What are your top tips/tools for learning a new language? (starting from level 0)
Hello! There are so many apps, classes and techniques available, so I'd love to know what worked for you (and roughly how long it took / how many hours per week).
Besides from some basic – and mostly forgotten – lessons in school, this would be my first time learning a new language, and I'd be starting from scratch (maybe only knowing how to say hello and goodbye).
Thanks!
Replies6
- Youtube is a great resource for classes, even classes aimed at children.Also, don't take shortcuts. Allow yourself to struggle and accept that you will – it's extremely rewarding.Once you have some of the basics down, look for a language partner. There are many people who will do remote conversations with you for a small fee - there are lots of websites that link people depending on the language. But there are just as many people who want to learn English (or your native language) and with whom you can do a language exchange.Have a look into shadowing ––– a way to train your listening and speaking muscles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O9yBPKTnU4
- I honestly learnt English with films and series.. and loads of socials at the pubs! Duolingo is a good app to start (mostly good for vocabulary)What are you learning? :)
- Always start with basics. As if you were a child learning to speak. Learn the alphabet for any language first as this gives you the basic form of pronounciation. From then on take it at your own pace, learning phrases, numbers, greetings, femine, masculine etc but you have to practice everyday and immerse yourself in understanding their culture aswell. This also helps to sound more native. Duolingo is great for basic writing, reading and speaking but I would make sure to have a notebook with you to write everything down. Memrise is also a good app but again have a notebook with you.Watch their programmes, listen to their music, pick up on key words or phrases and practice speaking to yourself or someone else (if they do not mind).It takes time and a lot of patience but once you start even being able to recognise the odd word, it is very rewarding. Hope this helps.
- Preply is a great platform for affordable online language tuition. Even if this is used in conjunction with other things like watching foreign films with subtitles, using Duolingo etc. it will help structure and speed up your learning.
- Put sticky notes with objects in your target language everywhere in your house. Include articles and plurals - you can expand to verbs (the toothbrush - I'm brushing my teeth, you're brushing your teeth... ) as you go along. As you see it every day (and try to say it out loud), this will stick. Works a treat. (I'm sure any house mates will loooove it haha :)Also: read children's books (younger than you think, children's books are quite hard) *and* listen to the audio book at the same time. This helps with intonation, accent/pronunciation and fluency.
- Hi Brendan,I think the best way to learn a language (for me anyway) is to have some kind of interaction/visuals with it.I find apps both like Dualingo and Babbel quite good to get started with. Then finding a friend that speaks that language to interact with is beneficial / going to that country to practice as the locals are always willing to help and correct you when they see that you are trying.Also, many Netflix shows have an option for a language change. Picking one to watch that you’ve already seen but changing the language and adding subtitles massively helps too!
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