Advice for more conscious language learning

My path of learning languages started when I was 6 years old. My mother worked as an English tutor back then, and I spent some of my evenings sitting next to her students who were a bit older than me and we were learning the English alphabet and sounds. I can’t say I loved that but it wasn’t so hard and later I found it quite interesting as I knew that Russia was not the one and the only country in the world and not all people on our planet spoke my language. So by the time we started having English classes at school, I was able to read in English, knew many simple words like ‘good’, ‘school’ or ‘jump’, could count from 1 to 12 and tried talking to myself in an imaginary language that sounded like English but in fact, was just gibberish. Well, some people believed that it was English.

During my school years, I have never had problems with English. From the second to the fourth grade we had a really strict English teacher so I had to learn all of the basics properly. Anyway, I was considered to be the most outperformed student in our class.

However, when I changed school in the fifth grade, there was this girl in our class, who was on the same level as I was and my inner leader couldn’t overlook that fact of me being not the best one.  So, I started doing my homework more thoroughly, practicing all the grammar and participating in various competitions. In the eighth grade, I was ranked the eighth in town contest in English for students. A year later, I was the first.

Then I was preparing for my entrance exams in Finland which I failed in 2019 and failed again in 2020. Was it painful? Yeah, I felt like crap. Luckily, I found a nice opportunity to study abroad in English in Poland where one of the conditions was the presence of an IELTS B2 certificate. And I spent half a year preparing for the exam which I passed successfully in January 2021 and received the C1 certificate. As they say, bad luck once, good luck the next time….

Currently, I’m learning Polish and maintaining the same level of English and try to learn new things every day. I haven’t thought about some special strategies to become an Upper-intermediate and Advanced learner( I feel like I’m between them). But when I look back at everything I’ve done so far, I can see that I indeed used some techniques which I probably created myself or interpreted some of the famous ones.

So my name is Valeria, I am 17, I’m Russian and in this article, I will give you some personal advice on how to learn languages and start to feel them.

First of all, I would like to pay attention to some psychological aspects of learning a foreign language, which will help you to overcome a fear of using the language and will probably make your life easier.

Advice 1: Don’t make the language a goal, but the way to achieve the goal

What would be the point of languages if we didn’t any purposes of using them? Therefore, find a more appealing and long-term purpose where you will use your knowledge of the language. For instance, you want to find a better job abroad and the language will be a good opportunity to do that. You will use your language to search for particular information and communicate with your boss and colleagues. So, you will feel more immersed in the whole learning process and start making progress sooner.

Advice 2: Keep telling yourself that you already speak the language

Affirmations can work in both ways. But we choose the positive way. Imagine that you already speak like a native. For example, you can understand all the details and jokes without concentrating too much. Your speech is like a flow of words that makes sense. You can absorb things and give answers without translating phrases in your head. Consequently, you will start thinking in the language and become fluent. Languages are just ways of communicating so they cannot be that difficult.

Advice 3: Mistakes are inevitable

A large number of people are stuck with languages for one simple reason: they are afraid of making mistakes. They think that native speakers would make fun of them or even humiliate them for making grammar or spelling mistakes. But that’s only a misconception. In fact, native speakers always admire a person from another culture being able to speak their language. I can assure you, they will probably feel embarrassed for not speaking your language!

Moreover, people learn from mistakes, so the more mistakes you do, the more you learn. It’s always better to say something wrong than not to say at all. Remember that.

Now, when we made sure that setting the right goal, being positive and not shaming yourself are the fundamental steps you need to realize as soon as possible, we can move on to more practical tips.

Advice 4: Watch, read and listen to everything that ends up in your hands

That’s classic. TV series, movies, podcasts, interviews, books, news, music – literally anything that you can find on the Internet is a good way to start practicing your listening and reading skills. It can be a hard and unpleasant task at first, especially when don’t get a word of what you watch, read or listen to. But the longer you do that, the more trained you become. Don’t ignore that but appreciate that we have lots of information that is free of charge

Advice 5: Improve your curiosity

When you see a new word, try not to just google the translation but to find its synonyms, antonyms and aspects of use. When you see a captivating topic, check out other ideas, opinions, articles related to that topic, look for amusing facts. That will help you not only to improve your language but make you a very versatile and interesting person to talk to.

Advice 6: Definition is everything

Every time you see a word, don’t google its translation in your native language. Look for the definition of this word. Try to understand its meaning and where you can use it. It helps to improve your fluency and the speed of speaking as well as you’ll stop translating in your head and start thinking in the language you learn.

Advice 7: Be crazy, speak to yourself!

“I don’t have anyone to talk to” – a usual excuse for not practicing speaking skills. Well, there’s an option. Speak to yourself or your imaginary friend. Sounds freaky but it is one of the best ways to practice languages. You don’t have any time limits, it’s free and you can talk about anything you want to. Tell stories and jokes, make scenes, argue with yourself, start rapping and so on…

To sum up, be open to trying something new and don’t be afraid of making mistakes or showing your view. Languages are not just grammar books and you have the opportunity to choose which way of learning is most suitable for you. The most important thing is practice, tons of practice.

P.S. That was my first try at writing an article, so please share your opinion about that, I would appreciate it! See ya :)