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You want to learn a language. Maybe you want to learn a language to gain a promotion or woo a lover.
You might find that you want to travel or live abroad, make new friends or be part of a community.
What is the best approach to learning a new language? Whether you are a total newbie or just looking to brush up on your language skills, we will discuss what makes an excellent language learner and tips to improve your language learning.
Immerse Yourself in the Language
You learn a language to communicate with others. But a language is not just a language. It ties in with a new culture that has its own mannerisms, idioms, and slang.
If you have the chance, you should go to a country that speaks the language and stay with a family on a cultural exchange or join a language program. This is by far the best way to learn a language.
Some people learn the language in school and equip themselves with the knowledge needed to pass the exams.
Others opt to learn a language independently. They use apps like Rocket Languages, devour language-learning books and watch tv in the language.
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How to Learn a Foreign Language on Your Own?
If you want to learn a language by yourself, take these points into consideration. Learning a language by yourself is not impossible, however, it requires a huge amount of resilience and commitment.
If you want to learn a language by yourself, take these points into consideration. Learning a language by yourself is not impossible. However, it requires a huge amount of resilience and commitment.
Tips on How to Learn a Language
- Purpose: Decide the reasons you want to learn a language
- Plan: Make a plan and update it weekly with bite-sized learning
- Choose Learning Material: Decide what areas you’d like to focus on, find the lesson material, and learn.
- Focus on a Range of Skills: Work on each skill – listening, reading, speaking, writing
- Consistency: Stick to a regular schedule without missing a day
- Multimedia Approach: Read books. You need to exercise your reading skills but be careful with your pronunciation. Watch TV and YouTube. Watch kids’ shows if you have to start there or news sites for advanced learning. Listen to audiobooks. You can speed them up or slow them down.
- Supportive Community: Find a group of like-minded people looking to learn the language
- Improve Fluency: Find a tutor who will teach you and improve your fluency
You might also be interested in: 15 Best Online English Courses Free & Paid (2022)
Decide Why You Want to Learn a Language
Do not underestimate the importance of this step. Revert back to the reasons when you feel overwhelmed. It will remind you why you are doing this and why it is important to you. This will help you keep determined and resilient.
Sometimes you will feel like giving up, so you have to give yourself fairly good reasons why you should keep going.
Make a Plan and Update it Weekly With Bite-Sized Learning
Decide what areas you’d like to focus on, find the lesson material, and learn. You may need to refine the plan to something you can stick to.
You will need to update your progress and decide what parts of the language to focus on next.
Work on Each Skill – Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing
Do not neglect any of the skills you need to learn a language; you need to divide your time to develop each skill. This will help you develop overall competency in a language.
Do not neglect your grammar and pronunciation.
Stick to a Regular Schedule
Try to learn every day, even just for a few minutes.You really want to make learning the language a habit. Incorporate new words into your everyday vocabulary. Apply the words in everyday scenarios.
Be conscious of using the language whenever possible. If you miss your scheduled days, you may find it difficult to get back on track.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks are good for people who learn by listening but also help others pick up the language and pronunciation.
Listen to slow speeds at first. Gradually build up the speed as you begin to understand more.
Audible is one of the largest audiobook sites owned by Amazon. They have a 30-day free trial, and you get access to a vast range of audiobooks suitable for language learners.
Read Books
Whether you want to read with a Kindle or paperback version, picking up a book is a great way to learn a new language. It will dramatically improve your English language skills.
Be careful that you are not pronouncing the words in the book wrong, as it is easy to pick up bad habits.
Watch TV and YouTube
Watch kids’ shows if you have to start there or news sites for advanced learning.
Watching TV or sites like YouTube is similar to immersing yourself in the language. Adding subtitles is a visual aid that will help provide greater understanding and speed up the learning process.
When you add subtitles, see if you can add closed captions. This describes the sounds in the film, such as “car passing.” This can help you improve your vocabulary.
You can watch things you’ve already watched before. This will avoid the frustration of not understanding what is going on.
Find a Group of Like-Minded People
Find a group of people who want to learn the language too, such as friends and family, and learn together.
If you don’t know anyone who wants to learn too, why not join a club or workshop in your locality with like-minded people. You could also join language-exchange groups or sites online.
Find a Tutor
They will teach you and improve your fluency. You can find independent and inexpensive tutors on sites like Lingoda.
The tutors will help you learn from mistakes and improve your language skills. It might be good to have someone to ask questions to from time to time.
Don’t Make These Mistakes!
Here are some problems that you may encounter while learning a language on your own. Be consciously aware of how you learn a language and make sure to use your time efficiently.
Here is what you DON’T do when learning a language:
Pronunciation problems
You won’t know whether you are pronouncing something right or wrong. A slight error in pronunciation could form an entirely new word. You would have to constantly check on your pronunciation and use Google to pronounce the word for you.
For example, English learners sometimes say “bitch” instead of “beach.” This is a typical pronunciation error which unfortunately produces a rather offensive word. There are other tricky things to watch for, such as “read” in the past tense, which is pronounced “red.”
There are so many little mistakes you could make in the long run, so pronunciation is an important aspect to focus on.
You may not know you are making errors with your pronunciation until it’s too late. This can lead to frustration and confusion when trying to converse with native speakers.
You can check your mistake by typing the word into Google ‘word+ pronunciation.’ You can hear the pronunciation.
Keep a journal separate for words you regularly struggle with and write down the word phonetically to help you remember it.
Learning how to speak English? An AI coach like ELSA Speak could help smooth out your pronunciation.
Only Focusing on One Skill
You need to exercise many skills when learning a language. We will have to include: grammar, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills for a start.
When you learn independently, you may find yourself better at some skills than others. You may enjoy the reading aspect more than speaking, for instance.
Unfortunately, studying just one or two skills is not enough to learn a language. You need to combine all of these skills to learn a language, so you must purposefully plan your schedule to include all of these.
This is why you should use a multimedia approach, using audios, books and speaking practice to help you learn.
Not Working Consistently
It is very hard to motivate yourself to learn a language unless you have a burning desire to do so. Maybe you need it for a job or want to learn it for exams.
You may consider having an accountability partner, such as your mother, sibling or partner. Let them check up on you and make sure you are sticking to your goals.
Learning a language can be overwhelming and it’s important to stick with it. Consistency is key.
Cultural Barriers
The language you learn is spoken differently by region or country. You will have to recognize these differences and tailor the course to study the style and accent you are looking to gain expertise in.
For example, English learners who want to study in the U.S. might not be interested in learning from a British English speaker.
Not only is the accents different, but the phrases, idioms, slang, customs and traditions. That’s not to say you cannot learn from a British English teacher, as you can still derive a lot of benefits.
Don’t rely on textbooks as your sole source of information. You should consider watching TV or getting in touch with native speakers. Textbooks try to teach you systematically and structurally, so they limit natural language and spontaneous interactions.
In Summary
Learning a second language can be difficult, but it’s definitely doable with the right attitude and techniques.
What matter most are your consistency and focus while you’re juggling different tasks simultaneously. Make sure to set some time every day, even if it’s just 10 minutes.
It is also important to be aware of your surroundings and the different cultural backgrounds that come with the language.
Utilize all resources available to you, whether online tools, books, or movies. Remember to keep a journal of difficult words and try not to fixate on one skill.
Don’t forget to enjoy the process and have fun while you’re at it!
Conclusion
What works for you when learning a language?
It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still reach native-like fluency even as an adult. If you want to learn a language, I recommend trying out different things to see what suits you best. Don’t make it a chore but something you look forward to each day.
Create the desire to learn the language and motivate yourself with like-minded people. Once you do, you will be unstoppable!
Here is to your success!
Caitriona Maria is an education writer and founder of TPR Teaching, crafting inspiring pieces that promote the importance of developing new skills. For 7 years, she has been committed to providing students with the best learning opportunities possible, both domestically and abroad. Dedicated to unlocking students' potential, Caitriona has taught English in several countries and continues to explore new cultures through her travels.
