Learning a New Language: Tips, Tricks and Strategies
Learning a new language can seem daunting. This is true, especially if you if you have never learned another language, or if it has been a long time since your high school language class.
Of course, you weren’t as motivated to learn a language during high school as you are now!
Assume confidence. You can learn another language, and you can learn without stress.
While learning your first language, English, acquired many language learning skills that you don’t realize that you have.
In fact, English is one of the most difficult languages because:
- There are more words than in any other language
- English is an amalgam of lots of other languages:
- Germanic Old English
- French
- Latin
- Greek
- Increasingly more Spanish
- Parts of just about Every Other Language
English seems to take words from everywhere and anybody:
Take for example the word “Boss.”
- Jeffe – Spanish
- Kahuna – Hawaiian
- Honcho – Korean
Then, there are three concepts related to the word “Boss.”
- A director or supervisor of workers
- A person of the highest ranking authority
- A person who controls a political machine
There are also a number of synonyms
- Director, foreman, foreperson, forewoman, head, manager, overseer, superintendent, supervisor, taskmaster, task mistress
- Chief, chieftain, director, head, headman
- Hierarch, leader, master
There are also slang terms such as…
- Straw boss
- Big chief
- Big cheese
- Cock of the walk
All of these vocabulary and concept-based connections of understanding help you learn new languages.
And, learning a new language can be even more fun than learning the first language.
Two things that you need are consistency and realistic expectations.
Consistency means that you keep at learning the target language a bit every day.
Realistic expectations means that you establish the patience to keep at the language learning process for as long as it takes.