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The Frequency List That Feels Like Cheating (in Any Language)
October 12th, 2025 | Ademola Adeyemi
“When you know what’s happening on screen, your brain fills in the words automatically. You don’t need to study them. You just… get them.”
Picture this:
You’re watching a Korean makeup tutorial. The creator picks up a palette, points to a brush, starts blending colors.
She says a word you’ve never heard before.
But you know exactly what she means.
Why? Because you understand makeup. You know what’s happening before the language even matters.
This is how real acquisition works – whether you’re learning Korean, Spanish, Japanese, French, or literally any other language.
But here’s what no one tells you about language learning frequency:
You’re probably torturing yourself right now. Forcing yourself through “proper” textbooks. Avoiding YouTube videos you actually want to watch. Feeling guilty about your Netflix addiction.
You think suffering equals progress.
But let me blow your mind real quick.
That makeup tutorial you want to watch? Same core foundation as your boring textbook. That travel vlog? Same linguistic infrastructure as formal classes. That basketball commentary? Built on identical comprehension principles.
The method I’m about to show you doesn’t rely on frequency lists. And it works regardless of which language you’re learning.
It relies on something much simpler: watching stuff you already understand.
When you know what’s happening on screen, your brain fills in the words automatically. You don’t need to study them. You just… get them.
No more asking “why do they use this word here?”
Start asking: “Do I understand what’s happening?”
The math is simple. The results are inevitable.
Why Your Netflix Addiction Beats Language Classes
Here’s the question that breaks my heart every time someone asks it:
“Should I stop watching basketball commentary to get better at [insert language]?”
“Should I avoid travel vlogs so I can focus on real studying?”
“Should I feel guilty about wanting to watch tech reviews in my target language?”
When I hear questions like this, I know exactly what’s happening. You think getting better means giving up the things you actually care about.
You think learning has to hurt.
Here’s what’s actually happening when you watch that basketball game in your target language:
At first, it’s complete noise. Like listening to Morse code – just beeping sounds that make no sense. Dots and dashes with zero meaning.
But here’s the thing about noise: the second you start recognizing patterns, everything changes.
In Morse code, once you know what A sounds like, what B sounds like, what C sounds like, those dots and dashes transform into letters. The noise becomes a message.
Every language works the same way.
When you watch basketball commentary in Spanish, yes, there are basketball-specific words that won’t show up in travel vlogs. But guess what’s in every single sentence?
The same core words that appear everywhere.
The words for “this,” “that,” “because,” “when,” “very,” “good,” “bad” – these show up whether someone’s talking about slam dunks or scenic mountains. In Korean, Spanish, Japanese, French – doesn’t matter.
And the beautiful part is you already understand basketball. When the commentator gets excited about a three-pointer, you know what’s happening before the words even register. Your brain connects the excitement in his voice to what you’re seeing on screen.
That’s not cheating. That’s actual acquisition.
And when your brain starts doing that – asking ‘what the hell is he saying here?’ – that’s where the magic happens. That’s your brain screaming ‘I NEED this word.’ Not because some frequency list told you to learn it, but because you’re genuinely frustrated that you don’t understand something you want to understand.
So how exactly do you turn your Netflix addiction into fluency?
The Contextual Comprehension Method
Here’s the step-by-step breakdown:
Step 1) Choose Content You Already Understand 80%
Not the language content – the topic itself.
Love makeup? You already know what palettes, brushes, and blending mean. Obsessed with basketball? You understand plays, fouls, and shot clocks. Into tech? You know specs, reviews, and comparisons.
Pick content in your target language about topics where you could follow along with the sound off.
Learning Spanish? Watch Spanish makeup tutorials. Learning Japanese? Watch Japanese tech reviews. Learning French? Watch French cooking shows. Learning Korean? Watch Korean gaming streams.
Step 2) Let the Obvious Words Interrupt You
Don’t hunt for vocabulary. Let vocabulary hunt for you.
When the makeup artist picks up that palette and says a word, your brain already knows what she means. You don’t need to pause, rewind, or look it up. The word just… fits.
When the basketball commentator gets excited about a dunk, his tone plus the visual tells you everything. The word becomes obvious.
This is what I call “matter-of-fact” acquisition. The word doesn’t feel foreign – it feels inevitable.
When that word pops up four times in one episode, your brain gets annoyed. Really annoyed. ‘What is this word? What IS this word?’ And that annoyance? That’s not a bug – that’s the feature. That’s your personalized frequency list building itself.
Step 3) Stop Asking “Why?” Start Asking “Do I Get It?”
Here’s where most people sabotage themselves:
They hear a connecting word – something like “because” or “when” or “but” – and immediately think: “Why is it used this way? What’s the grammar rule?”
Don’t do this.
Instead ask: “Do I understand what they’re trying to say?”
If yes, keep watching. Your brain is building those patterns automatically.
Step 4) Trust the Process
Those “skeleton” words – the boring grammatical ones – will build up naturally through exposure. Not through analysis.
Your brain notices everything. Every time you hear that connecting word in context, it gets filed away. After enough exposures, you’ll use it correctly without ever studying the rule.
The beautiful result? In a few weeks, you’ll rewatch that same content and hear things in slow motion. Words that were complete noise will sound crystal clear.
That’s not magic. That’s your brain creating its own personalized frequency list based on what you actually care about.
Look, there’s no frequency list on the internet more valuable than the one you create by watching stuff you actually give a damn about. That’s not lazy learning. That’s smart learning.
And it works for every single language on earth.
What content have you been avoiding because you thought it wasn’t ‘educational’ enough? Time to stop feeling guilty and start getting fluent.
Struggle Less. Acquire More. Enjoy Life.
Studied at Yonsei University. Worked in Korean politics. Reached fluency in 18 months through pure immersion.
Now I help language learners cut through the noise and achieve what most think is impossible.
Gain A New Perspective On Language & Life
I went from understanding 0% of Korean dramas to discussing politics at Yonsei in 25 months—using the same immersion principles I teach every Saturday.