How to learn a language on your own. How to learn a foreign language on your own

Let's start with the main thing - your capabilities and desires, because they make up the lion's share of success in learning any foreign language! As for opportunities, do not doubt that you have them, and do not console yourself with the fact that they are not there, because back in 2006, an American scientist Richard Sparks convincingly dispelled the well-known myth that learning foreign languages ​​requires some extraordinary innate abilities, which means that everyone has opportunities! Let's move on to desire. As the well-known wisdom says, “desire is a thousand possibilities, and unwillingness is a thousand reasons.” Decide which camp you're in and if a thousand opportunities take over, this article will surely help you realize them.

First person

According to many linguists, learning foreign languages ​​with the help of phrasebooks improves the process of memorizing individual words and the general principles of sentence construction. In addition, by memorizing a language with ready-made phrases in the first person, a person not only repeats the narration, which is typical for the traditional retelling of texts, but also subconsciously models a certain situation, imagining himself in one position or another. This method allows you to avoid the impersonality of the memorized material, making it possible to "try on" phrases that may be useful in real life. A study conducted by psychologists in a Russian secondary school with in-depth study of the English language speaks in favor of the “From the First Person” methodology. In the course of the experiment, primary school students were offered texts, half consisting of third-person narration and half of the first. As a result, it turned out that 98% of schoolchildren were able to almost accurately reproduce that part of the text that consisted of direct speech. According to linguists, the advantage of phrasebooks lies precisely in the characteristic feature of presenting the material in the first person, which allows you to "get used" to the text and makes memorization more effective.

Our advice: carefully approach the choice of a phrase book; study topics sequentially, while memorizing related words. Spend 2-3 days on each topic.

Formula

Experts have deduced the ideal memorization formula - 30 words a day, 5 of which are verbs. The technique is aimed at busy people who want to learn the basics of a new language without much time, learn to understand and speak. According to the formula, words should be chosen by the first letter, changing it daily to the next - thus, if today you are learning words in " BUT", then tomorrow it should be 30 words per letter " B". When the full circle of the alphabet is completed, you return to " BUT" and so on. The effectiveness of this method lies in the fact that it allows you to create certain rules for yourself, which over time will become a habit and transform into a system.

Our advice: in order to achieve results in learning a foreign language by this method, accept the main rule - words must be learned daily, without giving yourself days off.

Lyrics

Perhaps the most enjoyable and effective method of learning languages ​​is to memorize foreign songs in parallel with their translation. This method was discovered by our compatriot, who was able to learn English in 3 months, resorting exclusively to “cramming” and playing English songs. Linguists admit that this method really helps to master a foreign language, especially if the translation is worked out by the student himself, taking into account the grammatical and stylistic features of the text. A huge plus of the "song" technique is excellent pronunciation - the result of repeated repetition of the same text, as well as imitation of the performer - in this case, the student receives a kind of master class. It is worth noting another significant advantage that comes with memorizing songs in a foreign language - this is the stylistic purity of the language and the beauty of speech turns that are characteristic of lyrical works. By learning the language through songs, you subconsciously accept the style of presentation of thought, get used to it and reproduce it.

Our advice: start with your favorite lyric pieces, where the words are in a singsong voice. For example, for those who are going to learn Spanish, a great starter song might be « Besame Mucho, ideal composition for memorization and pronunciation - « Megustastu».

Dash - dot

Psychologists studying the problem of perception of foreign languages ​​have come to the conclusion that the mistake of most people is that they try to "consciously" hear what the speaker is saying from the screen or the voice from the headphones. “However, you should not try to hear every sound - instead, you should catch the general tone, that is, listen “unconsciously”. This is the secret of adequate perception of a foreign language!” psychologists say. Scientists draw a parallel with Morse code, where it is almost impossible to count the number of dots and dashes even at extremely low transmission speeds - however, the very tonality of various sequences “settles” in the subconscious and allows you to instantly decipher information. Another vivid example is children who, unlike adults, are able to listen “unconsciously” and therefore learn foreign languages ​​so quickly and without much effort, once they are in another country.

Our advice: it remains only to relax and listen to foreign speech as often as possible. Try to catch the melody of the language, frequently repeated words and speech cords, without delving into the details. At the same time, learn words and go through a classic audio course with text repetitions, memorization of phrases and translation.

Out appetite!

One of the most proven and effective ways to learn a foreign language is the famous "immersion method" Berlitz. According to the author, it is necessary to speak the language from the very first day of learning, describing everything that you see around. Thus, the students and the teacher "get" into various typical situations, for example, they sit down at the table and act out the dinner scene. During the conversation, which is conducted exclusively in a foreign language, the participants name and describe in detail table items and products, ask each other to pass something. The main idea of ​​express learning using this technique is that the student first memorizes key words and phrases, and only then masters grammar. According to Berlitz himself, with such an algorithm of actions, the grammar of the language comes intuitively, as if “by itself”. Here it is worth returning again to the phenomenon of children's perception of language, when, getting into a foreign environment, a child is able to learn to correctly and grammatically correctly express his thoughts in a short period of time. The Berlitz method, in essence, puts an adult in the role of a child who hears a foreign speech in the context of a certain situation - lunch, going to the store, walking, and so on, and takes part in a dialogue that has a specific meaning.

Our advice: if you study the language on your own, devote 30 minutes to classes daily! Separate the words thematically (lunch, shop, plane) and pronounce everything that you see or can see around. Feel free to talk to yourself!

When learning languages, do not forget that you are the native speaker of the most beautiful, rich and complex language! This thought will inspire and give you confidence, because it is much easier for you personally to master any foreign language than it is for a foreigner to learn Russian!

See tips for girls dreaming of marrying a foreigner:

Would you like to know how to quickly learn a new language without spending money on expensive language courses or language learning software? There are no secrets or tricks to this - you just need to set a goal for yourself, prepare for hard work and, most importantly, not be afraid to make mistakes. Read on for more secrets to help you learn a new language quickly.

Steps

Immerse yourself in the language environment

Meet a native speaker. The easiest way to learn a new language is to speak it. Very often, people spend all their time learning the grammar of a language and memorizing a lot of words instead of putting all their learned minimum knowledge into practice. Start talking to a native speaker and it will give you more motivation to learn a language - much more than a book or a computer screen.

• You may be able to find a friend or colleague who knows the language you want to learn and who can work with you and help you practice the language. If you do not have such friends, then you can advertise on local forums or in newspapers that you are looking for a teacher to practice a foreign language.
• If you can't find anyone who speaks the language, you can try meeting someone on Skype. Very often people from different countries would like to meet people from other countries and communicate. Another option is to create an account with Hellotalk.

1. Learn a language every day. Very often, many complain that they have been studying the language for “five years” and cannot begin to speak it fluently. But when they talk about five years, they most likely spend only a couple of hours a week studying the language. Let's agree on one thing - if you want to learn a new language fast, that is, in a few weeks or months, then you will have to devote two hours to learning a new language in a day.

   • Learning a foreign language is based on repetition - just repeat something over and over again until it is imprinted in your memory. If you take too long breaks between classes, you will most likely forget everything you have learned and have to go back to remember what you learned.
   • To really learn a language in a short amount of time, you have to practice everyday. There are no miracles in learning a language - to master a language, you need to learn it.

2. Always have a dictionary handy. Take a dictionary with you everywhere - it will help you avoid confusion (if you don't know a certain word) and save a lot of time, so we recommend that you spare no expense and get a good and convenient dictionary!

   • It may be more convenient for you to install a dictionary on your mobile phone - so you can quickly look up the desired word.
   • If you have a dictionary with you, you can always look up the right word. This is especially necessary when communicating with a native speaker, when you do not want to interrupt the interlocutor because you do not know some word that he used. Also, if you look up a new word and use it immediately, you will remember it much better.
   • You can also browse the dictionary and select random words to memorize when you have a free moment - for example, when you are waiting in line, at lunchtime or while you are stuck in traffic. So you can memorize an additional 20-30 new words a day!

3. Watch movies, listen to music, read and write in the language you are learning. Immersion in the language environment assumes that all the usual actions that you usually did in your native language, you will do in the target language, regardless of whether you read, write or listen to music, radio, etc.

   • It may be easiest to watch TV shows or movies in the language you are trying to learn. Try not to use subtitles, otherwise you will rely on them too much. To help you understand speech, try watching TV shows or movies that you already know, or something as simple as cartoons or children's shows. Knowing the content will help you understand the meaning of various words and phrases.
   • It is also recommended to read and write in the target language. Take a newspaper or magazine and try to read at least one article a day. Try to check the meaning of words you don't know in a dictionary. Try writing simple sentences in the language you are learning - whatever it is, you can write a greeting card or a shopping list.
   • Download podcasts or listen to radio stations in the language you are learning. It's a great way to immerse yourself in a language, especially when you're on the road. This will not only allow you to listen to the speech, but will also allow you to remember the correct pronunciation of common words and phrases.
   • Change the language settings on mobile devices - this will allow you to learn some new words in a new language.
   • Listen to music in the language you are learning. Try to learn the lyrics, and then check what the song is about. Knowing the lyrics very quickly helps to expand the vocabulary.

4. Visit a country where the language you are learning is spoken. Of course, the best way to improve your language skills is to travel to a country where the language you are learning is spoken. Just go there and spend some time there.

   • Try to communicate more with the local population - it doesn't matter if you need to get directions or make a purchase in a store - just say hello and communicate with people. Native speakers will welcome your desire to learn the language.
   • It doesn't matter how good your spoken language is - just try to speak, and very soon you will notice an improvement not only in oral speech, but also in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

   Focus on what matters most

   1. Learn a few greetings before you learn the alphabet. Thanks to this, when you start learning the alphabet, you will already know a few basic words. For example, "Hello", "Goodbye", "How are you", "I'm fine", "What's your name", "My name is ..." and so on.

      If necessary, learn the alphabet. It will be much easier for you if you learn the alphabet and learn how to read and pronounce words - this will also help you remember words more easily. In addition, it is much better to say words out loud by reading them in the language you are learning, rather than looking at their transcription.

      Learn the words. Probably one of the most important aspects in learning a language is vocabulary. Even if you can't understand the entire sentence, being able to pick out individual words helps you understand the overall meaning of a speech or text.

      • Focus on the 100 most common words. Pick out the 100 most common words in a language and learn them - that's a great start. Next, you can select 1000 new frequently used words. It is believed that the knowledge of 1000 frequently used words in a language makes it possible to understand 70% of any text.
      • Pay attention to the words that are most relevant to you. For example, if you're learning a language for business purposes, learn business vocabulary, don't waste your time learning different types of marine animals - which can be helpful if you're going to scuba dive.
      • You also need to learn words that apply to you personally so that you can talk about yourself, your life, and the people you know.

   2. Learn how to count in your target language. Learn to count to ten, because numbers are usually very easy to remember. Every day, add ten more numbers to this set. Continue to study numbers every day until you feel that you can count fluently in a foreign language. If you want a real challenge - try learning all the numbers up to 100 in one day!

      Don't worry too much about grammar. The main reason most people never speak the language they spent years in school learning is that the school curriculum focuses too much on the grammar of the language and very little time is devoted to speaking and writing skills. It is grammar that slows everything down - if you want to learn a new language quickly, the first thing you need to do is master the spoken language. The specifics of the grammar will come later.

      • There is no doubt that grammar is important - you need to know how the forms of verbs change and imagine what the correct word order should be in a sentence.
      • The thing is, you don't have to spend many hours memorizing verb forms or thinking about specific cases when you should use this or that article or preposition. You will master all these nuances later - in the process of communication!

   3. Work on your pronunciation. Pronunciation is another aspect that you should focus on. There is no point in memorizing hundreds of words and phrases if you cannot pronounce them correctly to be understood. Therefore, it is very important that when learning a new word, you immediately learn its correct pronunciation.

      • Pronunciation is difficult to learn from a book - this is where communication with native speakers or the use of interactive programs will be useful. You will need to say the word out loud to learn how to pronounce it correctly.
      • If you are practicing the language with a teacher or native speaker, ask him (or her) to feel free to correct you whenever you pronounce a word incorrectly. Otherwise, alas, your training will be of little use. Remember that it is the pronunciation that can distinguish good language proficiency from free.

   4. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Many foreign language learners are afraid of making mistakes. This fear won't let you go far enough.

      • Perhaps the mistakes you make while speaking a foreign language can lead to an awkward situation, but is that really a big problem? Native speakers will always forgive you for mistakes, as they will most likely appreciate your commitment to learning their language - moreover, they will always be happy to help you.
      • Your goal should not initially be superiority, but progress. Making mistakes (and learning from them) is what allows you to continually improve.

   Use apps to learn foreign languages

   1. Try Anki. Anki is a very popular app for computers and smartphones that helps you memorize new words and phrases using flashcards. You can upload your own flashcards with specific words if you need to learn specific terminology, for example, or download any of the flashcard sets provided.

      Try Duolingo. Duolingo is a free language learning tool. There is an online version of the app, as well as versions for Android and iOS. Instead of focusing on memorization, it helps you learn to read and speak a new language by allowing you to see, listen to, and translate words and phrases. Users earn points when they complete lessons, which makes learning a language with Duolingo a lot of fun.

   2. Try Livemocha. Livemocha is a web-based product that offers online lessons and tutorials, as well as the ability to chat with a native speaker. And while most of the content on Livemocha is completely free, you can always pay for extras, including personalized learning programs and more advanced language courses.

      • Try MindSnacks. Choose any lesson you like to learn the language through different games.
   • Determine for yourself a specific amount of material (TV shows, radio, online newspapers or communication with foreigners) or the amount of time that you will devote to the language every day and do not deviate from the plan.
   • Write down new words and their meaning on a piece of paper and always carry this sheet with you, sometimes looking into it - so you can easily remember everything.
   • Immersion in a language environment is the best way to learn a foreign language, but in most cases a person cannot just drop everything and go to another country. Nevertheless, be sure to try to communicate with native speakers - for example, using special sites on the Internet.
   • Google Translate is a good tool to help you with correct pronunciation. But the translation of words and sentences obtained with it is not always 100% accurate.
   • Start by learning ten words (nouns, adjectives or verbs). Do this every day for three months. It may seem difficult, but it's actually very easy. By learning ten new words every day, you can expand your vocabulary well. The more words you know, the easier it will be for you to form sentences and express yourself in a foreign language.
   • Once you have mastered the basics of the language, you can start watching films in the language you are learning. Start with simple ones - those that you have already seen and that you like. Watch movies with subtitles. If this seems difficult, leave subtitles or audio in your native language.
   • Use sticky note paper to build up your vocabulary. Paste them everywhere - this will allow you to create direct associations between a word in a foreign language and its visualization.
   • Don't worry about making mistakes at first. You will not be able to speak fluently in a foreign language on the very first day of training, be patient.
   • The main thing - do not give up!
   • Start reading funny books in the language you are learning - it's better if they are funny stories or jokes with pictures. For example, you can read anime, comics, magazines, and whatever interests you. This will motivate you to learn the language - especially if you don't understand what is written. It can also be helpful to start with children's books as they contain words that are easy to remember.
   • Some people prefer to listen to music. Find songs in the language you are learning. Listen to them several times, try to understand what the song is about. You can also search the internet for lyrics and try to sing karaoke.

How to speak your chosen language today? How to achieve fluency in just a few months? How to impersonate a native speaker? And finally, how to learn several languages ​​and become a polyglot in just a couple of years?

Many people think that every person either has the language learning gene or not. But there are tricks and tricks for faster learning. Let's get started!

1. Learn the right words with the right method

To start learning a new language, you need to learn new words. Lots of new words. Of course, many people think that they do not remember new words well, and give up before even starting. To learn to speak, you do not need to know all the words. Come to think of it, you don't know the entire vocabulary of even your native language.

In learning languages, you can use the Pareto law. 20% of the effort you put into memorizing new words will give you 80% of your understanding of the language. For example, in English, only 300 words make up 65% of all written material. We use these words very often. The same thing happens in any other language. You can find ready-made "stacks" of cards with the most frequently used words (or words on topics that you will talk about most often) in the application Anki app. This application is freely available and is suitable for all operating systems and smartphones.

All good flashcard learning methods use the spaced repetition system (SRS). Anki applies this system automatically. Instead of going through the same list of words in the same order every time, you see the words at regular intervals before you have time to forget them.

2. Learn words of common origin: your friends in any language

Believe it or not, you already – right now – have a huge head start in learning your chosen language. Before you even start learning a language, you already know some of its words. It is impossible to start learning a language from scratch, because you most likely already know a significant number of words of common origin. These are words that have the same spelling and meaning in your native language and the language you are learning.

For example, in Romance languages ​​such as French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, there are many words similar to English. English “borrowed” these words during the Norman Conquest of England, which lasted several hundred years. “Action”, “nation”, “precipitation”, “solution”, “tradition”, “communication” and thousands of other words are spelled the same and have exactly the same meaning in French. And to a new pronunciation very quickly adapt. By changing the ending -tion to -ción , you will get the same words in spanish. In Italian, the ending would be -zione, and in Portuguese -ção.

Many languages ​​also have words that share a common (Greek/Latin/etc.) root. Such roots may have a different spelling, but it will be very difficult for you not to recognize them. These are words like hélicoptère (French), porto, capitano (Italian), astronomía, and Saturno (Spanish). German goes one step further: it has many words that it shares with English.

To find related words in the language you are learning, simply try searching for “[name of language] related words/loanwords/words of common origin”. All this is great for European languages.

But what about when learning more distant languages? As it turned out, even in languages ​​as far from English as Japanese, there are whole groups of words familiar to us. Many languages ​​simply borrow English words and adjust them for themselves by changing pronunciation or stress.

3. Use a new language every day

People often say they don't learn languages ​​because they can't travel to countries where those languages ​​are spoken. They don't have money for it, they don't have time, etc. You can believe that there is nothing in the air in other countries that will suddenly magically help you to speak their language.

Living abroad and immersing yourself in a language is not the same thing. If, in order to immerse yourself in the language environment, you need to hear the language all the time and use it, then why not immerse yourself in it virtually? Thanks to technology, the language environment can come to you - you don't even have to buy a plane ticket.

• To hear the language, try using TuneIn.com- this site gives you access to a huge number of radio channels of any country of your choice. The free app also gives you access to a list of radio channels divided by language.
• To watch programs in your preferred language, see which Youtube videos are currently the most popular in the respective country. Go to that country's Amazon or Ebay site and buy your favorite TV series dubbed in your preferred language, or find another popular local show. You can save on shipping if you find a TV series dubbed in the desired language in your city or on the Internet. Many news channels such as France24, Deutsche Welle, and CNNEspañol provide online shows in their respective languages.
• To read in the language, try using news sites. Visit the website Alexa and find out which blogs or sites are currently the most popular in the country you need.

And if full immersion in the language environment is not yet for you, then install a translator plugin on your browser. It will help you tune in to a new language by translating some of the sites you normally read in English and gradually introducing new foreign words into your daily reading.

4. Talk and practice on Skype every day

So, you have already started listening, watching videos and even reading in your chosen language - all from the comfort of your own home. It's time to take a big step forward. You can start talking with a native speaker. If you want to speak a language, start speaking it from the very first minute of learning. There are seven days in a week, and "someday" is not one of them.

For the first conversation, you only need to learn a few phrases. If you immediately start using them, you will immediately see what is missing, and you can add to your list. If you study alone, you will never feel ready for a real conversation. In the first few hours, learn the most frequently used phrases, such as "Hello", "Thank you", "Could you repeat that again?" or "I don't understand."

But where can you find a native speaker if you are not in the country where the language you are learning is spoken? Today this is not a problem at all! Thousands of native speakers are ready and waiting to talk to you right now. There are social networks where you can get private lessons for a small amount. For example on italki.com.

If you still think you're not ready for a one-on-one conversation, think again. Lessons via Skype will allow you to gradually immerse yourself in the language environment. During a conversation, you can keep a list of key words in front of your eyes (for example, in Word), which you can refer to until you memorize them. You can also use Google Translate or any other dictionary during a conversation to immediately learn new words that you may need. Can this be called a "scam"? No. Your goal is to learn how to operate functionally, not follow traditional methods.

5. Save money. The best resources are free

Why spend hundreds of dollars on learning a language (unless, of course, this is the absolute attention of its native speaker). There are a lot of great resources on the internet. For example, DuoLingo is a wonderful and absolutely free course that gets better and better over time. These resources will help you learn a language without spending a single cent. We offer you several other alternative sources: Foreign Service Institutes, Omniglot Intro to languages, BBC languages, articles about languages ​​in About.

You can also try My Language Exchange and Interpals. Start talking offline. The Polyglot Club will help you find conversation clubs in your city, and Couchsurfing, meetup.com, and Internations they will tell you where the next meetings of language learning enthusiasts take place. Such meetings provide an excellent opportunity to meet both other people who are learning languages ​​of interest to you, as well as with native speakers. And that is not all. There are other absolutely free auxiliary resources:

This may seem like a long process to you. Try to learn words in this way just a few times, and you will immediately realize how effective it is. Plus, you only have to use this hook a few times. After that, the word itself will become part of your vocabulary.

Part 1. To be continued...

1. The first rule - forget about how long and painfully you learned English at school and college. This, as a rule, negative experience can discourage the desire to learn foreign languages ​​for a long time, and also convince you that you seem to have no predisposition to this.

2. Motivation. Maybe you want to sing songs in French, watch TV shows in Spanish or read Paolo Coelho in the original. First of all, the language should not just please you, it should inspire.

3. Start. No need to prepare for a long time, just start taking a small step every day - learn five new words, watch the tutorial. Do not drive yourself into limits and do not set clear deadlines, because you will not have to take tests and exams.

4. Start with the study of words, do not load yourself with grammar at first. Remember how children begin to talk: first they listen, then they begin to understand, that is, to associate a word with an object or action, then they begin to speak the first words, and only after that they build a sentence. Do the same - watch the video first, listen to the recorded speech, do simple exercises to memorize words. When you acquire a significant vocabulary, then you can start building sentences and learning tenses.

5. Translate texts that interest you. Well-known songs are best, so you can memorize many words very quickly.

6. Many effective free tutorials can be found on the Internet.

7. While you can't speak yet, chat with native speakers. So you can always use a translator or dictionary to express your thoughts.

8. Once you have learned to read and speak a little, look for opportunities to practice speaking. Even if there are no speaking clubs in your city, look for native speakers who live here and who need to learn Russian, place an ad on social networks that you are ready to conduct a free city tour for visiting foreigners. In extreme cases, you can communicate via Skype.

9. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Take with those who speak English. They speak extremely simply, sometimes with errors, but very confidently, and everyone understands them. Language is a means of communication, so the main thing is to be understood. Do not use complex grammatical structures, simplify everything as much as possible. The mere fact that you speak Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese will be received with enthusiasm by the inhabitants of other countries.

10. Remember that there are no people who are completely incapable of learning languages, there are those who do not even try to learn them.

Related videos

It's no secret that knowledge of foreigners in our time is not a luxury, but a necessity. Thanks to the knowledge of languages, you can get a better job, communicate freely with foreigners, etc. It is not at all necessary to spend a lot of money on tutors - all you need is a desire, and you can learn the language on your own.

You will need

• 1. Books in a foreign language
• 2. Patience
• 3. Willpower

Instruction

Take your study seriously. Surely before that you have taken up the study of a foreign language more than once, but gave it up halfway, because. you didn't have much of a plan. Remember that your independent language lessons should be planned, of high quality and daily.

Do not study the language in public transport and other similar places. You will be required to be creative, intellectual, which should not be done anywhere. Let the place where you study the language be secluded, quiet, so that no one bothers you for at least an hour every day to immerse yourself in the study of another language.

Get the most out of your language learning process. Do not try to memorize the rules of large grammars right away. Better take an interesting book in a foreign language, and read at least 5 pages every day. When reading, you need to concentrate and focus on the text. It's difficult, but necessary.

When reading a book or article in a foreign language, you do not need to look for each in a dictionary. Misunderstanding of many words, special vocabulary, etc. can only upset you. Don't dwell on the fact that you don't understand something. You see

Incredible Facts

1. How to start speaking the right language today;

2. How to master fluent speech and succeed in this matter in just a few months;

3. How easy it is to pretend to be a native speaker of the target language;

In this case, it is more appropriate than ever to use Pareto principle, which says that 20 percent of the effort spent on developing a new vocabulary will help you understand 80 percent of what you hear.

For example, in English, as in many others, 65 percent of any text consists on average of 300 repeated words. Almost any language has such a set of words, and often native speakers use it.

Flashcards for language learning

It doesn't cost you anything to find cards prepared in advance with this set of most frequently used words (or words on topics that you plan to communicate about).

This application can help you, for example. Anki , which can be easily downloaded both on a smartphone and on a computer.

This application is convenient work with cards, the mechanism of functioning of which is combined with a system of repetitions after a certain period of time.

That is, instead of trying to memorize the words using a dictionary and repeating them in the same order, the user can review them at predetermined intervals specially chosen so as not to forget the learned words.

Many people like to make their own cards.

How to learn a language quickly

2) Your friends in the new language are related words

Believe it or not, even now, when you are just planning to start learning a new language, you already have a huge database of words at your disposal.

You know a few words from each language before you even start learning it.

In other words, a person does not start learning a language from scratch, because he already knows a sufficient number of related words.

Related words are what you need initially because they are − words best friends, which sound similar to words in your native language and mean the same thing in a foreign language.

For example, the languages ​​of the Romance group have a lot in common. That is why many words from the English language are so similar to French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.

During the conquest of England, which lasted several hundred years, The English borrowed many words from the Normans.

Number of loanwords in languages

For example, " action", "nation", "precipitation", "solution", "frustration", "tradition", "communication", "extinction", as well as a huge number of other words that end in -tion are also written in French, but you quickly get used to a slightly different pronunciation.

Just change -tion to -cion and it's Spanish, to -zione is Italian, to -ção is Portuguese.

Many languages ​​have common Greek, Latin or other roots. They can be spelled differently from each other, but you will have to try very hard not to recognize, for example, "exemple", "hélicoptère" (French), "porto", "capitano" (Italian), "astronomía", " Saturno" (Spanish).

The German language has gone somewhat ahead, it shares a fairly large number of words with Old English.

To find common words in the foreign language being studied, you just need to set the search conditions - "related words (or borrowing) x (x is the name of the language)". So you will find those words that have been borrowed.

Of course, look for "x (x is the name of the language) words in your native language" as well. So you will know that your language is taken from a foreign.

This system works very well when learning European languages, but what about when it comes to more distant language families?

It turns out that even languages ​​as far away as Japanese have a lot of words that are familiar to a native English speaker.

As proof of this, just watch the video below, in which the song is "sung" in Japanese, but a person who knows English will still understand much of what is sung in it.

And all because a fairly large number of languages borrowed from English words, adding them to their own, only changing the stress or pronunciation.

Therefore, in order to greatly facilitate the process of learning a new language, it should begin with the analysis of borrowed or related words in a foreign language. There are quite a few of them in almost any language pair.

How to learn a language on your own

3. You need to communicate every day in a foreign language, and for this it is not at all necessary to travel

This is another reason (or reason) that people voice when explaining their reluctance to learn languages. Allegedly, they have neither money nor time to go to the country of the language they are learning.

It is important to note that there is absolutely nothing in the air of a foreign language country that will make you magically speak in a new language.

There are a huge number of examples demonstrating this. For example, the author of this article, the famous polyglot Benny Lewis, whose native language is English, while living in Brazil, he learned Arabic.

But there are also people who have been living abroad for many years and do not even try to master the local language. Life abroad and immersion in the language - they are not equivalent concepts.

If a person needs to hear and use language in order to soak in it, then wouldn't communication via the Internet be just as effective?

The answer is clear - it will. Today's technologies allow you to easily immerse yourself in a foreign language without spending money on buying an air ticket.

How easy it is to learn a language

For, to develop audio practice, it would be useful to see, for example, usingYoutube , which is now in trend in the country - a native speaker.

On the Amazon or ebayyou can purchase your favorite series or movies dubbed in the desired language.

Various news sources offer on their Internet resources many videos translated into various languages. You can refer, for example, to France24, Deutsche Welle, CNN Español and to others.

To work out the practice of reading, it is worth reading not only news sites, but also interesting blogs, and other popular sites of the country of the language you are learning.

In order to achieve complete immersion in the language, you can use the Chrome browser to download special plugins, which will help you translate any page into the required language.

Language learning methods

4. Start talking on Skype today to gain daily practice

You are already watching, listening, reading and maybe even writing in the language you are learning. All this you do without leaving the walls of your home. It's time to take a new step speak live with a person who is a native speaker of the desired language.

This advice is, according to the author, the most controversial, but, nevertheless, he always gives it to beginners. It is necessary from the very first day of learning to start speaking the language, if your goal is to be able to speak, not just understand.

Communication for language learning

A lot of various language programs and courses do not work according to such a system, and this is their big mistake. There are only seven days in a week, and among them there is no one that would be called "one fine day."

Use the tips above to develop basic vocabulary and understand what words you have already memorized. This should be done within a few hours.

After that, you should be ready to talk with a person who has been speaking the language you have been learning for a lifetime. You only need to learn the words for the first conversation.

If you start using them right away, you will immediately be able to understand what you are missing, and gradually begin to add what you need. You cannot and should not learn a language in isolation, trying to "prepare" for communication.

For the first communication, it is better to learn words, such as "hello", "thank you", "I don't understand", "can you repeat" etc. You can find many of them in a special list.

Here the question arises, where exactly to find a native speaker, if you are not in the right country?

Today this is not a problem because thousands of native speakers are already waiting to talk with you. You can take private lessons from such people who leave their contact details on special resources.

For example, one of these multifaceted resources - italki.com. Here everyone will find something for their pocket.

If you feel that you are not yet ready for Skype conversations, then consider this: the faster you start talking, the easier it will be to go to your goal. You can always keep the window open during the conversation, where the necessary words are already loaded.

At first you will peep through this window until you finally remember the vocabulary. You can even consult a dictionary during a conversation to learn new words as you need them.

Some may think this is a scam. But in fact, this is not so, because your goal is to learn the language, and not to imitate obsolete teaching methods.

How to learn a language for free

5. Remember that the best resources don't cost money. Save your money

There is no point in spending hundreds of dollars on learning a foreign language. It is only appropriate to pay for your communication with a native speaker of the desired language.

The Internet is full of various sources that, in addition to being great, are also free. Furthermore, they are constantly improving.

Websites for learning foreign languages

An excellent example is Duolingo . The resource provides an excellent selection of European languages, the list of which is constantly updated.

There is a lot of information here that will help you start learning the language without spending a dime. Here are some other very interesting alternatives:

If you search, in fact, you will see that there are a lot of options for free resources, so it's best to test a few and choose what suits you.

For example, the aforementioned Italki is excellent base for language exchange and lessons, however, no less interesting will be My Language Exchange, and Interpals .

You can also work offline, find or create language meetings in your city, or go to a meeting Couchsurfing, Meetup.com, Internations.

Such meetings are a great opportunity to meet native speakers and international enthusiasts.

But that's not all. You can improve your language skills absolutely free of charge with the help of a huge database. Here you will hear any word or expression in different languages, and everything is recorded by native speakers. This resource is Forvo .

Moreover, you can check your written text for errors for free with Lang 8 . In other words, for free practice, the possibilities know no bounds.

6. Adults are actually much better at learning languages ​​than children.

Now that you have a plethora of sources and resources at your disposal, you can get down to one of the most important problems. This does not apply to grammar, or lack of literature, or the volume of vocabulary.

It's about your negative attitude towards your own potential.

There is a very common misconception in our society, which often makes us give up: " I am too old to learn a new language and speak it fluently."

However, a recent study confirmed the information that, compared with children, adults can be much more effective and more productive in matters of language learning.

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Haifa. The experts were able to demonstrate that under certain circumstances an adult person intuitively understood the grammar of a foreign language much better than a child.

In addition, there has never been a previous study analyzing the relationship between increasing age and decreasing language learning abilities.

There is only a general trend regarding the learning of foreign languages ​​by adults, which is more dependent on external factors(for example, time constraints due to work activities).

And it is very easy to create an immersive environment without spending money on travel and without the need to return to childhood.

Free language learning online

7. Don't forget to build up your mnemonic vocabulary

It is important to remember that cramming alone is not enough. Of course, with endless repetitions, the word sometimes just eats into memory, and remains there forever.

But sometimes it also happens that a word or phrase repeated more than a dozen times simply fly out of memory.

Try to memorize words using a technique such as mnemonics. It will help the vocabulary stick to your memory much faster and be remembered for a long time.

You should tell yourself aloud some short, funny, and most importantly, memorable story that you associate with a certain word.

Someone might think that this will only greatly increase the time of learning the language, however, after trying once, you will understandhow effective it is.Moreover, you will only need to remember the association a few times, and then the word will become an integral part of your vocabulary.

Language learning: where to start?

8. Accept your mistakes

More than half of all inhabitants of our planet speak several languages. This suggests that monolingualism is a cultural consequence, not a biological one.

Therefore, when an adult cannot learn a language, it is not at all that he lacks the necessary genes. All because his system of mastering languages ​​is broken.

The standard methods of language learning are based on an approach that has not changed since the time of Charles Dickenson's study of Latin.

Differences between your native language and the target language are presented vocabulary and grammar to remember. Traditional Approach: learn everything and you will know the language. The logic follows, doesn't it?

However, the whole problem is that you can never really "learn" a language, because it's not something you can know or not know. It is a means of communication between people.

Language cannot be mastered by rote learning, it must be used.

At the very beginning of the path of learning a language, the emphasis should be on communication, and not on honing the details. This is what key difference.

Of course, you have the right to learn the language until you can say in one breath: "I'm sorry dear sir, would you be so kind as to point me to the location of the nearest toilet?", but the usual "Where is the toilet?" carries the same semantic load, but without superfluous words.

You will certainly be forgiven for such immediacy, because they will see that you are learning. Don't worry about offending native speakers because your "impertinence" allowed you to speak to them in their own language.

The best thing you can do when you first start learning a language is to recognize that mistakes need to be made and trying to make everything perfect is not.

Set yourself some kind of norm, for example, no more than 200 mistakes a day, but most importantly, remember that you practice and use the language!

Independent language learning

9. Goals in front of you should be smart.

Another important drawback that is present in most approaches to learning languages ​​is the poor or incorrect setting of final goals.

We usually say to ourselves: "I need to learn Spanish by the new year." However, how do you understand whether you learned it or not? And if you set such a goal, then by what criteria will you understand whether you have achieved it or not?

While vague goals like these can be infinitely unattainable, a smart goal is specific, achievable, measurable, relevant, and necessarily time-bound.

To learn how to set smart language goals, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the work of the system European Common Framework, which will provide invaluable assistance in determining the level of the language.

With this system, you will set a specific goal and be able to measure your progress.

In a nutshell, A is beginner, B is conversational, and C is advanced. Each level is divided into two categories: 1 - lower, 2 - upper.

Thus, a beginner who has learned the basics is A2, and an advanced beginner is C1. Each level can be measured, so official institutions can test you and even issue you a diploma (of course, without enrolling in a course) for knowledge of any European language.

You can also take a test for knowledge of Chinese and Japanese.

So, now what is your goal? What level in practice corresponds to your declared "mastery" or "fluency"?

Long-term practice shows that understanding of fluent speech corresponds to level B2. In fact, this is a social equivalence in a person's native language.

In other words, you can easily understand ordinary situations that occur in a foreign language. For example, talking with friends in a bar, asking people about their plans for the weekend, discussing the news, etc.