Language Learning

By EDITH MAUCH

Learning a language, especially if you want to learn a language by yourself, can be an extremely overwhelming process. You may be worried that you will pick it up for a few weeks or months and then you will never study it again. You may be worried that you do not have enough time to study a language. You may not even know where to start. If this is you, you are not alone. I have learned a total of five languages throughout my life, and I can relate to the overwhelming (but exciting!) feeling of starting to study a new language. Below are pieces of advice that I have learned about learning languages that have aided me in my studies and I hope will help you, too.

1. Find someone to practice with. In my opinion, learning a language on your own, without a class or a tutor is doable. However, you need to have at least one other dedicated person to practice with, preferably someone who is at an advanced level, but is still able to kick their conversational skills down several notches when you are first beginning. Another good option to supplement this person would be a conversational group in the language you are studying. Often, university campuses, local libraries, and community centers will offer these for free. I would not recommend using a conversational group in place of one-on-one conversation. Although conversational groups can be immensely helpful, that one-on-one practice will be tailored to your current level. While conversational groups are often composed of people who will be at the same or similar level to you, it is not as personalized and often does not get more niche than “beginning,” “intermediate”, and “advanced”. In addition, conversational groups will often move at a much slower pace than one-on-one conversation will. With that being said, I would still highly recommend conversational groups. They are excellent for exposing you to different types of speakers and conversations in the language you are studying. One of the dangers of always speaking one-on-one with the same person is that you get used to the way, pace at which, and how they talk in the language you are studying. Therefore, since conversational groups are composed of many different types of people of different ages, abilities, backgrounds, etc., it makes for an excellent challenge and one that I believe to be necessary to implement into the study of your language.

2. Set a language learning schedule for yourself. Since you will not have the structure of a class with a syllabus attached to it to set up a framework for what you will be doing when, it is helpful to make your own schedule. It does not need to be nearly as fancy or rigorous as that of a class, but it still important to set up a good routine and build habits in your language learning. Otherwise, you will not be consistently studying and you will likely begin to forget things. The first step of creating your schedule will be determining how many hours a week you can commit to studying the language. My recommendation is committing around 3 hours a week. You also should decide how many days a week you will study the language. It does not have to be every day. Although, in my opinion, this is the most effective way to learn a language. It could be every other day or every three days. For example, if on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you have four classes, a lab, and a sports practice, this is probably not the best day to spend time studying the language. However, if on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you only have two classes in the morning, you might want to schedule some time in the afternoon or evening for language learning. Weekends might also be a good time to schedule in some language learning. From this, if you’ve decided that you will set aside time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays for language learning, divide the time you decided to commit in a week with this number of days. In my experience, this should be more than twenty minutes a day because anything less than this is not enough time to properly study anything when it comes to languages. The next step in planning your language learning schedule is to decide what you will spend that time you’ve set aside studying. Obviously, you will be studying the language you have chosen, but finding out where and how to begin can be a huge roadblock. If you are finding yourself at this roadblock, keep reading!

3. Decide what you will study and what resources you will use. Before beginning to study anything, you should make a list of the things that you both should and want to study within the language you have chosen. Below is a suggestion of the order that I have personally found most helpful (keep in mind that this may not work for you and that you will likely have to create your own list in your own order).

A. Basic pronunciation rules of the languages you’ve chosen to study.

B. Basic sentences. Find a list of very basic sentences to get used to how sentences look in the language you’ve chosen, to learn the basics of word order, and to pick up on some key vocabulary words. Keep in mind that this can be extremely overwhelming and keep reminding yourself that you definitely do not need to know what these sentences fully mean yet- it is just to get your “feet wet”.

C. Key verbs. Learn 4 or 5 of the most important verbs in the language you’ve chosen to study. For example, verbs like “to be” and “to have”.

D. The vocabulary that you will use in every day conversation. Make a list in English of the top fifteen words that you use every day. Try to include simple words like “and”, “the”, and “to” and words that are more specific to your daily life like “university”, “class”, “pet” (if you have one).

E. The numbers.

F. Phrases like “my name is”, “where is…?”, “How do you say…in (the language you are learning)?”

G. Basic present tense verb conjugation.

As for resources to use when learning a language, in my opinion, you only need one book (or online language learning platform) and one dictionary (online or paper) to start out. As you progress through the language, you may wish to acquire more books or try out some different resources, but when you are first starting to study a language, in my experience, it can bog you down more than help you to have many different resources. There are lots of excellent free online language learning platforms (you definitely do not need to spend any money in order to obtain a good online learning platform). My top recommendation is Duolingo. Although Duolingo does have a version you can pay for, the free version of Duolingo is just fine. I have been using Duolingo since I was five and I have never paid for it, and it has been one of the most valuable resources to me in learning languages. If you are a book person and you prefer having a hard copy to learn from (like me), I would recommend the workbook Italian is Fun (they also have Spanish is Fun, French is Fun, and German is Fun, depending on what language you choose to study). If you are not learning a different language than the ones above, I would recommend this website, which gives curriculum suggestions for all different languages (I cannot personally recommend any curriculum outside the Romance Languages since that is all I have studied): 20+ Best Homeschool Foreign Language Curriculum (homeschoolof1.com).. You could also go to a library and see what language books they have there. That way, you could check one out for free. Alternatively, you ask someone who has also learned or is learning the language you have chosen to study. They will likely have a recommendation for a good book for learning that language. For paper dictionaries, the brand does not really matter, especially when you are first beginning to study a language. You will likely be able to find one very cheaply at a used bookstore or on the website Thrift Books. You will likely also be able to check one out of your local or university library (the Bethany College library has many dictionaries in various languages). For online dictionaries, I recommend Glosbe Dictionary. It has 6,000 languages and one of the best parts about it is that you can find audio recordings of the words you look up to help with pronunciation, which is one of the biggest challenges when learning a language by yourself, in my opinion. Again, it is important to note that you do not have to spend any money to learn a language. There are many excellent free online language learning platforms and most libraries stock dozens of language learning books.

4. Keep an ongoing vocabulary list. Dedicate a notebook to vocabulary in the language you are learning. In my experience, it is very easy to lose track of vocabulary, thus leading to you forgetting it, especially if you are using a platform like Duolingo that does not centralize vocabulary lists like a textbook would (one of the only flaws of Duolingo that I can think of- otherwise, it is a fantastic program). Also, when it comes to needing to revisit and study past vocabulary (which you should do often throughout the course of you learning a language), it will be easy to find. Consider creating different lists in your notebook to group vocabulary. For example, “Food”, “Clothing”, “Animals”, “Phrases I use every day”, etc. This will make it even easier to find. Alternatively, if you are using a textbook, you could mark the pages with vocabulary lists (often at the end of every chapter or unit) or you could use a Word document to list and group your vocabulary as you would in a notebook. Which method you use comes down to personal preference and what is easiest for you to keep your vocabulary organized and readily available to revisit and study. Remember to add to your vocabulary list as soon as a new word comes up. This does not have to be from an online language learning platform or a textbook, it could be a word you hear a person you practice with using, a word you learned in a conversational group, or a word you read in an article or heard on the radio.

5. Do NOT use Google Translate. When you are learning a language, there is often a huge temptation to use platforms like Google Translate. I would highly recommend staying away from such platforms that can translate whole sentences. In my opinion, Google Translate is a great platform for when you are intermediate or advanced in a language. The reason for this is because what Google Translate tells you is often incorrect. It often not because what it tells you isn’t technically a correct translation (because it often is), but the translation will often use verb tenses that you are not familiar with that are still correct, but not what you need when you are first learning a language. This will likely lead to confusion and frustration. And also, Google Translate can just be completely wrong, which can teach you incorrect things about the language you are trying to learn. Also, one can become easily reliant on Google Translate, which can very much stunt progress in learning a language, because you cannot translate or write in that language without using Google Translate, which will not help you in the long run. Therefore, if you are serious about learning a language, I highly recommend steering clear of Google Translate.

6. Immerse, Immerse, Immerse. Perhaps the most valuable piece of advice I can give about language learning is to immerse yourself as much as possible in that language as soon as you can. Even if this immersion is way beyond your level, it is still very helpful. Listen to music in the language you are studying (both by artists who are native speakers of the language you are studying and adaptations of songs you already know in the language you are learning). Listen to interviews and podcasts in the language you are studying. Look for videos in the language you are studying. Watch children’s television shows in the language you are studying (you will likely have to look these up on a platform like Youtube). Watch a movie you know by heart in the language you are studying. Read a children’s picture book in the language you are studying. Take any and every opportunity to listen to and converse with native speakers of the language you are studying or with people who are learning the language, too. Be patient with yourself. It will not be easy to converse at first. It often takes months to have a successful conversation where you understand the other person and the other person understands you, and this is completely okay. And it can take years to understand a native speaker. However, do not get discouraged. This kind of practice is so vital to you learning a language, even if does not seem entirely helpful (if helpful at all) at first.

I want to conclude this article by wishing you the very best of luck with your language studies, whether you are just beginning or have been learning for years. In my opinion, language learning is one of the single most important things that we as humans can do, as it opens our eyes so much to the world around us. Happy learning!