4 Tips on How to Learn a New Language this New Year – Our Guide

girl learning english from a dictionary

Just like any other new year, we make new year’s resolutions in the hopes of addressing some aspects of our life that need improvement. From exercising more often to drinking less alcohol, not all resolutions are simple, realistic, and easily conquerable. However, if one of your resolutions is to learn a new language, then there are so many tools that will help you achieve that goal.

Learning a new language will help you when you travel, either for work or pleasure. Plus, it will also broaden your perspective of the world and learn about different cultures. But sometimes, for most people, the idea of learning a language from scratch seems daunting and a slow process. You have to memorize vocabulary words, learn new grammar, practice speaking and writing, and so on.

Here are some tips on how to learn a new language fast:

1. Find your motivation

As obvious as it seems, if you have no reason for learning a new language, in the long run, you are less likely to get motivated and eventually stop learning. Wanting to impress your friends with your French is not a convincing reason, but wanting to get to know a French person in their native language is a different matter. Whatever your reason is, once you have decided and started on a language, make sure to commit from the beginning until the end.

2. Set language learning goals

Once you find your motivation, the next step you can do is set goals for what you want to accomplish. If there are no goals, how can you expect to know what you want to attain and measure whether you have achieved? The thought of learning a new language can be overwhelming—there are so many new words to know, and so many methods to study. Setting down goals can help narrow your concentration and focus, so you don’t have to worry about the details and start getting down to business.

3. Learn the right words

Languages are composed of a whopping number of words. Say English, for example, it has 600,000 to one million words. Luckily enough, there is no need for you to learn all the words to be proficient. Think about this: the top 100 words make up about half of the English language texts, and the top 1,000 words are about 90 percent. So basically, you only need to learn about 1,000 top words to be able to understand a new language. By focusing on these words first, you reduce the wasted time and increase the amount of information you learn and understand very quickly.

4. Enroll in a language course

One of the best methods to learn a new language is through interaction with a native speaker. Take a language course to help you get started. There are skilled and qualified language teachers who will guide through the process. In a school setting, they can correct your grammar, pronunciation, and sentence construction in real-time. Plus, there are resources you can use that will help you with learning.

There are no shortcuts or secrets—you need to commit to learning, willing to work hard, and not afraid to make mistakes.

If you are looking for private English lessons in Toronto, get in touch with us today! We’re happy to help.

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