USEFUL TIPS TO HELP YOU LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

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.