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4 tips to learn a language
SONIA VITIELLO | the 20th of October 2021
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Who didn't ever wish to speak more languages at once?
Nowadays is important to know more languages for personal and professional growth.
With digital development is essential to be able to speak English at least.
Thanks to the digital era we are in, most of us are able to use tools, apps, and online courses to learn languages and make our lives easy.
But is it really that easy?
It's actually true that we have more tools on our hands, but being motivated to follow up on courses and grammar study is most of the time challenging, especially when our life is reduced to working hours and family.
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But challenging doesn't mean impossible!
In fact, being language-obsessed, taught me what are the best things to do to learn a language without spending hours on a grammar book or online course.
Check out my tips✨
Set up all your devices in the language you want to learn
Unsplash/ by @Szabo Viktor
Set up all your digital tools in the language that you want to learn, in this way you start to get used to it.
All the settings of your phone, laptop, E-book, and video games will be in the language you wish to master. You will learn how to start and stop a call, how to edit a text or a picture, and many more things.
Do your Google search in the language you wish to learn
Unsplash/ by @Nathana Rebouças
Instead of "What to visit in Barcelona?" try Que Puedo visitar en Barcelona?
Don't panic if you don't know how to say that in the other language. This is even better, That is the actual moment when without even noticing you are learning and memorizing more expressions.
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You only need to look for the translation from your language to the second language. Next time you will be doing another Google research it will be more natural. Try it by yourself, it works!
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Surround yourself with multiple language speakers
Pexels/ by @Ketut Subiyanto)
This doesn't mean that you have to choose people based on their language or background but can be an easy way to improve your speaking skills.
Languages as every other skill, need practice.
If you don't have the chance to live abroad you can still get in touch with people from different countries.
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Right now there are a lot of websites and apps for language exchange.
If you want have a try Italki gives you the chance to have a language exchange with people all over the world or also proper lessons with a private tutor.
But there are also other kinds of events and platforms you can use and meet people in person and exchange language and culture.
I remember in France I used the platform "On VA sortir". All you need to do is to register to the page and have read the infinite list of events. Do you want to grab a coffee in the heart of the city? Lara is going to that cafe at 3 pm and you are free to join and meet her and others that may join too.
In London, you can use "meet up" which has the same main purpose as the OVS I used in France.
But I'm pretty sure that in every city there is something similar, especially with social media, is just easy to share this kind of event or platforms.
What are you waiting for? Plan your next weekend with a french speaker and make yourself more french than ever!
Watch any visual content in the language you want to learn with subtitles in the same language you are listening to.
Unsplash/ by @Maria Teneva
In the beginning, can be hard, and you would be keen to give up, but learning languages is a challenge. If you want to learn, you have to follow my advice. If you have a Netflix or a similar account you can stop the movie, take notes of the words that you don't know, have a quick Google translation, and keep going with the movie. This is the most precious advice to learn a language. Your ears recognize the written words. Your brain memorizes.
Trust me! your improvement will be impressive!
Travel the more you can, explore, grow!
(Unsplash/ by @Alex Azabache
This is not only to improve your language skills but also to genuinely make you a better person. The more you get in touch with different cultures, the more knowledge you want to have.
​If you travel to China I bet you would be curious to know what does mean that poster at the Temple Street market. You would like to know how to ask how much costs a taxi in Dubai before getting in and spending all your fortune.
To wrap up
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You don't have to study a language, you have to experience it!
Travel the world, be curious, and learn a language!
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