So, let’s talk about how to learn a language at home on your own. We’ll discuss the best methods for at-home language learning in this article. Moreover, we’ll go through the major concerns and provide concise advice on how to learn a foreign language independent of courses, institutions of higher learning, or classes at all. It’s just that you and the language you’re learning are on your own. Let’s start and take a look at how to learn a language at home by yourself.
1. Make expression cards
Cards are a well-known tool that is often used in language learning. Ten years ago we would have advised it: Simply cut out squares of cardboard and write the word and its translation on both sides. But now there are more modernized tools, such as personal online dictionaries, which already have language cards functionality.
It’s important to remember, lexemes are picked up when making cards, but for optimal effect, you must also deliberately study them, switching up the phases and directions. This is also a certain complex function that you can delegate to your language service or personal dictionary.
Not everyone, however, moves from words to sentences. Proverbs, catchphrases, clichés, and colloquialisms should all be added in the language cards in your personal dictionary, and they should all be learned in the same way as the words.
By repeating a card, you are using the active memorization (or we can call it active recall) approach to compress information into your long-term memory. In a real conversation, you won’t need to string words together to make the right statement. Instead, the words will simply stream out of your lips naturally.
2. Mix up the wording
You can do it at the beginning of your route by yourself without the help of teachers or tutors!
Chris Lonsdale, a psychologist, linguist, and educator from New Zealand, asserts in a TEDx talk that “language is a creative process.” Create word concoctions to start. You can make 1,000 possible combinations only by knowing ten nouns, ten verbs, and ten adjectives. The idea of an anagram may be used to make as many words out of a group of letters as you can.
Write down all the possible word combinations on a piece of paper after selecting a group of phrases that will make up various parts of speech. Remove any that are not used in live speech after that.
You may check dictionaries to discover whether a certain combination happens in nature. For each term, the Collocations column in the Longman Dictionary, for instance, displays the most typical language pairings. The growth of colloquial language and the retention of previously learned concepts would benefit from such practice. Still don’t know how to learn a language at home? Let’s keep going.
3. Try to start writing in the language you are learning from the very beginning
Starting off by learning to write in our own tongue is not for nothing.
No, we’re not asking you to stitch hooks and sticks, but you might try writing a few pages of the same thing. It’s especially helpful if the language you’re learning doesn’t use the Latin alphabet but instead uses hieroglyphics or an unfamiliar alphabet to you.
This method uses mechanical memory and helps you to quickly recall a term you’ve learned by writing it down repeatedly. Additionally, mechanical memory and visual memory work in perfect harmony to make it difficult to forget information that has been written down 100 times.
4. Visit the media’s Instagram account
Procrastination may sometimes be used to your advantage. If you use the right hashtags and places, it’s easy to find native speakers on your favorite social network. Instead of males who publish pointless selfies, choose men who care as much about writing as they do about photo manipulation.
By following bloggers from the country you’re studying, you may not only enjoy the content but also learn the language via their posts and acclimate to the new linguistic setting by just browsing through your feed.
Examples of several languages accounts for persons with various tastes and colors are provided here:
- Passion Passport is an Instagram account that has amassed hundreds of stunning images from across the world, each of which is accompanied by an equally motivational caption.
- London-based blogger Alex Zouaghi discusses his favorite city in two languages on his blog (for those who learn French, take note).
- Pilotpatrick – an account maintained in German by a working and practicing airplane pilot. It is interesting not only to look at photos, but also to read stories related to aviation.
- Faktastisch – a popular science blog with unusual facts in German. Do you want to get better at playing “What? Where? When?” and surprise your friends with the widest outlook and knowledge of German? Then this is the right place for you.
- Jeannedamas – France’s leading female it-girl of late is documenting her life on Instagram (for those who are learning French and IT).
5. Use your visual memory
Information is more easily seen when terminology, definitions, and pronunciations are listed in standard columns. Create a table of lexis on a specific topic with their translations and transcriptions, and then keep track of them in the order you listed them. The columns are then alternated and switched:
Recreate the meanings using spelling and sound by removing the translation column.
Leave the transcription alone and make an effort to remember the phrase and its equivalent in your native language.
To get the appropriate translation, shuffle the lines in each column and connect the word with the right meaning using straight lines.
To do this by hand on paper is easier and more effective. Psychologies of the HSE Laboratory of Cognitive Research, claims that this scheme involves visual perception. The switching between columns and rows facilitates the transfer of information from short-term memory to long-term visual memory, which is more accurate and capable of holding more information.
6. Use Stickers
Another pretty popular THE SCIENCE BEHIND VOCABULARY STICKERS method that you shouldn’t ignore is sticky notes with words on them. If you’re just starting to study a language, place stickers on whatever you can get your hands on. Instead of writing random words on them, write the name of the object you are attaching instead. You’ll always be able to identify the faucet or socket when you go to them.
If you are familiar with all of the household items, use post-its for more challenging words. Every surface you come across should have a reminder of the word of the day you have chosen. Once you’ve remembered it, switch it to a different one.
In addition, if you use a personal dictionary service, we always recommend adding images to your language cards. It also helps to identify objects while learning words and put them in your long-term memory.
7. Construct rhymes and similarities in language
Use connections rather than having a term rhyme with its precise meaning. Simple association rhymes that don’t leave space for misunderstanding, like “Dalle stelle alle stalle” (from rags to riches) are easy to remember for those who learn German. We have mentioned how language is a kind of creativity.
If you currently speak one foreign language and want to learn another, you may use it. Find words with comparable meanings across different language groups and look for commonalities in their pronunciation, spelling, and syntax. This works especially well if you study Slavic or Romance languages, which are in the same language family.
8. Examine pictures to improve your pronunciation
Ordinary images won’t help you communicate, but accurate representations of the articulation components used to pronounce a particular sound will. Each language has its own sonic nuances and voice production quirks. To pronounce words as closely as possible to those of a natural speaker, study these examples and practice them.
Simply put, review in detail videos or pictures of how to correctly pronounce a particular sound in the language you are learning 🙂
9. Change the language on your phone
It’s an excellent way to pick up new words. We have already repeatedly recommended it to our readers and we are confident in its effectiveness!
Is it possible to learn a language on a smartphone? As you get familiar with all of the possible technical terms, there will be some suffering at first. If you start thinking in a different language, just wait and observe.
10. Put a show, radio, or music in a foreign language in the background
It’s not even necessary for you to understand what you hear. Listen to it in other languages everywhere you go. For example, when cooking or cleaning, listen to the radio or watch news programs. As a consequence, you will be able to recall pronunciation patterns, speech rate, and intonations.
11. Recognize your mistakes
Making mistakes while learning a new language is inevitable. Although they are in perfect health, they should not be disregarded. If you make a mistake, be sure to fix it by doing it correctly again. You may avoid making the same mistakes again by correcting the grammar in your memory, says Allison Lowes, author of Six Ways to Simplify Your Foreign Language Learning and current language teacher.
Use whichever approach to language learning works best for you. However, to speed up and increase the effectiveness of the process, add some fun to your learning with these simple activities that everyone can do on a regular basis:
- Create flashcards in your personal vocabulary to help you learn reliable phrases and train yourself daily with playful practices.
- You could get more at ease with language using anagrams.
- Spell out words.
- On Instagram, look for notable accounts in other languages.
- Play with the columns and rows to aid with word retention.
- Put helpful stickers on items.
- Always find and note rhyming words, phrases and sentences.
- To make your pronunciation better, pay attention to where the lips and other speech organs are located.
- Always be surrounded by words, even while you’re on the phone.
- Listen to the strange language spoken in the distance.
- Correct errors right away.
The best way to learn a language by yourself
Which of these recommendations is already being used by you? Or do you maybe use your own techniques? The truth is, whatever advice you implement in life, if you don’t have a system, there will be no result.
Learning foreign languages is a process in which all the steps have to be lined up in advance. And so that the language is given easily and fixed in your head, you must use practical techniques that really help you to master a foreign language.
If you are wondering how to learn a foreign language at home, these 11 points will help you really get to the result easier and faster. It may seem like a lot of work, and it’s definitely harder than just watching movies in a foreign language and using stickers on the fridge. Use the right web-services, guides and learning materials with only useful information that will not only help you, but motivate you as well.
Here’s how to learn a foreign language at home. This is what the best students do, and it’s the next step forward for you. It’s really worth it. And you will be sure to learn more foreign languages at a higher proficiency level this way.
Check out our free guide to learning any foreign language to make your learning process easier and more productive.
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