Tips For Language Learners
What is better than traveling to foreign places? Being able to speak a little bit of the native language! I've had quite a bit of international travel experience and on my last trip I came to the conclusion that learning other languages (even just the basic words) can completely change the way you experience the place you are traveling to. Although it can be difficult, the worst thing you can do is give up on learning the language because you feel like it isn't "popular" or “useful." Here are a few tips for learning a new language that I think I would've found to be useful when I first started learning Spanish and Italian!
Study daily, even if it’s for 5 min or less.
Duolingo, Memrise and Forvo are the holy trinity for every language learner; everyone should use them at some point.
Sticky notes, sticky notes everywhere. If you can’t remember a grammar rule or a word/structure, use sticky notes.
Learn 100-300 most common words first.
HiNative will save your ass when you have questions.
“Hakuna matata mais quelle phrase magnifique” - Disney is your friend, sing Disney songs to improve your pronunciation. Also, watch Disney movies. You already know the story, so it’ll be easier for you to focus on the language.
Tbh, watch ANY movie in your target language with subtitles.
Write a short paragraph about whatever you want, daily. Even if it's just about your socks, or your morning routine. In 1 month you will see how much your vocab you learned while doing it.
Talk, talk, talk. If you aren’t a social person, talk to yourself, to your pet, to a wall; it doesn’t matter. At least force yourself to think in your target language.
If you are busy, Semper is a good app for learning vocab while doing your daily activities.
Use your target language for basic stuff like counting, groceries, complaining, etc.
Change your settings on social media. Many people learn English through Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc. This can work for other languages too.
Change the settings on your phone too. You use it 24/24, you know what everything does, so continuing use it while learning the settings in your target language.
If you lost motivation, take a break and remember why you started.
If you hit a plateau, that’s most probably because you don’t know enough vocab.
Understand that your progress will be slow. Accept it and keep going.
Lang-8 is a great place if you want natives to correct your texts.
Langblr community is amazing, if you need any advice/explanation, ask a langblr.
Try out a variety of different resources but choose a handful to use daily.
If you don’t know a word in your native language, you don’t need to know it in your target language.
Accept the fact that you can’t translate every word one by one. There are special structures, word order, particles etc. your target language might not be as your native one.
If you’re bored, look around and name things that you see in your target language.
Try to find a language/motivation partner. You can support & help each other.
You’ll make mistakes, embrace it! That means you’re learning and you’ll have funny stories to tell people in a couple of years.
Learn words in context; you’ll remember them easily after. Clozemaster and WordBrewery are 2 great sites for this.
When you want to read, being by choosing a book you are familiar with. If you are an advanced learner, choose a new book.
Find a native to talk to online. Tumblr is full of natives and langblrs that would love to help.
For slang words check out the youtube comment section. Twitter is a good alternative.
Don’t waste your money on fancy programs like Rosetta Stone. Some can be found for free and some aren’t as good as they claim they are.
When you learn a new word, try to make a couple of examples in your head.
Read articles about things you are interested in. They use simple structures and local phrases.
Youtube is your friend, don’t be afraid to use it. Watching videos will help you get used to how real people talk; most programs/apps speak slowly and they try to make themselves clear, which doesn’t always reflect real life.
You’ll have an accent; don’t worry, it may go away after a while.
Age doesn’t matter, everyone can learn a language; you can be 5 or 50, the only difference is how you learn.
Don’t just learn, revise, as well.
As a beginner, you will translate everything from your native language and that’s okay. People will correct you and you will learn.
If you like to read fanfiction, read it in your target language and use the ReadLang extension when you don’t know a word; it’s faster than google translate.
Beware of those vocab lists you see on blogs. Verify the source!
Flewent is an extension that translates a certain % of what you read in your target language. It’s a fast way to learn new words while doing your homework or whatever.
Prepositions are a nightmare to everyone. To have a more pleasant life, try to find a list of verbs and what prepositions they require.
Children songs are catchy, use them to learn vocab faster.
Try not to learn 2 languages at the same time, especially if they are from the same family. (e.g. Italian and Spanish)
If you decide to study 2 languages at the same time, try to study in different places and use different colors for your notes.
Idioms can impress alot, but don’t start learning them too early or too late.
If you have to learn irregular verbs, try to find patterns and put them in groups.
Hard work beats talent and when it comes to learning a language, there’s no one who has talent. There are people who have a good memory or can figure out patterns but that can be improved so no need to worry if you progress slowly.
Don’t compare yourself to someone who studied a language for years. Everyone progresses in their own way.
Everyone has individual method that work for them. If it doesn’t work for you, it’s not the end of the world. Just experiment and figure out what works for you.
Try to learn vocab that interests you. Are you a Harry Potter fan? Learn magic terms. Do you like cooking? Learn cooking terms. etc.
Flashcards are a nice way to learn vocab. Make some and study them before going to bed.
Learn chunks of vocab, not single words. (e.g. Buy a bottle of milk; Brush your teeth; Wash the red car.)
Use the diglot weave technique. Basically, you insert foreign words into a sentence of a language you already know. Here comes the Spang-lish!
Taking breaks is fine but try not to take a break for months at a time, you will begin to forget things.
Decide what skill you want to improve first. You can never improve everything equally so try to focus on what you need/want the most.
Set a big goal (e.g be advanced in Spanish) but remember to have small goals too. (e.g. read Harry Potter by the end of this season).
Watch people talking. Join a chat and simply listen to others if you don’t feel comfortable talking yet.
Associate word, image & sound. Don’t just learn words, if you learn the word for tree, think of a tree or search for an image of one.
Learning a language takes time, don’t expect to know it perfectly after 1 week.
Immersion is hella frustrating but it pays off in the end.
Don’t study when you are too tired. You won't remember anything.
Find someone you admire so they can motivate you.
Use a bilingual dictionary not only for finding specific words but just for the sake of reading.
After you’ve read 1 page/chapter from a book, try to make a summary in your target language.
When you read books, try to see if you can find the audiobook as well. (Youtube might have it) That way, you know the correct way of pronouncing certain words.
Try to make it fun. If it’s fun and you enjoy more watching movies, do that. Don’t make your learning journey a burden.
Break study time into smaller chunks.
Know your learning style, don't fight it.
Try to have a notebook/diary/agenda where you write down what you did daily to improve.
When you feel like giving up, think how much new stuff you have learned.
Your attitude plays an import role. Try to avoid thinking how “difficult” a language is, instead think how good you will feel after you learn it.
Anki is an amazing app with flashcards for several languages, don’t waste your time making them. Also, they have a daily limit of cards so you won't burn out.
Physically writing down a word can help seal it in your memory.
Say new words out loud and pay attention to your pronunciation.
If your target language has another alphabet or a writing system, don’t be afraid to learn it. Take a couple of days and master it.
Always have an app or a dictionary/notebook with you. While you wait for a taxi or the subway, you can study a bit.
If you don’t understand a grammar rule, search some articles about it, take 2-3 days to understand that concept.