Leaf In The Wind

Hi! I thought I would make a post to help people out who are just starting out learning a language. Your main goal at this level should just be to make sure that you have a very solid foundation in the language that will support you. You should be able to greet people, reveal information (where you live, your name, your likes/dislikes etc.), know basic verbs and nouns (weekdays, animals, colours etc.) and speak about the present tense.

Learn the alphabet! You can do this using flashcards. Make sure you practice writing the words and memorise the stroke order. For languages like Japanese or Mandarin Chinese that have characters, learn some of the most basic characters and their stroke orders.

Immediately start working on your pronunciation! Watch some pronunciation guide videos, and then start speaking and shadowing. Make sure a video has subtitles in the language, and try to say everything being said in the video (make sure it is beginner friendly - preferably something for learners) right after it is said.

Use an app! Duolingo, Lingodeer, HelloChinese and Memrise are just a couple of incredible ones. I highly recommend them. 

Complete an online course or a beginners textbook! There are loads available for free online. Hell, there are loads available on this website. Make sure the approach is vocabulary based, not grammar based, as that will be more useful for you. Also, make sure that audio is available to you.

Start texting natives on apps like Tandem or HelloTalk! This gets very good results, as you can learn new vocabulary being texted to you, along with being able to look up new common greetings and phrases while you are texting.

Memorise basic vocabulary and grammar! Learn the basics of present tense, gender, adjective agreement, word order and some structures, along with a few vocabulary lists of necessary vocabulary (common greetings, animals, colors, family etc.). For grammar, I’d recommend just using a workbook, and for vocabulary, flashcards (particularly anki ones) are very good.

Immerse! Try to listen to and read the language in your dead time, so you can get used to it. Turn the language of your phone to your target language. Read tweets in the language. Watch YouTube videos about fun subjects that you like. If the language you are learning is particularly difficult (like Japanese and Chinese), then try and read and listen to fun learners exercises. Generally just try to get used to the sounds of your target language, and reading the alphabet or familiar characters.

having trouble remembering which plural form of -ão a word gets? take the plural of the word in spanish, then take the two vowels next to the n and nasalize the first.

alemão -> alemán -> alemanes -> alemães

pão -> pan -> panes -> pães

ação -> acción -> acciones -> ações

mão -> mano -> manos -> mãos

pagão -> pagano -> paganos -> pagãos

Hi it’s werelivingarts and I’m back with some unique tips on learning foreign languages. I love learning Mandarin and Korean, and my foreign friends absolutely love it when I try to speak with them. ✨

Learning languages is tough but really fun. Remember that you need to set goals, such as by the end of today, I will finish studying the alphabet, not the simple “getting fluent” goal. It’s okay when things you first say are gibberish because you will certainly get better by learning your mistakes. 

Here are just some extra weird ways to help you learn:  ● Use region-specfic social media (Weibo for Chinese, Kakao Talk for Korean, Tuenti for Spanish, etc) ● Narrate in other languages as you commute (e.g. the mysterious man who wears brown cap-toe Oxfords just get his cats turn left and is now entering the supermarket) ● Read newspaper and magazine  ● Change your phone language    ● Get help from your native speaker friends  ● Take notes in other languages

[Image description: a clip art graphic of 6 people talking together in different languages. /END ID]

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I don’t follow many people, so I’ll just share everyone in my following list and a few others ^_^

Japanese: @chouhatsumimi @uni-venture @tokidokitokyo @nihongoseito 

German: @blumensprache @sprachgefuehle 

Multiple:

@lagom-languages (German, Serbian, Te Reo Māori)

@tealingual (Finnish, English, Japanese, Swedish, German, Arabic)

@nordic-language-love (Norwegian, Japanese)

@adito-lang (English, German, Norwegian, Japanese, Dutch)

@mediocrelanguagelearner (Czech, English, German, Spanish, Swedish)

other cool people: @gwendolynlerman @salvadorbonaparte @guillemelgat @leafinthewindlanguages​