5 Tips to Learn a Foreign Language

Hi, I'm Cedric and I'm a Linguist:

• I have studied (and enjoyed!) Linguistics
• I speak 4 languages fluently and speak several others at beginner to lower-intermediate level

I used to be an academic manager and taught people how to teach foreign languages. This meant explaining and showing the tutees how we learn foreign languages.

Here are my 5 tips to learn a foreign language!

1. Have a goal in mind

Know why you're learning a foreign language. It's not good enough to want to learn a foreign language to upskill or add to your CV. Languages are alive, they're all around us and you can do things with them: flirt with people, follow cooking instructions, order cheesecake.

Once you know what your goal is, you can decide what you want to concentrate on, what is important to you:

2. Manage your expectations

Like any new project or personal endeavour, once you have your own, personal goal in mind, you need to manage your expectations. In language learning, this means that you have to start at the beginning with the basics.

You will not become fluent in a matter of weeks, months, or even a year. There are exceptions, those who become fluent in a short amount of time tend to put it a lot of time and resources. For most of us, however, 2 to 4 hours a week will add up slowly.

They say the air is thinner at the top: you'll notice that there are fewer and fewer people who want to become super-really-fluent in a foreign languages. At the same time, the returns you get from a beginner's course are immense: you'll make good progress quickly. But the more you progress in that language, the more time and effort you'll need to refine all those skills.

Remember: some people have goals that don't include intermediate language skills. These people manage their expectations by being happy with the level they'll need.

3. Make mistakes

Yes, you heard (and read) me: make mistakes. Your traditional schooling has taught you that making mistakes and errors are a bad thing. What it failed to teach you is this: engage in risky learning.

When learning a foreign language, try things out, guess grammar and vocabulary, play with it. Once you're out of your own comfort zone, you are in that interesting learning zone of risks. This is a great place to be: you're at the driver seat, you're in control, and any gains are because of you.

Making mistakes also means: speak fluently but not necessarily accurately. You might recognise that situation: every sentence you say is grammatically correct but there are many pauses and the conversation is awkward and stilted. Instead, go for fluency: go with the flow, with the actual content of the conversation, with the emotions, and screw correct language.

4. Mind your inputs and outputs

Language input = the language that you read, hear, or is being taught to you.

Language output = the language that you read, speak, or do things with.

In contemporary foreign language learning (the good kind), your teacher will make sure that you produce a lot of language. Lots of outputs. This is very good because they need to see your progress, it helps you become fluent (as opposed to accurate), and it helps consolidate learning with others.

However, I would also say that you need to be in control of your inputs. Research suggests your inputs need to be N+1: your own level of understanding plus that tiny extra effort beyond your understanding. Push and move forward, push and move forward, etc.

Language learning is not just a classroom thing, it's not just a traditional learning thing. It should be something you enjoy. Get those inputs from anywhere you can, e.g.

• foreign language Netflix show with English subtitles
• foreign language Netflix show with matching foreign language subtitles
• foreign language Netflix show without subtitles

Imagine watching your favourite episode three times. Because of all that input, you'll start noticing things! And noticing is a great language learning strategy.

5. Make it all about you

Remember when You were the Time's Person of the Year? That too helps with foreign language learning.

The 4 previous tips all have this in common: you!

It's your learning journey so you should make it as much about you as possible. Match your normal life to your foreign language life: Do you love food and cooking? In that case, watch foreign language cooking shows on YouTube, read blogs, order a recipe book. Are you into video games? Change the language of your video game to that foreign language and watch reviews in that language. Are you a workaholic and always busy? Switch your email account language to that new foreign language.

Make it your own. Make it authentic. Languages are fun, languages are alive, languages are all around us. Once you become in-tune with that, you can prosper.

What do you think?

What are your comments? What are your tips to learn a foreign language?

About Cedric Krummes

I'm an explainer, specialist, and implementer. I love information governance, training, and linguistics - don't make me choose??