5 Easy Language Learning Strategies You Should Try Out Now
If you’re looking for easy language learning techniques to help you become fluent in a new language, you’ve come to the right place. Studying a new language is an enriching experience that boosts creativity, enhances your brain capacity, and helps you advance in your professional life. But let’s face it. Without a solid learning approach, you can often find yourself literally lost in translation.
If you’re looking for easy language learning techniques to help you become fluent in a new language, you’ve come to the right place. Studying a new language is an enriching experience that boosts creativity, enhances your brain capacity, and helps you advance in your professional life. But let’s face it. Without a solid learning approach, you can often find yourself literally lost in translation.
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Here are 5 easy ways to learn a language without attending a language school.
1. Pronunciation: Minimal Pairs
When people think about accent reduction, they usually assume that “sounding like a native” is a process that happens slowly, on its own accord, over the course of time. However, there are lots of things you can do to master the sounds of your target language today!
An easy language learning technique that works miracles for students is focusing on two sounds at a time. Of course, we are not talking about any sounds. For example, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to focus on V and P, which are two completely different types of phonemes.
We are talking, in fact, about phonemes that sound alike and, as a result, can be easily confused.
Take V and F, for example. In the English language, there are lots of minimal pairs –two words that vary by only a single sound– which can only be told apart by the presence of one of these consonants:
fan – van
fine – vine
proof – prove
safe – save
fail – veil
fear – veer
If you are an English speaker, you may already know that /f/ and /v/ are both pronounced by approximating your upper teeth to your lower lip, and that the only difference between both sounds is that /v/ is a voiced sound and /f/ is a voiceless one.
For a learner of English, however, working with minimal pairs such as the ones above is a crucial but easy language-learning technique that will help them focus on the differences between two easily confused consonants.
Are there any minimal pairs in your target language? Find out and put this easy language-learning technique into practice!
2. Vocabulary: Reading for Pleasure… and for Learning!
Reading literary books is one of the best ways to learn a new language. As opposed to studying through the type of articles and stories you can find in language textbooks (which can be a very impersonal experience!) buying a literary book implies a meaningful personal choice that comes from genuine interest and curiosity.
Whether you like to read horror novels, biographies, or short story collections, the important thing is knowing how to turn a mere pastime into an effective but easy language-learning strategy.
If you are a language learner who loves reading books, here is how you can combine your two passions:
- Before you start your next book, make sure you have a pen or pencil and a nice notebook ready to be filled with new vocabulary.
- Divide your notebook into different sections, such as: “Adjectives used to describe people”, “Action verbs”, and “Objects and technology”
- Try to write down one word with each page you read. While you can do more than one word per page, it’s important that you don’t overdo it and take the joy out of reading.
- For every word you write down in any given category, provide a definition and a sample sentence (it can be the sentence in which it originally appears in the book or one of your own creation).
- Make sure you go back to your notes as frequently as you can!
By the time you finish your book, you will not have only spent a few hours learning about something you care about or indulging in a thrilling story. You will have also gained lots of new colorful words that you will be able to put into practice when speaking in the target language.
3. Grammar: How to Make it Meaningful
Reading the rules for verb tenses and then doing fill-in-the-gaps exercises are surely easy ways to learn a language or, at least, the grammar of a language.
But, how memorable are these types of activities? How likely are you to remember the conjugation of a verb or the uses of a specific tense if the only thing you’ve done with these items is complete a mechanic textbook exercise?
If you’re looking for easy ways to learn a language that will actually stick, you will need to find ways to combine conscious grammar study with genuine communication.
One way of making grammar meaningful and memorable (and as a result, more accessible for you as a new speaker of your target language) is keeping a grammar diary in which you apply grammatical structures to personal essays.
How does this work exactly? Let’s consider a few examples.
- Are you learning the past simple? Then you can write a funny anecdote you remember well or a short story set in the past.
- Do you need to practice future tenses? Why not write your predictions for the next decade?
- Are you studying conditional phrases? Easy: Make a list of all the things you would like to do and the conditions that need to be met so they can become a reality!
By using grammatical forms to explore your own thoughts, ideas and memories, you will make those items much more meaningful and, as a result, you’ll be much more likely to remember them in the future.
4. Speaking: the Benefits of One-to-one Lessons
If you’ve been in one of those twenty-people language lessons in which you have to patiently wait for your turn to say one or two words, you know how frustrating traditional language-learning can be.
If you’re learning a language in a school and you would like to move at your own pace, a one-to-one course is the best option for you for a number of reasons:
- With a personalized language course, you get to focus exactly on the things you need or want to learn.
- You can ask your tutor as many questions as you want without feeling that you’re wasting other people’s time.
- The opportunities for speaking are much more numerous than in a traditional language course. In fact, you may ask your tutor to devote the whole lesson to spontaneous or guided conversation.
- You get detailed feedback on your performance and you get to spend as much time as you need on the improvement of your weakest areas.
- You can ask for a change in the normal course of your lessons should you need to focus on a specific objective such as preparing for an exam or for a job interview.
If you’re looking for an easy way to learn a language, we strongly suggest you try a personalized learning experience with a private instructor.
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