Getting started
With the new year around the corner, if your new year’s resolution is to learn a language, where do you begin?
When we set the goal of bettering ourselves through learning something new, we can start off being really excited and motivated. Unfortunately, the more we delve into such a thing, the more daunting and overwhelming it can become which then leaves us drowning before we’ve even entered the pool. I’m going to share some tips with getting you started on your language learning journey because you can’t build anything without the right tools and a good foundation.
1. Get comfortable looking foolish
One of the biggest hurdles in learning a language is a lack of confidence. When you speak with confidence, your mistakes can often go unnoticed. Part of learning a language is just learning to get comfortable with making mistakes and with embarrassing yourself. It’s really quite humbling to your ego but like any skill that you are picking up for the first time, you cannot expect to be excellent at it straight away. Whilst it is hard having people laughing at what you say, it’s important to remember that that is exactly what they are doing - laughing at what you say, not you. They will laugh at the concept of your mistake and the imagery that it creates. I have taught many Spanish lessons where students have told me that they have eleven anuses rather than that they are eleven years old and even though I know perfectly well what they mean, I still smile at the mistake because it is such a silly visual said with such conviction. If you don’t make mistakes, you won’t learn.
2. Bring the language to you
When we are born, we are born with the ability to learn any language in the world and we do so through language acquisition which is a fancy way of saying that you are surrounded by that language and so naturally pick things up. By being surrounded by the language, we acquire things like accent, tone and intonation, dialect, vocabulary, etc. We are lucky enough to live in a time where the world is more connected and thus accessible than ever so take advantage of this. The Netherlands is perhaps the most shining example of this; my Dutch husband does not remember learning English because it was always there when he was growing up - through all kinds of media. Dubbing is not in demand in the Netherlands owing to the small population so instead, TV that comes from any other country (usually English-speaking TV) has Dutch subtitles but the original audio. When I was teaching English in Mexico, most of my higher level students in English had achieved that higher level through playing videogames in English. So start seeking out the music charts of the country that speaks the language that you want to learn (I would say that 60% of my Spanish vocabulary I learnt through Shakira songs), change your phone to your target language so that you’ll see it every day, attend language exchanges in your area (if you have them); the possibilities are endless. Think about your daily media consumption and try to incorperate your target language as much as you can.
3. Phonics are your foundation
The foundation to learning any language is learning the sounds of the language. Learning the alphabet should be step one for you. This is obvious in languages where the alphabet is different to your native (eg. your native is the Latin alphabet but you want to learn Arabic so you’ll need to learn the Arabic alphabet) but when the alphabet that you have is the same, it may be something that you are tempted to skip but please don’t! I recommend that before you even start learning the language, you should be able to read the language aloud - even if you have no clue what you are saying. If you can master the phonics which is done by learning the alphabet and the letter combination pronounciation rules, you have your foundation upon which you can build your language skills.
4. Accept your accent
For some strange reason, when we learn a language there is this unspoken pressure to “sound like a native”. This is rubbish because you are not a native so why should you sound like one? Your accent is a part of who you are, it represents your native language and I have always viewed an accent as a sign of bravery. Whilst the ultimate goal of mastering the language to such an extent that you are mistaken for a native is a compliment to any language enthusiast, the main goal is to understand and to be understood. Accent is of course harder for comprehension in some languages than in others where tonal shifts can change the entire meaning of a word, but just like my students and their eleven anuses, the native will still understand what you’re trying to say. However, accent and mispronunciation are not necessarily the same thing - as an English speaker, it is common for me for my “o”s to be long and drawn out, but if I were to say “bueno” with an English accent, the word still remains the same, even if the “o” is not short as it ought to be in Spanish.
5. Invest in yourself
With all the will in the world, it can be hard to know where to start and how to continue. Even if it is just for the beginner level education, it is worth considering investing in a specialist; a tutor. Knowing natives to practise with is incredibly valuable, but getting answers for grammar questions from them is not always a certain way of learning. Knowing a language and teaching a language are different skills and if you know that you could benefit from a skilled professional then what do you have to lose? It’s like going to the gym for the first time. You could trial and error the machines out for yourself, you could ask other gym goers for help, or you could get a personal trainer for the first few months - which course of action would offer the best fundamental skills? Additionally, you are more likely to stick with learning a language if you have made a financial commitment as well as providing you with someone to keep you accountable for your learning and progress.
Just making the decision to learn a new language is a noble choice! A university professor once told me: “language learning will be one of the longest relationships you will ever have” and she was absolutely right. It’s a relationship; it takes work, commitment, and time, but it all has to begin somewhere.
