As a second language learner I fully realise what learning a new language means. I know how long it take just to start and I know how hard to motivate yourself to continue learning. I can reassure you that everything that holds you back can be defeated easily. There is absolutely no difference what age, gender or character you are. If you use the right approaches, methods and techniques you can do it, just like how other people and I could.
The secret to getting ahead is getting started
Choose a well defined and short-term deadline.
Your goal should never be vague; make it as specific and precise as you can. Instead of “I will study French in 2020,” your purpose should be like this: “I will write down and learn 5 French words daily” or “I will learn French words about work by the end of this weekend.”
You should also make your goals measurable in a number, quantity, time or date. How many words or how much material you want to grasp, how long will it take to do.
Always remember that your goal should be realistic especially in terms of time. Realise wisely how much time per day, week or month you can dedicate to learning, considering all aspects of your life such as your job, family and other activities. If you set a target which you can easily achieve, it will motivate you to do ,ore as you will feel satisfied and you will want to challenge yourself more. Try to focus on one thing at a time and break the tasks into milestones.
All your goals ought to be relevant to your needs. If you never use medical vocabulary in your mother tongue and you will never use it in a foreign language, why should you overwhelm yourself by learning it in another language? For instance, if you need a new language to speak to clients, firstly learn how to speak and only then should you practice your writing.
Don’t jump into more difficult material unless you are confident in elementary one. Instead, focus on priority words, most important ones.
Identify whether your efforts work or not.
Only 20% of the material you use and time you spent learning a language lead to 80% of the results; so it is essential to realise whether your efforts are productive or not.
Involve your daily activities into learning a language.
To put it simply, try to do everything you are used to doing such as fitness, music listening, TV watching or other activities in a foreign language.
For example , if you like watching a video of cooking a meal and doing it simultaneously, find a video recipe in the language you learn and do the some thing, but in another language. Not only will you do what you like doing, but you will also learn new words and phrases. Do it as often as possible, so the new material will stick to your memory better.
Practice makes perfect.
Revise everything that you learnt frequently. New words tend to be forgotten if they are not used on a regular basis. Practice saying new words aloud, include them into sentences, write them down so you can see and hear them often until they are memorised.
Practice helps you remember many words and phrases. Repetition works, and saying the words and sentences, even if only in your mind, works better than reading or hearing them.
You need to practice the previously learned content with increasing intervals – an hour, then a day, then weekly, then fortnightly, then monthly, then every six months, then yearly
Think in a foreign language.
Speaking a language is perhaps the best way to learn it, and thinking it is just expressing it in your mind. Try to build phrases in your mind in a foreign language while doing the washing up, shopping, walking, doing exercises; try to describe what you are doing using the language. Even simple phrases such as “I am cooking chicken right now and I am putting some salt in it” or “I am taking my shoes off.”
Listen to a foreign language in the background.
When you are doing your everyday activities, try to turn on a video in a foreign language on, and even if you don’t understand everything that is being said – listen to it as much as possible.
Read in a foreign language.
Start by reading simple texts about topics that interest you. It is better to begin with reading blogs, short stories, newspaper so it will help you to be familiar with an everyday spoken language. Only when the mentioned material seems easy to read, can you start grasping professional and more complicated literature.
