The time it takes to learn a language depends on what you want to do with it– here is a great article about language learning and the kind of expectations you can set about the time required for the same!

It is well known that language learning is a lifelong activity when it comes to even a native language. But if you are traveling to a country and want to learn survival language skills, then about a month’s time is sufficient for you if you are really serious about it!!

There are some quick tips that help in learning a language sooner:

1. Keep listening to the language – right after the first day of your language class, you can keep in touch with a language by listening to it on:

• radio
• movies
• news channels
• youtube channels
• music
• podcasts

This helps you get the feel of the language, the accent, new words and makes you comfortable “listening to” and not “hearing” the language

2.Keep reading in the language – once you know the basic terminology you can start reading the following in the new language:

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Beginners or children’s books or comics
• Small stories online
• Read along books with CDs – these are books which also have a CD that reads the book

Reading will help reinforce the words you have learnt, and the right spelling and syntax patterns

3. Keep speaking the language – apart from practicing in class, you can try to speak the language:

• With your friends from class
• With new chat friends online
• By joining spoken language practice groups

Lack of confidence shouldn’t hold you back while speaking in the new language! Most importantly, don’t worry about making mistakes – nobody learnt anything without making mistakes – but yes, remember them and don’t keep repeating them all the time! Don’t speak only to your friends though. Try speaking with a native person every occasion you get so that you get immediate feedback on your language and specific issues.

4. Labelling common day-to-day items

Your language book will already have a page dedicated to things and their names – try labelling daily usage stuff like pen, table, phone, bottle, etc. in the new language so you can easily remember the new names – add new items every 2-3 days so in a matter of a few weeks, your basic terminology can be easily built!

Here’s another good article on learning a new language quickly! http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150302-secrets-to-learning-a-language

Contact us today to know more about our crash-course training for various international languages.