tips

7 Simple Tips on Learning a New Language

7 Simple Tips on Learning a New Language

By Eli Morey

If you are like most people, you have dreamt about learning to speak another language fluently. You imagine impressing friends and family with your skills, travelling the world, meeting new people and learning about new cultures.

However, most people never take action to realize this dream. The main reason is that learning a new language is a long-term project and can seem like a daunting task. It is easy to get overwhelmed and give up, particularly in the early stages of learning, when even formulating and understanding simple phrases can feel like pulling teeth.

If any of this sounds relevant to your experience, then the following tips are for you. Mastering a new language will never be easy, but anyone who has done it will tell you that it is worth the pain. Here are our tips to help you power through the most difficult parts of your language learning journey.

1.      Practice with other people!

As much as the introverts among us might beg to differ, humans are social creatures, and we learn socially. This is particularly true of language. Keep in mind that our first language is always learned via socialization and is constantly being changed and redefined in different social contexts.

Ideally, we would all like to meet fluent or native speakers of our target language to socialize with. However, this is not always possible, nor is it always the most productive way to start learning a language.

Even practicing with other novices has its benefits, as it allows you to work through questions and difficulties as a group and provides you with much needed encouragement to keep practicing even when you aren’t feeling 100% up to the task. Consider starting a study group with friends or peers and meeting once or twice a week.

2.      Don’t obsess about the “right” order of operations

One common way to get overwhelmed when learning a new language is to try to plot out your entire language learning curriculum from the start. You might find yourself googling syllabuses from courses or making a list of which things you want to learn in which order.

The problem with this approach is that it fails to take into account the fluidity of our human brains, which have evolved to learn and solve problems in a myriad of ways and in different orders.

It also fails to consider that we all have different interests and needs. For example, someone who plays music might find it beneficial to learn vocabulary related to instruments and music theory long before learning vocabulary related to healthcare or government.

Here is an easy piece of advice to follow: learn about what you are passionate about first, then fill in the gaps!

3.      Speak and listen

If you have studied languages in a school setting, you may have noticed that there is an extremely strong emphasis on reading and writing skills, with little attention paid to speaking or listening.

However, as we noted in tip #1, we all learned our first language by speaking and listening to parents, family members, schoolmates, etc. In fact, our brains are hardwired to learn everything about a language just by hearing and speaking language, making small recalibrations every time we take in new data.

Instead of spending hours poring over lists of vocabulary or flashcards, try watching a television show in another language, or chatting with a friend who is also learning.

4.      Take it slow but steady

Impatience can be a great motivator to help you push yourself, but it can also be an obstacle to healthy learning habits. Instead of random, occasional heroic study marathons, try to spend a few minutes every single day practicing a new language.

Make a small goal for yourself each day or week, such as learning 5 new vocabulary words and how to use them in context or spending 30 minutes listening to a Spanish language podcast.

Small, achievable goals serve as milestones that help you feel that you are making progress, and prevent burnout.

5.      Review on a regular basis

As a now fluent speaker of Spanish, I sometimes find myself embarrassed to have forgotten a very basic word. For example, the other day I was speaking to an Argentinian friend, and I forgot the Spanish word for spoon.

This is a great example of why review is important. Even once we achieve a high level of language proficiency, it is always helpful to go back and review things that we think we know.

This is particularly true for new learners, whose brains haven’t yet started to form patterns that help them to recall words and phrases in milliseconds.

6.      Don’t be afraid to sound silly

This advice falls under the general category of not being afraid to make mistakes. However, it is particularly applicable to features of language such as phonetics (that is to say, differences in sounds and pronunciation).

When starting a new language, people often feel embarrassed to even attempt to make new sounds because they feel so unnatural. Regardless, you should keep in mind that by not even attempting to pronounce new sounds correctly, you probably sound even sillier to native speakers. Making a good attempt and failing over and over will eventually help you get it right.

7.      Find a teacher

For all of the hype these days about internet autodidacts, there is a reason why formal education always involves instructors. There is no replacement for learning from someone who has already gone through the process of learning a language and understands from experience how to help you through common pitfalls and obstacles.

If you are looking for a teacher to help you with English, Spanish, French, or Arabic, don’t hesitate to reach out to Midwest Language Services.

Click here to browse our language classes and tutoring options!

Interviewing Basics

It’s exciting to interview for a job you are interested in doing; however, simple things send subtle signals that you may or may not be so excited about the job. Here are some tips to help you put your best foot forward and improve your chances of getting hired. Little things mean a lot.

  1. Show up on time. The idea of what “on time” means varies from culture to culture. if you’re interviewing to be an interpreter, teacher, or anyone else who needs to be punctual because others will be waiting for you, then showing up on time might actually mean showing up at least fifteen minutes early in the parking lot of the place you’re going to so you have enough time to gather your thoughts, look in the mirror, and then walk in the door. Showing up late tends to signal that you don’t care about the job or that you are presumptuous about getting hired. Life happens. If you must be late, call as soon as possible.

  2. Smile. You are preparing to interview somewhere you would like to work. You may be nervous, but people like to be around people who have a pleasant demeanor. This is especially true if you are interviewing for a job that requires you to be around other people. No one wants to hire a sourpuss.

  3. Avoid complaining. I once interviewed an interpreter I will never call on simply because she tossed her purse on the interview table, complained about the landscaping in front of the building, and then complained about how difficult it was to come to my office. People tend to hire people who are going to represent their company well and not cause embarrassment or a negative work environment. (See number 2.)

  4. Avoid wearing heavy cologne, after shave, or other perfumed products. Less is more. Some people are allergic to heavy scents and also prone to migraines. Deodorant is fine (and encouraged), but anything else may be too much.

  5. Dress the part. Think of what you would expect someone to wear if they were doing the job you are applying for. Dress shoes, slacks, a button-up shirt, dress, conservative top, and skirts are fitting for most interviews. Assume a more formal atmosphere and discuss the dress code after you get the interview. Conversely, if you get a second interview, don’t assume that you can wear casual clothing. It is better to be overdressed than under-dressed.

  6. Read about the company before the interview. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about what you may be doing and how you might contribute in other ways to the company.

  7. Ask not what the company can do for you, but ask what you can do for the company. In other words, don’t start discussing salary and benefits until you have shared how you would be an asset to the company.

The above tips also hold true even after you’ve been hired. Ask yourself how you can add value to the company. This may open doors to you even after you’ve been hired and can lead to greater responsibility and pay within the company.