8 Simple Tips for Mastering a Foreign Language
- Take it easy. To start, learn how to say things like “Hello, how are you?”, “I’m doing well, thanks” in many different ways. You should enjoy the process, you will never have fun if it gets too hard. Never try to memorize too many grammar rules and words in the beginning!
- Motivation. Don’t even start if you hesitate and ask yourself “Do I really need it?” Your motivation should create a discipline and it has to be permanent.
- Conversational partners. Find someone to practice with even if your level is still low. Search for apps and social networks for language learning (e.g. Tandem for iOS). Attend tandem meetings in your town.
- Persistence. Never stop. Learning a foreign language is like running up a slide — if you go too slowly and take breaks you will slip down and fail. You should run up as fast as possible. Learn every day, really, I mean it! Even if you have only 20 minutes a day — use them! Day by day! Download an audio course and listen to it on the way to work or study. Use your smartphone.
- Entertainment. Learning a foreign language is fun. Find the music you like and try to understand some words. When I started improving my Spanish, I looked for some rock music and a friend sent me a link to a Zoé’s music video and I really liked it. I listened to some songs over and over again until I understood the meaning.
- Traveling. If possible, take a trip to the country where the language is spoken. Since I live in Germany, the closest Spanish-speaking country to me is Spain. I also found out that there are plenty of great places to go on vacation. I was surprised how much I was able to say and understand, even though they were simple things like ordering food in a restaurant or asking for directions.
- Reading. It makes a huge contribution towards improving your vocabulary. I used to read articles every morning and always marked unknown words and then translated them. I didn’t memorize all the words, not even one third. However, some words stuck in my memory and I could use them later.
- Never stop. Keep going — there will always be things you can improve.
