5 Tips to Help Learn Another Language
Whether its for a foreign language class, personal enjoyment, or preparation for the professional world, learning another language has many wonderful benefits. Various studies have shown that learning a second language enhances the brain's ability to problem-solve, focus, and switch between tasks. Speaking another language also boosts career prospects and allows one to connect with other people of various cultures.
Learning another language can come with its own set off difficulties, much like studying a subject in school. Whether it be the complex grammar rules that always seem to be broken or the foreign sounds you've never heard before, sometimes learning a second language doesn't come too easily. Even personal motivation to learn or continue learning another language can have a big impact on your ability to do so. Here are 5 tips that can help you learn and want to learn a language:
1. Set a goal for yourself
Setting a goal about what you want to learn is a great way to stay organized in the process of learning a language. Since a language has a vast variety of vocabulary as well as unique grammar, it can be intimidating figuring out what you want to learn. If you set a goal as to what part of vocabulary or grammar to learn, it can help divide the language into more understandable pieces. Having short-term and long-term goals can help you organize what you need to learn to achieve fluency. Setting and completing goals with language learning can also help fuel ambition with learning another language.
2. Learn how to use online resources
3. Learn important vocabulary
4. Consume media in that language
Movies, TV shows, music, and videos from people who speak the language you want to learn is a great way to further your understanding. Media provides an entertaining way of seeing how a language is spoken in a more natural sense. Having the subtitles/lyrics either in English, the foreign language, or both can help someone who is not proficient enough in listening to learn how a language sounds like and what is said. More proficient speakers of the language can try consuming the media without these visual aids to further develop their listening skills in a fun way.
5. Practice speaking the language
The best way you can learn a language is through repetition and practice. Speaking with a speaker of a foreign language allows you to experience how the language is spoken in real time and can help you make connections to those people. Even if you don't know anyone who speaks the language you want to learn, practicing speaking to yourself or practicing the pronunciation of certain difficult words can improve your accent and overall improve your fluency in a language.
Everyone learns a language at their own pace and their own style. The most important thing is practice and consistency. What language do you want to know? How many languages do you already know? Do you have any personal tricks that you use when learning another language?
Additional Resources:
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/how-to-learn-a-language
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/fastest-way-to-learn-a-new-language
https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-approach-the-lifelong-project-of-language-learning
https://www.afar.com/magazine/advice-on-learning-a-new-language-from-people-who-speak-up-to-sixteen
Thanks for your article, I thought it was interesting and organized very well. I took French for 6 years throughout middle school and high school. I found it easy to memorize important vocabulary but I definitely struggled with some of the grammatical elements. Sometimes I felt nervous to speak in French, especially to a native speaker, in case I made a mistake or sounded stupid. I think that a lot of native speakers are usually understanding and appreciate effort. One interesting thing you mentioned was consuming media in another language. I think that this would be great comprehension practice because we all consume media constantly. I wonder what professions knowing a second language would be most useful in. I know that healthcare is definitely one of those.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I think the layout of your blog is very good, with a clever combination of images and content. As an international student, I know how hard it is to learn another language. I also agree with you about learning language skills through online resources and media. Currently, I'm also using some apps to learn languages. Through this application, watching foreign language videos, listening to radio and other methods can quickly and efficiently learn a language. The tip I learned was to use fragmented time each day to study a foreign language and stick to it.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, this was very well written and informative! I have personally been considering trying to brush up on my french skills from high school so this could not have come at a better time. I especially appreciate your tip about consuming media in the language you are learning, there's a huge difference between memorizing vocabulary and actually understanding and participating in the language as it is spoken by native speakers. What I always found helped my comprehension in high school was speaking french casually with my other friends from class. Even if we mixed in some english words here and there, chatting in french during day to day life actually helped me excel in class as well as when I visited France. It definitely helped me become accustomed to understanding what was being said and formulating a response in real-time.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this article it was filled with a lot of useful information. I like how some of these tips can be applied to other tasks in life like setting small goals. My sister went abroad for a semester in Brazil and used some of these tips to help her learn portuguese before she left like putting her social media in that language. Personally for me I found learning the core words the most effective in learning the language and was a main strategy for me when I was learning latin in high school.
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