Today, many people strive to go abroad not only for vacation, but also for employment in a prestigious company or even for permanent residence. However, for this you need to know the foreign language of the country to which you are actually going.

Experts assure that if you study a language correctly, in just a few weeks you can master basic communication skills, and within a few months you can learn the basics of the language. Of course, you will not be able to read complex literature with ease, but it will be quite easy for you to express your thoughts, regardless of your type of activity. And everyone can do this.

Where should you start?

Many people wonder how to start learning a foreign language correctly? After all, it is from the first steps that the desire to move on and self-confidence should appear.

The worst thing at the initial stage is lack of self-confidence and self-confidence. Many people are afraid to simply say words out loud due to incorrect pronunciation or sentence construction. In order to learn a foreign language on your own, you need to take risks and not be afraid of mistakes.

Phrase books and online courses will be useful only at the initial stage of language learning, when you need to learn words and phrases that will help you navigate a new country and communicate with local residents.

The author believes that if you approach the process correctly, after 3 months you can own it in sufficient shape. The most important thing he emphasizes is to give up perfectionism, that is, not to focus on mistakes and correct pronunciation. Benny says you shouldn't strive for perfect language proficiency. Many people are so fixated on good pronunciation that, in the end, they never achieve this goal.

Here are his tips to help you learn a foreign language correctly:

• Don't chase perfection. Many are so fixated on perfect pronunciation that they end up disappointed and quit this activity, because they cannot achieve their goals, and this is most often what happens to beginners;
• first you need to learn simple phrases, such as “where is the metro?” or “what time is it?”;
• pay more attention to studying words and phrases, rather than grammar;
• Be sure to start speaking out loud from day one. This is the main barrier to learning a language, overcoming which you will achieve your goal;
• the author does not recommend taking courses, because the programs there are too general to be useful at the same time to both beginners and those who already speak the language at a certain level;
• spend maximum time on training. Benny believes that it is thanks to training for many hours a day that people learn foreign languages ​​in just a couple of months. If you don’t have the opportunity to study all day, even a couple of hours will help you achieve great results in the shortest possible time.

How to start learning English on your own?

Today English is the most widely spoken language all over the world. This is what they most often strive to learn.

It is worth remembering one important thing - there are no people in the world who are unable to learn a language. There are lazy people. If you have a goal, strive for it, forget about fear and shyness, and then you will definitely succeed.

Learning English on your own is quite easy. You can use any available tools - from phrasebooks to online training. However, you should not trust seminars that promise huge results in just a few weeks. Most likely, this is a regular money grab. Learning a language is a painstaking and long process. As mentioned above, in a couple of weeks you can achieve basic results that will help you express simple phrases that help you navigate the city and communicate with people.

Learning English correctly, like any other, is very important. Immediately limit yourself to time. For example, set a goal for yourself to learn 1000 words in a month. This is quite small, only 30 words a day. The same rule applies to any other work: if you don’t do it on time, then most likely you won’t do it at all.

Another tip: there is no point in learning individual words. Learn phrases. It's much simpler and more efficient. After all, a word essentially does not carry all the meaning that will be contained in a phrase or sentence. For example, leaving a train and sending mail are completely different things.

Think and speak in English. Try to immediately translate your thoughts, describe what surrounds you. You will soon notice that you have already memorized the names of the things you encounter every day.

Teaching a child a foreign language is much easier than teaching an adult. After all, everyone knows how developed the ability of children is to grasp everything on the fly. While playing or talking with you, the child instantly remembers information. Therefore, if you want your child to know a foreign language well in the future, help him master it from an early age.

Learn a foreign language? Easily!

I hope we have answered the question of how to learn a foreign language. The most important thing is not to forget that this activity will help you not only develop, but also achieve more in life.

How best to study is up to you. Today there are many available ways to help you learn any foreign language quickly and in a short time.

The secrets of polyglots are desire, desire, perseverance. Every person has these qualities, the main thing is to overcome laziness in yourself.

Polyglots are not uncommon today, because modern people adapt and adapt to new conditions much more easily, including while living or working in another country.

If you have a goal, go towards it. Forget about fear and embarrassment, and then you will achieve great success in life!

Incredible facts

1. How to start speaking the desired language today;

2. How to master fluent speech and succeed in this matter in just a few months;

3. How easy it is to impersonate a native speaker of the target language;

In this case, it is more appropriate than ever to use Pareto principle, which says that 20 percent of the effort spent on developing a new vocabulary will help you understand 80 percent of what you hear.

For example, in English, as in many others, 65 percent of any text consists on average of 300 repeated words. This set of words exists in almost any language, and native speakers often use it.

Language learning cards

It doesn't cost you anything to find pre-prepared cards with this set of the most frequently used words (or with words on the topics you plan to communicate about).

For example, the application can help you with this Anki , which can be easily downloaded to both a smartphone and a computer.

This application is convenient work with cards, the functioning mechanism of which is combined with a system of repetitions after a certain period of time.

That is, instead of trying to remember words using a dictionary and repeating them in the same order, the user can view them at specified intervals, specifically chosen so as not to forget the learned words.

Many people like to make cards themselves.

How to learn a language quickly

2) Your friends in a new language are related words

Believe it or not, even now, when you are just planning to start learning a new language, you already have a huge database of words at your disposal.

You know a few words from each language before you start learning it.

In other words, a person does not start learning a language from scratch because he already knows a sufficient number of related words.

Related words are what you need initially because they - words' best friends words that sound similar to words in your native language and mean the same thing in a foreign language.

For example, the Romance languages ​​have a lot in common. This is why many words from the English language are so similar to French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.

During the conquest of England, which lasted several hundred years, The English borrowed many words from the Normans.

Number of borrowed words in languages

For example, " action", "nation", "precipitation", "solution", "frustration", "tradition", "communication", "extinction", as well as a huge number of other words that end in –tion are also written in French, but you quickly get used to the slightly different pronunciation.

All you have to do is change –tion to –cion, and it’s Spanish, to –zione – Italian, to –ção – Portuguese.

Many languages ​​have common Greek, Latin or other roots. They can be spelled differently from each other, but you would have to try very hard not to recognize, for example, "exemple", "hélicoptère" (French), "porto", "capitano" (Italian), "astronomía", " Saturno" (Spanish).

The German language has gone somewhat ahead; it shares a fairly large number of words with Old English.

To find common words in the foreign language you are studying, you just need to set the search conditions - “related words (or borrowing) x (x is the name of the language).” This way you will find the words that were borrowed.

Of course, look for more “x (x is the name of the language) words in your native language.” So you will know that your language came from a foreign language.

This system works very well for learning European languages, but what about when it comes to more distant language families?

It turns out that even languages ​​as distant as Japanese have a lot of words that are familiar to a native English speaker.

To prove this, just watch the video below, the song in which is “sung” in Japanese, but a person who knows English will still understand much of what is sung in it.

And all because quite a large number of languages borrowed from English words, adding them to their own, only changing the emphasis or pronunciation.

Therefore, in order to significantly facilitate the process of learning a new language, it should begin with the analysis of borrowed or related words in a foreign language. There are quite a lot of them in almost any language pair.

How to learn a language on your own

3. You need to communicate every day in a foreign language, and you don’t have to travel to do this.

This is another reason (or reason) that people voice when explaining their reluctance to learn languages. Allegedly, they have neither the money nor the time to travel to the country of the language they are studying.

It is important to note that there is absolutely nothing in the air of a foreign language country that will make you magically speak in a new language.

There are a huge number of examples demonstrating this. For example, the author of this article, the famous polyglot Benny Lewis, whose native language is English, While living in Brazil, he learned Arabic.

But there are also people who have lived abroad for many years and do not even try to master the local language. Living abroad and immersing yourself in the language - these are not equivalent concepts.

If a person needs to hear and use language in order to be saturated with it, then wouldn’t communication via the Internet be just as effective?

The answer is clear - there will be. Today's technologies make it easy to immerse yourself in a foreign language without spending money on buying an air ticket.

How to easily learn a language

For that, to gain audio practice, it would be useful to look, for example, usingYoutube , which is now trending in a native-speaking country.

On Amazon or Ebayyou can purchase your favorite TV series or movies dubbed into the desired language.

Various news sources offer a variety of videos on their Internet resources, translated into various languages. For example, you can refer to France24, Deutsche Welle, CNN Español and to others.

To practice reading practice, you should read not only news sites, but also interesting blogs and other popular sites in the country of the language you are learning.

In order to achieve complete immersion in the language, you can use the Chrome browser to download special plugins, which will help you translate any page into the required language.

Language learning methods

4. Start talking on Skype today to get into daily practice.

You are already watching, listening, reading and perhaps even writing in the language you are learning. You do all this without leaving the walls of your home. It's time to take a new step - speak live with a person who is a native speaker of the desired language.

This advice is, according to the author, the most controversial, but, nevertheless, he always gives it to beginners. It is necessary to start speaking the language from the very first day of learning if your goal is to be able to speak, not solely to understand.

Communication for language learning

A lot of different language programs and courses do not work according to such a system, and this is their big mistake. There are only seven days in a week, and among them there is not one that would be called “one fine day.”

Use the tips described above to practice basic vocabulary and understand which words you have already memorized. This should be done over several hours.

After that, you should be ready to have a conversation with someone who has spoken the language you've been studying all your life. You only need to learn the words for the first conversation.

If you start using them right away, you will immediately be able to understand what you are missing and begin to gradually add what you need. You cannot and should not learn a language in isolation, trying to "prepare" for communication.

For the first communication it is better to learn words like “hello”, “thank you”, “I don’t understand”, “could you repeat”, etc. You can find many of them in a special list.

This raises the question, where exactly can you find a native speaker if you are not in the right country?

Today this is not a problem because thousands of native speakers are already waiting to talk with you. You can take private lessons from such people who leave their contact information on special resources.

For example, one of these multifaceted resources is italki.com. Here everyone will find something to suit their pocket.

If you feel that you are not yet ready for conversations on Skype, then think about this: The faster you start speaking, the easier it will be to achieve your goal. You can always keep the window open during a conversation, where the necessary words are already loaded.

At first you will peek through this window until you finally remember the vocabulary. You can even refer to the dictionary during a conversation to learn new words as you need them.

Some may think this is a scam. But in reality this is not so, because your goal is to learn the language, and not to imitate outdated teaching methods.

How to learn a language for free

5. Remember that the best resources don't cost money. Save your money

There is no point in wasting hundreds of dollars on learning a foreign language. It is only appropriate to pay for your communication with a native speaker of the desired language.

The Internet is full of various sources that, in addition to being great, are also free. Moreover, they are constantly improving.

Websites for learning foreign languages

An excellent example is Duolingo . The resource provides an excellent selection of European languages, the list of which is constantly being updated.

There is a lot of information here that will help you start mastering the language without spending a penny. Here are some other very interesting alternatives:

If you search, in fact, you will see that there are a lot of options for free resources, so it is best to test several and choose what suits you.

For example, the aforementioned Italki is excellent base for language exchange and lessons, however, no less interesting will be My Language Exchange, And Interpals .

You can also work offline, find or create language meetings in your city, or go to a meeting Couchsurfing, Meetup.com, Internations.

Such meetings are a great opportunity to meet native speakers and international enthusiasts.

But that's not all. You can improve your language skills using a huge database absolutely free of charge. Here you will hear any word or expression in different languages, and everything is recorded by native speakers. This is a resource - Forvo .

Moreover, you can check your written text for free for errors using Lang 8 . In other words, the possibilities for free practice know no bounds.

6. Adults are actually much better at learning languages ​​than children.

Now that you have a ton of sources and resources at your disposal, you can move on to one of the most important issues. This does not concern either grammar, or lack of literature, or the amount of vocabulary.

It's about your negative attitude towards your own potential.

There is a very common misconception in our society, which often makes us give up: " I’m too old to learn a new language and speak it fluently.”

However, a recent study confirmed the information that, compared with children, adults can be much more effective and more productive in matters of language learning.

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Haifa. Experts have been able to demonstrate that under certain circumstances an adult had a much better intuitive understanding of the grammar of a foreign language compared to a child.

In addition, no previous studies have analyzed the relationship between increasing age and decreasing language learning abilities.

There is only a general trend regarding the learning of foreign languages ​​by adults, which largely depends on external factors(for example, limited time due to work activities).

And creating an immersive environment is very easy, without spending money on travel and without the need to return to childhood.

Free language learning online

7. Don't forget to expand your mnemonic vocabulary

It is important to remember that cramming alone is not enough. Of course, with endless repetitions, a word sometimes simply gets ingrained into memory and remains there forever.

But sometimes it happens that a word or phrase repeated more than a dozen times simply flies out of memory.

Try using a technique like this to memorize words: mnemonics. It will help the vocabulary stick to your memory much faster and be remembered for a long time.

You must tell yourself out loud some short, funny, and most importantly, memorable story that you associate with a certain word.

Some may think that this will only greatly increase the time it takes to learn a language, but after trying it once, you will understandhow effective is it?Moreover, you will only need to remember the association a few times, and then the word will become an integral part of your vocabulary.

Language learning: where to start?

8. Accept your mistakes

More than half of all inhabitants of our planet speak several languages. This suggests that monolingualism is a cultural consequence, not a biological one.

Therefore, when an adult fails to learn a language, the problem is not at all that he lacks the necessary genes. All because His language acquisition system is broken.

Standard methods of language learning are based on an approach that has not changed since the time Charles Dickenson studied Latin.

The differences between your native language and the target language are presented vocabulary and grammar for memorization. Traditional approach: learn everything and you will know the language. The logic is clear, isn't it?

However, the whole problem is that you can never really “learn” a language, because it is not something you can know or not know. It is a means of people communicating with each other.

A language cannot be learned by rote learning; it must be used.

When you first start learning a language, the emphasis should be on communication rather than honing in on details. This is what it's all about key difference.

Of course, you have the right to learn a language until you can say in one breath: “I beg your pardon, dear sir, would you be so kind as to point me to the location of the nearest restroom?”, but the usual “Where is the toilet?” carries the same semantic load, but without unnecessary words.

You will probably be forgiven for such spontaneity, because they will see that you are learning. Don't worry about offending native speakers because your "chutzpah" allowed you to speak to them in their native language.

The best thing you can do when you first start learning a language is to accept that mistakes need to be made, but trying to make everything perfect is not.

Set yourself some kind of standard, for example, no more than 200 mistakes a day, but the main thing is to remember that you are practicing and using the language!

Independent language learning

9. Your goals must be smart.

Another important drawback that is present in most approaches to learning languages ​​is poor or incorrect setting of final goals.

Typically we tell ourselves: “I need to learn Spanish for the new year.” However, how do you know whether you have learned it or not? And if you set such a goal, then by what criteria will you understand whether you have achieved it or not?

Such vague goals can be endlessly unattainable, but a smart goal is specific, achievable, measurable, relevant and always time-bound.

To learn how to set smart language goals, you should definitely familiarize yourself with how the system works European Common Framework, which will provide invaluable assistance in determining your language level.

With this system, you will set a specific goal and be able to measure your progress.

To briefly summarize the essence, A is a beginner, B is a conversational level, C is an advanced level. Each level is divided into two categories: 1 – lower, 2 – upper.

Thus, a beginner student who has learned the basics is A2, and an advanced beginner is C1. Each level can be measured, so official institutions can test you and even issue you a diploma (of course, without enrolling in a course) for your knowledge of any European language.

You can also take tests for your knowledge of Chinese and Japanese.

So, now what is your goal? What level of practice corresponds to your stated “mastery” or “fluency”?

Many years of practice show that understanding fluent speech corresponds to level B2. In fact, this is social equivalence in a person’s native language.

In other words, you can easily understand common situations occurring in a foreign language. For example, friends talking at a bar, asking people about plans for the weekend, discussing news, etc.

Spring is a time of change. Some were planning to visit an unfamiliar country during their vacation, some were planning to change jobs, and some were planning to change their place of residence. And to implement your plans, you need to learn a foreign language. What to do? You can find urgent courses and sign up for them. But, one way or another, you will need considerable independent effort in learning a foreign language if you want to succeed in it. I think a few tips on how best to organize independent work on learning a foreign language will help you. Let's say right away that we are talking about independent study of European languages.

Not a goal, but a means

When starting to independently study a foreign language, first clearly answer the question – why do you need it? Firstly, the basic vocabulary that you will choose to memorize, and secondly, the amount of grammatical material that you will need when studying, depends on how exactly you intend to use your knowledge of the language.
For example, if the intention to learn a language arises from the need to go to the historical homeland of a future or already established foreign husband, then the goal will be to communicate with relatives, mastering life skills in a country where all the people around will speak a different language. Consequently, it is logical to place the entire emphasis in mastering new words on everyday, family and everyday vocabulary, so that the vocabulary satisfies the needs of everyday life. In this life, you need to talk about the weather and prices with neighbors, about the health of children with relatives, you need to do your own shopping in a store, know how to use public transport, know how to pay for utilities, get a transfer, contact emergency services...
In order to learn to speak a foreign language at this level, as a rule, about 40 hours of classes are enough for a student if the training starts from scratch. During this time, under the guidance of a teacher, it is quite possible to understand how to construct simple narrative and interrogative sentences, you can learn to freely use the most basic tenses of verbs - present, past, future and learn the 3-4 thousand words necessary at the initial stage.
If learning a foreign language is to seek a more advantageous professional position, a promotion, or work in a foreign company, then the requirements, of course, will be much more serious. The minimum will be about 20 thousand words, most of which are related to the profession and position, and it will take at least 100 hours to master the language. And the scope of grammatical rules will include both complex sentences and complex verb forms.
And the task is completely simplified if you are just an inquisitive tourist, and you want, while traveling, to feel confident, communicating with the people around you in their language. In this case, you can independently determine how deep knowledge of a foreign language you need.

Is it possible to learn a foreign language on your own?

If you have character and discipline, then learning a foreign language on your own is quite possible. Although at the initial stage, MirSovetov still recommends working with a teacher individually or taking courses. This will make it easier to master pronunciation, especially in languages ​​where it is difficult. Once you feel that you already have a base of pronunciation and grammar, you can set off on your own. Fortunately, in stores you can find audio courses in almost any language.
Any person can learn a foreign language, especially if he graduated from a regular secondary school, which means he has already mastered some basics of English, German or French at school. That is, there is an idea of ​​what a foreign language is in general. This is the main thing. Everything else is a personal mindset to win.
What does personal attitude mean?
First, and this is very important, try to love the language you are learning, love the process of learning it, then consider that half the work is already done. If you perceive language learning as a hobby and classes as pleasure, your studies will be much more effective.
Secondly, you need to understand that you need to learn a language in order to use it as an important tool for a specific goal - significantly improving the quality of your life.
And thirdly, personal attitude means interest in the language. Try to first understand the logic of grammatical rules, the formation of words and sentences, and then engage in cramming.
Is cramming necessary?
More likely yes than no. Memorizing rules, words, and other language material is absolutely necessary if you want to have even a small but strong knowledge.

Where to start studying?

If you start learning a language from scratch, then it is better to conduct such a “free course” of getting used to it. What does it mean? If possible, buy them in that language and listen to them in your free time. From time to time you can watch films in this language. Your memory, like a sponge, will absorb unfamiliar speech, and, watching the action in the film, you will intuitively understand even a little individual expressions and simple phrases.
Buy a phrase book and little by little choose and read the simplest phrases there, for example, forms of greeting, farewell, introduction, simple questions and answers. All modern phrase books, which can be bought in any large bookstore in any city in Russia, include a fairly wide list of such phrases for all occasions. Just read them, it's quite an interesting activity. At the same time, you seem to be preparing your visual memory to assimilate a new font, new phrases and structures. If you are still trying to mentally pronounce what you are reading, you are preparing your speech apparatus for the fact that one day you will speak this language.
When preparing to start learning a language on your own, you need to take care of a textbook. How to choose a textbook?!
It is interesting that very different people studying a given language can have very contradictory opinions about the same educational literature. Why does this happen? Because different people have different perceptions. Some people understand the rules better if they are explained in detail in the textbook, while others, on the contrary, quickly perceive the material in the form of diagrams and tables, accompanied by brief explanations. Even the layout of the material in the textbook and the sequence of studying grammatical forms and rules are perceived differently! Don't trust anyone else's review, trust your intuition. Therefore, MirSovetov can advise the only correct way in choosing a textbook - go to the store and start simply taking a textbook from the shelf, and, flipping through and reading it from the first pages, try to understand what is written in it.
When you “test” several textbooks in this way, it will become clear to you that in some of them it is easier for you to understand the text of the explanation, and in some it is more difficult, and in the third there is generally incomprehensible gobbledygook. Feel free to choose the one that seems clearer to you. This means that it will be easier for you to learn the language. Later, when you start studying systematically, when you become familiar with the basic concepts of the language, you can, in addition, purchase as many textbooks as you need for more effective work, you can even study different sections from different textbooks. Let's say, the verb forms are from one textbook, and the declension of nouns by case is from another, and the texts for reading and training in translation are from a third.

Necessary tools for independent language learning

1. The most important thing is the textbook! In the annotation to it, look to whom it is recommended. For your very first textbook, choose those that have recommendations “for independent learners”
2. Audio course for the initial stage of language learning. There are now a lot of them in stores for almost all European languages. Be sure to look at the annotation to it, text accompaniment, volume and content of topics. Choose a topic that best suits your goals - everyday general vocabulary, tourism, or your profession. So that you don't accidentally buy a set of discs for preschool-aged children!
3. MirSovetov considers keeping a notebook mandatory. Yes, yes, if you want to take things seriously. It is necessary to take notes in a notebook, write down everything that you want to remember, draw signs there and write down the rules, as well as your own comments on what you have learned. Using your own notes, as a rule, it is much easier to repeat what you have learned than using a textbook.
4. Dictionary. When you choose a dictionary, use the same approach as when choosing a textbook - first look through, read, check whether you understand what is written in it and whether the dictionary is convenient for learning.
5. Your personal notebook-dictionary. It is absolutely necessary at the initial stage of language learning! You will collect new words in this personal dictionary, and it is better to do this on a thematic basis. Let’s say you write down words separately on the topics: “household items”, “food”, “feelings”, etc. Be sure to include topics related to your profession if you are learning a language in order to advance in or get a new job.

Organize your own personal “language environment”

It was noted a long time ago: repetition is the mother of learning. Ideally, you can afford to study the language for at least an hour every day. But, as a rule, working people with families cannot always find this hour of free time. What to do?
Surround yourself with “reminders”! An old trick is to stick cards with words in all places in your apartment where your gaze might linger on them. As options: on the mirror in the bathroom (while you brush your teeth, repeat the words written there), near the mirror (while you comb your hair, read the “reminders” for 2-3 minutes), on the wall or on the cabinet above the sink in the kitchen, above the work table, above the computer monitor... You never know how many places there are! By the way, a very effective thing for women is to stick such “reminders” in places where housework is boring. For example, if such cards hang above the kitchen sink, then washing dishes every day will be an excellent opportunity to memorize new words! And also ironing clothes, cleaning shoes, walking with a vacuum cleaner on carpets, curling hair curlers, not to mention working out on a home exercise machine! Even when you are working on a computer, you can easily take 5-minute breaks, diverting your attention from your work to repeating words and rules of the language. MirSovetov emphasizes that the main thing is to correctly place your “visual aids” in the right place. And at the right time, mobilize yourself to pay attention to them. Then you will see that, without straining, you calmly “gain” the required time for repetition.
In the same non-violent way, you can organize yourself to listen to audio lessons and other audio materials. For example, if you are working magic in the kitchen, preparing a delicious dinner for your family, it is difficult to be distracted by “reminder” cards. But this is the time to listen to an audio CD with a lesson. You peel potatoes, cut onions, make cutlets or cook - and learn the language at the same time!
It is very useful to organize a simple “immersion in the language” for yourself from time to time. Choose one of the days off, buy movie tickets for the whole family, or send them to the zoo, to visit grandma... in short, provide yourself with temporary solitude. Sit comfortably in front of the TV, placing your dictionaries and notebooks with lesson notes nearby. There is something tasty on the coffee table. Put on a disc with a movie in the foreign language you are studying. And just like that, in a relaxed atmosphere, feeding yourself with positive emotions, immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the events of the film, looking at the dictionary from time to time.
Little tricks can be arranged at work. For example, keep a notebook where you will write down everything you need to remember - words, rules, etc. Repeat what you wrote down at every opportunity: at a boring and unnecessary meeting, during forced idleness associated, say, with a lack of clients, etc. In this notebook it is very useful to write down aphorisms and sayings in the language you are learning, accompanied by a Russian translation. In aphorisms and sayings, memorizing words is easier.

Vacation - language learning practice

Be sure to organize a vacation trip to the country whose language you are studying. Of course, it is better to plan this trip when the basic level of study has already been completed and you can understand and express yourself at a simple level. Be sure to take a dictionary, your study book, and notepad with you. And it’s really great if you take your textbook with you!
If you have not yet had experience speaking the language you are learning, then in the very first days of being in a foreign language environment you may encounter a serious psychological problem - the fear of speaking. It is caused by the most banal fear: looking funny in the eyes of others, fear of saying something wrong or being misunderstood.
It takes very little to overcome this fear.
First, you need to understand that in any country, local residents are always interested in a person who studies the language of that country. And even if your incorrect pronunciation makes you smile, MirSovetov would not advise you to rush to conclusions, because this does not mean at all that they want to insult you. When your interlocutor sees that you persistently continue to try, he will begin to help you and suggest words. This has been verified by repeated experience. Of course, you come across clinically inadequate interlocutors everywhere and everywhere, but this is very rare.
And secondly, we must not forget that it is you who need the experience of learning a language in the process of a live conversation, and not your interlocutors. Therefore, talk at any opportunity - in a store, in a bar, in a market, wherever there is a reason for conversation. You will see the result will be impressive. When you realize that you can speak and that people understand you, you will have a powerful new incentive to continue practicing.

The need to study foreign languages ​​does not cause any controversy. Knowledge of at least one foreign language is very necessary for every person to obtain an education, improve their career and self-development.

Scientists claim that speaking a foreign language stimulates brain activity and supports a person’s intellectual activity in the necessary tone. Until now, people still don't know how many languages ​​one person can learn. But at all times there were unique people who were able to study record number of foreign languages. For example, from one ancient legend you can learn that Buddha studied and spoke fluently 150 languages; another polyglot of past centuries, Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, easily communicated in 60 languages ​​of the world.

How to easily learn a foreign language: Kato Lomb's rules

Famous Hungarian the writer has mastered in a short period of time 9 languages. At the same time, at school the girl was considered an incapable student. The following helped Kato Lomb quickly learn foreign languages ​​as an adult: rules:

• necessary devote to studies studying a foreign language for a certain amount of time daily, exercises are especially effective in the morning;
• no way not worth doing empty cramming, do not memorize words and phrases separately, which are perceived in isolation from the main text;
• try to memorize ready-made phrases, used only in a particularly maximum number of cases;
• translate everything you can, for example, texts on advertising stands, inscriptions on posters, excerpts of accidentally overheard conversations, constantly train your memory;
• never don't study re-reading uncorrected exercises, since when repeated, the text can be subconsciously remembered with all the errors;
• write out and try to remember in the first person singular ready-made phrases and expressions.

In order to communicate fluently in a foreign language, you must do some work on yourself and practice learning it. Even if a person is ready to learn every day, some languages ​​require studying for several years. Many begin to get upset that progress in learning a foreign language is quite small, so give up studying, as a result, achieving great results.

Television, radio and billboards are full of offers for learning all the languages ​​of the world, but rarely has anyone really thought about degree of effectiveness of methods of learning a foreign language, be it English or Chinese. Research conducted on this issue has shown that The most effective and easiest ways to learn a language are individual lessons“one-on-one” with the teacher.

A foreign language is a fortress that must be stormed from all sides at once.

How to easily learn a foreign language: effective methods

Can read newspapers in a foreign language, listen to the radio, watch movies who do not have dubbing, attend lectures in a foreign language and talk with human carriers language. You can start looking for a native speaker of a foreign language in the city in which you live. Feel free to speak, and in no case be afraid that you will pronounce words and phrases incorrectly. In any case, they will be able to understand you or ask you again. Get started play the game "I say what I see", its rules are that you will name the objects that surround you in a foreign language, you can also start learning songs in a foreign language.

Immersion method

This question worries a lot of people. The most radical way of learning a foreign language is currently popular "immersion" method, that is, a situation when you have reason to go to the country, where the language you need is the primary one. By doing this, you will be forced, around the clock, to speak the foreign language you need, and this will provide you with maximum perception, accumulation of vocabulary. In such a situation you will even “start thinking” in the language, which you want to speak fluently.

Currently, there are organizations that provide opportunities to travel abroad for the purpose of learning a foreign language. If you have free time and enough financial resources, then you can take advantage of this great chance.

Method "School"

It is also a widespread and popular way of learning a foreign language. It represents cooperative learning in groups, in them you will regularly and purposefully study effectively by completing certain homework assignments. The advantages of such training are that this method is publicly available, and its only drawback will be quite long training period.

Be sure to practice more often at home and at work, with friends, with like-minded colleagues.

A further step towards learning and improving your knowledge of a foreign language will be vocabulary expansion or constant speaking practice to strengthen the level already achieved.

To implement your far-reaching plans, you need to quickly learn a foreign language? What to do for this? You can find urgent courses for learning foreign languages ​​and enroll in them. But, one way or another, from you will require considerable independent effort if you really want to succeed at it.

Scientists all over the world try every day to look for miraculous ways that allow anyone to easily learn any foreign language. Unfortunately, universal unique method yet that no one didn't invent.

Music method

Scientific progress does not stand still. For example, recently American researchers and music workers came to a stunning conclusion that opens the way to easy learning of a foreign language. The name of this miracle cure is music! This begs the question, how can music help you learn a foreign language? It turns out that it can, despite all doubts. Got ready group of scientists, studied all the nuances, conducted a number of experiments and came to a sensational conclusion, What exactly music- primary phenomenon and basis for the appearance of speech person. And if music is the basis of speech, then it is also the basis for easy learning of a foreign language.

American scientists explained it this way: meaning his new discovery. The existence of speech and language is considered as the main characteristic of human intelligence. And music in this case is perceived as something that developed from language. Initially music appeared, and then it was transformed into speech. So we can say with confidence that spoken language is a type of music. To support these conclusions, scientists cited reliable results from behavioral studies. They showed that:

• newborn children are first able to listen to how speech sounds, and only later begin to understand the full meaning of the speech addressed to them;
• newborn children have the opportunity to perceive speech addressed to them as a melody, namely, to distinguish individual sounds, their rhythm, pitch and timbre of speech;
• Young children (up to one year old) have the same ability to focus on the emotionality and melody of the sound of speech.

Thus, following the data obtained, we can conclude that the main principle that shapes human capabilities and language learning abilities is ability to discriminate separate words or groups of words in a certain sound reproduction. According to the authoritative opinion of American scientists, the main cause of most problems that do not allow It's easy for adults to learn a foreign language, is that they start concentrate attention on the meaning and meaning of individual words, but in reality something completely different should be done. A foreign language and colloquial expressions must be perceived in the same way as small children perceive them. Namely, paying attention on rhythm, phonetics and components of language, itself the meaning of the words will come much Later. In other words, you need to let the rhythm and sound of the language into your heart.

You can easily experience this by listening to radio broadcasts in a foreign language. At first, a person’s consciousness begins to reject a foreign language, but over time the mind will be drawn into the rhythm and mood of the “language wave.”

It immediately becomes pleasant to feel and realize how you are soaring in a peculiar linguistic phonetic flow of speech.

As for an easy way to learn a foreign language through music, then American scientists recommend start the process using classical methods, that is listen to songs from the countries of the language being studied. Attentively listen, listening to the rhythm and phonetic pattern, sing, and then write down the words you hear. Finally, check the official originals. After a certain period of time, the differences between your and the official version of the text material will be minimal or disappear completely, and language proficiency level will become much higher.

Using this method in practice is quite simple. In fact, all you need is put on headphones, relax, sit in a comfortable chair and listen to pleasant rhythmic music. To her accompaniment announcers pronounce various words and phrases, expressions in a foreign language, you can repeat after them if desired. Expressions and words are divided into specific topics and groups, so you can easily go through the most various types of situational communication and as a result, it is easy to learn a foreign language. The most basic thing is that after a few listens new words are remembered very well and come to mind automatically, to the tune of the music that accompanied them.

Always be sure that you will certainly achieve high results in learning a foreign language. It is also that you have extraordinary abilities for learning foreign languages ​​and strong willpower. We wish you a pleasant learning of a foreign language!

Let's be honest with ourselves: it is impossible to learn a foreign language in a month using magic techniques or hypnosis. If this were so, society would consist of only polyglots. However, there are methods by which you can significantly speed up the process of mastering a foreign language. Let's look at some of them.

Audience effect

Some people prefer to work alone. For others, on the contrary, the presence of other people motivates and inspires them. Try a couple of experiments to see which category you fall into. For example, repeat foreign words out loud in the presence of a friend or lover.

If the presence of another person fills you with excitement and a spirit of competition, then you can think about finding a partner to learn the language. The second option is to enroll in group courses. If it is difficult for you to work in the presence of strangers, you can look for a private tutor, or focus on working alone.

Create a language environment

Introduce a foreign language into your daily life - use the knowledge you gain. As the famous polyglot Benny Lewis likes to say, “the air of other countries does not contain any special elements with the help of which a foreign language is learned more easily.” In addition, there are many expats who have lived abroad for many years, but are still unable to speak the language of the country.

To master a foreign language, you don’t have to spend money on expensive study abroad - immersion in a language environment can be done virtually.

If desired, it will become no less effective. After all, modern technologies make it possible to make a foreign language a part of our lives, just as it happens when traveling abroad. For example, you can listen to radio stations in the language you need, either through an application on your smartphone or online on your laptop or computer.

Using mnemonics

Work on expanding your vocabulary using mnemonics. For example, to remember a new word, come up with some ridiculous, funny story with it. Rote memorization can also be effective, but there is no guarantee that you will be able to remember the necessary word or grammatical structure at the right time.

Mnemonics are especially useful for memorizing short words when selecting images does not take much time.

For example, you can remember the English word “pillar” if you imagine yourself standing with a saw in your hands and sawing some kind of pillar. It is worth considering this point: participants in mnemonic competitions can memorize up to several hundred words in an hour, but at the same time they do not learn several foreign languages. The next day, the competition participant will hardly be able to remember at least fifty words.

Words must be transferred from passive to active vocabulary. To do this, they must not only be remembered, but also used in speech.

Systematics in classes

Practice systematically. One of the most famous polyglots, Heinrich Schliemann, knew more than 10 languages. Moreover, in order to master a new language, it took him about 6 weeks, after which he could already communicate freely with native speakers. It is possible that the reason for such a speed of mastering a foreign language was his natural talent. But we must not forget about his perseverance: as soon as Schliemann took up another language, he devoted all his free time to it.

Kato Lomb, a famous Hungarian translator and polyglot, studied foreign languages ​​by reading foreign literature. She tried to master grammatical structures on her own, checking the text with the rules from the textbook.

Lomb said:

“If someone wants to master a foreign language, and is not able to devote at least an hour and a half a day to it, then no method will be effective - the desired result will remain unattainable.”

Use the laws of memory

Optimize your memorization of new vocabulary. It is quite possible to learn about a hundred words in an hour, but after half a day you will remember at most a third of this volume. To learn new words faster, you can download one of the special applications to your phone - for example, Anki.

Such applications are aimed at ensuring that the student spends as much time as possible learning words. If he stops cramming vocabulary for a month (two, three), then it is likely that the whole process will have to start all over again.

The laws of the forgetting process were discovered by the German scientist Ebbinghaus. He was able to establish experimentally that the rate of forgetting new units of information decreases after each repetition. Within an hour after the first attempt at memorization, a person forgets about 65% of the information.

But if you repeat the words again during the first sixty minutes, the rate of forgetting will decrease significantly. The next repetition can be done in a day. This method is called “spaced repetition”; It has been proven that it has a very beneficial effect on the learning process.