Ask HN: How to learn new things better?

duolingo is much better in browser than mobile. there it has course summaries, tables, etc. meanwhile, i think it focuses too much on vocabulary. instead it should be daily dialogue driven.

I would advise you to be as experimental as possible, and see what works for you. Each person learns things in their own way. Just picking a particular path (such as using Duolingo, as others have suggested) may work. It may not. I have found that this rings especially true in technical subjects.

My personal suggestions are Duolingo, and "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. I went from stick men to badly-proportioned but otherwise lifelike still-lifes in a few hours with this book. I have a very strong audio memory so Duolingo works well for me. The most important aspect to getting not-terrible at anything is deliberate practice [1]. Drills, and boring exercises work very well for me.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practice_(learning_method)

How to draw portraits! From a drawing like 7yo to drawing in similar way to his last work. In less than a month. It is really easy. Seriously. It's all about drawing what really is instead of drawing from your imagination. Because normally we are looking at things and still seeing our mental representations not the real objects. This book is most important part (unfortunately all this right/left brain is pseudoscientific, but all other parts are very useful), I didn't do his other exercises, because I was already good with that and have other problems in which I needed to focus. I'm now using his methods (focus and persistence, deliberate practice) and learning to play a guitar. Again, great improvements in no time.

On learning to draw:

A bit of background: I drew before I could write, started oil painting when I was 7 or 8. I'm 38 now, and usually work with pen and watercolors.

The first thing I suggest you do is check out some lessons. There are a lot of, "how to draw" for children (and adults) that are really useful - especially for people and animals. I still use reference photos and look up techniques from time to time, actually. I also suggest watching Bob Ross. I might not paint landscapes, but his technique is definitely good - you'll likely pick a bit up even if you don't paint.

I'd also suggest learning about color theory, perspective, and eventually how light sources affect the work - some of these can be forgotten if you do more abstract stuff. Remember, part of drawing is basically training your fine motor skills and muscles to do things: This all gets better with time, and why folks suggest sketching daily. This is the same with painting.

Some folks can paint but can't draw as well: I fully suggest trying some painting along with the sketching. You might find that you like doing abstract art, focusing more on texture, use of space, and colors than actual form too. (You can draw just as abstractly, and doing so is good line and texture practice).

And random advice: Switching from pencil to ink isn't as scary as it seems. It helps to break things up into smaller pieces. Sometimes it helps to change a color photo to black and white.

And I'm out of stuff from the tope of my head.

My methods are divided into 2 -- binge and short bursts. In both I tend to use open ended questioning, perspectives and reflections as ways of enhancing the learnings.

Binge is method I use to learn a lot about a topic in the shortest period possible. I start a binge with either trying to understand more about a topic or to try an see whether a hunch I have in regard to the topic is well worth following.

Short burst is a method I use to learn something more deeply and more over a longer term. In this I put in 5-10 minutes 3-4 times a day maybe for a period of about 2-3 weeks. Then rest and reflect for a couple of weeks and then go through the cycle again.

I have written a post about it here : http://prjoshi.com.np/2017/01/02/on-learning/

Hope it helps.