How to Avoid Losing Your Foreign Language Skills
By: Annika Wappelhorst
Tags: Motivation, Self Learning, Language, Language Learning, How To

Speak to yourself

Let’s start with the most cringy tip of mine: Have (overly) dramatic monologues with yourself, if your surrounding allows it. Living alone obviously makes it easier, but you could still do it when your flatmates are out or when you take a walk through a nearby forest or park. I am absolutely convinced that speaking a foreign language with yourself makes you more self-confident and improves your pronunciation. Let it all out —the long Italian vowels, the French filler words, the super guttural English sounds, the hard German consonants…

Find those binge-worthy podcasts

On my daily one-hour walk that I’ve introduced due to the lack of corona-caused alternative activities, I usually listen to podcasts in foreign languages — mostly in French. I’ve discovered that it’s quite hard to find podcasts in foreign languages on Spotify (the service I use) because it will mostly suggest German podcasts.

A good idea I’ve discovered is to search for interviews with personalities I’m interested in (politicians, singers, authors). If I like the podcast host who has published that interview, I might like the other episodes of that podcast. You can also search for topics like “racism”, “feminism”, “climate change” in your target languages and hope to find corresponding productions.

Watch series, movies, and Youtube videos

This is probably the most obvious one and one that most of us already do with utmost pleasure. One tip: Using a VPN allows you to watch e.g. Netflix content that is normally not available in your country. Why not make it a habit to watch at least one movie per week in your target language?

Speak to friends and participate in language gatherings

If you have friends who speak your target languages, feel blessed. If not, there are still plenty of ways to get that language practice going. In pre-corona times, I’d have suggested that you look for events like “polyglot meetups” or “language cafes” on Facebook or simply via Google. In our current times where meeting strangers is not exactly recommended, you could download the app Tandem or find a virtual tandem partner online. Language conferences (such as “Women in Language” which I wrote about here) usually also offer language exchange sessions.

Change the language of your operating system

My tablet is in French, my phone used to be in Italian, my laptop is in English. Why not add those little technical words and phrases to your subconsciousness, so that you’ll sometimes catch yourself thinking in that language? “Ah, on est déjà lundi !” — Ah, it’s already Monday! You can of course do the same for apps like Facebook or Instagram.

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

Watch fitness videos in another language

Every morning after leaving the cozy comfort of my warm bed, I make myself do yoga. I used to only watch videos from “Yoga with Adriene” (gotta love her), but I started thinking: “Why not find some French yoga videos?” There are obviously fewer French-speaking yoga teachers with Youtube channels out there, but I really enjoy having my morning routine in French. To my surprise, there were some words like “tailleur” (cross-legged seat) I had never used in my life.

A few YouTube yoga recommendations: Mady Morrison (German), ELLE (French), Yoga Fire by Jo (French) and MichaelaYoga (Italian, German and English).

Teach others (for free)

Do you have friends interested in learning the language you already speak? That may be an extremely useful opportunity for you to practice the language. You probably also know the saying: You only know something when you’re able to teach it. This might not be entirely accurate for languages because most people have difficulties to explain grammar rules or think ‘What the heck is a possessive pronoun?!’, but are still perfectly apt users of that language. Nevertheless, explaining something to others is a win-win situation: Another person is happy they received help and you feel good for putting your skills to use.

Obviously, according to the level to which you speak the language, you can even monetize your language teaching and e.g. become a community teacher on the website “italki” where you can register without an official diploma. That’s what a Ukrainian study friend of mine is doing.

Write your diary in that language

Producing journal entries makes you actively use that language. I invite you to read this article of mine about journaling in your target language(s):

Cook and bake in your target language

Be it a recipe video or a written recipe: Those will fulfill the purpose of filling your stomach (always nice) and feeding you that kitchen vocab’. I always get slightly nostalgic when looking at French recipes: The units of measurement and some ingredients remind me of the time when I lived in France and they were the most normal things in the world. For instance, “Maïzena” is the word the French use for cornstarch — even though it’s a brand name.

Devour books and news articles

You might be willing to read books, but have a hard time finding them. Check out local libraries and, in the worst case, buy ebooks that you can download wherever you live. If you have local friends that speak your target language, asking them if they own books in that language might also be worth a try.

News articles on the other hand can also teach you about current issues in a country where your target language is spoken so that you’d stay up to date about local developments. For French, that would obviously mean that apart from a French newspaper, I could read Belgian, Congolese or Martinicain news (to name just very few).

Read aloud

Just like speaking to yourself, reading texts in another language out loud makes you practice the pronunciation in a safe surrounding at home (and what do we love more than staying at home, right? #covid19). What I like to do when I come across a word I’m unsure how to pronounce: I google “[word] pronunciation [language]”, e.g. “näringsfång pronunciation Swedish”. They are numerous websites where people have recorded words in their mother tongue so you can hear an authentic version — and otherwise, most dictionaries will have audio versions of their available words.

Listen to songs, sing along & dance (!)

I recommend that you create playlists for each of the languages you learn or have learned. Whenever you feel like listening to one of them, you can directly select the French or the Portuguese playlist and dance around while washing your dishes, cooking, or rhythmically swinging your tea towel to the beat (the perks of having no flatmates who could eye you with great amusement).