Brick

This is how you learn a language. This is how you widen your horizons.

You can reach a certain level in most things by adding lumps of clay. Learning a language, you can learn, say 50 words a day for a long time, and then you will soon know a lot of words - perhaps all the words of that language, and you will not understand much and you will not be able to express anything in that language.

Because all you added was clay.

To make a stable structure you also need bricks. At each moment when you build a house, you need to know when you can add clay and when you can add bricks to make it taller. Too much clay, and it will not be stable enough to hold its own weight. Too much bricks, and the wall will fall over if you lean against it.

When you learn a language you need bricks as well as clay - grammar as well as words. The tricky thing is to know when in the learning process you need more grammar and when you need more words. Besides there are different kinds of clay and bricks that do not work equally well in all positions in the building.

Next time you want to learn a new language, go to the nearest construction retailer for advice.