My first language is not English. For me, one of the most challenging things was to learn English. I have a logic thinking, I can remember the ideas in every story, but it's so difficult for me to learn by heart. Memorizing is not one of my best things. And if you want to learn a language, you ought to memorize a lot of words, phrases, grammar rules, etc.
However, now I'm writing these thoughts in English, and I can read and talk in this language. I'm not perfect, I make mistakes, I don't know all the words, but here I am: able to have a conversation on almost every subject in English.
My journey to learn a new language was not easy, but I have discovered some tips to make the process work for me, and I would like to share them with you, in case you need this information. Here are the things you should keep in your mind if you want to learn a foreign language:
The Motivation
How much do you want to learn a new language? What does motivate you to do it? For me, the greatest motivation to learn English was my decision to live in India for a few years. I reached India, and I couldn't talk to the people because I didn't speak their language, and the Indians don't speak my language either.
I was not able to ask the shop' keepers to give me the things I needed, to negotiate at the market, where everybody does this, and if you don't, they charge you an incredibly high price. I couldn't make new friends, nor learn the culture or get information about the things I was interested in. All of these because there was a big barrier between me and the people around me: the language.
So I had to learn a language which will break this barrier. I found that it is not easy to learn the local language, which is Hindi, so I chose to learn English, the second official language in India.
In the beginning, I wanted many times to give up learning, but I always remembered my motivation: I want to speak to the local people, to understand them and to make myself understandable to them.
Without a good motivation, it will be almost impossible to learn a foreign language. There are many motives you can have to learn a language: you like how it sounds, you have a friend you want to talk to, you want to watch movies or listen to music, you simply want to develop your brain, etc.
Listening
It's crucial to find some simple short stories in the language you want to learn and listen to them many times. It can be monotonous but will give you the right results. Do not stop at every word you don't understand to find the meaning in the dictionary!
Listen to the full story for at least five times even if you don't understand it. By listening, you will discover where every word starts and ends. After that, you can check the meaning of the words and listen to it again for many times. Pay attention to the phrases and expressions, not only to the words.
If you listen for twenty times the same story, the words will make their way to your memory and will be easy for you to remember them when you need them.
More than that, you can find on the internet many mp3s and videos with repeated words to which you can listen to a few times every day. By doing that, you will definitely improve your vocabulary.
Hobbies
Involve your hobby in learning a new language. I like to read, to watch movies, to listen to music. Since I started learning English, I did all these things in English.
You have great skills and gifts. Find out how you can use your talents in learning a new language and do it! By doing this, you will not get tired of learning, and the process will become fun for you.
Differences and similarities
In every language, you can find some differences and similarities with your own language. There are universal words, which are used almost the same in many languages. For example the word "universal" you might find it in your mother tongue as it is in English.
However, there are also words which look similar but have a different meaning. I remember when I heard for the first time the term "terrific," I thought it means something very bad because I have it in my own language and it means "scary". And yes, I used it for a while in a wrong way :)
If you pay attention to these differences and similarities, will help you a lot in the process of learning.
Take some classes
In the city where I lived in India, I found a small but good language school. I decided to take some English classes there with a British teacher. It made a huge improvement in my grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary.
In the beginning, I thought that it was a little bit expensive to pay for the classes, but after I was able to talk comfortably, I understood the importance of having a good teacher. It's compulsory to learn correctly from the beginning. It's harder to correct your misunderstandings than to learn correctly from the beginning.
Ask God to help you
Yes, I asked God to help me in this process. I did all the things I shared with you in my post, but I believe the most important one was God's help. Before and while I started learning I prayed to God and He helped me. I was able to speak, read and write in English in six months since I started learning. I'm sure you can ask Him, too.
Learning a foreign language is a process that can last for the whole life. It depends on how much you want to learn.
Nevertheless, to be able to have a simple conversation with somebody, you don't have to learn very hard. Make the learning process your friend and find out what it works better for you.
I would like to read your feedback and experience in learning a foreign language in the comments below. Thank you for reading!
