USEFUL TIPS TO HELP YOU LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Added on: 7th Feb 2016
FIRST OF ALL, START BY LEARNING THE RIGHT WORDS.
DID YOU KNOW THAT ONLY 300 ENGLISH WORDS
ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN 65% OF WHAT YOU SAY
EVERY DAY? IN FACT, THERE ARE NUMEROUS WORDS
YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW IN YOUR MOTHER TONGUE
(AND WILL NEVER USE!)
ONCE YOU’VE FOUND AND LEARNED YOUR LIST OF 300 WORDS
(GOOGLE!), START READING ONLINE NEWSPAPERS AND
BLOGS RIGHT AWAY. EVEN IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND
ANYTHING. YOU WILL AT LEAST RECOGNIZE SOME WORDS
AND START TO SUBCONSCIOUSLY PROCESS OTHERS.
LOOK UP ANY WORDS THAT YOU DON’T KNOW.
IN THE BEGINNING THIS WILL BE TEDIOUS BUT REMEMBER,
YOU ARE IN THIS FOR THE LONG HAUL. EVENTUALLY
YOU WON’T NEED YOUR DICTIONARY (OR GOOGLE TRANSLATE)
YOU’RE GOING TO FEEL LIKE GIVING UP BUT THE KEY IS
TO DO A LITTLE BIT EVERY DAY. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL
LANGUAGE LEARNERS HAVE A PURPOSE. JOB?
LIVING ABROAD? FAMILY? IF YOU DON’T HAVE A GOAL
OR A PURPOSE YOU WILL NOT MAKE IT.
FURTHERMORE, THE INTERNET TODAY IS A LANGUAGE
LEARNER’S PARADISE. YOU CAN IMMERSE YOURSELF
IN THE LOCAL CULTURE FROM A DISTANCE. READ
LOCAL NEWS AND PRETEND YOU ACTUALLY LIVE IN THE
COUNTRY. THIS KIND OF TOTAL IMMERSION, OR
“PRETENDING”, IS ACTUALLY A KEY TRAIT OF SUCCESSFUL
LANGUAGE LEARNERS. THEY MANAGE TO IDENTIFY WITH THE
LANGUAGE THEY ARE LEARNING.
SPEAKING OF PRETENDING. IT’S TIME TO START TALKING.
YES, ALREADY. BUT TO START WITH WE’LL TALK TO
OURSELVES. PRETEND YOU ARE MEETING SOMEBODY OR
SITTING IN AN INTERVIEW AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF.
DO THIS THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
TALKING TO YOURSELF ISN’T ENOUGH THOUGH. WE NEED
TO START LISTENING TO PEOPLE TOO. ONCE AGAIN,
THE INTERNET IS AN AMAZING RESOURCE. YOUTUBE
VIDEOS ARE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO LISTEN TO
NATIVES AND START PICKING UP THE FLOW OF THE
LANGUAGE. AS BEFORE, DON’T BE DISCOURAGED
IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING. DEFINITELY TRY
TO FIND VIDEOS WITH SUBTITLES THOUGH. AND DON’T
FORGET YOUR DICTIONARY IF YOU DON’T
RECOGNIZE A WORD!
YOU NEED TO START WRITING THINGS, ANYTHING.
AS SELF-CENTRED AS IT SOUNDS, A GOOD STARTING
POINT IS ONCE AGAIN TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF.
TRY TO WRITE OUT YOUR BIOGRAPHY. THIS IS AN
EXCELLENT WAY TO REINFORCE VOCABULARY THAT
YOU WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY USE RIGHT AWAY.
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