Learning a new language is not an easy thing. Throughout years, various studies were conducted concerning how languages are effectively learned, being a complex process that goes within our brain. These studies, however, affirmed that language learning is linked to cognitive skills; these skills are composed of the retention of information, the ability of decoding messages, concentration and problem-solving. These elements are allegedly known for fostering the process of language acquisition and learning (Kontos, 2023).
Luckily, there are a dozen of proven procedures and methods you can follow to accelerate your journey of language learning. So grab a coffee and be fond of reading.
Daily practice
Practice makes perfect! We, as language learners, tend to neglect disciplinary. Although it may seem challenging to keep self-discipline, one need to keep in mind that it is eventually rewarding. When I started learning Spanish, I initially found it difficult to keep track of the process of my learning, leading to demotivation and dismembering the language I learned. Set a daily 15 minutes agenda to make your journey more consistent and improvable.
Apply what you have learned
Theoretical learning is not adequate for elevating your target language level. You may want to get a partner to apply what you have learned so far with; joining a discord server would be a nice thing too. Once you start applying what you have learned, you will see astonishing results. Other than implementing what has been learned communicatively, you can do exercises to internalize the learned information. There are various websites that provide language learning exercises, a list of these websites and features of each one will be provided down below:
- Duolingo (duolingo.com): Offers gamified lessons and exercises for a wide range of languages.
- Memrise (memrise.com): Provides mnemonic-based vocabulary and phrase-building exercises.
- Babbel (babbel.com): Focuses on real-life conversations and practical language skills. Anki (ankiweb.net): A flashcard app with a strong user community, ideal for vocabulary building and retention.
- Clozemaster (clozemaster.com): Offers contextual sentence-based exercises to learn vocabulary in context.
- Quizlet (quizlet.com): Allows users to create their own study sets with flashcards, quizzes, and games.
- Tandem (tandem.net): Connects language learners with native speakers for language exchange and practice.