Asking someone to teach you a language is like going to the gym and telling a trainer to build you muscles.
Languages are so huge and there’s so much to learn that no one can download all of the info into your brain.
Here’s the hard truth: learning to speak a language well takes a truly disgusting amount of time, effort, and energy.
And the vast majority of that is gonna have to come from you personally.
You have to be sufficiently motivated and dedicated, hold yourself accountable, and put in the time, minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day.
But that’s not to say you have to figure everything out on your own.
More experienced language learners have plenty of valuable advice to offer you.
However, I definitely do not recommend doing things exactly like anyone else!
No one learns just like you, or has the same interests and strengths, or reasons for learning.
What works well for one person won’t be great for you, and vice versa.
So I really recommend trying out as many methods as you can find, giving them each a shot and settling on the most effective (and most importantly, fun!) for you.
For me, this looks like lots and lots of music whenever I start out learning any language.
From there, I move to basic conversations, tons of questions, and of course a metric shitload of mistakes!
Trust me, when someone laughs at a mistake you make in their language, you’ll never make that same mistake again.
It’s uncomfortable in the moment, but it’s a really powerful tool for learning.
And once you start to understand why they laughed, you’ll be laughing along with them!
And that’s my personal method. No explicit grammar study, no vocabulary flashcards, minimal mnemonics, and a hell of a lot of (formerly frustrating) forgetting.
Feel free to try out anything you think might be useful for yourself, but don’t forget that this is only what works for me personally!
You know yourself best as a person and learner, so only you can decide what methods and content are the most exciting and effective for you.
However, I will die on the hill that music is the most fun, effective, and exciting way to get exposure to the sounds of a new language, especially when you don’t understand much of anything yet.
What are the wildest, weirdest and most wonderful ways you’ve found to learn languages yourself?