Hi everyone! Last week, I came up with some tips for students learning German and with some additional reading on the subject, I thought that we could expand the list a bit further for the benefit of my readers. As stated in the earlier blog post, language learning is an extremely personal process, so not all tips will be relevant to you. Its all about experimenting and finding out what can work out!
- Find an app that works for you: One can choose from a number of teaching apps that can help you in your quest to learn a new language. Many of them offer a decent amount of quality content including practice exercises and reading material. These will help you practice and consolidate your skills and can be used to keep up with your quest even while commuting.
- Make friends with whom you share just this language: The best way to practice is to have real life conversations and to force yourself to dive in headlong. I notice that having friends with whom you just share this new language is quite useful as otherwise, you often tend to default to a language you are all more comfortable with (usually English). This is not as easy as it sounds in Wien, as most people here do speak good English and kind of try to relive you from the blushes of making mistakes in rudimentary Deutsch, but with some searching around, you will find suitable partners. Make sure you chat with them regularly and don’t worry about the mistakes, but try to notice your weak areas and work on them. Also, if you are unable to complete a sentence, try using an online translator rather than switching to your native tongue.
- Figure out your study pattern: Some experts recommend that you try to try to saturate your brain with information in study sessions to pick up skills quicker, while others say that you may try making your sessions more fun with imaginative exercises such as trying to translate your favorite rhyme. Try out many methods and with time you will figure out what works for you and then stick with it with a slight amount of further tweaking to optimize you studies with your learning pattern.
- Consistency is the key: Ensure that you devote some time to leaning German every day. Taking long breaks from the language can reverse some of the gains you have previously made. Habitual practice will reap rewards over time!
I hope you benefit from reading these tips! Comments are welcome. As noted earlier, I have borrowed and paraphrased a few ideas from these two links that you should definitely check out.
Tschüss!