Learning foreign languages can be pleasant as well as a tiresome activity, incorporating appropriate learning methods into your studies can save your time and money. Employers know it well that polyglots possess great analytical and critical thinking skills, therefore, it is considered as a strong asset during the application process.
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Before you decide to take on learning journey, you should follow these steps in your language learning process. The beginnings are hard but the first step towards success is motivation, without motivation you will not be able to reach language proficiency. Many studies have shown that highly motivated individuals score better than those who lack the necessary drive.
Steps you should follow:
- find a good tutor
- buy books for beginners (easy reading) When you start to study languages, your vocabulary span is small or even non-existent in some cases, thats why you should read authentic materials (books for beginners)
- listen to radio podcasts (mainly those adjusted to beginners)
- expand your vocabulary Not all books for beginners are appropriate for language learners as they lack authenticity e.g. words used in every day situations. - choose only authentic books, resources
The most important part of second language acquisition is listening, listen to audio recordings right from the start. - do not neglect it but of course reading is equally important but I recommend to put more emphasis on listening. - even when you don't understand, you are actively involved in learning process
How often do I have to study English to reach C2?
Language proficiency may sometimes seem like unreachable destination but with right methods anything can be accomplished. Some people say ´´I am not able to learn English´´. The problem is, they don't know how to study and where to find materials for studying languages effectively.
Even ´´Rome wasn´t built in a day´´ they say and the same applies to learning foreign languages. It takes time. Lots of your time and patience as well. If you think, you can become fluent in 6 months, yes potentially you can but you have to be talented person to get there.
Only people who speak at least one foreign can reach fluency in 6 months as they know how to study effectively. I speak from my own experience, as I didn´t know how to study English. I was reading books extensively but struggled to reach fluency. Reading is fine as long as you implement speaking and writing into your studies. Without practising you won´t be able to speak the language.
How often should you study?
Well, if you can study 5 hours each week, you could possibly become fluent in one year but this is only theoretically speaking. Lots of factors determine the lenght of the learning process, thus we cannot make any conclusion about it.
The most important thing is reading books for beginners, do not read the books you find on goodread or similar websites, most of these websites won't help you find easy reading resources. Reading difficult books will destroy you mentally and will demotivate you in your studies. Therefore, the next time you search for good books for Beginners, type A1 READING pdf, when you type pdf after keyword, you will get only websites from which you can directly download content in pdf file. Internet is full of resources, for free but the key is to find that information.
How can I practice English?
There are a variety of ways how to put your speaking skills into practice. You can on dating website like strangermeetup, or stranger talk. There you talk to native speakers, for free. No need to pay. Now, you think that I am crazy. How can I speak English if I don ́t understand anything in English? Well, use google translate. It works really well but the truth is sometimes it can be deceiving.
Multilingualism is about the ability to speak more than one foreign language apart from your native tongue or so called ´´mother tongue´´. Some people are forced to speak more than just their native tongue, whereas others speak only their native tongue and later on they learn to speak other languages.
Many studies has shown that multilingualism changes cognitive thinking among people e.g. polyglots have better analytical and critical thinking. The next time, you go for the interview, don´t forget to mention your foreign language skills in your CV as skills as such are highly valuable for your potential employer.
The average learner needs six to eight months to become fluent in a foreign language, that claim probably applies mainly to polyglots as they are already familiarized with language learning techniques.
Lots of factors influence whether or not you will achieve fluency in a given language e.g. is it sign language? Or not? Chinese is the most difficult language I think, if you aim to speak fluently in English, thats not a problem. Being bilingual speaker has both pros and cons. It opens up the door to more opportunities in your life but at the same time it may cause you lots of trouble.
Learning foreign languages is not an easy task but with right attitude and appropriate methods you can achieve a lot. When I started learning English, I did not know about these methods, that I should have followed. Had I known about these methods, I would not struggle with learning it.
English has rather simple structure than Slovak language, by which we may presume that it is an easy language to study. The opposite is the truth and many young learners find it difficult to comprehend complex sentence structures by which the language is being governed.
First step towards success is expansion of your vocabulary. Number of words you know, helps you form sentences, without vocabulary, there is not communication. Start with word list made of 10 words and learn new word each day.
Do not worry about making mistakes, be more at ease. Many studies have shown that relaxed learners remember new information more easily in comparison with students who are being under pressure.