Are you
struggling with learning a new language? Here's some of my personal tips to
master street level proficiency in a couple of months.
ABOUT ME: I am from a Hindi speaking community, and I learned Punjabi in 7th grade. Students around me at that time were using grade 9 books. They understood the language deeply but I used the tips listed below to learn and achieve a proficiency in Punjabi in two months. Later I gave a class test in which I scored in top 5 students. Now I am learning German for college studies.
1. Recognize That you can make mistakes.
You
are learning a language, not a math concept, Mistakes are allowed. (even
in math). My father also tried to learn Punjabi with me, He catastrophized
mistakes, I didn't and don't worry to ask a native speaker how you could have
done better
2. Relate a language to its neighbors
I
am currently studying German, which is similar to English. I guess that you
have basic understanding of English. Now you can relate to a word in German to English
in case you don't know the literal meaning. I did the same with Punjabi,
nearly 60-70% of words in Punjabi is related to Hindi. Also 90% of grammar
is same in both languages.
Example:
Halle in German is Hall in English
NOTE:
while learning to speak, you don’t need to memorize detailed concepts. EX- you
don’t need to master ALANKAR (poetic devices) in Hindi or Punjabi. You can
speak without them and it will be fine.
3. Learn native accent and new words
It’s the most important step. Most
people ignore native accent, by inventing their own pronunciations. Not only
its more painful to learn later, it makes native speaker quite uncomfortable.
Try to learn native accent. Also learn any five new words every day.+
4. You are learning to speak a language, not understanding how the language works
Me and my dad spent a month just
revisiting the concepts of Punjabi grammar which were more or less same as in Hindi.
Remember learning a language requires basic understanding of grammar, but a big
BUT, if you know a neighboring language already, or even any language, you can figure
out how to make sentences in a few minutes. You are not a kid learning to
understand how a language works, you know it already.
5. Music and Movies are important part.
Sounds a bit entertaining? Yes,
it is and quite helpful. Try to watch movies in the language you’re trying to
learn. Like I did, I watched Wednesday (You didn’t watch it? You are missing
out a big thing) first in English, with German subtitles then watched again in German
itself. Not only I learned new words and pronunciations, it gave me a little
more confidence to speak it. You can also listen to the songs of language,
figure out lyrics, find meaning of lyrics and brag that you know the meaning of
song in front of friends 😉
6. Speak the language!
If you will not speak the language,
you are wasting your time. Not speaking is a big river you have to cross to
reach proficiency. Its hard and sometimes people around you might discourage
you, but you have keep struggling.
NOTE FOR THOSE WHO ALSO WANT TO WRITE LANGUAGE:
Before anything else, learn the
alphabets and their pronunciation first. Then Focus to read books and speak at
same time in that language. Its quite IMPORTANT.