Happy 2015 my dear readers! It’s already been 9 days, and so much happening in the world. How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? If you set yourself the goal this year to learn German (or any other language), then here are 5 tips that might help you to start the year off right.
5 tips for successful language learning
1. Know your motivation. This means, you should always know why you’re learning the language, because reminding you of the answer to this question can be helpful in times when you get stuck a bit in your studies. Your motivation or reasons to learn German can be anything, even if it is “just for fun”. If you have trouble finding your true motivation, then maybe invite friends to learn with you and turn it into a challenge.
2. Set yourself realistic goals. If you think you can become fluent in 3 months..then you might soon be disappointed if you don’t get there so fast. Try to set a goal that is realistic in terms of the time you can spend, the resources you have, and also, your motviation and reasons.
3. Make it a habit. Dedicate at least 10 minutes a day to learning German (but do more if you want to achieve goals faster!). This can be anything: a session on duolingo, memrise, reading an article, doing online exercises, doing your homework. Even 10 minutes can help you making a regular space in your life for the language and help you stay motivated.
4. Try out anything new you learn right away! Perhaps you can start a blog where you reflect on your learning while using the new words, or find more direct ways like writing in the target language (try lang8 e.g.), looking for a penpal online, chatting with someone on skype, talking to yourself, etc. etc.
5. Have fun. This means, focus your learning on things you really like. If you dread grammar, then try to read more instead , and don’t keep doing exercises that bore you anyway. If you’re intersted in photography, sports, cats etc. then try to find this kind of content in your target language. You can even write a story or a song in the language you learn..there are just so many possibilities!
Feel free to share your own tips on how to success in learning a language in the comments below. I wish you all the best for your language goals and resolutions this year!
Happy studying ♥