Tips to learn a new language

My tips to learn a language as a polyglot

I speak 5 languages fluently : French (mother tongue), English, Arabic, Spanish and Korean. There are other languages that I can comprehend too. As a language teacher and a person living in a foreign country, I will share the ways to learn a new language, that worked for me and my students (adults and kids).

The most recent language that I had to learn is Korean. So I will be using Korean as an example, but it can apply to most languages.

I will divide my tips into 5 categories : Memorizing, writing, reading, speaking, and personal feedback.

Memorizing

> Visual 

For Korean, I had 0 knowledge. I had to start by learning the alphabet and at that moment, I was very busy, working and attending university. But I really had to do something. 

What I did is that I printed the whole Korean alphabet and also vocabulary posters. I put them everywhere in my room at places where I knew I had to look at somehow during the day : the door, in front of my desk, on the fridge and more. And it worked. I never actually studied or made any efforts to learn the alphabet. You can try that for any kind of grammatical point or vocabulary that you are trying to learn : Numbers, verbs...

If you can print, try to find posters that are full of colors and big enough to draw your attention without you realizing.

Another simple thing that you can do is change the language setting of your phone. As your brain and body memorized your phone settings, you will still know what you are doing and then naturally translate.

> Auditory

What I used to do even as a regular student is record myself reading my lesson. If we can learn songs easily, why couldn't we learn our lessons the same way? I would listen to it while walking, cooking or even sleeping as our brain keeps working at night. I remember even making some kind of song myself by choosing a musical background and repeating my lesson. 

You can also try the infamous way people learned a new language : watching TV, series and listening to songs. I personally think it can work if you add more content. Because just watching TV is not going to explain to you how the sentence was actually made.

So yeah, try to get to know more about the cultural aspect of the languages and where can you actually hear the language without having to talk to someone or travel, like a lot of people use K-pop or K-drama to learn Korean. I will tell you how I mixed that to my studying route at the next point.

> Tactile

Some people use a tactile memory to learn new things. This is usually done by writing when learning a language. In fact, I talked about using K-pop or K-drama for example or any kind of music or tv shows. 

What I did is that I chose K-pop songs or iconic K-drama dialogue to practice. You can write down the words that you hear a lot along with its translation. You can also just have a note on your phone with vocabulary that you heard or searched for. I remember learning the words by not actually checking the notes, but just remembering writing them down. 

I'll go more into details about how I used culture to practice into further points.

Writing

What helped me practice writing is first, copying.

I would rewrite and copy every content I had in my possession. 

For example, try to find on Internet the actual script of your favorite K-drama and they to rewrite it down.

If you use a book, instead of just answering to question like reading comprehension, try to rewrite everything down. That is copying the actual text, the questions and then your answers. 

 My favorite way was to write down my favorite songs.

 Sometimes I would just feel like writing them down, sometimes I would also translate them. 

Don't hesitate to also use colors, drawings, anything that can make the experience funny and unique. 

Make it into a piece of art using stickers, pens and more! All that will also help you with reading.

Reading

After writing down, you can also use your work to practice your reading skills. 

First, you will notice if it's in fact readable or if you need to practice writing more. Then, you can try to read. You can first listen to the actual audio, of the song or script, and then repeat while reading your stuff or do the opposite. Try to read first and then check with the actual audio to see if you had it right.

If you use a book, try to read the text and dialogue loudly and repeat everyday or depending on your studying schedule. 

You can also test your reading skill by using subtitles while watching something. The more you will get your eyes used to this new language, the easiest it's going to be for you.

Speaking

Actually performing a language may be the most difficult. You may find yourself worrying about making a mistake or forgetting the vocabulary you had in mind.

My first tip would be : Fake it until you make it. Let me explain. 

Most of the time, you actually know the words that you want to say but you don't have enough confidence to say it or you are so stressed that you forget it. So, what I mean by fake it is to create a role. Try to put yourself into the shoes of someone who is not afraid to speak, who smells confidence, knows what they are talking about. Literally acting. And if you have enough imagination, try to create a scenario by yourself. Like going to the supermarket. Imagine what you could encounter, what question could be ask and what you would be able to answer. 

This will also help you analyze yourself and see what you know for sure, the vocabulary you acquired but also what you don't and need to practice or search for.

If you want to use content such as series, movies and all, you can try to repeat after the audio. Let them say the sentence and repeat after it while adjusting your pronunciation and accent if necessary. 

You can also use translating apps. But not the way people usually use it : Try to pronounce a sentence in the language you are learning to see if the translator is actually able to comprehend what you say, or not. Talking about apps, you can also easily download an exchange language app to try to talk with people. 

Personal feedback

If you are having a hard time adjusting studies to your daily life, try to have a schedule. You can also make a list of goals and achievement that can help motivate you as you go through them. 

But the most important thing that I wanted to talk about in this section is self consciousness and selflove. 

First, be aware that we all have different talents and qualities in some categories that other people may not have and you can have difficulties while your friends can shine.

It doesn't mean that one is doing better than the others. We all go at different pace and rhythm, there is not a normal or single way to do it. 

You need to give yourself time. Keep in mind that learning a new language and culture, especially if it's completely different from yours, is literally like being born again but without parents to teach us what we need. A baby needs at least 2 years to start speaking clearly and once again, it depends. Living as a foreigner in Korea, I've seen so many people being frustrated as they didn't notice much progress in their skills. 

First, maybe you still need to find the way that will work for you. 

Second, don't put to much pressure on yourself and don't overfeed your brains with information that it cannot process.

 As much as you need to relax after working, working out or whatever, you need to give yourself time while learning a language. Whatever the achievement, it still an achievement. 

Be proud of yourself if you notice even the smallest change in your knowledge.

You are going to make mistakes, be disappointed, but if you don't give up and believe in yourself, you will eventually succeed, no matter the time it takes. :)

Here some books I liked for my Korean journey : 

https://www.amazon.com/Ewha-Korean-1-1-English-Korean/dp/8973008765

https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Made-Easy-Beginners-Book/dp/B00552MZ6A

(For this series, I personally liked only the first edition)

Thank you for reading this article :)

Hope it helps!
Written by Sapphire.

The pictures on this article are mine.