Quick and Dirty Tips on Foreign Languages

Many people would go to great lengths to learn a foreign language. But obviously not enough to actually learn the language. Or do they just not know the right way to learn, and if they discovered this miraculous way, they would save themselves and be able to turn off the headlines for shows on Netflix?

In the article, I'll list a few methods that can help you learn a foreign language. And if you read the article in five minutes...

Activities

  1. Buy a dictionary and read the pages. Try pronunciation by table IPA.
  2. If you can't speak the language well enough, and if you want to experience its spoken form, there are evenings and fairy tales readily available on the Youtube for children, which perhaps everyone can understand!
  3. On E-bay, cheap foreign-language books can be found in which one can write without regret.
  4. Sometimes listening to the radio can help. Germans, for example, have Deutschland Funk, the English have the BBC, and perhaps the French have a law that a certain percentage of songs on radios must be French.
  5. Reading a newspaper can help a lot, and it's fun. For example, I recommend https://www.theguardian.com.
  6. Professional literature has a surprisingly lighter syntax. So if you're on a topic, reaching for foreign-language material may be a good choice for you.
  7. When you're home alone, you can try doing monologues in a foreign language. It's funny, and it can help break the fear of talking.
  8. Monology can also be performed mentally, perhaps at a bus stop.
  9. There are foreign-language podcasts that have the advantage of discussing more interesting topics than on radio, for example, and can be listened to while washing dishes, for example. There's a good podcast for French Inner French.
  10. Prague International Radio writes news and articles in many languages https://cesky.radio.cz/. But they still apply to Czech, so you can replace them with e.g. idnes.

Improvement

  1. When learning a new word, look up its etymology as well. Then you have more connotations to it and you remember it better.
  2. If you have a vocabulary where you write your learned words, buy an unlicensed one. And draw pictures or personalise it. The irregularity of its appearance (and the appearance of individual words, or their position on the page) will help you remember the words.
  3. Sometimes it's better to use a paper dictionary than a cell phone to look up vocabulary. It's more effort, but it's a bigger signal to the brain to really remember the word.
  4. The brain remembers better the things it feels are important to it. These are things with which he has many associations. That's why it's good to use new words in sentences, as well as to visualize some image associated with the word, and thus engage in learning more senses.

NB: This article will probably be under construction forever... There's always time to find new and new tips.