Tips in learning a language

  You are going to make a million mistakes when learning to speak a language, so, you might as well start making them. 

  There is no perfect language program, school, or textbook. Your opportunities to learn a language is as good as you make it.

 It takes more than one kind of method to become fluent. Variety is spice of life 

   Don’t focus on all you have to learn, but celebrate in every word and phrase you learn. 

  Practice, practice, practice. Practice makes perfect. 

 Taking risks and being willing to be laughed at is a part of the process and will endear others to you.  

 Learn how to laugh at yourself. You’ll enjoy the process much more. 

The goal is communication. One person communicating an idea and the second person understanding. Not perfection.  

  Fluency does not mean perfection, but an advanced level of speaking and comprehension.   

  Developing friendships when learning a foreign language makes language learning more enjoyable.   

Perserverance, persistence, and never giving up are all required.   

Read a lot in the new language even if you don’t understand every word. It will help you to speak grammatically correct without you even knowing it, because you won’t have to think so hard about what the correct grammar is. It will begin to just feel right. .   

Don’t compare yourself to others. If language learning is more difficult for you, you might become discouraged unnecessarily. If you are better than others, you may not work as hard to progress. 

 If you can immerse yourself in the language and culture for an extended period of time, you will feel exhausted, because your brain is in the process of creating new categories for the new language structures. Don’t confuse feeling tired with laziness. 

  Language and culture cannot be separated. You cannot separate the two. Spending a little time to learn about the culture will help you to better understand why the phrases or word(s) are used a specific way. 

Thinking and dreaming in a different language is a part of fluency. 

 Learning a new language is like peeling an onion. It has many layers. In language, one begins with how to survive in his or her environment. Then, the ability to converse on a variety of topics. The ability to communicate in the language well enough to have close relationships. The ability to work in a specific field “in the language.” And so on… 

 Write out a purpose statement stating why you are learning a foreign language. Keep this statement in a safe place. When you feel discouraged or feel like giving up, read your purpose statement and remind yourself of what you have already learned. 

Make small goals (like learning 3 new phrases a week and the ability to use them in the appropriate context) and watch your progress build to something much bigger. 

Unless you are a very disciplined person, accountability is important! Having a language partner, a class, a conversation group like EFS, an exam etc. keeps you from getting distracted or too busy to make progress.