Learning Languages As A Beginner
learning languages as a beginner
a non-complete guide written by a english-native high-school student with experience in studying japanese, indonesian and currently—romanian.
language proficiency is separated into four skills. reading, writing, listening and speaking.
as a complete beginner, or even to someone within the A1 range, one should focus mainly on these three core skills: reading, writing and listening. right now, pronunciation should not be your main focus. speaking skills, while they should be slowly developed from the beginning, are not as easily mastered as reading or writing and thus can cause a feeling of stagnation. languages have specific skills that need to be developed before one can pronounce words properly and these specific skills can take months to master. as a tip, one should master those specific skills before focusing on pronunciation. (for example, romanian requires the speaker to be able to roll their ‘ r ’s.)
use the skill of listening to your advantage
young children spend their first few years listening until they are able to create coherent sentences. don’t expect your experience to be any different.
as a beginner, you do not have to understand everything, or anything, that is being said. at this stage, you are unconsciously learning how to distinguish your target language from other languages, as well as forming ideas and creating patterns between words in your head.
i always create a song playlist in my target language. spotify has playlists already created that include the top 100 ranked songs from that country/language, feel free to listen to these playlists. i then create a separate playlist full of all my favourite songs from the target language (and because they are my favourite) i listen to them on repeat. naturally, you may start to sing along, begin to know the songs off by heart, etc. this is one of the most easiest and natural way of learning a language.
tv shows and movies. children’s cartoons or mature tv shows, it does not matter. the combination of subtitles in your native language, audio in your target language, and the context of the film, helps the brain process simple words. these words, when repeated, become words you’ve effortlessly remembered. as a plus, you know how to pronounce these words and in what context they are used and/or mean.
do not think of these methods as studying, but rather purely for your enjoyment. it makes listening to these playlists, and watching tv shows, less of a task and something you are more inclined to do.
a journal is your best friend
a specific space dedicated to the learning process of your target language is, well, highly recommended. emphasis on specific. in this journal you will be able to practice your reading and writing skills.
for me, i use my journal to create vocab lists separated by the word’s function, context, etc. (for example, every noun word used to identify a person in a family, such as mother or uncle, is recorded together). i often see others create vocab lists under the ‘ top hundred common words ’ in whatever language, and i advocate against this. your brain needs to associate and make links with words, and this ‘ most common words ’ association loses meaning fast. thus, you do not retain the information.
the creation of vocab lists do multiple things in my learning process. first, i will collect these words, usually from an online source or a language textbook. already, i have read the words and my brain has processed them and understood that one word translates to the other, and in what context they should be used. second, i copy these words and write them down in my journal (i make sure i write the word in my target language multiple times). here i have practised writing the words multiple times. usually, with this method i am able to retain the majority of the information by the next day.
the trick is less information. thus why i mentioned studying the top hundred most common words does not work. as a beginner, you only need to study the essentials. if your vocab list exceeds more than 20 words, you are less likely to remember the majority of the words.
you’re journal is not only good for vocab lists. you are able to track your progress, keep track of all your information, and so much more.
after one hour, you will retain less than half of the information you studied. in a day, you will have forgotten over 70% of your vocab. this is natural. do not be upset that you aren’t ‘studying’ enough to remember more than 50 words in your first week. repetition is essential here to make sure your brain understands that this information is important and should be kept.
repetition, repetition, repetition
albeit it does not matter how you incorporate repetition into your routine. you can practise a vocab list everyday in the shower, create an audio of all your vocab that you listen to whilst you workout, whatever. do what works best for you. flashcards are still a good bet regardless.
you are able to practice reading and writing when creating your flashcards, whether they are digital or not.
here is a method on how to use flashcards that i personally follow. i highly recommend this method, as it is all about repetition, repetition, repetition.
personally, i aim to review each set of flashcards once a day by myself. sometimes, i get a native to quiz me over text, which means i practise writing the words out or they quiz me over phone call, and then i am practising speaking. the four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking are very important and they should all be incorporated somehow when reviewing vocab lists, etc.
find a native friend
a native in your target language is a god-saver. trust me. obviously, they must be willing to want to teach you occasionally, but they must not be your only source of learning.
you may know someone in real life that speaks your target language. that’s great! some do not however, but fear not. there are billions of internet users, and you are bound to find someone who is not only a native in your target language, but someone you connect with on a more personal level. tumblr is a great way to find friends, the langblr community is great here. you can find blogs in your native language as well if you type in the name of the language.
this is a tip i don’t find often on guides in the langblr community. many often think you can only learn from: textbooks, teachers or through self-studying. native speakers are another source you can learn from. they understand the culture of their country: you can pick up a lot of information by simply just talking to them. you can pick up on slang you wouldn’t have otherwise learnt, words that are abbreviated, etc.
of course this is not a complete guide. this is based off my experience with eleven years of learning languages, and what works for me the best. what works for me may not work for you and that is completely fine. everyone needs to study in different ways. i hope you learnt something new from this guide. good luck with your language learning!
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100 reasons to learn a foreign language
1) To travel
2) To communicate with people from other countries
3) To make friends from other countries
4) To study abroad
5) To find a job or an internship abroad
6) To read books in their original language
7) To watch movies and TV shows with the original voices
8) To understand music in other languages
9) To discover and understand new cultures
10) To understand new words and idioms, which means that you will have new ways of expressing yourself
11) To discover new foods and recipes from all over the world
12) To have more job opportunities
13) To get a better job, with more possibilities
14) To understand the world a bit better
15) To watch the news or read newspapers in another language, so that you can gain other information and see the world from another point of view
16) To learn traditions and customs from other countries
17) To be more open-minded
18) To train your brain
19) To have a new challenge
20) To avoid illnesses such as Alzheimer or dementia
21) To brag to your friends and family about being bilingual
22) To meet your soulmate from another country
23) To have more youtube content to watch
24) To make your parents / family proud
25) To learn the language of your ancestors
26) To learn the native language of your partner
27) To learn the native language of your best friend
28) To give yourself a reason to watch cartoons
29) To be able to watch Disney movies in different languages
30) To learn more about history, geography and geopolitics
31) To be able to sing in more than one language
32) To raise bilingual children
33) To be able to help lost tourists in your city
34) To be able to ask for help when you’re lost in a foreign city
35) To not have regrets later
36) To be able to read more resources when you’re researching for an essay
37) To become a more interesting person
38) To have something to do in your free time
39) To meet more interesting people
40) To see your culture from another perspective
41) To be a traveler, not a tourist
42) To be able to bargain the prices when you’re traveling
43) To escape from tourist traps
44) To share amazing experiences with the locals
45) To become more creative
46) To read memes from different countries
47) To become a citizen of the world
48) To laugh at how crazy your native language and your native culture is
49) To laugh at how hard your target language is
50) To understand jokes in another language
51) To participate more efficiently and responsively in a multi-cultural world
52) To teach your native language abroad
53) To learn to respect everyone and human nature
54) To appreciate cultural diversity
55) To help immigrants who arrive in your country and don’t speak the language yet
56) To watch sports competitions in another language
57) To understand all the Eurovision’s song
58) To be proud of yourself when you master a new aspect of your target language
59) To appreciate the variations of dialects of a foreign language
60) To get a tattoo in a foreign language
61) To volunteer abroad
62) To watch Netflix TV shows from other countries
63) To go from hearing random songs to hearing a language you understand
64) To learn how to make new sounds
65) To improve your CV
66) To say a secret out loud to a friend and have no one else understand you
67) To understand people speaking a foreign language on the bus
68) To be more open and tolerant
69) To always have something new to share
70) To become a better version of yourself
71) To say yes to more adventures
72) To learn how to greet people in tons of different ways
73) To talk to your pets in another language
74) To feel like you’re traveling in time
75) To make foreigners feel welcome in your country
76) To learn how to read and write in a foreign alphabet
77) To read street signs in other countries
78) To learn how to swear in another language
79) To help deaf people fit in society it you’re learning a sign language
80) To learn while you’re young
81) To learn while you have time
82) To read poems in their original language
83) To have people tell you that you have a cute accent
84) To become an inspiration for other language learners
85) To speak more languages than your friends and family
86) To stand out from the crowd
87) To help save an endangered language
88) To learn more about linguistics
89) To grow as a person
90) To help people who are struggling with your native language or target languages
91) To translate crazy phrases on Duolingo
92) To talk with kids who don’t speak your native language
93) Because learning languages is an epic adventure
94) Because so many languages will sound good to your ears
95) Because it’s fun
96) Because it’s rewarding
97) Because the language learning community is amazing
98) Because there’s no reason not to learn languages
99) Because you won’t regret it
100) Because you don’t actually need a reason
Hope you guys like it and agree with it :) Add more reasons if you want!
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20 something yo dreamer The birds were singing Under the darkest sky above A sinister melody Flowing beyond our world Follow my instagram too: papilon_blanche
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