Language Learning Tips

One of the main complaints of trying to use a foreign language abroad (and one that drives me up the wall too) is the people switching to English at the first opportunity. I have been lucky enough to be placed in a town in which this rarely happens. In fact, out of school (where actually 90% of the time I have to speak English - to both the teachers and students) I do not experience this. Perhaps because Bautzen is a smallish town off the beaten track and the amount of people who speak English is minimal, or maybe my German is now of a standard where it's not painful to speak to me anymore (I hope beyond hope this is the case). Who knows. But that isn't to say I haven't come across it at all, just not very much. Recently I have discovered 'Itchy Feet', an online comic chronicling the trials and tribulations of travelling and language learning, and this particular post sums up the pain of having your efforts being thrown in your face: http://www.itchyfeetcomic.com/2013_11_01_archive.html#.Un46lfnrzjM
And if you are a foreign language learner - the rest of the site is definitely worth a look too. It is hilarious and sums up the situation perfectly!

Having been here for 6 weeks I feel I have learned a lot about how to learn a language. If I had to dole out only one piece of advice, it would be: Watch as much TV in the foreign language as you can! Obviously, this has to be complemented with practising speaking to people, and going out and experiencing the culture (and not just becoming a passive couch potato) - no-one's going to learn a language solely by watching TV, but it is one of the most effective tools. Practise is great, but TV gives you the intensive input from which you can draw when you are practising. It really increases vocabulary and your mental set of everyday stock phrases (stuff you wouldn't necessarily be taught in school), teaches you how the language is spoken and used in the real world, and is a great way of exposing yourself to the language even though you might be alone, tired, or just not in the mood to go and talk to someone. It's also entertaining and things are more likely to stick than if you sit down and try and memorise a grammatical rule or a list of words. I've been watching it in the evenings before I go to bed, on quiet afternoons, and when I am eating dinner, and I have learned so much, and also discovered some great German programmes (if you find yourself in Germany I would recommend giving one or more of these a try: Sturm der Liebe, Rote Rosen, or Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten).

But I do also have some other tips to try for those who are trying to learn a foreign language:

1) Read!

It doesn't have to be a lot, but getting a children's book or magazine and reading a few pages a day (while you eat your breakfast maybe) is really helpful. But the most essential thing is: Lock That Dictionary Away. As soon as you have an urge to look something up, just don't. I was the German student at school and university who would read with the book/article in one hand, and have the dictionary in the other, and IT DOESN'T WORK. Yes you end up knowing what every single word on the page means, for about 3 minutes, and you might be lucky enough to remember one or two of them, but in taking this approach the reading process becomes a chore, and the overall meaning is completely lost. I've been reading teen magazines and taking out children's books from the library and have had a revelation: the most effective way is to read the whole article or the page through once, and then do it again (and maybe a few times more until you get it or are just bored). Sometimes you might have to accept you don't know what a sentence means and move on, and sometimes you might have to work out a word from the context, or by breaking it down into its parts, but the most important thing is that you get the gist, not the literal word-for-word meaning! This way, you want to read more because it's not such a chore, and you do, and then you might come across some of the same phrases or words many many times before it clicks what it means, and this way you'll remember it forever. Look it up, and you won't. Guaranteed.

2) Find a band/singer who sings in the language and listen to their music as much as possible.

This is an easy one to integrate easily into your life. You can put the music on whilst cooking, getting dressed/doing your hair etc. in your room etc. Listening to the radio can be useful too (I've been doing this when I'm in the kitchen), as hearing the DJs speak isn't going to do anybody any harm, but the problem is, you might find a lot of the songs they play are English, which can get annoying. But it can help you discover new singers/songs. Through listening to the radio I discovered the German singer Christina Stuermer. Her music might not be to everyone's taste but she is just one example.

3) Ask what things are

When I'm watching TV with my housemates, or I'm out with someone, or it just hits me that I have never learned what something is called, a simple question "Was heisst das auf Deutsch?" is just a simple way to learn a bit more vocab as I'm going about my day. As long as you don't do it too much! But the most important thing is, stay curious - I've found that people don't mind helping you out if you show you're interested.

4) Accept that you will get things wrong.

This is the hardest one that I, and I think probably most other people, have to contend with. It's so frustrating when you've spent ages building up to say something, and you've got it all worked out in your head, and then under the pressure of the moment your word order goes awry, or the wrong preposition is used, or you seize up and your mind goes completely blank. When I first got here, my fear of sounding ungrammatical and stupid was one of the main things holding me back. But, I have trained myself a little bit to shake it off when I make an embarrassing error like using the wrong word, or wrong inflection, or some other linguistic crime. That's not to say that now I'm always feeling totally confident, but in making the mistakes, you tend not to make them so often in the future. And honestly, people are generally nice, and aren't going to judge you! I've also seen this from the other side as a language assistant - the students who try really hard to be chatty, and explain around words they don't know, or just make a guess if they are unsure, are the ones who seem to learn faster. They get a lot of things wrong, but I love that they are making the effort,  and I don't laugh at them. Therefore I figure that most Germans will feel the same about my less than perfect German (or I hope!).


And now, I must go and plan a lesson on National Identity and Great Britain...