5 Tips to Learning a New Language

5 Tips to Learning a New Language

Most of us, in one way or another, have experienced or may experience learning a new language. The reasons can be as varied and as numerous as the languages there are to learn.
As with learning any new skill, learning a new language is not easy and can be a very daunting task. Be sure to take with you tons of motivation and patience as you go. And hopefully to lighten andbrighten up your learning experience, read on for some tips to guide you in your language-learning journey.

1.  Know your motivation.
Knowing why you want to learn a new language might be the first and foremost important tip of all. You must know your reason why you want to learn that new language; be it for your next travel or you simply want to order and strike up a conversation in Italian in that local restaurant. Whatever your reason may be, it should be something to keep you motivated and stick to your guns.

2.  Find resources.
Nowadays, you can find everything on the net. There are lots of language learning platforms waiting for you to discover and make use of them. Some you can even avail for free. If you want a bit old school, there are tons of language books in the library to choose from. You can also use music or films as other important media to learn a new language. But there is no greater way to do it than actually speaking it.
Find someone who knows how to speak the language and make conversation. Don’t mind if you make mistakes as long as you keep on trying and eventually become confident speaking it even in short, familiar phrases. You can also find someone who is interested in learning the same language to be able to practice it and use it all the time.

3.  Stay away from your comfort zone.
Learning a new language comes with a lot of hurdles along the way just as a baby learns how to walk. And just as a baby, do not be afraid to try and make mistakes. As we know, learning a new skill can be quite difficult. This is where the challenge in learning a new language comes in. Embrace it. Stay away from your comfort zone or better yet widen it. You can do so by asking for directions, ordering food, or just talking to strangers in that language.

4.  Listen and observe.
Before you can speak a language correctly, you have to hear it first. You cannot depend on reading as there are other languages such as French which is differently pronounced as
what is written. You have to hear something a lot of times for it to sound familiar just as with a new language. You might even need to look at someone speaking that language to learn the
nuances that some of their words have. Having done so, you need to practice what you have listened to and observed.

5.  Practice every single day.
With the right motivation, this last tip might be the best of the learning tools to learn a new language. As much as possible, include it in your daily activities and immerse in the culture of the new language you are learning. Merely listening to music on the radio, watching shows on TV or striking up conversations with strangers can bring you a long way than just taking up a language course three times a week.

You’ll know when you have succeeded learning a new language when someone actually understands you and speaks back. Having achieved this milestone may keep you motivated and speak it more. Who knows, you might want to learn one more.