Lately I’ve had quite a few questions come up about how I go about learning a new language. While Lindsay and I are sharing how we’re learning Korean from the start as a part of the Korean language challenge, I thought I’d share a bit about how I go about learning a new language, in general, in today’s post.
I’ve now been through the “starting a new language” process now a total of ten times (give or take), and while I haven’t kept up every language that I’ve started, I have used what I learnt starting up each of the past languages to more effectively begin the next.
There are a few things that I’ve found work really work for me (and a few that don’t). The important thing to remember is that every learner is different, and so, what might work for one may not work for another. Nonetheless, I’d like to share the system that works for me in the hopes that it might help you find something that works for you as well.
Things that work for me when I start learning a new language
1 // Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the language before you actually go about learning it.
Read the introduction chapter of your course book, a book on the culture of a country that speaks your language (preferably the one that speaks the dialect you’re going to study), and spend some time researching the language online, reading about it on sources like Wikipedia and Omniglot.
I also recommend listening to plenty of audio in your target language – whether it’s through a recording of some sort or even video – so that you can get used to the way that the language sounds. And don’t worry, it’s totally okay that you don’t understand what’s being said.
When I started learning Russian, I listened to every single podcast available on RussianPod101 just to get my ear comfortable with the language. They have an awesome sign up offer that gives you access to everything for $1 for a month, and so I crammed in as much material as I possibly could (and I still ended up continuing my subscription after that first month).
2 // If your language as a writing system different from your own, spend some time learning it before you dive into the language in its entirety.
Even if you don’t master the alphabet during this stage of your learning, it’s a good idea to get familiar with it early on. When I started learning Russian (my third language with a different writing system), I spent the first week of my study just learning to read the alphabet using a Memrise deck and a printout that I created because the flashcards alone were’t enough (I could remember the characters while using the deck, but outside of that context I needed something just a bit more and I needed to see them all at once).
3 // Decide what your goals are in learning this language
Spend some time thinking about what you hope to accomplish in learning this new language. Write down your goals. To give you an idea of what I mean, my goal in learning Russian is to reach a conversational level in speaking and comprehension as well as a fluent reading level.
By deciding on my goals for the language, I can then spend some time figuring how I can go about accomplishing them. This, in turn, gives me a clear sense of direction and a clear path to take to achieve my goals.
I’m a huge fan of the onion goals I learnt about through Lindsay Dow as a part of her Successful Self Study course. I start at the center of the onion with with the goal itself, so, for example, a fluent reading ability in Russian. I then ask myself how am I going to go about achieving a fluent reading ability in the language?
My answer? By ensuring that I spend a significant portion of my studying time developing my reading ability in the language.
And how am I going to do that?
By learning enough vocabulary to understand simple texts so that I can eventually move on to more complicated texts.
And how am I going to do that?
By studying flashcards every day and learning the writing system.
And how am I going to do that?
Well, you get the idea. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f603.png" alt="