Learning a language is a journey in which you take the first step by deciding to learn that language at any cost and not letting any obstacles stop you from reaching your goal.First things first, we need self-motivation; that is to say that we don’t need the energy coming from outside such as a voice telling you to practice the language, or your mom promising that she would buy you a pricy gift if you learned it.
Personally, I’d rather never set off on the journey of learning anything for the promise of a reward, and then finding myself disillusioned and disappointed later because you can’t define an end for learning a language. You can only become better at it without ever reaching to a definite point of perfection as there’s no earthly perfection of any kind which I can name.
Therefore the best kind of resolve and determination comes from an integrated self-motivation. It is this resolve which makes you stand back on your feet and continue in times of a difficult grammar, a failure on the test day, and in the face of somebody harshly criticizing you or correcting you in an embarrassing way in front of others.
Next thing is the total immersion in the language. After I decide which language I’m going to learn, I always change the language on my cellphone (to the one I’m learning) and my laptop, make a few friends to help me on the way, find some native people to learn things from and receive their valuable feedback and correction.
Language immersion means drowning yourself in the target language by watching lots of videos targeted for learners of a certain level, passive listening to podcasts, minimizing the use of translation to and from your native language in order to push your mind to think in the new language. Of course, like any other skill, it will take some getting-used-to, and at the start, it feels weird and you might feel as if you ventured out of your comfort zone (that’s the point of learning and progress anyway). Limiting yourself to the only and absolutely most basic and necessary form of communication (to maybe 20 questions and answers) at the A1 level equals to giving your brain a chance to process and develop that limited input. Don’t overload your memory with a lot of vocabulary. Use the language to learn it rather than learn to use.
Audio input is absolutely necessary. So don’t focus on reading and grammar at first because your brain is looking for more tangible and practical data. You need to speak, speak and speak.
Procrastination in speaking later or “when my level is higher” equals to getting stuck at whatever level you already are. So put the shyness and the fear of making mistakes aside, and get a move on! Install an app that allows you to speak and find language partners. There are many out there on your phone’s app store.
Doing all the above-mentioned tips ensures a faster and smoother language learning experience. They are mostly what I was doing. Since I was through thick and thin, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of research, I want to save you the trouble of the trial and error on your own hence ending up disappointed. I sincerely wish you luck in your journey. Don’t forget to get back on your feet after each mistake and failure and be thankful to them for giving you a chance to learn yet another thing.