Have you heard that learning languages is difficult? That it always takes a huge amount of time and effort? That sooner than 2-3 years of hard study is unreal? Well, forget it! All this applies only when people learn a language incorrectly. Today we give you 9 simple tips that will help you protect yourself from mistakes and quickly speak a foreign language.
Start With the Most Common Vocabulary
To speak a foreign language even at the elementary level, learn the most popular words and expressions which will be enough for everyday communication. These are the nouns, adjectives, pronouns and verbs which are indispensable in conversation. Make up sentences with them over and over again and master the necessary grammatical constructions so that you can use them competently. Then you will be able to quickly start conversations on the most basic topics.
Be Clear About Your Goal
Some people need a foreign language for business trips. Someone plans to live and study in a country where another language is spoken. And someone just wants to join the culture of another country: watch TV series, learn the history of NetEnt, a popular Swedish provider at nationalcasino.com/casino/slots, and read books. In all three cases, you need different approaches – different base, different format of training, different types of practice.
Don’t Go Wide
More is not always better: many people take several “good books” and try to study all of them at once. The problem is that each textbook and course has its own program and system – they are designed so that the material is revealed step by step in the order in which it is easiest to master. By studying different methods, you create your own overload and chaos in which you start to get confused.
Work With a Teacher
You can learn a language on your own, it’s true, but there are two nuances:
- It will be slower.
- You’re likely to learn and consolidate mistakes.
A teacher is an indispensable person who will adapt the methodology to you, notice your mistakes and correct them before you consolidate them. Besides, studying alone is simply boring, but with a teacher or in a group the lessons become an interesting hobby.
Start Practicing as Early as Possible
One of the most common and serious mistakes is to think, “Now I’ll learn all the grammar and a couple thousand words, and then I’ll start speaking. Language is for communication in the first place, so you need to start practicing it from the very first day! There is no other option.
Get Used to the Sound of the Language
The main problem for most people is learning to perceive a foreign language by ear. To do this, you have to constantly listen to the radio, music, and watch videos in the language you’re learning. “I still don’t understand anything!” – many people will exclaim. In fact, the brain takes a long time to get used to the sound of a foreign language, and it takes time to catch individual words with meaning in a set of incomprehensible sounds. Small children also learn to speak not at once – they listen, study the facial expressions of their parents, and then suddenly, by the age of two or three, they say their first words. So be patient.
Change Your Phone Language
Change the language on your phone from your native language to the one you’re currently learning. Don’t be alarmed, your brain still remembers where the important functions are. And such a trick will help you move faster to the cherished goal.
When you get accustomed to it a little, also change the language in games and programs that you use frequently. It will be a little awkward at first, but after a few days you’ll get used to it.
Challenge Yourself
A challenge with friends is a good way to get fast results. It is known that it takes a month to master the basic level of any foreign language. The polyglot Matthew Yulden told how he and his brother once learned Turkish on a dare in a week! Seven days later, witnesses to that bet observed the brothers speaking fluent Turkish.
Want to check it out? If none of your friends supported your idea, compete with yourself. To guarantee success, make a public promise (using social media) to practice every day. And after a month, check your own results with language proficiency tests, which are easy to find on the Internet.
Love Your Mistakes
You don’t acquire languages to keep them for yourself – languages need to be used. And when you’re just starting to learn a language, it’s important to start communicating right away, while still sloppy, with an accent, using the poor vocabulary you’ve managed to acquire.
Of course, you can put off talking to foreigners until you can say in a foreign language the phrase “Excuse me, could you kindly tell me where the nearest restroom is?”, but “Could you tell me where the restroom is?” carries the same information, only without the unnecessary frills.
You’ll be forgiven for being blunt, you’re just learning a foreign language, and everyone is understanding. Do not think that native speakers will be angry at you for having the nerve to talk to them in their native language in such a clumsy way.
The best thing you can do is not try to speak perfectly. Instead, love your mistakes. When you’re learning something, you’re constantly making mistakes. You practice, improve your knowledge, and go forward.
Summary
The most important thing is that whatever you do in a foreign language, you should enjoy it. Look for people you are interested in communicating with. Choose books that you will read in the same breath. Watch TV series you can’t tear yourself away from (but don’t overdo it). Take part in activities where you can practice the language and make interesting acquaintances. Talk about the topics you are personally interested in. You can’t learn a foreign language once and for all, it’s a lifelong journey, so you should enjoy it.
