effective language learning: six essential tips
over the past year, i’ve amassed a great love for language learning. despite not making a ton of progress (since every language is so beautiful and i swap between them like clothes) i’ve learned so much about the most important things to know when learning a language. here are some of my tips. :)
1. study smarter, not harder.
attempting to achieve proficiency in a language in a ridiculous amount of time like one week or one month is not a good way to study. becoming proficient in a language takes years, and you should not expect to reach such massive goals in a short amount of time. take your studying piece by piece, day by day, and learn at a pace that’s fast enough for you but also not fast enough to where you will burnout.
2. collect at least 3 resources.
a very important thing to keep in mind is that you can’t expect to achieve proficiency from a single source. for example, you can’t learn a language entirely from duolingo or entirely from an app on your phone. it may be effective and you may learn a lot, but you’re not gathering information in the most beneficial way as apps don’t do the best job at explaining grammar. at the very least, you should have a main resource (like a textbook or online course), an app or supplemental practice resource (like Duolingo, Drops, or Memrise), and a third supplemental resource for a specific topic (like a grammar book, a dictionary, or a vocabulary book).
3. study every day.
study daily. whether it’s just learning a new vocabulary word on duolingo or having an hour long study session with your materials, study. if you’re learning more than one language at a time, this may not apply to you - i’m currently learning 4 languages and don’t do something every day. if this is the case, try to get a bit of instruction in once per week. it’s important to practice what you’ve learned or else you will lose your knowledge of the subject.
4. practice grammar consistently.
a language i’ve certainly had a love-hate relationship with is korean, which is very pretty when spoken but the grammar (and even vocabulary at times) is god awful and ridiculously difficult. at one point in my studies, i reached up to lesson 6 in my curriculum which deals with every main korean conjugation (past, present, and future). i took notes, but never practiced what i learned, and ended up losing the topic. that’s why it’s so important that you a) take your studies one step at a time and b) practice what you’ve learned until you master it. a good rule of thumb is that if you can teach the topic to someone or explain the topic in easy to understand a language (as in a first or second grader can understand) than you’ve mastered that topic.
5. revise old skills
a thing i like about duolingo is that they make you go back and restore any old skills, which is something you should do in every language. if you’ve been studying a language for a few weeks, go back to the things you’ve learned a few weeks ago to make sure you still understand.
6. practice with a native/fluent speaker
using apps like HelloTalk is a great tool for practicing your skills. practice what you’ve learned with a fluent or native speaker, and make sure you have them correct what you’ve learned as you go. keep in mind that the person you converse with doesn’t have to be fluent, as long as they have a good background in the language.
i hope these tips can excel your language studies going forward!
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