How to learn a foreign language the best way

Level A2

What are the Best ways to learn a foreign language

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Welcome once again to the latest edition of this blog! Today I’m going to give you some important ways to learn a foreign language. Before I give my expert tips as a teacher, let us read what some of my friends responded to a survey how they learnt a foreign language.

Bogi: “Look for penpals, make friends with native speakers 😉”

Rita: “I think that films and reading are all very good, but perhaps the best way is if someone has a partner in the target language”.

Tashina: “The absolute best way is to have a friend or instructor help you out with your language. Look up English idioms. Look up slang. These things will help you blend in as a ‘native speaker’ as you progress further. Make sure you know ahead of time how you want to present yourself. If you would rather be understood by everyone or have more sophisticated language skills. Never be afraid to ask questions.”

Thank you girls for your contributions!

These are all valid points and I will go into them in more depth later in the article.

You will find a lot different links to improve these skills within the text.

The four key skills of language learning

We’re going to look at the four key skills and how we can improve them:

  • Listening
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Speaking

So, let’s get going!

How to improve Your listening skills?

With more and more technology available, we have numerous ways of enhancing our listening skills:

  1. Watch TV series, documentaries and films you already know (my personal recommendation)
    Online platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Apple TV let us watch our favourite programmes or shows within one click. By watching something you already know, it makes it easier for you to concentrate on the speaking because you already what is going to happen. These platforms allow us to use subtitles. These help us to learn the vocabulary easily. You also see how the actors act out certain words, which might make it easier for some of you to remember what a word means. I would recommend to use original language subtitle.
  2. Watching new TV series etc.
    As with point 1, these online platforms make it easier to also find new programmes you don’t know, but also may enjoy. Netflix, for example, uses a prediction to say how close another programme might be to something you like. For example, if you watch the BBC series Luther, it will tell you that a similar series or film (usually of the same category, in this case crime fiction) might be perfect for you. Therefore, this makes watching these programmes even more enjoyable.
  3. Listening to music
    By actively listening to music, we improve our listening skills. This is because we have to concentrate more on the vocabulary and grammar used in the songs. I also wrote a post about how to perfect your English listening skills in 6 easy steps. You can listen to music on internet radio stations such as BBC Radio or Spotify and Youtube.
  4. Listening to podcasts / audio books
    More and more radio stations are producing podcasts, which are available online and offline. Audio books are also available in CD or MP3 format so as you can use them on the way to work. With podcasts and audio books we have to concentrate more on the vocabulary and grammar used. This way, we improve our active listening skills. Spotify and Amazon Prime offer a wide-range of podcasts and audio books.
  5. Watching or listening to news programmes
    By watching or listening to BBC news programmes, you will pick up the Oxford English pronunciation. By listening to other sources such as CNN (an American news channel), you will also become familiar with various accents and dialects. These will then become helpful when we communicate with English speakers from different parts of the world. For tips on improving your speaking, keep reading!

Read whatever text comes before you

Here are some ways you can improve your reading skills a lot:

  • Read literature. It doesn’t have to mean picking up a book and reading from cover to cover. No, you can just dip in and out! You can read novels, short stories or poetry as well. Some people would say poetry is for old romantics, but not necessarily! There are some contemporary poets who write about the world as we experience it and they use language to describe the society we live in.
  • Read newspapers, websites, blogs, magazines or cartoons. The topic could be anything, from news to fashion, from football to gardening. These different types of media also improve our professional knowledge of a language.
  • Read any information you come across in the target language (user manuals, health or medication advice, weather forecast, etc.)

If you visit a country that uses the target language, read everything you can see on the street, on public transport or in shops: posters, adverts, labels, warnings, etc. 

Here are list of useful pages that might help you:

Online newspapers / magazines: The GuardianNational GeographicBBC FocusRolling Stone


Writing

With reading, also comes writing. For some language learners, writing to penfriends is one of the easiest ways of learning their target language.  Writing can be anything from letters to friends to writing a personal diary or longer essays and perhaps even stories. There is, however, a method that many overlook, which is writing songs. The famous Swedish band ABBA wrote most of their songs in English and look where it got them! I’m not suggesting that you will become world-famous, but if you like music a lot, then try writing something in the target language. This not only improves your writing skills, but then it also increases the next skill, which is, in my opinion, the most important of all the skills.

What are your tips on improving writing skills in a foreign language?

Please share your tips with me and with your help I will create a useful post just about improving your writing skills.


Let’s talk

So, you’ve been watching movies, reading different categories of books, written letters to someone who speaks the language you’re learning and now it’s time to meet them. It doesn’t help if you can’t talk with someone. Speaking is very important to be able to communicate with someone.

If you’re a business person and you need to talk to those around you, then speaking is probably the most important of all skills. As language learners, we need to be able to speak to someone, otherwise we can’t make friends with them or can’t do business with them. Do not be shy! The native speaker of your target language will not mind if you make mistakes. They may even find it charming. If you can, try to join a club or a chat group where you can speak to native speakers. Find a local native speaker who is happy to have a chat with you occasionally over a coffee (or a beer?).


And what about games?

Online gaming could be a fun way of learning a language and improve a number of skills. You can also find a lot of exciting interactive language games on the Internet. So language learning does not have to be hard or boring!


Best way to divide time

As a teacher, I always tell my students to not try to cover all skills at once. My personal experience is that if you try to cover all four skills at once, you completely lose track of where you are and what you’re meant to be learning. So here are my personal tips on how to sharpen your skills:

  •  Pick one skill or activity to start with
  • Then start doing some work to enhance this skill e.g. reading books, watching films…
  •  Set yourself a timeline to improve the skill: either an intensive period or over a longer period
  • Set yourself small targets e.g. ‘I’d like to be able to understand the meaning of a passage in a book or an episode of a series’, or: ‘I will collect short conversational phrases from this film’. 
  • Once the mini targets are set, motivate yourself to get to the targets
  • Finally, once you have achieved all your targets, get someone to test you; preferably a native speaker (for example: ask them in what situation you could use the new phrase and when it would be inappropriate) 

Should I learn by myself or in a group?

This is a good question! Some people prefer to achieve their targets by themselves, others prefer to be in groups. A paper from 2001 published by the EU said that you can learn via ‘self-study / distance-learning OR a teacher’. I always preferred to be in a group of people because I felt it motivated me to become as good as others in that group. Whichever way you prefer, make sure it’s the right way for you!


What about the myths?

There are some myths when it comes to learning in general and these apply to learning languages. Here are some of the most common myths that suggest we are not good at language learning:

  •  Age (we are too old) 
  •  Making mistakes (people will laugh at us)
  • Being bad at languages in school (why try again)
  • Taking ages to learn grammar and vocabulary (I have no time for that)

Age puts no limits on learning a language. You can be still at school or happily retired. I have no problem teaching mature students or younger students. You are all just as welcome!

We all make mistakes when we learn languages. This should not demotivate you one little bit. In actual fact, you should use these mistakes to motivate yourself to not make them next time: we can all learn from our mistakes if we want to.

Even if you were unsuccessful at language learning at school, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn a language later in life. In actual fact with technological advancement, learning can be made so much easier and more fun!

The problem most language learners have is that they want to learn everything now and quickly. Take it all step-by-step! There’s no need to learn the whole dictionary, because to get started it is enough to learn the basics and build it up from there.


How can I help?

I would advise you to start learning another language immediately! Even if you are a little bit older, the enjoyment of learning a new language is amazing and it really inspires to keep going!

I am offering online lessons or face-to-face lessons in Nürnberg, Germany. In our lessons we will use all of the techniques mentioned in this article, so check it out and contact me for a free trial lesson!

What should I read, listen to or watch?

If you don’t which film, book or series to start with, have a look around my blog. Here you will find interesting reviews for different levels of English-language learners. Don’t be scared to write a comment or to email me, if you still don’t know what to start with. I’ll reply as quickly as possible.


Now let’s start learning and please add your favourite websites to the comments below!

Don’t forget to share your tips with me on the link below!

Don’t forget to share your tips on how to best learn writing in a foreign language with me and with your help I will create a useful post just about improving your writing skills.

5 thoughts on “How to learn a foreign language the best way”

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