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Language Learning Tips
I'm not an expert in language acquisition, however I would like to share with you some tips that have helped me thus far on my journey! Some of them you've probably heard elsewhere, some may are probably very obvious tips, but I hope at least some of them are helpful!
1. Don't compare yourself to others!
This one I find hard for myself to follow, still, it's seriously important for your happiness and motivation. You might see those people online who seem to be language geniuses, like those people in those videos that say "GENIUS TEENAGER SPEAKS 20 LANGUAGES FLUENTLY!" Online, you also see those people who spend five hours every day drilling vocabulary, and they apparently become fluent in one month or whatever. You might go to your language class and feel like everyone's better than you. I know I do. Sometimes this can make you a bit depressed, and you feel like you'll never be as good as others at your target language.
Please, don't compare yourself to others. Everybody learns at their own pace, so don't feel bad if you're not at X level in two months or whatever. I find that a lot of people in classes who seem so good actually rely on Google Translate or a dictionary too much anyways.
2. Don't worry about whether a language is "useful" or not.
Many people might ask you: "Why are you learning X language? It's useless! You won't get a job with that!" This could even be reversed by thinking "Y language has so many speakers, there's no point in learning it if there are millions who can already speak it well..."
Any language you pick up is useful. If your target language has less speakers, wouldn't that make you more unique? I don't think it really matters what you learn, unless you are one of those people who is looking to get a good career abroad.
3. Don't stress too much about grammar!
Grammar is important, yes, but it shouldn't be stressful. I feel like a lot of people hate learning French because in schools all they make us do is grammar worksheets for hours. We end up lacking skills in the listening and speaking department because we spend so much time on grammar. Language learning should be fun, not boring. If you want to write professional papers and stuff in another language, you've got to make sure your grammar is good. But at the start, don't worry so much about it. I'm sure you'll pick everything up in time. To be honest, I hear a lot of people speak English with incorrect grammar. Even I speak with bad grammar a lot of the time. It doesn't stop people from understanding me, though. Grammar seems to stress a lot of people out, it shouldn't be that stressful.
4. Studying doesn't have to be boring.
This sort of leads on from the last point. Language learning isn't all about grammar drills and working through a textbook. You have the Internet at your fingertips, meaning you can immerse yourself in any language you want. You can use your target language to watch cartoons, play games, listen to music, and so much more. In my opinion, it still counts as studying if you're doing those things in another language. If you don't have fun studying, you're not going to feel motivated.
5. Have a goal.
I find having a goal is much more motivating for me. This year, I finally decided to try hard in studying French, because I realised I wanted to get a job with it. With Japanese, my goal was very flimsy. I just wanted to play a specific video game, but once I played that game, I didn't really have any other goals. That's why my studying's been so casual and I never put that much effort into it. Once I decided to take the JLPT, that did put my motivation up a lot. Maybe it's different for other people, but my weakest languages are ones I don't have goals for.
I didn't know this until this year that making goals is so important.
6. Take every opportunity to speak, even if you're nervous.
I'm not very good at following this tip either.
Us humans always care about what others think. When we learn foreign languages, we're not that confident, so we don't want to speak it in front of other people. I often don't even tell people I'm learning another language, cause I don't want them to ask me to say something in it. In my French class, we're not supposed to use English, except I end up switching to it all the time by accident. I worry about getting the conjugations wrong on the spot.
It's so important to practice speaking as much as possible. Again, don't think about other people judging you for your poor grammar and toddler's vocabulary. A lot of people are actually just impressed that you made the effort to speak. First, you could practice speaking by yourself, just saying random phrases to you or your cat. Hopefully that'll get you used to speaking aloud, so eventually you'll want to try it in the real world.
One time I was at work and I saw a customer who spoke French. I was super nervous, but I decided to start speaking to her in French. Eventually I had to switch to English, but the customer was happy that I tried my best. The conversation felt rewarding, I was happy that my French was actually comprehendible enough for someone to understand me. I was glad I spoke up. It's hard if you're like me and find it hard enough to speak to others in your native tongue, but it's so much fun if you try.
7. Don't worry about the words you don't know!
Some people try to use their new language, and they get stumped. The things they want to say they don't have the words for. In my classes, I see people constantly looking up words online. Don't focus on what you don't know. You'll learn all that eventually. Try your best to make do with what you've got. Even when you're reading in another language, it's annoying having to look up every word you don't know. When I'm reading, I usually just write down the words so I can look them up later.
When writing and speaking, just try to use what you know. I find language professors like that more. Some students do a presentation using loads of new words the rest of us don't know. This is because they chose a subject that they aren't familiar with yet in the target language. It's best to practice the words and grammar you're supposed to be learning first, before looking up new stuff. I'm finding it hard to explain this point, just try not to go beyond your level by attempting to use all these fancy words you pulled from Google Translate. We can't know all the words immediately, it takes time to learn. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Hopefully these tips were at least somewhat motivational for you. The best thing to do is to just learn at your own pace, and try your best to enjoy yourself.
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