Learning a language may appear tough at the beginning, but if you follow certain techniques and steps, you will be able to write proficiently and speak fluently in any language. If you are just beginning the learning process of a new language, whether your second language, third language or fourth language, you have to know that there are some certain steps which pertain to the learning of any language. You should also know that humans have cognitive ability to learn any language they want to learn at any time of their lives. In just 10 simple steps, learn how to speak and write any language in no time.
Determine your learning style. This is an important step you need to take before starting to learn a new language. Everyone learns differently, especially when it has to do with languages. All you need to do is to figure out if you learn best through listening to a native speaker, writing down words, or through repetitions. Determine if you are an auditive, visual or kinesthetic learner. To figure out where you belong, this is what you should do: get two sentences from your language and read them over and over again. If you can remember them the next day, you are likely a visual learner. If this does not work for you, you can get someone to read the sentences over and over again for you without you seeing them. If you can remember them the next day, you are likely an auditive learner. If this still does not work for you, read and write two sentences. You can even listen to them being read by someone else or you may decide to associate memories and feelings with them which may facilitate your remembrance. If you can remember these sentences the next day, then you are likely a kinesthetic learner. You can see that learning any language needs practical steps which are very simple depending on how ready you are to learn them. This is the first language learning advice needed on how to learn a language properly or on how to learn every language. This is the first step to learning a foreign language or a second language because you draw reference from your first language in order to determine your learning style which may either be kinesthetic, visual or auditive.
Determining your learning style cannot be difficult because everyone has a first language which he or she acquired from home or people around during childhood. This is called language acquisition because the child did not learn the language in school but rather he or she acquired it from the society in which he grew up. This language gotten from the society is further learned in school where the child is taught to pronounce words correctly and taught the grammars of the language. It is from this language the learner extracts sentences or words in order to determine his or her learning style.
If everyone has a first language which is further learned in school, it means we have learned languages a time in the past. What you need to do now is to go over what you learned then and try to figure out what worked best for you. What helped you in the learning process and what didn’t and which part of the process you found easy or hard. This is very important to know because it will be a guide to you in learning the language you desire to learn. When you have figured out all of this, you will be ready to commence your learning process.
Set language learning goals. After you must have a knowledge of your learning style, you can move forward to setting a goal for the language you are learning. Learning a foreign language as fast as possible will warrant you to set goals you want to achieve. This will help you to narrow your focus and not get carried away with how pleasing it is to learn a new language. For instance, you can plan to learn how to use 30 English words related to sports within the week. This will help you to be able to measure how far you are going in learning that language. Your long term goal is to be fluent and proficient in the language you are learning. This is good but you to achieve more, you will have to break down this long term goal into smaller goals which will serve as an inspiration for you every day. You can plan to achieve each of these small goals each week or month. Setting of language learning goals is a very important language learning advice. With this, you can challenge yourself by giving the time you need to accomplish a set goal and making sure you do just that within the set time you gave yourself. We sometimes forget about the goals we set and get to do other things within the time frame. If this is the case with you, then what you need to do is to write it down. Write down your goals. This will help you to commit to them. Just post your goals where you can easily see them every day.
Know your motivation. You need something that can push you to go ahead in learning any language when you get discouraged. This is called motivation. You must have a good reason for learning a new language. This is a language learning advice from experts. To go through the stages of language acquisition, you need a motivation. Do not learn a language because you want to prove that you can learn other languages too. Learning a foreign language can be for traveling purposes or professional purposes. This can be a motivation for you if you face challenges in the future. Something keeps you going.
Study the alphabet. You have to understand how the letters of the alphabet of the language you want to learn operate. This is very necessary in the case where the alphabetical system differs from that of your first language. For instance, if you want to learn Chinese, you must study the alphabet of the language because it differs a great deal from that other languages. You have to know how it operates and functions. This is the second language learning advice you can take into consideration on how to learn every language or how to learn a language properly. You may decide to associate images with each sound and letter. This will help your brain to easily remember the sound or letter when next you come across it.
Learn pronunciation. Languages may have the same alphabet but the pronunciation is not always the same. It will be of importance to you learn the international phonetic alphabet because most dictionaries use it. This is what you need to know on how to learn every language. Another way of learning pronunciation is to listen to native speakers of the new language speak.
Study the grammar. This is the set of rules underlying a language. You have to pay attention to the grammar of the language you are learning. If not, you may sound incomprehensible. Pay attention to how the nouns are being used. How they are put in the plural form or singular form as well the exceptions to the rules. Nouns are very important elements in every language. In learning a foreign language or any other language, you need to know how to use the nouns correctly. It is difficult to make a complete sentence without the use of nouns. You can also learn how the verbs in the language are used or constructed. Verbs are as important as nouns are in languages. You can also look at the syntax of the language. This means how the words are arranged to form sentences or smaller units. This is what every expert would want you to know on how to learn every language. Listen to native speakers and listen to how they use the grammar of the language.
Memorize words and common phrases or sentences in the language you are learning every day. You can do this by saying them to yourself each day or you can decide to write them down a dozen times so that you get used to use to them. You can use the words in their different forms in different sentences. Words have different forms. They may either be singular or plural or regular or irregular when it concerns words variable. This is just a simple way to practice words and it will help you remember them when next you need them. When you have completely memorized some particular words, you then move to others. It is important to spend time memorizing words and understanding the way they are used because this will help to increase your vocabulary.
One of the best ways to learn vocabulary words is to use flashcards. They help you focus on individual words and then allow you to test yourself. When using flashcards, make sure you try to guess the meaning of a word before turning over the card. They work best when you want to test your memory, so always make a guess of the meaning of a word before flipping the cards over.
Another way to easily memorize words is to use them in your native language. It becomes so difficult to practice words in context in the language we are learning because our vocabulary is not adequate enough for us to make complex sentences. You can deal with this limitation by using the word in your native language. For example, if you are trying to master the French word “maison”, you could say “I am going to my maison”
You can also learn new words by visualizing and vocalizing the word you are learning. Imagine the image the word represents and say it aloud. This improves memorization.
You can memorize new words through gestures. The brain learns easily when we use physical actions while learning. If you want to master the French word le chapeau “cap”, then say the word while you pretend to put a cap on.
Read in the language you are learning. To be more effective, you can start with simpler writings or books, and as you progress, you can then move on to more complex ones. You can read with a dictionary in order to understand the meaning of words. Other experts think that reading without a dictionary is very important because it gives you an opportunity to puzzle out the meaning of words by yourself. Why not start off with children’s books? They are meant to teach children how to read and understand their language. They can be of help to you. You can get a dictionary of the language you are learning and write down in a notebook commonly used words and example sentences. Other experts propose that you can find books that you have enjoyed in your native language and read them in the language you are learning. They say that your knowledge of the content of the book will help you decipher the words and keep you interested in the reading material. You can read other materials like magazines or newspapers in the language you wish to learn. The topic should interest you so as to keep you reading. Magazines for example handle a lot of subjects and there, you can learn many common idioms.
Spend time listening to the language. Learning a foreign language may warrant you to listen to the language a lot in order to know how words are pronounced. When you listen, you should try to repeat the words and then speak them yourself. You can watch TV in your new language. These days, we can easily access TV movies and series in our target language irrespective of where we live or what our new language may be. You can go for short episodes so that you can be able to watch scenes several times without being discouraged. It may be so frustrating watching a long movie in which you understand nothing. So stick to short episodes. Take notes of words or some idiomatic expressions that you have never heard before. You can decide to write them down and master them later. You can watch films without subtitles and then later on switch on the subtitle for own native language to see how well you understood some expressions and words. You can also listen to music and learn to pronounce the words well following the artist. This can really be fun.
You may not only go for entertainment but you can decide to get audio books or audio language lessons. The good thing about using a headphone is that you can move around with it. While you commute to work or while jogging around the park, you can listen to audio recordings. You can listen to the lessons several times to grasp all that it teaches. This will help your listening skills.
Watch others speak. Watch how a native speaker pronounces his or words and try to imitate it. The more you keep watching and imitating, the faster you get familiar with pronunciation of sounds in the language. This is how to learn every language and even how to learn a language properly. You just have to watch and imitate. Going through the stages of language acquisition, you reach a moment where you just have to learn from a native speaker’s usage of the language.
Get connected with native speakers of the language you are learning. If you are able to have access to a good internet connection, then you can consider hanging out or having some language classes with native speakers online. This is good because you can go in for conversion classes, grammar and writing classes. Learning a foreign language without spending time communicating in it may be risky because one tends to forget a language one does not speak often especially when it is not a native language. So you can get connected to some native speakers via skype or you may decide looking for a native speaker around you. You can get to practice more with him\her to improve your speaking skill. This is one of the stages of language acquisition where you get to learn a language from interactions with native speakers and not in a formal environment. Interacting with native speakers is just how to learn every language or better still how to learn a language properly. This is because the native speakers know how the language is used in the society. You can learn this from them.
Just speak. The primary reason for learning a new language is to speak that language. The written part only comes after. You need to always speak the language so as to become fluent in it. Sometimes we are afraid of making mistakes and so we do not speak it often. But you have to know that practice makes the perfect. The more you practise speaking the language, the more you become perfect. Fluency is speaking is not the ability to know every word and grammatical constructions in a language. It is however the ability to use the words and grammar you have learnt to communicate the thought in your mind. Speaking is a learnt skill and you can only practice this skill in context. Your ability to say what you have in your mind in context is fluency. Sometimes, there is an interference of our first language in our new language. This is one of the stages of language acquisition. Some researchers have posited that when interference happens, it means there is progress in language learning. For instance, in the course of speaking your new language, you discover that you are using grammatical rules from your first language in your new language. The more often you speak, the faster you will learn. Speaking is a means of producing all that which you have learnt as grammar and words in a new language. One of the language learning advice from experts on how to learn a language properly is that you should practice speaking the language as often as possible. If you have don’t have people at home with whom to speak the new language, you can speak to yourself. This is a good approach to becoming fluent in a new language. It helps you to build up your confidence for the next time you speak with someone. When you speak to yourself, you are not afraid to make mistakes and each time you do, you have the chance to correct yourself.
Act like a child. Acting like a child would mean having a lack of self-consciousness, a desire to play in the language and the willingness to make mistakes. Children are not afraid of making mistakes. Every one learning a new language should be ready to make certain grammatical mistakes. This should not bother you if it happens. What is important is that we are able to identify our mistakes and make certain corrections. And just like a child, you should be ready to accept corrections from people who know the language more than you. Admitting that you don’t know something is the key to growth and freedom. To go through the stages of language acquisition, you need to act like a child. Children learn fast because they are open to imitations. Acting like a child will mean that you can watch others speak and imitate them.
Just write. To be able to write proficiently means you have gotten a mastery of the grammar and vocabulary of the new language. Once you start learning to speak a foreign language, you can get into the writing part. You need to learn the syntax of the language, that is how the words in a sentence are arranged; which type of word comes first? Which follows? You have to learn how to write a phrase, a clause, a sentence and then a paragraph and then try to construct your own sentences to see if you have mastered the grammar rules of the language. To learn a new language properly, you must try to practice the language. Language learning is more practical than just theories. You can write letters to your friends in the new language. Write poems, short stories or anything you can write. Just be creative in the language and have fun with it. Doing this often helps you to get accustomed to the usage of the new language.
From all that has been said, you can discover that learning a new language does not necessarily mean you have to learn it in a classroom. You can follow these simple steps and learn a new language all by yourself with less cost. What are you waiting for? You can start learning that language you so much desire. Just follow the steps laid out here.