Top three language learning tips from a life-long language learner
By Mia Tarau
Each language that you speak makes you a different person. So how many different people are you?
I grew up listening to this phrase over and over: it was one of the many wise sayings that my Hungarian grandmother imparted with me from very early on. I grew up in a bilingual household, and fortunately for me, the Romanian school system added a few more compulsory languages to my school curriculum. So what have I learned from having to learn many different languages at once for the first eighteen years of my life, and having to keep my proficiency up during my adulthood? You can find my top three tips below.
1. Subtitles – but which ones?
An excellent way to practice listening, reading, and writing all at once is to watch a wide range of media in the target language, with subtitles also in the target language. Aim for news reports, vlogs, TV shows, and movies: this ensures you are exposed to ‘authentic’ language in a range of registers, from ‘street talk’ to formal. Keep those subtitles on, particularly until you reach ‘intermediate’ level, so that you can hear AND read what is being said.
Bonus: doing this on platforms such as Netflix and YouTube allows you to speed up or slow down the show that you are watching to a pace that you are comfortable with in terms of listening/reading simultaneously. Just make sure that you speed it up as you’re learning, until you are comfortable with ‘normal’ speaking. This is the fastest and most entertaining way to improve your listening and reading/writing skills at the same time, in a variety of registers – and who doesn’t want that when they are learning a language?
2. Find people to practice with
Boy, oh, boy, does this happen often when you’re learning a new language – your head is full of these awesome words and phrases in your target language, but as soon as you open your mouth, it’s like it’s ALL gone!
The good news is that this can be avoided. The even better (!) news is that there is a super simple way to avoid it – and that is to SPEAK your target language! Luckily for us, the internet has made it really easy for us to find our (native speaker) crowd, regardless of what we are into! You are a gamer? Game on servers in your target language and engage with fellow gamers in that language! You hate the internet and prefer talking to real people? Mingle in real life! Practice your speaking by joining local language learning groups and schools, and by attending cultural events – it is SO MUCH fun!
3. But I’m shy and scared that I will make mistakes!
Final tip: do not be scared to make mistakes, because unless you try, you will never become proficient! Yes, you will make mistakes, but that is how we learn – otherwise we would never get the opportunity to receive genuinely helpful feedback.
So get speaking, make those mistakes, and think of that feedback as a resource, rather than as something you have to fear. Happy learning!
P. S. What are your own top three language learning tips?