6 Ways to Simplify Your Foreign Language Learning

Interesting to Know

We know that English is a universal language, and people all over the world, almost in every country study English as the second language. It is very convenient to have one global language so people are free to break language barriers and communicate without having difficulties. But, as a matter of fact, in every country, its own language is more important. If you want to travel or study abroad you'd better start to learn a new language.

Of course, it takes your persistence, hard work and practice to be a fluent speaker of the foreign language. Even if you spend some time every day to improve your knowledge, it can take a few years to master some languages.  Very often people get angry having no success or lack of progress and they want to give up what they've started.

I must tell you DON’T.

Speaking foreign language will pay you back. Knowledge is a thing that cannot be taken away.  It is something you worked hard for and you have it in your head wherever you go, whatever you do.  Despite the opportunity to talk to the locals during the trips, the second language may help you multitask and prevent dementia. It has been admitted by the psychological studies.

So, if you have lost the enthusiasm to carry on we prepared 6 tips that will simplify your way of learning the foreign language.

Have a Word of the Day

To speak another language means to know its vocabulary as one element of the whole system. If you try to learn everything at once you can be stressed and overwhelmed by the number of the words. Even if you learn a lot of new words every day the problem may arise as you will forget them very quickly. It happens because you haven't heard them enough in context. The solution to this problem is to use new words on a daily basis. Having a Word or Words of the Day can help you to create your vocabulary, as it takes 150 times for an adult to learn a new word, make sure you did it properly. There are two ways of doing this. The first is to keep a running list of words and choose one to be the Word of the Day. The second is to wait when new words come up in some conversation and then use them several times.

Be fluent speaker by listening to the foreign radio, TV shows as a background

Learning the rhythms and intonations of the words and phrases is an integral part of speaking foreign language properly. For example, in French, if you want to vary what you mean you can't put the emphasis on different words in a sentence (like it is in English). That's why it's easy to see who beginner student is.

You can solve this problem by listening to the authentic sources as much as possible. Try to listen to the correct pronunciation, to the different intonations. Pay attention how the words sound in different context, for example when the speaker is irritated or exited or when they ask a question.

Turn on the TV shows or radio as a background and you will be surprised how your accent gets better.

Correct yourself immediately when you make a mistake

Here is a lifehack published recently: if you mistype a word, you should delete the whole word retype it correctly, and you will do it properly next time.

If you pronounced word improperly, don’t be afraid to correct yourself immediately. By doing this you will program your brain to solidify the grammar and avoid making the same mistake twice.  “We learn from our own mistakes” it also works while learning new languages.

Keep a notebook to yourself wherever you go and write down new words

When I went to France for the first time I used to carry around a small notebook. Every time I heard an unknown word I wrote it down (usually asked a passerby to spell it, if needed).

And you know, after a few weeks I have got a pretty big vocabulary to look in, each time when I had some kind of the following thought “Oh, I remember that I heard that word when I was at the restaurant, but I forgot what it’s called". The important thing is that I actually learned all the words I had written down. If you are the beginner student this process may seem very overwhelming as you’re  learning new words all the time. Don’t worry, you have to go through this stage, and while getting an advanced level you’ll feel that it all slows down. For example, firstly you will learn a list of very popular and useful words, phrases such as ‘Hello! How are you doing?’ the introduction and meeting phrases with a combination of simple verb tenses. When you passed this stage it gets a bit more difficult.

Don't forget that everything you do makes you closer to become the fluent speaker, and whatever you learn keeps you progressed.

Use monolingual dictionary to look up for unknown words

You can be surprised, but the accurate translation of the words isn't always provided, as it doesn't exist at all. Of course, such words as a table, window, bed are easy to understand. But, when it comes to the concepts it gets a bit harder. You can assure yourself that the word means exactly what you think by looking words up in the monolingual dictionary.

Use language as often as you can (try to find contact with native speakers)

Everyone knows that the best way to improve your language skills is to actually speak the language you learn.

There is a trap called “not-good-enough mindset". You are afraid to talk because you may think that you don’t have enough knowledge, practice, whatever…

Remember if you think this way you’ll never get the progress. Your speaking won’t be better.

I was confronted with the same problem, we think that we’ll feel embarrassed because of mistakes we can make.

But, you won't leave your mistakes behind without ACTUAL conversation. You can find some locals on the internet to chat with them. Then you can talk to the native speakers in person you'll be astonished that they understand and respond to you.

I hope this information was inspiring and helpful for you.

Keep calm and learn the second language!

Previous post:

Next post: