Easy, Fun Language Learning Tips

Our learning capacity for languages increases as we age.

Sure, we have more difficulty forming the sounds of new languages because we have to retrain our mouth, tongue and lips to form sounds in new ways. But, our ability to make connections and build concepts into a “Web of thought” increases with experience.

In addition, our brains demonstrate an amazing capacity to soak up new knowledge of all types. This capacity extends far into our advancing years, just as exercise and weight training has been shown to improve strength and health for people who are in their 80s and 90s.

You can connect your background and past experience to the learning of the new language.

Here are some easy and fun techniques that can expand your language learning:

Watch TV:

There may be a station that broadcast in the language you are studying.

Many metropolitan viewing areas broadcast programs in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. Sometimes even Chinese and Hindi are available.

Check with your cable company, satellite dish TV company.

The kinds of programs to watch are:

• News
• Educational Programs
• Soap Operas
• Documentaries

Tape a couple of programs (if you still have a VCR) and play them over and over to get a feel for the flow of the language.

Some VCR models have slow-motion and stop-action features allowing you to slow down the program to aid your understanding.

You might also turn off the sound, then watch the gestures and the pace of the language as native speakers speak it.

Reading Aloud:

Oral reading is one of the most effective techniques of language learning.

Read passages of the target language to yourself or others.

This technique develops speaking and pronunciation skills, and contributes to listening comprehension, vocabulary and grammar skills, too.

Use almost any material, but keep it interesting and brief.

Children’s books are great for this. Check these books out from the library. You can also find language sources on the Internet. Just print out material that catches your eye.

Mimicking and Acting Out:

Copying, acting out, and imitating (word for word) what you see on television or language training videos can be super effective in language learning.

Imitate the speech, the sounds, the gestures.

Acting out is method that is overlooked when pundits advise that babbling is how children learn language so well.

True, babbling and constant practice of sounds is one technique that children learn, but pairing words and sounds with physical activity is also used by children as they learn language.

In fact, there is a language learning theory based upon this learning strategy.
This theory is called the “Total Physical Response (TPR).

Mimicking is effective. Look at yourself in front of a mirror.

Carry a mirror with you to class, or watch yourself as you listen to (and repeat the words) on the language tape.

The mimic strategy is easy and fun. Get sassy, get exaggerated, get insolent (but exercise care if you decide to employ these techniques using your teacher as the model).

Just repeat word-for-word, as best as you can, everything your model says, does, expresses. Let the model be a newscaster, soap opera character, narrator or the voice coming from your radio, CD or tape player.

Your mimic skills don’t have to be perfect. You are not working to imitate the person that you are modeling. Rather, you are practicing in making the mouth movements and gestures, and you are getting the feel for the pace of the language.

This mimic method will help you gain speed and fluency.

This strategy may seem silly at first, but results count, and if you overcome your inhibitions you may be fluent in the target language sooner than you think.

Listen to Music:

Check at music shops, bookstores and online download sites for songs CDs and tapes.

Ask music shop proprietors and patrons for recommendations.

Go to ethnic restaurants. Listen to the background music.

Check the library for music that you can take out. And search the Internet. You will be able to find an endless supply of music to enjoy.

Read:

Pick up just about anything that interests you at your public or school library. Look for fun reading material, or for material related to your hobbies.

Beware of the grammar books. You wish to develop fluency, and you want to engage the holistic portions of your mind rather than the “rational and analytical Left Brain.” (Save the grammar for later exploration of the language. Don’t sweat the grammar at first. Develop fluency now, clean up the grammar later.)

Newspapers, general interest magazines, brochures ads and comic books might attract your interest. Short articles are your best bet when you are starting out.

Talk to People:

Start conversations with native speakers of your target language. You can find these folks in the supermarket, mall, park, laundromats, restaurants and convenience stores. (Note: Bars and nightclubs may be places to meet interesting others, but the music is generally too loud to hold a pleasant conversation that you can learn from.)

Native speakers usually like someone to talk to them in their native language. They are often happy to talk to you. Sure, some folks will not want to talk to you, but this is also true if you try to meet people who speak your native language.

Take a Course:

Community colleges and universities offer language classes. In addition, local continuing education departments offer courses. However, community education courses tend to be more travel and business oriented, and less academic.

There are a number of learning course packages on the market. Many of these are worthwhile, if you stick with them.

However, no learning course package is sufficient to make you fluent in a language. This is because you must learn the culture as well as the vocabulary, syntax and grammar of a language.

Motivation to keep practicing with whatever methods and learning strategies you like is the key.

There are many reasons for wanting to speak another language: travel, business, education, personal pleasure, to make new friends.

Becoming fluent in another language takes dedication and effort. But prestige, job offers, and personal satisfaction only go so far.

Consistency and determination are more important than the promise of future rewards. That’s the reason that having fun and making the language learning process stress-free and enjoyable are crucial to your success.

So, start your language learning journey now. Use these easy and fun ways to increase your skill with another language.

Figure out how you can incorporate language study into your everyday life.
 
Using these easy and fun methods in conjunction with a formal language course (such as offered at a community college or university) will make your language-learning efforts thorough and less of a strain.

Plan to practice some language learning component each and every day.

And every so often, stop and congratulate yourself for the huge strides and accomplishments you have made in learning a new language.