H​ow to Learn a Language Pain-Free

    F​or someone who wants to expand their horizons, learn about a different culture, or simply move like a local in their travels, acquiring some proficiency in a new language is a natural first step. When someone makes this bold leap they are taking on a difficult task: a foreign tongue is NOT just a collection of grammatical and syntactical rules used in that language; it is the collective wisdom of men and women that have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years which is given a voice. If this is you, congratulations! You have steeled yourself to undertake a wonderful labor and, when you have stuck to it, will come out enriched in so many ways. How do you even begin? There are millions of blogs, websites, videos, books, workshops, and classes designed to help you learn, and the best part is that none of them agree on a solid (note: not best) method to attain this goal swiftly and relatively pain-free. I have taught myself four languages and tried many different ways of learning. After many years of practice and suffering I have managed to find a process that has demystified the idea of learning a language and helps to gain quick proficiency. I am happy to share with you, the adventurous reader, the steps and tips to easily learn a new language.

1​. Find your purpose: Ask, "Why do I want to learn this language?". If you are not at that point yet, that's fine! There are many reasons to learn a new language. What is your favorite book? Is it in another language? You might be curious about what book is like in the original language. This opens up a world of reading options. If your favorite directors are Truffaut and Kurosawa, learning French and Japanese would let you focus more on the film while enjoying the rich language without the subtitles. If you are taking a journey to Iceland, knowing how to read signs and order a meal in Icelandic can help you get around more like a local and less like a tourist. Identifying your goal first will narrow down the toolbox available.

    2​. Get to know the basics: This is a simple step to dip your toes in the water. All we want to do at this point is understand the VERY basics of the language. I cannot stress the enough the word basics. Read a Wikipedia article or watch a YouTube video on your target language and look out for these things:

I​s it a synthetic or analytic language? (Fancy linguistic words that tell you how a language makes sentences. Synthetic relies on prefix and suffix endings like in Russian or Japanese, analytic on word order and prepositions like in French or English). 

W​hat sounds does it make? This is where YouTube works well: looking up "how to pronounce _________ language" will give you a list of videos on how to make the sounds your language makes. Work on consonants first as they are typically easier to learn, before moving on to vowels. Langfocus is an excellent resource to hear your language in sentences you would use everyday.

W​hat is the most commonly used form of the language in that country? Most modern languages have a "high" or "standard" variety which is used by the majority of the country and is the form taught in schools. Learning German from speakers teaching Low German or Chinese from a dialect and not standard Mandarin will make it harder to find resources and communicate with the broadest range of speakers possible. Save the dialects and regional variants for when you have a good command of the standard language.

    3​. Once you have a nice framework to bounce off of, get some (lots) of exposure! Watch YouTube videos in your language with the subtitles on, read articles about things you already know to learn sentence structure and familiar vocabulary, if you can speak to native speakers, do so! This is what schools call the immersive or natural method, and it is a refreshing way to learn when compared to the old rote method of learning a chunk of the language and then repeating sentences about someone feeding their dog for 50 minutes. This will not feel natural right away and it may feel like you are not learning much but stick with it. Languages are patterns and learning them is pattern recognition. You learned your native language by listening and understanding before you ever took notes in a grammar lesson.

    4​. The third step should be the majority of the time you spend learning your new language. Along the way you will have picked up the essential grammatical concepts and constructions used by native speakers. At some point in this voyage it will be helpful to systematize your knowledge into a more coherent structure to refer back to. This is where grammar study will benefit you: not as a building block but a refresher. It is always handy to have a physical copy of charts for things like the declension of nouns and pronouns and all the forms verbs take. These can be easily printed (Russian used for an example but type in "free grammar charts _____" for any language) from your computer to study and reference, or taken from books which can be pulled from the shelf when necessary. A great series is the "English Grammar for Students of _________" which can be purchased on Amazon. Remember: grammar is just giving names to concepts you are familiar with. This step should not be painful, but instead a supplement to what you are learning.

    T​hat is it! Languages can be intimidating and difficult (especially if it is our first time learning one), but the process to gain proficiency in it should not be equally difficult. These are the steps I take to understand a new language and it works every time while still being enjoyable. If you follow these steps you will find yourself loving the work and reaping the benefits, whether your goal is reading, writing, or speaking fluency (or all at once). Stop reading this and get to learning!