As a foreign language learner, I have a few tricks to share with you all who wants to be fluent at a foreign language. I know very well how much hard work it requires to master foreign languages. Not only hard work, it also requires passion, commitment, and smartness. You see there are two ways to get any job done, one is the tough and hardcore way, and the other is the smart way. I do not support any one of these two, I’d like to get my work done with a little bit of both the ways. That’s the quickest route to efficiency.
Many of you know I’m learning Spanish for quite a while. I started and then stopped for a year and them resumed it this year. I made up my mind to make 2020 the year of Spanish. I wanted to finish this course in 2020, if not, at least be able to properly communicate in Spanish. For that, after I resumed this course, I started seeing great progress when I made a few habits.
After that, I feel more acclimatised with the language and a tad bit more confident. If you are staying in the land of the language you are learning, it may be a little more helpful. but if you are staying at one place and you are leaning another place’s language it will require a little more effort from your end. And now I’m going to tell you just that. [I’m using Spanish as an example]
Master Foreign Languages
- Think in Spanish: We usually think in our mother tongue. Our comfort language. That’s common but when you try to even think in the language you are learning, which in my case is Espanyol, then you will start making progress. It might seem forced at first but eventually, you will find the ease. There won’t be anyone to point out your own mistakes in your mind, so it should be a piece of cake. Through this technique your mind gets accustomed with the language.
- Use at least 10 short phrases everyday: In our first technique we tried to get our mind accustomed to the foreign language and in this second trick, we will try to get our tongue get used to the foreign pronunciation and vocabulary. I try to include Spanish at least a bit in my everyday communications, like “Quiero agua,” which means I want water or “Buenas noches,” meaning good night. This way, it will be a practice for both my brain and tongue.
- Watch movies in that language: This is the best one to master foreign languages. Watch as many movies or web series as possible in that language. I improved my Spanish so much through this exercise. I watch a movie at least two times so that I will get a better understanding. First time, it sure feels a bit uncomfortable to follow the plot or their conversation but the second time, you will learn a thing or two. I learned a lot of Spanish vocabulary through such movies. Like, en serio (seriously?), entonces (so), Que Lindo (how cute), Usualmente (usually), and many other things that speak on a regular basis.
- Imitate a native speaker: And that gets me to this next trick. Everything you watch in the movie, imitate it just like the character. Like a native speaker. This is a great practice method. Thanks to this amazing trick, I’m good at linguistics.
- Learn as much vocabulary as possible: Vocabulary is very important in any language. If you just know the tenses and zero knowledge about the vocabulary, it’s all gonna be a waste. So concentrate a bit more on vocabulary part of your learning. Most of the people either start with learning alphabets or tenses but I started with learning vocabulary. And that’s been helping me a lot.
- Fake confidence until you master it: Although this comes at the last of this list, this is the number one hurdle to master foreign languages. Lack of confidence. I know it can be embarrassing to make a mistake a mistake and be corrected by other person but remember that is also a part of your learning process. You should come out of your shell and speak out what you have learnt. If you are gonna keep everything you have learnt to yourself, it’ll only be a waste. At first it might be difficult to muster up courage to speak but that’s why people say “fake it till you make it”. Even if you make a mistake say “thank you for correcting” and accept it gracefully. This teaches you more than you think.
So, this is it for today. I hope you learned something from this. Leave a comment if you have something to say. It’s a pleasure to hear from you. I’ll see you soon again.
Adios!
Until next time,
Lots of LOVE,
Nikki.
(Penname: Sarvani)