Mastering a New Language: 5 Techniques to Achieve Fluency
All of us language learners have already thought about what practices are efficient to learn any language. All of us have already considered if how we are doing it is effective and what strategies we could use to exponentially potentialize our language studies. This is normal, and a fundamental part of the process to achieve fluency in any language.
Moreover, to learn languages, many secrets have been advertised, but is it possible in two weeks to learn a language and to speak it fluently? No, it simply is not, and you shouldn’t guide yourself by miraculous recipes. Learning a language is an advanced skill that demands time, energy, and consistency. However, there is a mindset that can be hugely beneficial in guiding your practice, techniques, and behavior, this is the SPEAK mindset, and it can increase your language learning substantially. So, today our mission is to become familiar with it. Shall we start?
#1. Create your System (S)
When you are learning anything more complex or developing any advanced skill, you should have a system. Systematizing your practice and studies makes the whole process easier. Learning a language is not necessarily different from learning how to play a musical instrument, like an acoustic guitar or the piano. The nature of the practice is different, but the importance of consistency, routine, and repetition of behaviors is not. To systematize the study sessions you can:
- Create a study schedule
- Identify how long it will be your study sessions (15 min, 30 min, 50 min, etc);
- Select how many days you will practice and which days;
- Identify your preferences and learning style.
To identify your preferences and learning style you can ask:
- Do I prefer to read or to watch something?
- What is my favorite way to learn?
- Do I learn better when I receive a visual or auditory stimulus?
- Do I like to write a lot, or draw?
Learning a language demands a routine of study, a personal organization to maintain the routine, and exposition to your target language, which can be done in different ways, such as watching videos online, talking with people, reading books and articles, etc. You can make the process more efficient and fun by identifying your preferences and finding a method to study that fits your needs. The language, however, comes after hard work, consistency, and focus. After you have done your effort, planting the seed, you will get the desired benefits, the fruits of your work.
#2. Find your Purpose (P)
Why are you learning this language exactly? It’s fundamental to find your “why” because when you find it, you can bear any “how” (Nietzsche affirmed that if you could find a strong enough purpose to do things, you could handle challenging situations, the “how”). So, ask yourself:
- Why am I learning this language?
- Am I learning it for professional, academic, or personal reasons?
- In what areas of my life can this language help me?
Motivation is, by its nature, short-lived and temporary, so you need to base your language studies on your purpose, which is more stable. It will give you focus and discipline to achieve a highly significant level of fluency in that language.
#3. Enjoy the process (E)
Now, that you have created your language system (duration of your study sessions, the days that you will study, and your learning preferences), and discovered your purpose, you can identify the most fun ways for you to expose yourself to your target language. When I was studying French, for example, I liked to watch a documentary on the Roman Empire with audio and subtitles in French. While watching it, I took notes, in French (sometimes with the help of the translator), about the events and the information present in the documentary. After finishing a whole season, I’d write a text describing the different situations that happened in it.
This strategy worked for me, but for you, there could be other activities. For example: singing songs in your target language; reading articles and blogs that interest you (I hope our blog fits this category); watching series and movies in that language; creating flashcards and other self-learning materials; talking with people from that culture online; finding a group of friends to interact with; participating in a community that speaks that language. You can see that there are different ways to approach the study of your target language, and the most important thing to define the efficiency of that activity is how pleasant and enriching that activity is for you.
As you progress in your target language, you will see the way that you interact with it will gradually evolve. Let this relationship grow and develop. Learning languages can expand not only your professional and academic opportunities but also your vision of reality, other cultures, and yourself. Enjoy the process, and don’t be afraid to adjust and change it from time to time.
#4. Aim high (A)
After having created your system to study the language, identifying your purpose, and finding ways that are pleasant for you to learn, you should determine what are your goals with the language in a specific time frame. Ask yourself:
- What do I want to achieve in 3 months?
- How far do I want to go in 6 months?
- Where do I imagine myself in 1 year?
That is one of the reasons why you should identify your purpose in learning that language because it will guide your priorities in that language. You can use the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) to identify where you’d like to be one to two years from now. I normally, in the languages that I study, aim at B2 or C1, depending on how much I am passionate about that language, or how much I need it.
Aim high and set clear goals ahead of you. It will make the process more interesting, and it will give you a direction in developing that language. How can you arrive at your destination if you don’t know where you want to be? Set goals, so that you can achieve them.
By the way, even if you don’t reach your goal, you should be satisfied with yourself, provided that you could keep a study routine. You have substantially increased your language level and also committed to a study routine. Being able to dream high, and following the steps in the direction of your goals, is one of the most important life skills.
#5. Put your Knowledge into action (K)
I’ve studied Italian for 2 years, from Monday to Friday, for 30 minutes every day. In the first year, I had no one to talk with, but I continued my studies by watching videos, reading articles on Wikipedia (I couldn’t read books in Italian back then), and studying a little grammar. However, it was in the second year, when I started practicing with Gabi, my partner in life and business, speaking every day at home, that I saw a substantial increase in my comfort and proficiency in the language. So the fifth, and last, part of the SPEAK mindset is: to put your knowledge into action. Find people to talk to in your target language. It can be in the conversation classes in a school, with a private teacher, with a friend online, or with a community of people that are also learning the language. Languages are made to express ideas and connect people, so you shouldn’t, when learning it, lose this practical, enjoyable, and efficient way to use it.
Conclusion
Today, we learned about the SPEAK (System, Purpose, Enjoy, Aim, and Knowledge into action) mindset. Use this mindset as a framework to guide your practices, the techniques you use, and how you use them. It can shape your behavior and potentialize your learning in that language. None of the parts work alone, all five parts of the mindset interact and cooperate. When they’re combined, they can substantially increase the experience that you have learning a language and the efficiency of your practice.
I hope that these tips and this mindset can help you in your journey to become fluent in your target language. If you enjoyed this mindset, and believe it will help you and other people learn a language more effectively, share this post with your friends. Spread the message. Thank you for your attention.
The text was written by Matt. Speak Now’s founder.
