an autistic’s foreign language study tips
preparation
choose a specific notebook for everything you learn. having one place to put everything down helps with organising your own brain. it doesn’t matter what your notebook looks like, but I would recommend finding a pretty or good quality one - it helps you see your language practice as more valuable and significant to your life
create a system to keep track of your progress, and DATE EVERYTHING. this is big in self-motivation and encouragement. if you have tangible evidence of how far you have come, it is easier to convince yourself, your self-doubt and anxiety, that you ARE doing good
put together or find a few playlists of songs sung in your chosen language to listen to, while you study or in your free time. this is called immersion. regardless of whether you understand the words or not, this gets you used to hearing your chosen language. the music itself can be catchy or chill, but most importantly, music in general trains your brain to focus (esp for us peeps who struggle with studying in silence). alternatively, podcasts or youtube videos are great resources!! listening to how native speakers pronounce the language will train your brain to pronounce the words the same as you study and practice - just like how when you were learning your first language, the pronunciations of the people around you molded the way you speak. side note: if your executive functioning is making it difficult to study, listening to your chosen language can keep your brain in the mode of learning without the stress of sitting down to study.
beginning
learn the personal pronouns first. words like I, you, we, me, they, she, he, etc. are immensely helpful when writing simple sentences. once you learn the most commonly used verbs, you can use both to begin expressing yourself and things around you.
find a list of the top most commonly used verbs. study these using whichever method fits your learning style the best. try to master 10 first, then move onto 20, gradually increasing the amount of words you study/memorize. make sure you adjust to your own capabilities; don’t overwhelm yourself, but don’t forget to challenge yourself a little.
HANDWRITE your chosen verbs. this will aid in muscle memory. you can copy the words down once or a hundred times, whichever works best for you, but writing it in your own handwriting imprints the image of the word into your mind. once you become familiar with the look of the word, it will be easier to read and recognise it.
learn how to conjugate your chosen verbs. conjugating is probably the most difficult, BUT once you figure out the basics, it’s smooth sailing (aside from the irregular verbs. they can sink into the abyss).
balance learning verbs with learning easy vocabulary. for me, learning words such as flower, tea, and forest are somehow much easier to remember than most verbs. that’s because these are things that you can SEE. you have an object to connect the word with - bam! automatic association technique.
begin writing your own sentences. it doesn’t matter if the sentences don’t make sense, it’s even better because the stark ridiculousness of your imagination will help you remember your vocab.
learn the lyrics to songs in your foreign language. this will help you practice the speaking skill of language learning. and we all know lyrics are much easier to memorise than lists of vocabulary. side note: singing along to songs is an effective way of learning if you don’t have time to sit down and dedicate an hour to studying. it’s also super fun!
IMPORTANT!!! continue to record your progress, whether it be in a notebook or a digital platform. i can’t seem to keep up with a bullet journal, but whatever system you create to keep track of your improvement, update it OFTEN (every day, every other day, or every week). you might even have fun recording your pronunciation (on video or audio) to look back on a few months down the road.
maintaining
study as often as you can, but DO NOT pressure yourself to do so every day. if you physically cannot study every single day, try the two day method. keep up the habit of studying your chosen language as much as you can, but if you need a break day, TAKE IT. but don’t allow yourself to go without studying a second day. this will be a challenge, but depending on how you schedule yourself, there is plenty of time for rest and recuperation. side note: there are challenges that you can do to externally motivate yourself to study often, such as the 30 days of studying or 100 days of productivity trends.
begin a journal in your chosen language. writing little things about your day, your thoughts, your life will advance your language learning process. you will become more familiar with everyday expressions, verbs, nouns, and you will practice conjugating in a low-stress, low-pressure environment. AND if you write often, even if it’s just a few sentences or words, you will train your brain to think in your chosen language in a way that is personal and memorable.
start a quote book. translate quotes from english to your foreign language, or find quotes already in your foreign language, and WRITE THEM DOWN. this will expose you to new vocabulary and motivate you to discover new sentence structures. this way you can meld language learning with your favourite interests and self-motivate
translate the lyrics to songs you love. whether it’s from your first language to your second or your second to your first, translate the words that make you happy. this mixes your passion with something that is a little more challenging and builds motivation and self-esteem.
IMPORTANT!!! continue to keep track of your progress. update that system you created in the beginning. maybe even once you’ve become comfortable enough speaking simple sentences, you can record yourself on video or audio. and if it’s not too anxiety inducing, maybe you could share your video/audio to ask for critique
note: this is by NO means, a complete “guide to language learning”. this is simply a list of things that have helped me learn better and encouraged me to study more often.
