HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

You want to learn a new language, or improve one that you started learning some time ago? Forget about the old-fashioned way of learning languages with books at school! Nowadays, you only need the tip of your finger to make the world of vocabularies and grammar your own.

Speaking more than one language can only be useful in our globalized world. But the first steps into a new language are sometimes hard, depending on how far from your native language it is. The alphabet and the sounds may be different, the way of building sentences and formulating ideas are often new. Each language has its own way of understanding and describing the world.

HOW DO I SUCCEED?

First of all, you need motivation and patience. Mastering a foreign language takes time. But you will also see that with a first handful of words and rules, you will already be able to communicate. What a great feeling!

There are many different strategies when it comes to learning. If you need a group of people to study with and a teacher to ask questions to, evening classes can be a great option to make a new language your hobby. If you prefer a flexible time management and some independence, the following tips will help you find your own way:

1) First contact

In my opinion, the best way to start learning is to jump directly into the language of choice and to skip the theoretical part that often feels overwhelming because of all its rules and exceptions. Starting directly with concrete words and sentences gives you a first impression of the sounds and the forms of the words and feels gratifying as you can instantly see progress. After you have apprehended the basics of the new language and learned some things, you will however need to understand the rules that are behind all that, and get to a more theoretical learning.

Apps such as Duolingo and Memrise are doing a great job at accompanying you into this journey, and they are mostly free. They will help you learn and repeat words, they will give you bits of rules and understanding of the theory, and their playful structure is quite motivating to make you keep coming back day after day.

2) Whole sentences

Because those apps are more focused on learning single words, I had the feeling that after finishing all the lessons I didn’t have enough knowledge and confidence to really speak the language. The aim of this second step - that can of course be combined with the first one, according to your preferences - is to learn how to formulate sentences. This will make it way easier for you to express your thoughts in a new language. The app Lingvist, in combination with a translation program such as Deepl, is a good way to put words into their context. The sentences used are way more complex as in other apps and the repetition system is well designed to focus on individual difficulties. After only a few weeks of constant use, results will be visible and your fluency will have improved.

3) Reading and listening

Knowing rules, words and sentences is a huge step into the right direction, but it is not yet the end of the journey. A deeper understanding of the language and its variations is mostly acquired by reading books, news and other texts in the foreign language. Apps like Beelinguapp offer you a great combination of text and audio. Otherwise, books, e-books and audiobooks are a wonderful alternative. A handy feature of e-books is its integrated dictionary: with a tap of your finger on an unknown word you can instantly be informed or reminded of its meaning.

Reading and hearing the language in its "natural" context will train your understanding as well as your pronunciation, which is a very important milestone in your learning journey. Watching movies in the target language or selecting the relevant subtitles is another way to reach this next level.

4) Get to talk

With enough self-confidence and knowledge, you are ready to practice. To switch from listener to speaker is hard for some people as it might kick you out of your comfort zone. Do not be afraid to make mistakes, as it is a great and important way of learning. If you are still a bit shy, some apps let you practice in a “safe” ad rather anonymous context, together with other people learning languages. It is the same principle as the tandem learning. HelloTalk, Tandem or HiNative are such apps, but any mean you find to practice talking is a good way. Maybe you know a friend that is a native speaker and who would be more than willing to become your dialog partner.

5) Total immersion

From words to sentences, then books and ultimately talks, you should have an excellent grasp on the language by now. The only way to never forget all this progress you made is to practice often, and strengthen your knowledge by immersing yourself into this language. To do so, you can travel to a country where the language is spoken and try out your new skills in a local restaurant. An even deeper experience would be to actually live in the country of choice for a while, to not only strengthen your language skills, but to also get an understanding of the culture and lifestyle of the people there. You can do a semester abroad, find a place to work, become an au pair or a WWOOF volunteer. Anything you please. In any case, you will be linguistically equipped for your new adventure!