How to Be an Effortless Language Learner
You’d love to learn another language, but it’s too hard and would probably take up a great deal of your time. This is what most people think, but it’s simply not true. Anyone can learn a second language, even to a very advanced level, just by being smart about their approach
If you don’t already have a specific language in mind, take some time and think about what will really be useful to you. Could you use Spanish or French for work? Do you love Samba music already? Then you’ll get a lot of use out of Portuguese
The key here is to make sure that your language is something that you will use everyday. Choosing a language that is totally foreign to you and then trying to fit it into your everyday life is a challenge not many people welcome. But, if you already like the music, a particular series or have friends, neighbors or acquaintances who speak your target language, then getting practice in will feel like second nature.
Go non-traditional
Throw out the traditional ideas about language learning for now. Don’t purchase any books or a dictionary. What you do want to invest in a nice notebook and some wonderful pens(You don’t want pens that fail when you need them). Take your time picking one that is comfortable to tote around, because you will take it everywhere you go.
When you come across a native speaker, ask them for some things you would like to say. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you know you can and will use it as soon as possible. Write it down the way it sounds to you. This is not the time to learn the Alphabet or script of the language. Just write down in your own phonetics what the words sound like. Then repeat them back to the native speaker. Correct your phonetics if you need to, to get the desired pronunciation. Find another native speaker to practice your phrases with. You will love the soar in confidence you’ll experience when they wow at your pronunciation!
Sing, Sing, Sing!
Find some songs you like. Pop music is great because it has elements and themes that are universal. Listen to the song over and over, until you memorize the melody and you can hum along with the lyrics. Now, listen to the song and try to learn the lyrics line by line. You can find a music video and stop after each line and then write your phonetics down and repeat. Keep doing this until you get through the whole song. Does this take a lot of time? Yes, it can, but you don’t have to do it all in one sitting. Do one line each day, if you have to. You will love the feeling of accomplishment you get once you can finally sing one verse.
In the meantime, keep going back to native speakers and getting more phrases. Soon, you will start to recognize the same words over and over. You might want to transfer your phrases to an Anki deck so that you can easily go through your growing collection each day.
Hey, that’s my line
If you are watching movies and series, remove the English subtitles and listen closely. If you can’t find any movies or series to watch, Ask your native friends. They can definitely recommend some.
You want to listen to sounds, not phrases or words. The same you did with the songs. Just write down the sounds that you hear in your own phonetics. Don’t worry if it is correct or not. It’s just for you. Try to get through one scene doing this and then read it back to yourself. Record yourself and repeat it as many times as you can until you start to remember it. Listen and compare your version to the original. Do this over and over.
What about reading?
I’m sure you can guess what is next. Go back to your native friends and get some more phrases. Within a few months, if you are consistent, you will know how to say most things you want to say in your target language and you will sound like a native speaker. So far, no reading involved. That is because reading is one of the elements of language learning that may take a long time to grasp. Some languages have a written form that is separate from a spoken form. Also, the pronunciation may not be very straightforward and it may not use Roman characters, so you would have to learn a script.
If after a few months of learning phrases and dancing and singing your way to spoken fluency, you decide you would like to learn to read, then ask your native friends to help you write down your phrases in your new notebook in their language. If you can, change the phonetics in your anki deck to the actual words of the target language. Now you will be reading phrases instead of just words.
You will also want to ask your native friends to teach you the vowel sounds and consonants of the writing system. Put these in a separate anki deck and drill them until you get them. If there are any other rules, such as changes to the letters depending on where they are in the word (I’m talking about you, Arabic) Then you want to make sure that you show the examples in your anki deck or write them in your notebook.
Once you get the writing system down and you can read comfortably. Change the language on your phone to your target language. It will be a little frustrating at first, but you will be surprised by how your brain will adapt and eventually you’ll forget that your phone is not in English. Also, most likely, ads that you see and websites that you visit will be in your target language if you use Chrome and that language is available.
Learning a second or third or even fourth language, doesn’t have to be some huge endeavor that you keep pushing off into the distance future. Assess your lifestyle, your connections, your entertainment and your work. See where you can expand your exposure to a language that you have already been in contact with and your goal will soon become a reality.
