You Will Need To Know 7 Tips for Learning a Language

By okaybliss — ON Dec 01, 2023

Is it possible to learn a language on your own? Certainly. The main thing is to be patient and put in enough effort every day.

The starting point is the correct setting of goals. First of all, think about why you want to learn a foreign language – for study, moving to another country, reviving your memory and improve your school knowledge, as a hobby. An honest answer to this question will allow you to create a training program tailored to your needs, focus on the right aspects, and promote motivation.

Another secret to successful language acquisition is daily training, which allows you to develop the skill as a habit. In addition, consistency and consistency have a good effect on memory, without which there is no way to learn a foreign language. It’s like playing sports – the results come with regularity. That’s why discipline and strict adherence to the lesson plan by day and time are so important.

Seven tips to help you reach your goal faster

Some people think that there is a special gene that allows you to learn several foreign languages in your life. In fact, knowing five to eight foreign languages is not a special gift or even years of hard work. Believe that anyone can do this and follow seven tips from polyglots.

Dive

You’ve probably heard the statement many times that any language is much easier to learn when completely immersed in a natural environment. But what if you can’t go to study English in the UK or Spanish in Spain? The answer is obvious – try to create a suitable environment at home. It is, of course, impossible to achieve maximum similarity. But reading books (first adapted), watching films, listening to audio recordings, language practice – all this is available to anyone who has the Internet. Try to surround yourself with the language you’re learning as much as possible rather than using study materials alone.

Gamification of the process

Today, if not everyone, then very many people are talking about the gamification of learning. Without going into the details of the discussion, we will only note that the use of games can significantly expand the arsenal of self-education methods and become another element of “immersion” in learning. Thousands of online applications and games have been created to help students, most of which are free. Some can be played with children, some are difficult for adults. But something else is important – they create opportunities for the expansion and diversity of teaching methods, which are unacceptable not to use.

Copy

As you perceive a new language (communication with a native speaker, listening to audio, video recordings, etc.), you will quickly begin to pick up on some general trends in the pronunciation of words: this sound is “swallowed,” and this one sounds sharp. You need to note even the most insignificant features and try to practice these techniques on yourself. This will make it easier for you to enter the linguistic sphere and adapt the rules of articulation of your native language to the language you are studying. The benefit of this method is that as you further expand your vocabulary, your memory will prompt you to the correct variations of pronunciation.

Non-word translation

At the stage of learning a foreign language, an important skill will be reading with the goal of not literally translating the text, but simply understanding it. Read carefully, slowly, but don’t look up the meaning of each new word in the dictionary. Perhaps its meaning can be predicted based on the context? Let it be just a guess – in the end the general meaning will be understood by you. Thus, in addition to developing associative and inductive thinking, you will also train your memory for words. But there is a significant caveat – you can use this technique only when you already know at least the basics of the language you are learning.

Daily limit

Set yourself a goal – to learn 20-30 new words a day, 5 of which are verbs. There is an opinion that it is better if words begin with the same letter, for example, today with “A”, tomorrow with “B”, etc. This will allow you to structure the information. But this is at your discretion – the choice may not be so strict and consist of random words.

You can connect special applications to this process to learn new words and expressions. Good service – Anki PRO. It is based on the flashcard method, which has been proven over decades of practice. Only earlier flashcards were paper, but now they are available to future polyglots in electronic format. With Anki PRO, you can create learning materials with images, audio, and even video. You will receive regular notifications that it is time to start your lesson. This will help you remember your goal.

Visualization and rapid language learning techniques

Tips from polyglots:

The basis of any language is letters and sounds. Therefore, try to listen carefully to what you hear and copy the pronunciation. Learn basic letter combinations and the sounds they use to convey them. Remember how these sounds are conveyed in writing. This way you can perform the reverse process – transfer what you see and hear, even the most basic ones at first, onto paper.
If you are looking for the meaning of a word on the Internet, do not use the usual machine translation but use image search. This way, a visual chain will form in your head, and the meaning will immediately be linked to the image, which will contribute to better memorization.
A fluent level of language proficiency does not mean knowing absolutely any word. It’s okay if you can’t remember how to say “umbrella” in English. The main thing is to be able to say that you need “that thing with which you can not get wet in the rain.” Don’t strive for complete perfection by trying to learn as many words as possible. In real life and conversation, most of them will never be useful to you.

Speak

It should be remembered that learning a language will be practically useless if you do not practice it from time to time. To do this today, you don’t even have to leave home – you can call via Skype with people just like you, only learning your native language. The help will be mutual.

Conclusion

Among the people around you, there will always be skeptics who will raise their eyebrows in amazement when they learn that in your early 30s, you intend to learn French, Chinese, Dutch, and Finnish from scratch (substitute or add what you need). “How?”, “Why?”, “This should have been done earlier, now it’s too late.” Do not allow such formulations to sow a grain of uncertainty in your mind and, especially, to become disappointed in your own abilities.

Studying for the sake of results, by definition, is never easy, so persistently pursue your goal. Yes, at a younger age, due to linguistic flexibility and focus on the intuitive assimilation of linguistic norms, it is relatively easier to learn a foreign language. But research confirms that you can start learning a language and achieve success in this matter at any age with Feynman technique.