Do you need to improve your communication skills in a foreign language because of your work abroad? Or do you want to work in Germany, Austria or the Netherlands and earn a lucrative salary, but you don’t speak the official or most widely spoken language of that country yet? What are the best ways to learn a foreign language? There are several options. And what is the reason, why to do it at all? This brings several benefits.
Foreign language – learn it the fun and easy way
Find a way of learning that you enjoy. This is very important for its effectiveness. If you like to watch films or series, look for ones in the language you need to work on. Or watch them with dubbing in that language and subtitles in your native language. If you want to improve your English, watch English series, if you want to improve your German, watch a German film. Thanks to the possibility to replay any passages you need, you can learn intensively. Movies and series in different languages can be found on the Netflix streaming platform.
If you like to read books or magazines, buy or borrow books in a foreign language from the library. If you don’t understand some word, underline it, write it out and find its meaning in the dictionary. A very good choice are bilingual books, where on one side there is a text in a foreign language and on the other side there is the same text in your mother tongue. Read newspapers or magazines in this language. A well-known daily newspaper writing in English is the British title The Guardian, which also has an online version. For German speakers, a good tip is, for example, the channel Tagesschau, which is dedicated to world events.
Choosing a large number of sources
You can also listen to currently popular podcasts on topics you enjoy. There are countless of them from fields of all kinds. Those for beginners are marked with the number 101. This way you will learn pronunciation better and the speech will reach your ears easily. The podcast of the British English teacher Luke’s English podcast has good references, where you can find humorously handled topics. A great tip for a German podcast is Easy German, which covers topical issues. It is suitable for advanced learners who want to take their German to a higher level. You can watch educational videos or use various apps. Today, there are many creative and interesting phone apps to make learning the language more enjoyable and easier. One of them is the interactive Duolingo, which is available in several languages. You can decide how much time to spend on the language, whether five or twenty minutes a day. The app also offers the opportunity to test your language skills. As a music lover, you can listen to the songs while learning to help improve your language and then check out the translations of the lyrics.
Focus on regularity
Set aside a few minutes a day to spend time learning a foreign language. The most ideal is to spend 10 to 15 minutes on it, which is plenty enough. It is important to learn regularly every day. If you learnt twice a week, by the next time you would quickly forget what you have already managed to learn. It is good to find a system in learning. First, try to communicate as much as possible, even if it’s not entirely grammatically correct. Grammar will come a little later, when you have more advanced level of the language and a richer vocabulary. You need to approach learning in a positive and non-coercive way. As experienced polyglots and language mentors say, it has been about the right method and system for a long time, not about talent for foreign languages. Each person is individual, has different requirements and something different suits them.
Foreign words and context
Learn vocabulary words by using them directly in a sentence and in context. It’s more efficient than memorizing them. They are easier to remember and you will be able to use them in everyday communication. Improving your language skills will not only help you to function better in everyday life outside your home country, but it can also help increase your salary. For example. carers in Germany are paid based on their level of German. The better the level, the higher the salary. So the effort and learning definitely pays off! The difference between knowing the language at the lowest level and knowing it at the highest level is up to 300 euros when talking about caregivers employed by Atena. In addition, you will be able to arrange some matters at the store or with the officials, or communicate with the doctor. You will feel more confident in that country, rather than like a foreigner in exile.
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