Before you read: don’t forget to download my DipTESOL and DELTA flashcards.

Someone tells you they lived abroad for three years and never picked up the language. They heard it every day. Shops, buses, television, colleagues talking across the office. Thousands of hours of exposure, and only a few basic phrases to show for it.

So... if exposure to the language wasn’t the problem, what was? Answer = a lack of understanding.

The gap between exposure and understanding sits behind one of the most influe...