How to accelerate your language learning - use it!

Ok, so it sounds obvious, but the key to learning a language is using it. You’d be surprised how many people I encounter that don’t understand this simple concept.

I have a friend whom is ‘trying’ to learn Spanish in Madrid. At first, I thought they weren’t interested in learning the language because they never spoke it or took any lessons. Then I found out, months later, they had actually studied it for a few years in University. This left me shocked. She really thought in her own mind that she was still learning the language. She could understand when people spoke to her in Spanish, but always responded in English. Then I realised the problem, she wanted to say things correctly. Now, we all want to say things correctly, but learning a language simply doesn’t work like that. My friend thought she would learn all the grammar and then suddenly start talking perfectly. Wrong!

Learning a language, like learning anything, is about making mistakes. Everything you’ve learnt in your life has come from mistakes, think about it. When you were learning to walk did you wait around for years thinking it was better to wait until you could do it without falling down? No, you fell down, a lot, and you got back up and now you can walk. Imagine if no one ever corrected your spelling, would you be able to spell today. At what point in our lives do we lose our childlike inhibitions to making mistakes and going with the flow?

The time when you start to really learn a language is when you start to form your own sentences. When you decide what words you want to use, rather than a textbook. And the time to start doing this is now! No matter how limited your vocabulary is, you can try and make sentences. Start playing with verbs, start looking for the words you need in your trusty dictionary. People will understand you surprisingly well, even when you’re using the completely wrong structure. Most importantly, you just need to try. It doesn’t even matter if you’re talking to yourself, or in your head. As soon as you start to engage your brain in this way, your language skills will improve dramatically.

I spent a year learning Spanish from CDs and in the classroom. I was bottom of the class and could never keep up with the others, in speaking, in writing, in anything. I couldn’t even understand the teacher half of the time. When did my Spanish improve dramatically? When I moved into a new flat with a Spanish guy. He spoke to me in English and I haltingly tried to speak to him in Spanish. After just three or four weeks, my Spanish had increased dramatically. I met up again with my old classmates and now I was speaking more fluently and actually noticing their mistakes!

Remember, this paralysing fear of making mistakes will only hold you back and make you unable to ever learn, let alone master the language. Go out and unleash your new language upon the world today!