Do you know these times when you’re sitting in front of your textbook, trying to learn these boring af vocabs you’ve seen 1000 times but still can’t remember and just wish to do something different (or hoping that the world explodes so you can at least stop)?
Well, there are more ways to learn a language and I think because we just learned how we “should” learn a language at school, we’re limited in creativity. Thanks to school it’s hard to think outside of this “textbook, vocab lists, tests, etc.” stuff but there are ENDLESS things you can do to learn a language.
Remember: everything you do in your native language, you can try to do in your target language!
This is for all the people who are tired and exhausted, who are thinking about quitting or don’t have fun with their target language anymore.
DON’T YOU DARE TO GIVE UP! YOU’VE COME SO FAR!
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Examples for different ways of learning a language:
summarise an article about a topic you like (cooking, fitness, etc.)
listen to a podcast/radio
listen to music (while reading the lyrics)
try to sing along with music
read out loud while reading a book/magazine/blog/etc.
watch movies/series/videos
record videos in your target language or about how studying is going (progress, problems, etc.)
write a blog (well hello there :))
use apps that make it more fun (duolingo, memrise, lingodeer)
chat with native speakers
actually talk to native speakers ( I know what a crazy idea)
read websites about things you’re interested in
use social media only available in your target language
change the language of your smartphone
change the language of your pc
change the language of your life
play games in your target language (like not necessarily for learning it, I mean just playing a normal game IN your target language)
take online lessons with teachers that make you forget you’re learning
do a challenge! (I love this one so much)
be active in forums (no matter about language learning or a forum in your target language)
find a language exchange partner. (You should, seriously.)
read a (children-)book (with audio)
think in your target language (a fun way is to tell a story about your life while it’s happening like “I went down the road with a stranger always behind me, who could it be? What does he want? It got quite… too quite. I tried to keep calm but was it really a coincidence? All in the middle of nowhere?” I know I’m bad at this but I hope you get what I mean, think of it like reading a book.)
learn vocabs with pictures, type in the word you want to know and ONLY look for pictures, try to feel the word. If you google for “strawberry” (in your target language and don’t know what it means) look at the pictures, the colours, how could it smell? Make a sentence with the new word. When was the last time you ate it? How was it?
Write a story/book online or just for yourself.
Use a topic jar (a jar where you put in notes with different topics on it, you take one every day and write/talk about it)
use social media to find groups interested in learning a new language or your target language
translate texts and act like you’re a famous translator who’s the only person on earth who can translate your target language (for example if you’re reading articles about historical stuff, act like you’re the only one who can find out what happened back then and the whole world is counting on you!)
try to solve random online tests
listen to a song/audiobook/whatever and write down what you hear
search for words you want to learn and build up (funny!) sentences with them or even whole stories
search for receipts in your target language and pray to god you’re doing it right… if not, well you won’t forget the vocab again. Win-win situation. :p
search for language learning groups near your living place and actually meet them (stay safe and check everything before)
listen to children songs (I still remember the first children song I learned in English lessons… like… 11 years ago in 5th grade) these songs are supposed to stick… *cough* head shoulders knees and toes knees and toes *cough* sorry where was I?
connect with language learners over Skype (useful groups of course like German trying to learn French, Frenchman trying to learn Turkish, Turk trying to learn German)
write a list (you know… like I do right know so I don’t forget English)
describe things you see (more fun with a partner)
teach your target language to others
listen to audio while sleeping
take notes in your target language (I don’t mean for grammar rules or something like that, I mean notes you would take in your native language anyway)
write a letter (so much better than an e-mail)
write an e-mail (who has time for letters)
learn jokes (it’s also useful for social interaction)
talk to your pets (at least if they listen to you, if I start to talk to my cat she starts yelling into my face)
translate songs and learn the vocab of it so you have more fun listening to it later
think about a topic and write down every word you can think of and then translate them into your target language
