphany: my Norsk reading skills went from zero to B2 level (advanced intermediate) in 3 months, but after spending a similar amount of time focused on training my ear, I’m still at A1. I think it’s time to change gears…