This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Murray State chapter.
If you are studying foreign languages, you surely know how much effort and time it takes to become fluent in them. However, it is definitely worth it because once you become advanced in a language, a lot of opportunities will be open to you. What is the best way to learn a language efficiently? Here are some tips:
- Motivate yourself. If you donât have motivation to study a language, then you are more likely to quit and not become proficient. Find your motivation before working on a new language and that will help you to continue studying a language.
- Practice makes it perfect. Nothing can replace a face-to-face conversation with native speakers or people who are good at the language you’re studying. Just donât be shy and try to communicate with them as much as possible even if you make some mistakes. That will help you learn new words and phrases that are useful in everyday life.
- Study constantly. When you are learning a language, it is extremely important to be consistent in your study time in order to avoid relearning the same information multiple times. It is much easier to advance in a language by studying two hours every day rather than studying once a week for five hours. Photo courtesy of Lonely Planetâ
- Immerse yourself in the new language. The environment you live in might play a tremendous role in helping you to learn new words. Put stickers with words written on them on your fridge, mirror, table or bed. If you unintentionally look at them for two weeks, for example, you will notice that you already know those words without spending a lot of time reading textbooks.
- Get excited about studying a language. Find YouTubers who speak a language you would like to know and watch their videos or start listening to songs in that language. Dive into a new culture and make it fun for you to practice.
- Download apps for studying languages on your phone. Today we spend a lot of time scrolling the feed on Instagram and Facebook, so why not use our smartphones more wisely? For example, Duolingo, Memrise or italki (where you can find a tutor or a person who speaks the language you are learning and talk to them via Skype) could help you to practice languages.
- Flashcards make it easier to remember new words. Write a word on one side of a flashcard and the translation on the other. In order to memorize words, look at one side of a card, turn it over, and try to remember the new words by repeating that several times.
Good luck!