Points

Points are the engine of the Popglot method—they’re not just a way to keep score, they’re an indication of progress. Every point you earn represents a moment of engagement with the language, a small but meaningful step toward fluency.

If you’ve read my About page, you already know the basics: Popglot uses songs to help you learn languages by combining sensory modalities like listening, reading, and singing. But the points you earn along the way? They’re proof that you’re showing up and putting in the work. In this post, I’ll break down exactly how this scoring system works and why it’s such a powerful tool for tracking your language learning journey.

The Three Core Modalities

At the heart of the Popglot method are three ways to interact with a song:

  1. Listening – Simply playing and hearing the song (no point)
  2. Reading – Reading the lyrics in the target language. Also includes writing (1 point)
  3. Singing or Speaking – Singing or speaking the lyrics, with or without aids (1 point)

Earning Points Through Combinations

The real power of Popglot  comes from combining these modalities into a single play:

  • Listening while reading lyrics (2 points)
  • Listening while singing along (2 points)
  • Reading lyrics while singing without the song playing (2 points)
  • The full experience – listening, reading, and singing simultaneously (3 points)

You can earn a maximum of 3 points per play of the song. The goal is to earn around 100 points per song to achieve what I call Core Song Competence. This means you’ve become familiar enough with the song to sing along with the main hooks and memorable parts, grasp its general theme or feeling, and absorb some of its vocabulary and phrasing. It’s not about perfect memorization or deep lyrical analysis – after all, even in our native language, song lyrics can be ambiguous or metaphorical. Instead, the focus is on gaining functional, practical knowledge of the song that helps build your overall language skills.

However, some songs might seem so easy that you think you could master them with only 50 points. If so, set that as your target. Many songs, on the other hand, will require more effort and could far exceed 100 points. It’s up to you whether to continue beyond your target to fully master the song.

My Notation System Explained

To streamline the process of tracking your language learning plays, I’ve developed a compact notation system. Each type of play is represented by a unique letter code, which corresponds to a specific activity and point value. Below is a chart that outlines these codes and their meanings:

Code
Activity
Points
a
Listening to the song
0
b
Reading the lyrics
1
c
Singing the song
1
d
Listening while reading the lyrics
2
e
Listening while singing along
2
f
Reading the lyrics while singing
2
g
Listening, reading, and singing simultaneously
3

Remember: You don’t need to successfully sing the song to earn a point. These are practice points, and that it’s the effort that counts. As long as you’re making a legitimate step to learn the song, you’ve earned the point.

How to Record Sessions

Here’s how to use the notation system to track your progress, keeping in mind that each notation corresponds to a single play of the song:

  • Format: It is recommended you write plays in a “count-letter” style, e.g., “2a” for two plays of listening to the song.
  • Within a Day: Use commas to separate different play types in a single day, e.g., “2a,1d” means two listening plays and one play of listening while reading.
  • Across Days: Separate days with a single slash “/”, e.g., “2a,1d / 3b,2g” means Day 1: two listening plays and one listening-while-reading play; Day 2: three reading plays and two plays of listening, reading, and singing together.
  • No Plays: Use “0” for days with no activity, e.g., “2a / 0 / 1c” means Day 1: two listening plays; Day 2: no plays; Day 3: one singing play.

Here’s an example to illustrate:
“5a,8d / 2a,3e / 0 / 1g,4c” breaks down as:

  • Day 1: 5 listening plays (5 × 0 = 0 points), 8 plays of listening while reading (8 × 2 = 16 points) = 16 points
  • Day 2: 2 listening plays (2 × 0 = 0 points), 3 plays of listening while singing (3 × 2 = 6 points) = 6 points
  • Day 3: No plays = 0 points
  • Day 4: 1 play of listening, reading, and singing (1 × 3 = 3 points), 4 singing plays (4 × 1 = 4 points) = 7 points
  • Total: 16 + 6 + 0 + 7 = 29 points over 4 days

This approach keeps your tracking simple and efficient, letting you focus on learning while monitoring your progress with ease. Again, note that listening alone doesn’t earn points—it’s all about combining activities or actively engaging to move toward your goal.

Why Track This Way?

Well, you don’t have to use my notational system if you’re not interested in finding out how you learn best. Just keep a tally. But if you are interested, this detailed tracking serves multiple purposes:

  1. Accountability: You can see how much time and effort you’ve invested
  2. Pattern recognition: You may notice certain modality combinations are more effective than others
  3. Planning: Helps identify which modalities you should focus on next
  4. Motivation: Watching your score approach 100 provides encouragement and a concrete end-point
  5. Documentation: Creates a record of your language learning progress

Tools for Tracking

I personally use a note-taking app to keep my daily counts, then transfer them to my notation system for blog documentation. You could also use:

  • A tally counter app
  • A spreadsheet
  • Physical counters
  • A dedicated language journal

Example: A Complete 100-Point Progression

Here’s a sample notation for reaching just over 100 points across five days:

Let’s look at the notation “5a,3d,2e / 4b,2g,1c / 10g / 5d,3e,2f / 8g,2c”

Points Breakdown:

  • Day 1:
    • 5a (5 × 0 = 0 points)
    • 3d (3 × 2 = 6 points)
    • 2e (2 × 2 = 4 points)
    • Total = 0 + 6 + 4 = 10 points
  • Day 2:
    • 4b (4 × 1 = 4 points)
    • 2g (2 × 3 = 6 points)
    • 1c (1 × 1 = 1 point)
    • Total = 4 + 6 + 1 = 11 points
  • Day 3:
    • 10g (10 × 3 = 30 points)
    • Total = 30 points
  • Day 4:
    • 5d (5 × 2 = 10 points)
    • 3e (3 × 2 = 6 points)
    • 2f (2 × 2 = 4 points)
    • Total = 10 + 6 + 4 = 20 points
  • Day 5:
    • 8g (8 × 3 = 24 points)
    • 2c (2 × 1 = 2 points)
    • Total = 24 + 2 = 26 points

Total: 10 + 11 + 30 + 20 + 26 = 97 points (just shy of the 100-point goal). With consistent effort using this approach, you’ll develop Core Song Competence for the song within a few days, meaning you’ll be able to confidently engage with its key parts and understand its general message. Since listening alone earns no points, you might need a bit more active engagement—like extra ‘g’ or ‘e’ plays—to hit 100 exactly.

While 100 points is the standard goal, you can adjust your target based on the song’s difficulty, aiming lower for simpler tunes or higher for more challenging ones.

Starting Your Own Tracking

As you begin your Popglot experience, I encourage you to adopt this notation system or create one that works for you. The key is consistency and clarity. In future posts, you’ll see this system in action as I document my progress with specific Polish songs.

Next post, I’ll share my experience with “Ludzie pragną piękna” by Formacja Nieżywych Schabuff, showing exactly how I’ve been applying this tracking method to build my Polish skills one song at a time.