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10 Tips To Learn Any Language From An Expert
Watch others talk
Different languages make different demands on your tongue, lips and throat. Pronunciation is just as much physical as it is mental.
If you can’t watch and imitate a native-speaker in person, watching foreign-language films and TV is a good substitute.
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Key Ideas
Know your motivation
If you don’t have a good reason to learn a language, you are less likely to stay motivated over the long-run.
Once you’ve decided on a language, it’s crucial to commit.
Find a partner
Finding some kind of partner on your language adventure will push both of you to always try just a little bit harder and stay with it.
It’s a really great way of actually going about it. You have someone with whom you can speak, and that’s the idea behind learning a new language.
Talk to yourself
When you have no one else to speak to, there’s nothing wrong with talking to yourself in a foreign language.
This can keep new words and phrases fresh in your mind. It also helps build up your confidence for the next time you speak with someone.
Keep it relevant
Talking to people is one of the best ways to learn a language because it keeps the learning process relevant to you.
"The creative side is really being able to put the language that you're learning into a more useful, general, everyday setting"
Have fun with it
Think of some fun ways to practice your new language: make a radio play with a friend, draw a comic strip, write a poem or simply talk to whomever you can.
Act like a child
The key to learning as quickly as a child may be to simply take on certain childlike attitudes. For instance, lack of self-consciousness, a desire to play in the language and willingness to make mistakes.
We learn by making mistakes. When it comes to learning a language, admitting that you don’t know everything (and being okay with that) is the key to growth and freedom.
Leave your comfort zone
Willingness to make mistakes means being ready to put yourself in potentially embarrassing situations. It’s the only way to develop and improve.
Talk to strangers in the language, ask for directions, order food, try to tell a joke. The more often you do this, the bigger your comfort zone becomes and the more at ease you can be in new situations.
Listen
You must learn to listen before you can speak.
Every language sounds strange the first time you hear it. The more you expose yourself to it the more familiar it becomes, and the easier it is to speak it properly.
The best way to go about mastering that is actually to hear it constantly, to listen to it and to kind of visualize or imagine how that is supposed to be pronounced, because for every sound there is a specific part of the mouth or throat that we use in order to achieve that sound.
Watch others talk
Different languages make different demands on your tongue, lips and throat. Pronunciation is just as much physical as it is mental.
If you can’t watch and imitate a native-speaker in person, watching foreign-language films and TV is a good substitute.
Dive in
Use the 360° maximalist approach: no matter which learning tools you use, it’s crucial to practice your new language every single day.
Really, really go for it and try to use it throughout the day. Try to think in it, try to write in it, try to speak to myself even in that language.
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Learning A New Language Fast
Though it may not seem plausible, basic communication of a new foreign language can be mastered in weeks. Learning a non-native language can be sped up by compiling a script for responding to quer...
Learning Full Speed
A will to start and self-confidence is necessary as is having the courage to speak, and not being afraid of making mistakes. The key is to immerse yourself and put your whole being to the task.
Total immersion necessitates activities like listening to the radio station of the language you are learning, reading and speaking to people.
Total Immersion
It is a good idea to master the basic skills first and focus on the grammar later, while asking for feedback and correcting yourself, learning on-the-fly.
Invest not only your head but your heart in the learning process. Practice makes perfect.
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Key Ideas
The Best Strategy
If You Can’t Travel to Learn
Pick a friend who also wants to learn the language. Agree to talk in the target language at least once per day or whenever you do talk.
The friend does not have to be a native speaker. Whenever you are stuck, use a dictionary or Google translate. But, 10% of your time should be speaking with an advanced or native speaker.
You Can’t Find a Partner
If you cannot find someone willing to commit to only speaking that language, hire a tutor.
You can also opt for language exchange with people who want to learn your language.
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Key Ideas
First words to learn
In English, just 300 words make up 65% of all written material. We use those words a lot, and that’s the case in every other language as well.
Use flash cards of the mo...
Learn cognates
Cognates are “true friends” of words you recognize from your native language that mean the same thing in another language.
For instance:
- Words like Action, nation, precipitation, solution, frustration, and thousands of other -tion words are spelled exactly the same in French, and you can quickly get used to the different pronunciation. Change that -tion to a -ción and you have the same words in Spanish. Italian is -zione and Portuguese is -ção.
- Many languages also have words that share a common (Greek/Latin or other) root.
- Even languages as different as Japanese can have heaps of very familiar vocabulary.
Interact in your language daily
- To hear the language consistently spoken, you can check out TuneIn.com for a vast selection of live-streamed radio from your country of choice.
- To watch the language consistently, see what’s trending on Youtube in that country right now.
- To read the language consistently, you can find cool blogs and other popular sites on Alexa’s ranking of top sites per country.
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Key Ideas
Make realistic, specific goals
“Language learning is best when broken down into manageable goals that are achievable over a few months.” -- Donavan Whyte
Aiming to be fluent is not necessarily the best idea. “...
Remind yourself why you are learning
“Motivation is usually the first thing to go, especially among students who are teaching themselves.” To keep the momentum going he suggests writing down 10 reasons you are learning a language and sticking it to the front of the file you are using.
Focus on substance
When signing up to a particular method or approach, think about the substance behind the style or technology. “Ultimately,” Aaron Ralby says, “the learning takes place inside you rather that outside, regardless of whether it’s a computer or book or a teacher in front of you.”
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Key Idea
Learning a foreign language faster
- Intensity of study trumps length of study;
- Start with the 100 most common words;
- Keep practicing in your head. You don't need a teacher or even a conversation partner to practi...
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Key Ideas
Learning a second language
Research shows that children are proficient at learning a second language up until the age of 18, roughly ten years later than earlier estimates. It also shows that it is best to start another lang...
The decline in language learning
There are three possible reasons why the ability to learn a language decreases at 18.
- Social changes: At 18, late teens typically graduate high school and may no longer have the time, opportunity or learning environment to study a second language.
- Interference: The rules of a first language may interfere with the ability to learn a second language.
- Continuing brain development: Changes in the brain that continue during the late teens and early 20s may make learning harder.
Learning a new language
There are many examples of people who pick up a language later in life. Our ability to learn new vocabulary appears to remain constant, but most of us will not be able to master grammar like a native speaker.
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Key Ideas
Listen
The more you expose yourself to the new language, the sooner you will become familiar with its sounds and structures. Familiarity, in turn, will speed understanding.
Copy
Repeating the sounds (out loud or in your head) will give you a feel for the language. Memorize not just words, but sentences and even songs to get the rhythm and intonation of the language.
Read
Read words, sentences, children’s books, newspaper articles. Read as far and near as you can, whether out loud to an audience or quietly to yourself.
Seeing the language in print helps you understand word structures. It also anchors the new sounds, and helps them get imprinted in your mind.
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Key Ideas
Forgetting the First Language
While our brains are flexible and adaptable as children, we tend to start having more rigid learning and relearning skills as we grow old.
There have been some extreme cases when the mother t...
Trauma associated with a Language
One of the reasons for forgetting a language is the trauma associated with speaking a particular language: The mind recalls the bad experiences while the language is heard or spoken.
The Switch Mechanism
Once a person is able to speak two or more languages, the mind has to create a mechanism to switch between those seamlessly.
Switching a language is not like forgetting, but if there is too much back and forth, the competition starts between the two languages.
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Key Ideas
Prep with a power pose
2 minutes of power posing - standing tall, holding your arms out or toward the sky, or standing like Superman, with your hands on hips - will dramatically increase your confidence.
Try...
When the going gets tough, start smiling
Frowning, grimacing, glowering, and other negative facial expressions send a signal to your brain that whatever you're doing is difficult. That causes your brain to send cortisol into your bloodstream, which raises your stress levels. Instead, force yourself to smile. It works.
If you're confronted...
...don't back away; just shift to a slight angle - so you're standing at an angle--much like models who almost never stand with their bodies square to the camera.
And if you wish to appear less confrontational, approach the person and stand at a 45-degree angle (while still making direct eye contact, of course).
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Language as a tool
The struggle
Some people have a fear of being wrong. They measure success by how few mistakes they make.
Some people know what the language should sound like, where they are at currently, and how far they have to go to get there.
Where to put your focus
Speaking a language is not like those exams that many of us had to take in grade school, where a tiny grammar mistake would lose you marks.
In the real world, small errors don't matter. What matters is to make yourself understood.
Don't focus on yourself or on your own mistakes. Focus on the other person you're talking to and the result you want to get.