Independent study of a foreign language. How to quickly learn a foreign language 

Today, many seek to get abroad not only for recreation, but also for the sake of employment in a prestigious company or even for permanent residence. However, for this you need to know foreign language the country to which you are actually going.

Experts assure that if you learn the language correctly, in a few weeks you can master the initial communication skills, and in a few months you can learn the basics of the language. Of course, you will not be able to easily read complex literature, but it will be quite simple for you to express your thoughts, regardless of the type of activity. And everyone can do it.

Where should you start?

Many people ask themselves the question - how to start learning a foreign language? After all, it is from the first steps that a desire to move on, self-confidence should appear.

The worst thing on initial stage It is a lack of confidence in oneself, in one's abilities. Many people are afraid to just say words out loud due to incorrect pronunciation or sentence construction. In order to learn a foreign language on your own, you need to take risks, not be afraid of mistakes.

Phrasebooks and online courses will be useful only at the initial stage of learning a language, when you need to learn words and phrases that help you navigate in a new country and communicate with local residents.

The author believes that if the process is approached correctly, after 3 months you can own it in sufficient shape. The most important thing he focuses on is to abandon perfectionism, that is, not to focus on mistakes and correct pronunciation. Benny states that you shouldn't strive for perfect language skills. Many are so obsessed with good pronunciation which, in the end, do not achieve this goal.

Here are his tips to help you learn a foreign language correctly:

• don't chase perfection. Many are so obsessed with perfect pronunciation that they eventually get disappointed and give up this activity, because they can’t achieve their goals, and this is most often what happens to beginners;
• first you need to learn simple phrases, such as "where is the subway?" or “what time is it now?”;
• pay more attention to the study of words and phrases, and not to grammar;
• be sure to start speaking out loud from the very first day. This is the main barrier to language learning, overcoming which, you will achieve your goal;
• the author does not recommend taking courses, because the programs there are too general to be useful both for beginners and those who already speak the language at a certain level;
• make the most of your time exercising. Benny believes that it is thanks to training for many hours a day that people learn foreign languages ​​in just a couple of months. If you do not have the opportunity to practice all day, even a couple of hours will help you achieve great results in the shortest possible time.

How to start learning English on your own?

Today, English is the most widely spoken language in the world. That is what most often seek to learn.

One thing to remember important thing There are no people in the world who are unable to learn a language. There are lazy people. If you have a goal, strive for it, forget about fear and shyness, and then you will definitely succeed.

Learning English on your own is quite easy. You can use any available funds— from phrasebooks to online trainings. However, do not trust workshops that promise huge results in just a few weeks. Most likely, this is a simple pumping of money. Learning a language is a painstaking and long process. As mentioned above, in a couple of weeks you can achieve basic results that will help you express simple phrases that help you navigate the city and communicate with people.

To learn English correctly, like any other, is very important. Limit yourself in time. For example, set a goal for yourself to learn 1000 words in a month. This is quite small, only 30 words a day. The same rule applies to any other work: if you do not complete it on time, then most likely you will not complete it at all.

Another tip: it is pointless to learn individual words. Learn phrases. It's much easier and more efficient. After all, the word in fact does not carry all the meaning that will be embedded in the phrase or sentence. For example, the departure of a train and the departure of mail are completely different things.

Think and speak English language. Try to immediately translate your thoughts, describe what surrounds you. You will soon notice that you have already memorized the names of things that you encounter every day.

Teaching a child a foreign language is much easier than teaching an adult. After all, everyone knows how children have developed the ability to grasp everything on the fly. During the game, talking with you, the child instantly remembers the information. Therefore, if you want your kid to know a foreign language well in the future, help him learn it from an early age.

Learn a foreign language? Easily!

I hope we answered the question of how to learn a foreign language. The most important thing is not to forget that this activity will help you not only develop, but also achieve more in life.

How best to study, it's up to you. Today there are many available ways, helping to learn any foreign language quickly and in a short time.

The secrets of polyglots are desire, aspiration, perseverance. Every person has these qualities, the main thing is to defeat laziness in yourself.

A polyglot is not uncommon today, because modern people much easier to adapt and adapt to new conditions, including while living or working in another country.

If you have a goal, go for it. Forget about fear and embarrassment, and then you will achieve great success in life!

Instruction

To successfully master any language, you must have a strong motivation. Without it, as a rule, it is impossible to learn a language. It also plays a big role if it is worth choosing which one at a given time. Therefore, always choose the one that you need right now.

To learn it quickly, you need to get rid of the belief once and for all that a person cannot do it. Very often, it is precisely such an incorrect attitude that nullifies all efforts to master it. If you constantly think that it is too difficult and impossible, then it will be so.

It is also important to choose a course of study that will bring pleasure and not cause much difficulty. Focus on what type of memory you have developed best: written, visual, auditory or speech. The best option will involve all kinds. You can learn a foreign language using the Internet, tutorials, courses or television programs.

Once you start studying, don't try to study for several hours a day. The desired result in mastering the language can be achieved only due to regularity, and not due to the amount of time spent. Even repeating the studied material for 10 minutes a day, you will achieve more than with 2-hour classes 3 times a week.

In order to learn a foreign language, it is very important to immerse yourself in the culture of the country where it is spoken. Think about the images and associations that come up when you mention a foreign language that you want to know. This will help you immediately remember all the structures on which the language is built, and which you have managed to learn by this time. In the future, this will allow you to immediately rebuild to communicate on it.

Having studied the main structures on which a foreign language is built, learn to add not just new words to speech, but whole turns. This is how young children learn their native language, trying to repeat not only the words they hear, but also entire phrases.

To quickly remember foreign words, get acquainted with the history of their occurrence. For example, the days of the week are not associated with the names of the gods. Saturday is the day of Saturn - Saturday, - the day of the sun - Sunday, Monday - the day of the moon - Monday, - the day of the goddess Freya - Friday, definite article"the" is a shortened form of the pronoun "this", which is why it is used when the subject being spoken about is known, and indefinite article"a" is an abbreviated form of the word one "one", and simply means one thing. Every language has its own stories related to the origin of words. The more you know like interesting stories about a foreign language, the faster you get used to the rules for constructing phrases and unfamiliar words in it.

Watch movies in the language you are learning. Today it is not difficult to find a foreign film in the original language with the help of the Internet and the purchase of licensed discs. Choose movies that you like and that you won't get tired of watching several times. First, watch the film in Russian, and only then in the original language, so that it is easier to understand and remember what they are talking about. It is better not to watch films with subtitles, as they distract attention from speech, which prevents the desired learning effect from being achieved.

Would you like to know how to learn fast new language without spending money on expensive language courses or language learning software? There are no secrets or tricks to this - you just need to set a goal for yourself, prepare for hard work and, most importantly, not be afraid to make mistakes. Read on for more secrets to help you learn a new language quickly.

Steps

Immerse yourself in the language environment

Meet a native speaker. The easiest way to learn a new language is to speak it. Very often, people spend all their time learning the grammar of a language and memorizing a lot of words instead of putting all their learned minimum knowledge into practice. Start talking to a native speaker and it will give you more motivation to learn a language - much more than a book or a computer screen.

• You may be able to find a friend or colleague who knows the language you want to learn and who can work with you and help you practice the language. If you do not have such friends, then you can advertise on local forums or in newspapers that you are looking for a teacher to practice a foreign language.
• If you can't find anyone who speaks the language, you can try meeting someone on Skype. Very often people from different countries would like to meet people from other countries and communicate. Another option is to create an account with Hellotalk.

1. Learn a language every day. Very often, many complain that they have been studying the language for “five years” and cannot begin to speak it fluently. But when they talk about five years, they most likely spend only a couple of hours a week studying the language. Let's agree on one thing - if you want to learn a new language fast, that is, in a few weeks or months, then you will have to devote two hours to learning a new language in a day.

   • Learning a foreign language is based on repetition - just repeat something over and over again until it is imprinted in your memory. If you take too long breaks between classes, you will most likely forget everything you have learned and have to go back to remember what you learned.
   • To really learn a language in a short amount of time, you have to practice everyday. There are no miracles in learning a language - to master a language, you need to learn it.

2. Always have a dictionary handy. Take a dictionary with you everywhere - it will help you avoid confusion (if you don't know a certain word) and save a lot of time, so we recommend that you spare no expense and get a good and convenient dictionary!

   • You may find it more convenient to set the dictionary to mobile phone- so you can quickly look up the right word.
   • If you have a dictionary with you, you can always look up the right word. This is especially necessary when communicating with a native speaker, when you do not want to interrupt the interlocutor because you do not know some word that he used. Also, if you look up a new word and use it immediately, you will remember it much better.
   • You can also browse the dictionary and select random words to memorize when you have a free moment - for example, when you are waiting in line, at lunchtime, or while standing in traffic. So you can memorize an additional 20-30 new words a day!

3. Watch movies, listen to music, read and write in the language you are learning. Immersion in the language environment assumes that all the usual actions that you usually did in your native language, you will do in the target language, regardless of whether you read, write or listen to music, radio, etc.

   • It may be easiest to watch TV shows or movies in the language you are trying to learn. Try not to use subtitles, otherwise you will rely on them too much. To help you understand speech, try watching TV shows or movies that you already know, or something as simple as cartoons or children's shows. Knowing the content will help you understand the meaning of various words and phrases.
   • It is also recommended to read and write in the target language. Take a newspaper or magazine and try to read at least one article a day. Try to check the meaning of words you don't know in a dictionary. Try to write simple sentences in the language you are learning - no matter what it is, you can compose a greeting card or make a shopping list.
   • Download podcasts or listen to radio stations in the language you are learning. It's a great way to immerse yourself in a language, especially when you're on the road. This will not only allow you to listen to the speech, but will also allow you to remember the correct pronunciation of common words and phrases.
   • Change language settings to mobile devices- this will allow you to learn some new words in a new language.
   • Listen to music in the language you are learning. Try to learn the lyrics, and then check what the song is about. Knowing the lyrics very quickly helps to expand vocabulary.

4. Visit a country where the language you are learning is spoken. Of course, the best way to improve your language skills is to travel to a country where the language you are learning is spoken. Just go there and spend some time there.

   • Try to communicate more with the local population - it doesn't matter if you need to get directions or make a purchase in a store - just say hello and communicate with people. Native speakers will welcome your desire to learn the language.
   • It doesn't matter how good your spoken language is - just try to speak, and very soon you will notice an improvement not only in speaking, but also in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

   Focus on what matters most

   1. Learn a few greetings before you learn the alphabet. Thanks to this, when you start learning the alphabet, you will already know a few basic words. For example, "Hello", "Goodbye", "How are you", "I'm fine", "What's your name", "My name is ..." and so on.

      If necessary, learn the alphabet. It will be much easier for you if you learn the alphabet and learn how to read and pronounce words - this will also help you remember words more easily. In addition, it is much better to say words out loud by reading them in the language you are learning, rather than looking at their transcription.

      Learn the words. Probably one of the most important aspects in language learning is vocabulary. Even if you can't understand the entire sentence, being able to pick out individual words helps you understand the overall meaning of a speech or text.

      • Focus on the 100 most common words. Pick out the 100 most common words in a language and learn them - that's a great start. Next, you can select 1000 new frequently used words. It is believed that the knowledge of 1000 frequently used words in a language makes it possible to understand 70% of any text.
      • Pay attention to the words that are most relevant to you. For example, if you are learning a language for business purposes, learn business vocabulary, don't waste your time learning various kinds marine animals - which can be useful if you are going to scuba dive.
      • You also need to learn words that apply to you personally so that you can talk about yourself, your life, and the people you know.

   2. Learn how to count in your target language. Learn to count to ten, because numbers are usually very easy to remember. Every day, add ten more numbers to this set. Continue to study numbers every day until you feel that you can count fluently in a foreign language. If you want a real challenge - try learning all the numbers up to 100 in one day!

      Don't worry too much about grammar. The main reason most people never speak the language they spent years in school learning is that school program focuses too much on the grammar of the language and spends very little time on oral and writing. It is grammar that slows everything down - if you want to learn a new language quickly, the first thing you need to do is master colloquial. The specifics of the grammar will come later.

      • There is no doubt that grammar is important - you need to know how the forms of verbs change and imagine what the correct word order should be in a sentence.
      • The thing is, you don't have to spend many hours memorizing verb forms or thinking about specific cases when you should use this or that article or preposition. You will master all these nuances later - in the process of communication!

   3. Work on your pronunciation. Pronunciation is another aspect that you should focus on. There is no point in memorizing hundreds of words and phrases if you cannot pronounce them correctly to be understood. Therefore, it is very important that when learning a new word, you immediately learn its correct pronunciation.

      • Pronunciation is difficult to learn from a book - this is where communication with native speakers or the use of interactive programs will be useful. You will need to say the word out loud to learn how to pronounce it correctly.
      • If you are practicing the language with a teacher or native speaker, ask him (or her) to feel free to correct you whenever you pronounce a word incorrectly. Otherwise, alas, your training will be of little use. Remember that it is the pronunciation that can distinguish good language proficiency from free.

   4. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Many foreign language learners are afraid of making mistakes. This fear won't let you go far enough.

      • Perhaps the mistakes you make while speaking a foreign language can lead to an awkward situation, but is it a big problem? Native speakers will always forgive you for mistakes, as they will most likely appreciate your commitment to learning their language - moreover, they will always be happy to help you.
      • Your goal should not initially be superiority, but progress. Making mistakes (and learning from them) is what allows you to continually improve.

   Use apps to learn foreign languages

   1. Try Anki. Anki is very popular app for computers and smartphones, which helps memorize new words and phrases using flashcards. You can upload your own flashcards with specific words if you need to learn specific terminology, for example, or download any of the flashcard sets provided.

      Try Duolingo. Duolingo is a free language learning tool. There is an online version of the app, as well as versions for Android and iOS. Instead of focusing on memorization, it helps you learn to read and speak a new language by allowing you to see, listen to, and translate words and phrases. Users earn points when they complete lessons, which makes learning a language with Duolingo a lot of fun.

   2. Try Livemocha. Livemocha is a web-based product that offers online lessons and tutorials, as well as the ability to chat with a native speaker. And although most of content on Livemocha is completely free, you can always pay for Additional services, including individual programs training and more advanced language courses.

      • Try MindSnacks. Choose any lesson you like to learn the language through different games.
   • Determine for yourself a specific amount of material (TV shows, radio, online newspapers or communication with foreigners) or the amount of time that you will devote to the language every day and stick to the plan.
   • Write down new words and their meaning on a piece of paper and always carry this sheet with you, sometimes looking into it - so you can easily remember everything.
   • Immersion in the language environment - The best way learning a foreign language, but in most cases a person cannot just drop everything and go to another country. Nevertheless, be sure to try to communicate with native speakers - for example, using special sites on the Internet.
   • Google Translate is a good tool to help you with correct pronunciation. But the translation of words and sentences obtained with it is not always 100% accurate.
   • Start by learning ten words (nouns, adjectives or verbs). Do this every day for three months. It may seem difficult, but it's actually very easy. By learning ten new words every day, you can expand your vocabulary well. The more words you know, the easier it will be for you to form sentences and express yourself in a foreign language.
   • Once you have mastered the basics of the language, you can start watching films in the language you are learning. Start with simple ones - those that you have already seen and that you like. Watch movies with subtitles. If this seems difficult, leave subtitles or audio in your native language.
   • Use sticky note paper to build up your vocabulary. Paste them everywhere - this will allow you to create direct associations between a word in a foreign language and its visualization.
   • Don't worry about making mistakes at first. You will not be able to speak fluently in a foreign language on the very first day of training, be patient.
   • The main thing - do not give up!
   • Start reading funny books in the language you are learning - it's better if they are funny stories or jokes with pictures. For example, you can read anime, comics, magazines, and whatever interests you. This will motivate you to learn the language - especially if you don't understand what is written. It can also be helpful to start with children's books as they contain words that are easy to remember.
   • Some people prefer to listen to music. Find songs in the language you are learning. Listen to them several times, try to understand what the song is about. You can also search the internet for lyrics and try to sing karaoke.

Today we will not try to draw your attention to the main content of this article with an eloquent introduction, because each of us will have our own list of reasons. The importance is obvious. So let's not waste time.

Is it possible to learn a language on your own? Russian psychologist D. Spivak in the book "How to become a polyglot" gives some tips to improve language skills when learning a foreign language. And one of the recommendations is that it is better to learn the language from self-study books. So everyone can control the intensity of classes, give themselves the necessary amount of information and regularly return to various topics for fastening. With the amendment, of course, that the process itself, by definition, cannot be completely isolated.

The starting point - correct setting. First of all, think about why you need to learn a foreign language - for study, moving to another country, resurrection in memory and improvement of school knowledge, as a hobby. An honest answer to this question will allow you to create a training program tailored to your needs, focus on the right aspects, and help.

Another secret to successful language acquisition is daily practice, which allows you to develop the skill of how to. In addition, consistency and constancy favorably affect, without which there is nowhere to study a foreign language. It's like training - the result comes with regularity. Therefore, it is so important to strictly follow the lesson plan by day and hour.

What will contribute to the result?

Immersion

You have probably heard the statement repeatedly that any language is much easier to learn, being completely immersed in the natural environment. But what if you can't go to study English in the UK or Spanish in Spain? The answer is obvious - try to create a suitable environment at home. To achieve maximum similarity, of course, is impossible. But reading books (at first adapted), watching movies, listening to audio recordings, practicing language - all this is available to anyone who has the Internet. Try to surround yourself with the language being studied as much as possible, and do not use study materials alone.

Process gamification

Patience and hard work at any age

There will always be skeptics among the people around you who will raise their eyebrows in astonishment when they find out that in your 30s, you intend to learn French, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish from scratch (substitute or add the right one). “How?”, “Why?”, “This should have been done before, now it’s too late.” Do not allow such formulations to sow a grain of uncertainty in your mind and, moreover, to be disappointed in your own abilities. Patience and a little effort. Learning for results is by definition never easy, so persevere towards your goal. Yes, at a younger age, due to linguistic flexibility and orientation towards the intuitive assimilation of linguistic norms, it is conditionally easier to learn a foreign language. But studies confirm that you can start learning a language and achieve success in this matter at any age.

Elena Devos

Journalist, writer, teacher of Russian, English and French. Author of the novel "Russian Lessons", which tells about teaching Russian to foreigners in modern Paris.

1. Motivate yourself every day

There is no age limit for learning a language. The only thing a person of any age needs is motivation. It's great if you have an interest in the language itself or, if you like, in a certain reality that is in this language (when you like movies or books, songs or video games, an artist or writer, and just a young man or girl).

Recall that Ludwig Wittgenstein learned Russian in order to read Dostoevsky in the original (and in the process of studying he put all the stresses in the novel Crime and Punishment). And Leo Tolstoy also learned Hebrew because of the book: he became interested in how the Bible was actually written.

Sometimes there is no interest in the language, but you need to learn: for work, for business trips, to live in another country. Feel free to jot down a list of what you generally enjoy in life and pair those hobbies with the language. Do the same things that you always liked, but now with the involvement of your new - foreign - language.

2. Don't be afraid to experiment

There is no one-size-fits-all method of learning a language. A variety of methods, different language schools, different theories. So far, none has defeated the others.

Try several tutorials before settling on one. For classes with a tutor, take part in choosing a textbook. Realized that they made a mistake (even if others are happy, but you are uncomfortable), change it. If there is no choice (at school, in group classes), and you don’t like the textbook, find another one and read it yourself - in the form of a dessert for compulsory classes.

In general, try to individualize your approach to the language as much as possible. Explore websites, YouTube channels, movies that interest you. Look for like-minded people, share experiences, communicate: language, whatever one may say, is a social phenomenon.

3. Choose a teacher

A huge influence on the effectiveness and result of your lessons will be exerted by the one with whom you study the language -. If you are uncomfortable with this person, he is unfair to you, you do not understand him - without any hesitation, look for another. Especially when it comes to a tutor for children: the opinion of the child here will be decisive, even if you like the teacher with strictness, responsibility and all sorts of other adult qualities.

Again, if you don’t have a choice and don’t like the teacher, be sure to find a way to learn the language in parallel in an environment where you are comfortable and cozy. These can be Skype lessons, private lessons, and so on. Do not believe the prejudice that the best teacher is a native speaker. On the contrary, grammatical subtleties and rules are sometimes better explained to you by a person for whom, like you, this language was not native.

Be careful about lessons with close people (when a parent, husband, wife, sister, and so on) becomes a teacher: nothing good comes of them if the “professor” bluntly criticizes and ridicules the “student”.

All good teachers have common feature: they do not scold for off-topic questions (and they don’t scold at all) and, if they don’t know something, they say so. And the next lesson they come with the answer to your question. This is sacred.

4. Five Minute Rule

To learn and maintain a language, two conditions are needed:

• you use it;
• you do it regularly.

A person who devotes 30 minutes a day to study will progress faster than someone who sits over a textbook for three hours every Saturday, and does not open this textbook the rest of the time.

Moreover, just 5 minutes in the morning and evening can work wonders. Put the textbook next to the toothpaste. Brush your teeth - look at the rule, at the conjugation table. Take a picture of the homework or vocabulary page on your smartphone. Stand in line - look at the phone, check yourself. Before going to bed, write two or three phrases (if you do two or three exercises, then it’s generally wonderful). And so on. A little, but often is better than a lot and never.

5. Don't cram - learn

You don't need to cram rules and case names - you just need to know how they work. But the correct phrases, words, sentences, language constructions, its conjugations and declensions must be learned by heart.

Try not to cram, but to learn: to understand and use it in practice. Learn poems, sayings, lyrics. And not the ones that the teacher asked, but those that you yourself like. This will be an excellent lexical aid, and in general it will have a beneficial effect on the ability to speak and think, including in their native language.

6. Fix the bug immediately

The sooner you fix a mistake, the less time it will be in your head at all. Therefore, when studying on your own, do not start with long tests, where the correct answers are given only at the very end. They suffer so much only in exams.

Ideally, after a mistake, you should absorb the correct option immediately, that is, correct with the help of a teacher, textbook, language program. Especially it concerns independent work: exercises and tests.

Everything should go according to the scheme "your option is the right option." This method is very efficient for several reasons: you reinforce the rule if you don't have an error. And if there is a mistake, you see what it is, and your next step will be correct.

Do not trust textbooks without keys (correct answers to exercises). At the same time, it is desirable to show your work to a teacher or native speakers from time to time. After all, even in high-quality textbooks there are typos and errors, unnatural expressions of the language.

7. Write more

Write and print in the language you learn. Do not correct what is written, it is better to cross out and write the word again. When spellcheck shows you a misspelled word, take three seconds to type that word again - correctly.

The memory of the correct spelling always remains at our fingertips.

8. Praise and Reward Yourself

And the last. Whatever your teacher, whatever book you study, whatever language you learn, praise yourself. For every task done right, for finding the time today to open the book, for every success, no matter how small. If the teacher is unlucky - praise doubly. For perseverance and patience.

“A person needs to be complimented every 15 minutes,” Carlson said, and he was absolutely right. This is another kind of motivation, only subconscious. Therefore, if you want to learn a language easily and with joy, celebrate your every achievement. Don't compare yourself to others. Compare only with yourself: how much you knew yesterday and how much you know today. And enjoy the difference.