I think we can all agree that one of the hardest part of moving to a new country is the process of learning a new language which is not easy. For most people, English is a language that you’re mostly familiar with because it’s taught as a second language at school in most parts of the world but it can still be tough when you move to the actual place!
In today’s post, I want to share with you the tips and tricks I used to learn English quickly which can be used to learn any other languages as well as my experience so if you’re interested, keep on reading!
Je pense que nous pouvons tous convenir que l’un des aspects les plus difficiles du déménagement dans un nouveau pays est le processus d’apprentissage d’une nouvelle langue qui n’est pas facile. Pour la plupart des gens, l’anglais est une langue que vous connaissez surtout parce qu’elle est enseignée comme langue seconde à l’école dans la plupart des régions du monde, mais cela peut toujours être difficile lorsque vous vous déplacez à l’endroit réel!
Dans le post d’aujourd’hui, je veux partager avec vous les trucs et astuces que j’ai utilisés pour apprendre l’anglais rapidement qui peuvent être utilisés pour apprendre d’autres langues ainsi que mon expérience, donc si vous êtes intéressé, continuez à lire!
Related: Moving Abroad | Finding A Home
KNOWING YOUR LEVEL
First things first, it’s really important that you know in which level you are when it comes to the language that you’re trying to learn. Are you a beginner? Do you know the basics such as how to count from 1 to 10 and how to pronounce the alphabet? Are you an expert? Can you watch films without subtitles and write essays?
Are you good at speaking or writing? Can you understand what others are saying? Do you struggle when someone speaks quickly? It’s all about being honest with yourself. You have to understand that nobody will judge you or compare you with another person, you are your own individual and you don’t need to care about other people’s opinions. The sooner you realise your strengths and weaknesses, the more it’ll help you enhance the knowledge you already have.
Tout d’abord, il est très important que vous sachiez à quel niveau vous vous trouvez en ce qui concerne la langue que vous essayez d’apprendre. Êtes-vous débutant? Connaissez-vous les bases telles que la façon de compter de 1 à 10 et comment prononcer l’alphabet? Êtes-vous un expert? Pouvez-vous regarder des films sans sous-titres et écrire des essais?
Êtes-vous doué pour parler ou écrire? Pouvez-vous comprendre ce que disent les autres? Avez-vous du mal lorsque quelqu’un parle rapidement? Il s’agit d’être honnête avec vous-même. Vous devez comprendre que personne ne vous jugera ou ne vous comparera à une autre personne, vous êtes votre propre individu et vous n’avez pas besoin de vous soucier des opinions des autres. Plus tôt vous réaliserez vos forces et vos faiblesses, plus cela vous aidera à améliorer les connaissances que vous possédez déjà.
WATCHING FILMS & TV SHOWS
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard most people say this but watching films, TV shows or even YouTube videos helps you tremendously when learning a new language! At first, it might feel strange and a little out of place because you’re so used to watching films in your native language but as time passes, it’ll come to you naturally.
You won’t even need subtitles and your brain will have picked up a huge vocabulary. I first started watching films with subtitles and as you probably already know, I’m a huge fan of horror films so I pretty much watched hundreds of horror films in English. Not only it helped me to accustom to English but it helped me hearing English in different accents.
Je suis sûr que vous avez entendu la plupart des gens dire cela, mais regarder des films, des émissions de télévision ou même des vidéos YouTube vous aide énormément lorsque vous apprendrez une nouvelle langue! Au début, cela peut sembler étrange et un peu déplacé parce que vous êtes tellement habitué à regarder des films dans votre langue maternelle, mais au fil du temps, cela vous viendra naturellement.
Vous n’aurez même pas besoin de sous-titres et votre cerveau aura acquis un énorme vocabulaire. J’ai d’abord commencé à regarder des films avec sous-titres et comme vous le savez probablement déjà, je suis un grand fan de films d’horreur, donc j’ai regardé à peu près des centaines de films d’horreur en anglais. Non seulement cela m’a aidé à m’habituer à l’anglais, mais cela m’a aussi aidé à entendre l’anglais avec différents accents.
GOING TO A SCHOOL/COLLEGE
Yes guys, sometimes the most effective part of learning a new language is to go to a school/college that specialises teaching the language for foreign people or to an actual college or university. You cannot learn a new language without going to an establishment, that is a fact!
When you look at the bigger picture, not only will you learn a language but you will also receive a qualification which will facilitate in terms of finding a job or for further education. You’ll get to speak the language on an everyday basis which in the future will help you to speak the language fluently.
Oui, parfois la partie la plus efficace de l’apprentissage d’une nouvelle langue est d’aller dans une école/un collège spécialisé dans l’enseignement de la langue pour des étrangers ou dans une université. On ne peut pas apprendre une nouvelle langue sans se rendre dans un établissement, c’est un fait!
Lorsque vous regardez la situation dans son ensemble, non seulement vous apprendrez une langue, mais vous recevrez également une qualification qui vous facilitera la tâche en termes de recherche d’emploi ou de formation continue. Vous pourrez parler la langue au quotidien, ce qui vous aidera à l’avenir à parler couramment la langue.
USING APPS
Nowadays, there are so many apps that you can use to learn English or any other languages for that matter. Some apps focus on the pronunciation whilst others focus on your grammar & spelling that’s why it’s important to know in which area you lack and need the most help with, from that way you can fully focus on that aspect. Some apps worth checking are Andy, Speak and Elsa Speak. Duolingo is another great app as well.
De nos jours, il y a tellement d’applications que vous pouvez utiliser pour apprendre l’anglais ou toute autre langue d’ailleurs. Certaines applications se concentrent sur la prononciation tandis que d’autres se concentrent sur votre grammaire et votre orthographe, c’est pourquoi il est important de savoir dans quel domaine vous manquez et avez le plus besoin d’aide avec, de cette façon, vous pouvez vous concentrer pleinement sur cet aspect. Certaines applications qui méritent d’être vérifiées sont Andy, Speak et Elsa Speak. Duolingo est également une autre excellente application.
PRACTISING ON A DAILY BASIS
I think this is something most people will agree with, in order to learn any language – you need to practice on a daily basis. You don’t have to start by speaking the language if you find it too difficult although it will be really helpful but you can start by speaking it in your mind.
Train your mind to speak the language instead of your mother tongue. If you attend school or uni, you won’t have any other choice than to write in that language which will obviously help tremendously with your writing and reading skills.
To improve your listening skills, watch TV shows and movies – it’s such a fun way to learn a language! This will help you a lot since you’ll get to hear different accents which will help you familiarise with the language.
Je pense que c’est quelque chose avec lequel la plupart des gens seront d’accord pour apprendre n’importe quelle langue – vous devez pratiquer quotidiennement. Vous n’avez pas besoin de commencer par parler la langue si vous la trouvez trop difficile, même si ce sera très utile, mais vous pouvez commencer par la parler dans votre esprit.
Entraînez votre esprit à parler la langue au lieu de votre langue maternelle. Si vous allez à l’école ou à l’université, vous n’aurez d’autre choix que d’écrire dans cette langue, ce qui vous aidera évidemment énormément avec vos compétences en écriture et en lecture.
Pour améliorer vos capacités d’écoute, regardez des émissions de télévision et des films – c’est une façon si amusante d’apprendre une langue! Cela vous aidera beaucoup car vous entendrez différents accents qui vous aideront à vous familiariser avec la langue.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!
xo N
I enjoyed reading your post. It’s wonderful you write both in English and French.
English is my first language and for fun I took four semesters of French at the local university.
You shared great ideas for learning a foreign language.
When one takes time to read another’s post one often finds new tips.
I’d never thought to ‘Watch a YouTube video’ in French.
Thanks so much (merci beaucoup) for sharing your thoughts. 🙂
Aww thank you so much love! My pleasure ❤️
Thank you for this post! It inspired me to really do some more work in getting fluent in Spanish, which is the language I study in school. Great advice!
My pleasure! Thank you love 💗
When I went to live in France I had the basics of the language but nowhere near enough. Because of my disability I soon entered the health and social security system. I then had home help (aide à domicile) most of whom had a diploma enabling them to wash me and get me up etc. I learned a lot from chatting to them. But the real breakthrough came when I went into hospital. No way did anyone speak English – not even a few words. So I had to learn otherwise it was impossible. Now I am fluent enough to hold phone conversations with French friends even though I’ve been back in the UK for 3+ years.
I agree with everything you have said : speak read watch and write and it will come.
PS I think French is hard to learn but my French friends say English is worse. What do you think 😀
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! ❤️ I totally agree with you, French is definitely hard to learn but I wouldn’t say English is worse. It’s not easy but it’s not difficult either (to me). If you look at the grammar aspect, English is much easier than French!
Yes, my sister-in-law, who is Spanish from Barcelona (meaning Catalan as well) is a translator speaking 5 languages says that if English is you native language it’s very hard to learn another language due to the problems with the grammar. I believe that you have to think in the language you are speaking, and not try to translate in your head before you speak if you see what I mean! Keep posting!
Wow that’s impressive! I didn’t know about it but it makes so much sense. I completely understand what you mean! Thank you love! Hope you’re having a lovely day ❤️
Appropriate points shared and well elaborated.
Thank you! 💕
Fabulous post
Thanks doll! 💗
I think these are really great tips, especially practice through watching TV shows and movies. When I first learned English, I actually watched quite a bit of Disney channel and Nickelodeon! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you hun! Aww I wish I had done the same haha 😂 I didn’t think about watching cartoons or TV shows, that’s such a shame! My pleasure x
Thank you! I will check out the apps.
You’re welcome hun! 💗
Great tips! I used to be really good at French at school and my teacher was fuming when I didn’t take it further! 😂 I’d love to get back into it sometime as learning a new language is such a useful skill to have!
Thank you sweet! Haha all the language teachers are like that 😂
Being consistent is one of the things I need to work on lol
Girl these are great tips! Problem is that I am always forced to learn the more difficult ones. Can you imagine that?
Thank you love! Oh no, I’m pretty sure you’re doing a fab job though 👊🏼❤️
Thanks alot. I will keep up the good work then
❤️
You can definitely do it! 👊🏼
Learning a new language when you’re older ain’t easy, several years ago I enrolled at my local college’s evening classes to learn French! I’ve always regretted not choosing French as a school option but I hadn’t realised how difficult it would be, I’ve now learnt enough to get by but sadly I don’t imagine I’ll ever speak fluent French.
That’s totally true! But if you are consistent, you can definitely do it. It will obviously take a couple of years but it’s not unachievable in my opinion. Thanks for reading ☺️
Such great tips. It will help me a lot with learning French this year!
Gemma x
http://www.jacquardflower.uk
Thank you, Gemma! x
Gret tips! I think practising every day is the most important one yet the most difficult!
Thank you babe! ❤️
I think being patient with mistakes is important when learning a language. I found it helpful to journal in Spanish as I was learning it.
So true! That’s a great tip as well!
Studying or working abroad is a great experience to enhance confidence, self-knowledge and our global citizenship. My semester in Spain changed my life.
That’s very true!
I am a Chinese junior high student and I am currently learning English. I have some apps to practice English, such as Quizlet and Grammarly. I usually remember new English words with Quizlet app after I get up from the bed. I study English in my school. In order to remember new English grammar, I usually attempt to use new English grammar on my blog articles. This article is very helpful for me. Thanks for sharing!
So glad you found it helpful! My pleasure ☺️
Thank you so much for providing these great tips. Found your blog very interesting and informative. Continue posting such great articles.
My pleasure! Thank you so much!
Very good post!
I guess the most important thing in order to learn any languages is firstly to know the reasons of your personal project. It will definitely helps you a lot concerning your different choices in terms of tools for instance. Moreover, we could easily say that knowing these reasons will help you not to give it up ! Thanks for your article and these great tips !
That’s absolutely true! Thank you 😊
Learning a new language has never been quite as accessible! Great post!
Thank you! ☺️
I’ll try it, useful tips, thank you
My pleasure!