teaching yourself a language
i’ve gotten questions multiple times about how to start learning swedish and how to go about when starting learning a new language, so i thought i’d make a masterpost about it. obviously learning differs from person to person, especially with languages, but this is what i do to study french, and what i’ve found best works for me
if you know nothing about a language a good place to get started is with basic words and basic grammar. there are a lot of apps / websites to choose from, some of the most popular are
- Duolingo, has the benefit of being free, and has 27 languages to choose from. with Duolingo you start with the basics of “hello”, “my name is” “i am” and it gradually gets harder the better you get. make sure you don’t only use it as an app though, because then you’ll miss the grammar explanations available on the website
- Babbel, unlike Duolingo Babbel isn’t free, and Babbel only has 14 languages to choose from. starts off similar to Duolingo but with Babbel you get more detailed grammar explanations and you don’t fall into the trap of having to learn long lists of words relating to one very specific subject before learning basic grammar, as you do with Duolingo. In Babbel you can also choose the courses that feel relevant to you, and don’t have to clear a certain course to move on to the next one
- Memrise, works similarly to the two above. there is a free version but you have to pay to get to PRO level
this type of course is a great foundation for learning a language, and almost vital when first starting out (if you’re learning on your own), but make sure it’s not your only source, and that you’re continuously talking to native speakers, reading, watching movies, listening to the radio and so on to get a grip on what the language is like when spoken naturally
when watching tv and movies you could either do it in two different ways, with different benefits
- with subtitles (in language spoken), the benefit with this is that you can read a word or sentence and directly see how it’s pronounced, and vice versa. the downside is that this way easily draws attention away from the speech, it’s easy to get carried away focusing on the subtitles
- without subtitles, the benefit with this is that you have to really focus on what is being said and how it’s pronounced, and you learn to understand the language spoken, rather than just written as in the subtitles
- watching documentaries is a great way to learn how to understand the language spoken. the language used is natural and not simplified for people trying to learn it, but it has a naturally slow tempo which makes it easy to keep up with
- even if you don’t understand a single word of what is being said when starting, listening to the radio is always a great way to pick up pronunciation. after a while as you get better you’ll start recognizing words and sentences, and you start understanding more and more. listening to the radio is also good as you get to hear how native speakers actually talk, including slang, idioms, buffer noises and other things
- listening to music works in the same way as listening to the radio, but is often a lot more fun! you learn the pronunciation and can sing along. disney songs are usually quite simple and offer written lyrics, so i’d say that’s a good way to start!
reading is one of the most important things to do when learning a language, and has the added benefit of learning about the culture of the language if you read literature from that country (which i recommend you do). i recommend starting with children’s books and cartoons and then moving on to more advanced literature the better you get. you can go about reading in your target language in two ways
- reading continuously without pausing and trying to understand the words you don’t know based on the context. it’s also good to go back and reread, if you do this chances are you’ll pick up things that you didn’t understand the first time
- pausing and looking up every word you don’t recognize. doing this won’t really increase your ability to read in your target language, but it can be a good way to build up a vocabulary
writing in your target language is a good way to learn to think in your target language and to use it naturally. i write a diary in french every day, and it’s been incredibly rewarding! but make sure this isn’t your only source, as that could make your language sound quite alien and unnatural. i made a more detailed post about the benefits of writing a diary in your target language which you can find here x
chatting with native speakers online is a good complement to writing a diary. it has the same effects of learning to think in the language and using it daily, but when chatting with someone else you’ll be corrected, which stops you from developing bad and unnatural habits in your target language. you’ll also see how the native speakers use the language and which formulations they use. there are two apps, that i know about, designed to let you talk to native speakers
they both work pretty much the same, you enter your native language and other languages that you may speak fluently, and which language you’d like to learn. then you’ll be matched with people who want to learn your language and who speaks the language that you want to learn
talking is the most essential, and hardest part of learning a language. i practice talking by repeating words from Duolingo and Babbel and reading out loud from books. if you’re using Tandem or HelloTalk you can also video chat and send audio messages back and forth. there’s always the classic way of practicing by talking in the shower or with your pet! the best way to learn how to speak in your target language though would be to go to the country where the language is spoken
i think the most important thing to think about when starting a new language is to emerge yourself in it as much as you possibly can, and making the language a natural part of your day
i hope this post was helpful! if anyone has some other tips, feel free to put them in the comments or in the reblogs, good luck!
