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If you are learning a language at school, for work or just for fun, it can be difficult and sometimes certain words just don't want to stick in your head. Here is how to help yourself to learn a language.

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EditSteps

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    Listen to audio books that say the words in your first language then in the language you are learning. Put them on softly when you sleep, listen to them instead of music and let your thoughts wander wherever they want to and play them when you read and do leisure activities. Doing this will mean that you are listening to the language spoken constantly, and make you more familiar with the pronunciation of words as well as drilling the meaning of them.
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  2. Help Yourself to Learn a Language Step 2.jpg
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    Listen to audio books of your favourite books read in this language, for example German. If you remember certain passages, and know at least a quarter of the words spoken, you will realise what certain words are as well as learning about sentence structure.
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    3
    Tie tags to furniture in your house with the word in the foreign language on it. Before you can use the thing wit the tab on you have to say the foreign word 3 times. This will not only help you to remember the word, but it will make you associate that word with whatever it is. For example, if you see a kettle and know the word for kettle in your language because of the tag, your brain will be used to saying the word three times and you will recall the word.
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    Try and get a pen pal who only speaks the language you are learning. This will make you use the language in a practical situation and will make you really think about grammar, sentence structure etc as well as helping you learn new words and learning slang from the different country.
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    Visit the country the language is spoken in. Restrict yourself to only speaking the language that you are learning while speaking to people who it is the first language of, and you will be forced to make connections, learn words and get used to actually speaking the language.
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    Make yourself read a whole chapter of a book in the foreign language once every morning, then read the same chapter again in the evening. Keep a dictionary of that language handy so you can look up words you don't know. This will not only be an interesting activity and encourage you to break the language barrier because you want to know what happens in the book, but reading it twice will help you to remember words.
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EditTips

  • Try and use the language daily, if only just talking to yourself or just looking at a few words in the language. That way you will grow used to using the language.

EditThings You'll Need

  • Audio books in the language
  • Books in the language

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Article Info

Categories: World Languages

In other languages:

Español: Cómo ayudarte a aprender un idioma

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