5 Tips From a Polyglot to Learn a New Language
By: The Bilingual Frenchy
Tags: Language Learning, Skills, Tips, Bilingual

If I had a superpower it would be to speak all the languages in the world.

“Transparence” — Ellès Kattar

You’ve tried for the fifth time to pick up French but you just can’t figure out how to learn it. If you’re asking yourself what you are doing wrong, here are five tips to help you learn a new language.

Consistency is key

As for any new skill you are learning, practising everyday will help you get better. And this is even more true when learning a new language. I can already hear you thinking “Sure but I don’t have time everyday”. Really? I’m sure you have five minutes to spare everyday to learn a few words.

It is not about the amount of time you spent learning but if you are doing it every single day. From five minutes to one hour a day, consistency will help you learn. For example if you learn five words everyday you will have quite a vocabulary by the end of the year. You might not see the result right away but if you keep practising every day you will progress.

Motivation

Let me ask you a question: why are you learning this language?

I learned Arabic for my grand-mother. Arabic is not an easy language and I cannot count the number of times I wanted to quit. But I learned it because I wanted to be able to communicate with my grand-mother who only speaks Arabic.

I kept going because my motivation was clear. I decided to learn Arabic to build a relationship with my grand-mother without having to ask for translation all the time. If you have a strong reason, be it traveling, having a relationship, watching your favorite movie without subtitles it will be easier to learn the language. So find that motivation and keep it in mind.

Start with the most common words

The French language has around 30 000 words that are commonly used but for daily and basic conversation you only need around 300 words. If you learn those words you will be able to have a basic conversation with someone. Moreover, by achieving a small level of comprehension and communication it will motivate you even more to continue.

Don’t get stuck on vocabulary that is too complicated.

Try different methods

We are all different. Some of us have auditory memories, others visual memories. It is important to try different methods and use the one that works for you. Maybe you can just watch a show in the language you are learning and pick up vocabulary like that. Maybe you need flashcards and you don’t need any context to remember vocabulary. Maybe listening to songs is enough for you. Maybe you just need to start speaking as soon as you know some words. Everybody learns differently and there is no magic method.

Design your own method, the one that works the best for you.

Keep it fun

This tip is one of the most important. If you are bored when you learn the language or you get pissed at those awful grammar lessons, you will start to associate bad emotions to learning that language. Sitting down to learn French will become a burden. I would advise you to keep it fun to still enjoy the process of learning. For example, I was learning Italian and I found a show about soccer in Italian so I watched all the episodes and got a lot of vocabulary from the show. Sure, it’s vocabulary about soccer but it was fun!