Random Thoughts

Learning a new language is challenging, frustrating, and sometimes just downright difficult. Figuring out the best way to learn a new language seems nearly impossible. Different science, theories, and learning styles are all over the place, and truthfully, some languages are easier to learn than others. Despite the difficulties, the multi-language acquisition is rapidly growing in popularity around the world and bilingualism is becoming more of a highly-desired resume addition. With so much out there in terms of best ways to learn a language, it can be hard to zero in on what language learning tactics would be especially helpful for you personally. When studying a foreign language, e.g. English, there are several ways to improve your use of the language such as watching movies in the target language, immersing yourself in the target language news, and having conversations in the target language.

It is often claimed that watching subtitled films and series implicitly helps to learn a second language. English is the world’s most widely learnt foreign language (Graddol, 2006); hence the potential of learning through watching subtitled media can have a great economic and social impact. Simply watching the movies with the original English soundtrack without any subtitles already produced a modest, but statistically significant improvement in the listening skill. This more subtle effect may have been a consequence of the ability to capitalise on sufficient information in the no-subtitle condition, together with the fact that the listening task was relatively challenging, leaving good room for improvement (Birulés-Muntané & Soto-Faraco, 2016). Watching movies in target language might not exactly improve your debating skills or formal register, but it helps you to understand the language better, get used to colloquial, conversational forms of the language and implicitly get a feeling for it. Also, you could try to pick out words that sound highly informal and look up their more scholarly counterparts. Of course, there is also a plethora of documentary movies to be found online as well. Being exposed to a language for the length of a movie might help you to actually start thinking in that language.

The second possible way to improve the use of a language is trying to sample a broad range of English language newspapers, including broadsheets as well as magazines and tabloids. As well as helping you keep up to date with current affairs, this range of news sources will also expand your vocabulary. Another advantage is that you will also become more comfortable with how words are spelt and the contexts in which they are used. Newspaper articles and etc. are written clearly and directly, making them perfect for language learning. The language used in the newspaper is a day to day language. Reading English newspapers can help you raise reading skills and increase reading speed because the contents of the English newspapers are rich and vivid. Moreover, the language of the English newspapers is a very authentic one which you can use in daily conversations. Besides, English newspapers help you to enjoy reading, based on their interests (Ahmmed, 2016).

As helpful as listening and reading tasks may be, you also need to use English interactively and practice your own speaking skills. Because, frankly, academic phrases won’t just fall from heaven and straight into your brain. Even if your competence in the target language is already quite good, don’t be complacent and underestimate things. If you’re lucky, you’ll be friends with a few native speakers who can help you out, but if not then try to meet up with someone else studying the target language you are studying. Another option is to talk to yourself in the mirror or record yourself. Listening to the sound of your own voice might be a little bit awkward at first, but you will be able to hear mistakes of which you weren’t previously aware. The conversation is the kind of speech that happens informally, symmetrically, and synchronously face-to-face. This will enable you to learn something from a great deal interaction as well as subconsciously force you to put your knowledge of the language to use. Thus, the language use of yours will surely be enhanced (Suparman, 2017).

If studying the target language only feels like a burden, it will seem tedious and you won’t perform as well. This is why it’s important to stay motivated and enjoy the experience of learning a new language. Find ways to add entertainment into your studies, such as playing word games with friends that will boost your critical thinking skills. Obviously, learning a new language is a long-term project and you can’t start from zero and write an academic paper a week later. But, when building on a decent foundation, you can achieve great results quickly if you devote yourself intensely. Try to stay focused and improve certain parts, rather than frantically trying to catch up with everything at once.

References

Ahmmed, R. (2016). Effectiveness of Reading English Newspapers for Improving Vocabulary and Reading Skills of Students of Dhaka University. The Millennium University Journal, 1(1).

Birulés-Muntané, J., & Soto-Faraco, S. (2016). Watching Subtitled Films Can Help Learning Foreign Languages. PLOS ONE, 11(6), e0158409. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158409

Graddol, D. (2006). English next (Vol. 62). British Council. http://www.ljjh.tc.edu.tw/new_post/files/wcy/1224727684.pdf

Suparman, H. L. (2017). The Effectiveness of the English Conversation to Improve Students’ Speaking Skill. Palapa, 5(02), 38–52.