How to Improve Speaking a Language

There is no doubt that languages require a lot of time to master; however, what you should know how to do well is how to speak a language with ease. This does not mean that you should expect perfection, or that you should expect to not say any mistakes when speaking, but it does mean that speaking should ultimately be your start and your end goal. You may be asking yourself: why is that the case? As Benny Lewis has said, languages are used to communicate ideas with others. Languages are not a passive activity, but rather an activity that is constantly used.

If you have been struggling finding a starting point on how to improve in a language, or have felt frustrated with your progress, I hope that you realize that there are many solutions that can help you get back on track. In other words, there are many ways in which you can get better at language learning. Below, I will give you 4 tips that Alex Rawlings, a famous hyperpolyglot, talks about in the video above, and will expand on his points.

1. Get a Language Partner

Not surprisingly, it has become more and more easy to find native speakers and other languages partners with whom to practice languages thanks to the internet. Now that we have Skype, meetup groups, and websites that are designed for languages speakers to find language partners, there is no reason to say that you simply cannot practice speaking. If you type up “language learning websites, “language learning chat-rooms”, or type up other key words that have to do with practicing your conversational skills, hundreds of results will pop. I personally recommend iTalki, and will eventually devote an entire post to this amazing language learning website.

What I have done this school-year is become friends with other international students and friends who are native speakers of my target languages. As we have strengthened our friendships, I have slowly become more comfortable talking to them in English, and eventually ask them if I can practice my target languages with them. I cannot remember of a single time in which my friends have said no, which has been very reassuring for me. 

If you think that this is too unrealistic for you, you can ask your friend if you can have a meal, or do something together and speak English for half of the time and then your target language. That way, you both get to practice speaking both languages. You can also ask your friends, or classmates who are looking for someone with whom to practice, and ask him/her if you can do so whenever you have free time, or whenever you go somewhere together. All it takes is asking someone once, and, if it goes well, you will be assured to have a language partner for many years to come.

2. Talk to Yourself

As weird as this tip may sound, what I have found most helpful and most reliable is talking to myself in my target languages when nobody else is around. I have been doing this for several years now, and have found that I have drastically improved my vocabulary and my confidence in speaking by using a powerful tool: repetition. By talking about my day, or about what is going on around me, I pinpoint what I am comfortable talking about, and on what I need to improve. 

Whenever a word, or a phrase comes up that I do not know, or that I learned at some point, but can no longer remember its meaning or its translation, I write it down in a notebook. That way, I can make myself read all of the new vocabulary that I learn every time that I decide to talk to myself. Even though it may take something get used to, it will eventually become second nature, and can even help you step out of your comfort zone, especially if you are shy, or are a perfectionist when speaking.

3. Learn Vocabulary in Phrases

This tip is very helpful, especially when you are first starting out in a language. Instead of learning a word out of context, you can learn it through a song, or through a particular phrase that you read often. That way, whenever you are in a situation in which you can use that word, you can say it in a phrase without having to translate it from one language to another in your head.

For example, when you first start out learning the basics in French, you learn how to say “I would like”, which translates to “Je voudrais”. For years, you know how to comfortably use this phrase, and know what it means, but do not know that it is in the conditional. As you progress in the language, you will eventually realize that you had always known the endings for the conditional mood without even knowing it. Phrases like these are what will help you get out of confusing or uncomfortable situations, and can help you master survival skills, as well as help know how to say more complex sentences.

4. Imagine How You Will Use the Language

The last tip that Benny Lewis gives us in the above is to think about how you will use the language in your everyday life. Another way to think about it is coming up with scenarios in which you can say certain phrases, or talk about your day in various realistic situations. Some could include: being at a restaurant in a foreign country that speaks your target language, having a conversation about your academic and personal goals with your friend, or asking where the restroom is. What is important to remember is that are endless situations in which you could put your languages to use. Constantly reminding yourself why and for what you are going to use them is going to help you stay motivated to continue learning them (Feel free to read my post titled "How To Stay Motivated When Learning a Language" if you want to get some tips on how you can stay on track when learning languages).

No matter how comfortable you currently feel speaking your target language, I hope that you learned that there are endless ways in which you can continue to improve in them. There is no doubt that there are thousands of individuals around the world who want to be more confident in, and who want to practice what they have learned over the years. Deciding how and with whom you are going to practice them is what is ultimately your choice.

Taking Classes in Multiple Languages: My Experience and Advice

Now that I have been keeping up with this blog for over three months, I decided that I would write a more personal blog post of what it has been liking taking advanced level courses in 4 different languages. I wanted to share my current schedule, so that I could inspire others to do so, showing that even busy, tired college students can successfully reach a high fluency and level in more than just one language. As a disclaimer, I had already taken 3 languages at once for 3 years in high-school, so it was not as hard of a transition for me as it could have been if had I not done so.

From 9:30-10:20 am, I have Russian 102, which helps me wake up in the morning. Since Russian is by far the most difficult language that I have ever studied, I love having it first thing in the morning five days a week. I have noticed that I have made leaps and bounds in terms of progress with Russian this semester. We have already reviewed all 6 cases and have slowly, but surely been hearing less and less English in the classroom. 

Since our professor is a teaching assistant from Russia, we have been able to gain a lot of insight about Russian culture, Russian norms, and about the Russian mindset. Our professor has been very patient with us when making mistakes, but expects that we put the work in in order to do well in the class. This has pushed me out of my comfort zone, making me want to truly understand what we have already learned and what we are learning in class. I love the emphasis that she has on speaking, especially because that is the skill that is most important to master when you are a beginner.

From 11:30-12:45 pm, I have Italian 231 on Mondays and on Wednesdays. The Italian course that I am currently taking is a writing-intensive course, but has also been vocabulary-intensive. We have already watched La Meglio Gioventù (a six-hour long Italian film) in clips and have had to memorize up over 100 words a week. I can now comfortably use idiomatic expressions, and more technical vocabulary when speaking and writing. Our class is also a hundred percent immersion, which has kept me in an Italian versus an English mindset, helping me not only to feel, but also to talk like an Italian. 

What has been most helpful about this course is the fact that we have learned a lot of idiomatic expressions and vocabulary that you cannot find in a textbook. We have learned how Italians truly think, feel, and speak, instead of only learning the grammatically correct way of speaking it. We have started mastering colloquial language and can more comfortably talk about historical and cultural events that happened in Italy, as well as talk about abstract and difficult material. From 3-4 pm on Mondays, we have an Italian lab, which has helped us review grammatical concepts from last semester, while expanding and deepening our knowledge about Italian grammar.

From 1:30-2:45 pm, I have French 246: Introduction to Francophone Cultures. Since I did not have the opportunity to take a French course last semester, I decided that I would communicate with a French professor and ask her if I could skip a few levels of French in order to take this course. After taking the placement exam, I found out that I could take this course, as long as I had the permission from the professor and got an override. Despite the fact that I did not take several courses that are required for the major and for the minor, I do not have any regrets taking the last 200 level French course offered at my college. 

I went from struggling writing 10 perfectly grammatically correct sentences in AP French as a senior in high-school to being able to write 7 pages of an analytical paper about colonialism in French. In this course, we have already watched over 5 films, have read 3 novels from three different countries, have had 3 presentations, but, most importantly, I have learned how to think critically, how to think outside of the box, and how to elaborately write about historical events in a language other than my other tongue. Another way of thinking about what I have been able to accomplish so far is that I no longer have to stop and think about every grammatical point in my head: I now know how to think in French and can easily switch into that mindset when writing, reading, speaking, and listening to my professor talk about controversial, yet important historical and cultural events in Francophone-speaking countries.

Lastly, from 1:30-2:45 pm on Tuesdays and on Thursdays, I have Spanish 295: Introduction to Latino Studies. This course has been extremely rewarding and has been the most personal course that I have taken so far. Before this semester, I had not had the opportunity to take a course taught completely in Spanish since fifth grade. I had not realized how much I missed having a native Spanish instructor and having to read and speak with others in my mother tongue. I am beyond blessed that I am in this course, because it has allowed me to meet several other students whose mother tongue is also Spanish, as well as students who are passionate about Spanish and Spanish-speaking countries. 

We have already talked about Hispanics in the United States and have extensively talked about Mexican-Americans, Puerto Rican-Americans, and Cuban-Americans in the American context. We have read 3 novels, have presented, and have had intellectual discussions and conversations about these topics. I have also been able to rekindle my love for my own culture, as well as learn about others who have similar, yet completely distinct experiences from my own. I have also been able to strengthen my sense of worth and my identity by taking this course.

Now that I have shared my experience taking 4 intellectually challenging courses, those who are currently taking, or who are planning on taking courses in more than one language (whether that be courses in your mother tongue(s), or in foreign languages), I have already written a post that gives you several tips on how to successfully learn multiple languages at once. Feel free to read my post titled “How to Learn Multiple Languages At Once” if you want to gain some words of wisdom about what I have personally noticed works and what does not when approaching language-learning.

The most important piece of advice that I can give you is to not let what others tell you that you cannot do get in the way. Besides my parents, I have had many people tell me that it would not be feasible or healthy for me to take courses in more than two languages, but have never let that affect me. Instead, I have surrounded myself with positive influences and with supportive friends and family members who are there for me no matter what. I try to be as involved in all of the language departments of which I am a part and have many international friends. There truly is no secret formula. The only secret is perseverance. Passion. Never giving up and following your dreams and never letting anyone, or anything, get in the way from achieving your goals.

How to Improve Your Reading Comprehension Skills in a Language

There is no doubt that one of the most important skills to have in order to become an intermediate, or an advanced learner of a language is knowing how to read efficiently and well. Without going into too much detail about which classes I am currently taking this semester, I want to mention that I have had to read three novels in three different languages these past few weeks (in Spanish, Italian, and French). This has been one of the most challenging, yet most rewarding tasks that I have ever been assigned to do, but will admit that I was terrified when I first came to a realization that I would have to do so for more than five weeks straight.

Before this semester, I had never been asked to read more than sixty or so pages in any of my French or Italian classrooms, and had not read a novel in Spanish for over eight years. Could I truly understand the plots, the characters, and the action of three novels? Would I get them confused? Would I have enough time to look up all of the unknown words with which I had never come across? These were only some of the obstacles that I knew that I would face. In this post, I will give you three tips that will hopefully help you improve your efficiency and productivity when reading a simple paragraph, or challenging material in your target language.


1. Look up unknown words

A tip of which I cannot stress enough its importance is being willing to look up any unknown words, or phrases that you come across when reading. This; however, does not mean that you should look up every single unknown word, because that could ultimately lead to frustration, or to a lack of productivity. Instead, you should look up words that you have never seen before, or that you constantly see come up in your readings, but that you cannot remember their meanings. Once you constantly do this, you will start to see some of these words frequently pop up, allowing you to read faster and without having to pause after every other word.

When you look up new words, or phrases, I would highly recommend writing them down on a sheet of paper, or writing down their translations in your books (if you happen to read a book instead of reading something online, or that you cannot print out, or write on). If you own books, then you will have the freedom to write on them as much as you would like, so do not be afraid to take advantage of that. Many scientists have proven that the more times that you write something down, the better you will retain the information that you are trying to learn. I have found that writing, and rewriting words has helped me remember more words, and, in many cases, instantly. (Feel free to read my post titled “Using Google Translate for Language Learning” if you want to get tips on how to use Google Translate to help facilitate reading in other languages).


2. Read Out Loud

As the video above says, one of the easiest ways to improve your pronunciation in a language, and your reading comprehension skills is by reading a text out loud. Despite the fact that you cannot do this at at every hour of the day (especially if you are a college student like me and have a roommate), there is bound to be at least an hour throughout the day in which you are in your bedroom, or in another room alone and are undisturbed by others. When this is a case, you can practice this skill by making sure that you are enunciating and pronouncing vowels and syllables well, and by stopping yourself and rereading sentences when you are confused. This process oftentimes gives you more immediate feedback on how you are doing than simply reading in your head, because you are forcing yourself to stop, pause, and try to comprehend about what you are reading.


3. Start off easily and work your way up

The last tip that I have for you is to start off by reading easy, or beginner material, and to then slowly start transitioning to harder reading material as you feel more comfortable with a language. I would recommend to start off by reading baby or children’s books. I have found this to be extremely helpful, because that is the process through which I went when I first started learning English. As I got older, I started to read lengthier children’s books, then shorter chapter books, then more complex chapter books, and, finally, novels. It is most natural to start off with basic reading material, even if you feel that it is too easy, because it can more easily give you a confidence booster that you are capable of understanding little kids. Once you feel confident understanding basic topics, such as family, food, and colors, you can start finding more difficult material to read.

You should not forget to read material that is enjoyable and that you would find interesting in your native language when you have the choice to read for pleasure. I know that it can be hard to read something that is supposedly “easy” instead of trying to read about Einstein’s life in German, but, realistically, most of us are not capable of diving into difficult material without going through the motions, and slowly, but surely starting to read lengthier and more complex material.

As you can tell, there are many ways to improve your reading comprehension skills that are not very time-consuming and that are efficient. If you take anything from this post, try to remind yourself to read as frequently and as much as possible about a wide array of topics as early as you can. The earlier you start to consistently read, the more comfortable you will feel when you are asked to read novels like “Don Quixote” in Spanish.

How are Language and Culture Related?

I wanted to start off this post by briefly describing what inspired me to write this post. I am the kind of person who likes to write from the heart and who writes about what I have observed and have learned over the years, especially when it comes to languages. I recently had the privilege of having two internationally well-known Spanish authors come into my Spanish classroom (their names are Ana Merino and Manuel Vilas) who shared their experiences of what it means to be a writer and what languages personally mean to them. My fascination of linguistics and what languages can do to others is what I want to share with you.

One of the most important points that the authors made was that each language has its own, unique grammar and ways of being able to express yourself. Depending on which language you speak, you will have to adapt and change the way in which you think. You cannot simply rely on translating passages literally from your native language into another language, because that is not what languages are about. Instead, languages are a way to understand other cultures and have a deeper and to have a better understanding about the world around you.

Manuel Vilas gave us an excellent example about how careful you have to be when you try to translate sentences into another language. In Spanish, “I love you” is “Te quiero” or “Te amo.” The pronoun “yo”, which means “I”, is often omitted whenever native speakers use this phrase, because it is redundant. In Spanish, we oftentimes omit personal pronouns, because we can tell about whom someone is talking by simply paying attention to the conjugation of a verb. In this particular phrase, the person who you love is more important than the person who loves another person in Spanish, but is the opposite in English. This does not mean that one language is more correct than the other, but it is curious that Spanish speakers think about love in a different way. That being said, I will talk about some of the most memorable sentences that these authors told us in their mother tongue, Spanish, and will translate what they said in parentheses.

 “Cuanto más conocimiento tienes, eso es ser mas libre” (“The more knowledge you have, the freer you are”). I thought that this quote was incredibly powerful. It shows that knowledge is power and that power is language. If this is true, then that means that languages are a means to deepen and change your lenses on how you view and perceive the world. “Las culturas no se pueden perder…la literatura te da la capacidad de generar ideas” ("Cultures cannot be lost…literature is what give you the ability to generate ideas"). One could argue that it is not necessary to speak other languages in order to be open-minded and have a true appreciation for individuals who believe or practice something other than with what we grow up due to globalization. However, globalization has created an even bigger necessity to understand others, because our world is more interconnected than it has ever been.

 “El aprendizaje de los idiomas [es] la forma lingüística de la lengua… [que te da] pensamientos diferentes [que] son complementarios… [uno aprende de culturas a través de] la literatura…[tienes] posibilidades infinitas de comprender el mundo [y te da] un crecimiento de la libertad [que es] la base de las humanidades, [junto con] un enriquecimiento [en] la vida [porque] vez el mundo a través de otra lengua…una sintaxis construye la identidad”.

*Learning other languages [is] a linguistic form of language… [that allows you to have] different thoughts [that] are complementary… [you learn about cultures through] literature… [you have] infinite possibilities to understand the world [and it gives you] a growth in freedom [that is] the base of the humanities, [as well as] an enrichment [in your] life [because] you see the world through another language…a syntax creates identity.”

“[La] teoría fusión [dice que] la motivación incrementa [cuando uno aprende un idioma] si puedes pensar creativamente…[la] biculturidad lingüística [te ayuda a] tener oído. [La literatura te ayuda a acceder] la identidad de una lengua. Aparece la historia de una lengua. [Cada país tiene] identidades históricas diferentes…”

*[The] fusion theory [says that] your motivation increases [when you learn another language] if you can think creatively… linguistic biculturalism [allows you to] have a good ear. [Literature helps you to access] the identity of a language. The history of a language appears. [Each country has] different historical identities”.

As I have only recently started to grasp, there are only so many friendships that I could make, and only so many places that I could visit if I only spoke English. The beauty of speaking 6 languages is that I have friends from 6 continents and islands, allowing me to have connections around the world. I believe that you can only truly understand a language if you understand its cultures and that you can only truly understand cultures if you understand their languages. You can try to inform yourself about all of the current events about a country and make friends with people from that country, but you will miss out on key details that cannot be explained as easily, or as precisely if you cannot understand that country’s language.

In order to understand disasters, or accidents, we must be able to communicate with the enemies, or with those who thought that something was morally right when we think that it was the opposite. Remember, that no one language or culture is better than another, but each one is different. In my opinion, the best way for our world to become a safer and a happier place is if we learn to hear each other out and learn about each other in each other’s mother tongues (not through translations, or transcriptions), because that would leave more room for error, or misunderstandings. That is the power of language.