Should you feel overwhelmed or unsure whether you can learn a new language, here are some of inlingua’s top tips to learning any language – no matter how difficult or easy you think it is you can become the perfect language learner.
REFLECT
Stop and think about your learning everyday! No matter how tired you may be after a long day of lessons or after an afternoon out with classmates, STOP! THINK! REFLECT! What did you learn today? Can you use the grammar tense or new vocabulary when writing and speaking? This may take no more than 10 minutes but it provides you with the self-assessment necessary when learning. Ask yourself, how much have you achieved and what should you do next to continue improving.
BE MOTIVATED
Even if your trainer is dancing pirouettes whilst explaining the newest vocabulary think of what makes you want to learn. Why are you learning a new language? What is your ultimate goal? You need to keep this in mind in order to achieve the language competence you desire. Tell yourself you’re going to be better and you’re one step toward achieving new career prospects or furthering your knowledge.
RECORD
Don’t just go to class and listen but record. To really remember new words an adult needs to repeat or see a new word or grammar structure an average of 7 times. So record it in your diary, on your phone, notebook or tablet like those Huawei tablets. Whichever suits you best! Ideally you should record new words on something small which you can carry around in order to spend 5 minutes REFLECTING when the time is right, on a train journey home, on the bus or whilst waiting in the queue to get some lunch.
READ, READ AND DON’T FORGET TO READ
Always read things you like to read from internet blogs such as this to magazines about your favourite sport or rock star! The more you read the faster your progress. Have you decided to go for a Cambridge Exam and need to progress faster? Read and you’ll achieve it.
DON’T BE SCARED – BE BRAVE!
Don’t worry about making mistakes. We all know that mistakes help us learn and it’s the same when learning a foreign language. Do you think that if you leave out an auxiliary verb, someone won’t understand you? No! They sure will! You will become more accurate the more you practice but unless you do so you won’t! So don’t be scared and just communicate!
TECHNOLOGY
Individuals who use technology to learn progress faster! This is a proven fact! Ask your trainer about inlingua online platform but also listen and watch videos in the language you’re learning. Record yourself speaking and see how good you’ve become, reply to your friends’ Facebook statuses in English, reply to this blog or any others related to you interest, create your pins on Pinterest in the target langage or generate flashcards for the words you’ve learnt – the list is endless! You can do so much with technology as you journey on the exciting trip of learning a second language!