Learning Languages

Four Ways to Get Better at Languages

Sometimes, when we're learning a language, we can feel very frustrated. Despite all the hours that we're putting in and all of the hard work that we're doing, when it comes to actually speaking the language, it can sometimes come out stuttered, full of mistakes, and sound like we're not really that good.

This can lead to a lot of self-doubt. It can lead us to ask questions like: 'Can I really learn this language?' or 'Have I perhaps reached my limit?'

The way to start speaking a language more fluently and more proficiently is just to practise speaking it. Practise, practise and practise again. Here are some tips that you can use to get more practice at speaking the language. So, the first one is: Get a conversation partner. You can find a lot of people who will be happy to practise languages with you online. Or, otherwise, if you go to a meetup group or a student event, I'm sure you will find plenty of people who you can practise your languages with. If you don't know where to find a conversation partner, the other thing you could do is start to talk to yourself. Or, if you're not comfortable talking to yourself in public, just think to yourself.

Start narrating to yourself what you're doing and working out what things you're comfortable describing and what things you're not yet comfortable talking about. Then, when you go home, you'll be able to fill in those vocabulary gaps, and the next day try again.

The third thing you can do is to learn vocabulary like you want to use it. So, instead of just learning the word for 'door', why not learn it in a phrase like 'open the door', 'close the door' or 'behind the door'. That means that, when you need to talk about things like that, you're immediately going to have phrases that you can start using.

Finally, whenever you learn a new grammar point or anything really in the language, always think about how you could use this. Imagine a scenario in which you'd use it naturally, with friends, as part of your normal life, and then immediately you'll find that what you're learning theoretically will be much more applicable to your speaking of the language.