10 facts about learning a new language

“It’s like learning a new skill,” says Safieh Moghaddam, the associate chair of linguistics and languages at the University of Toronto. There’s no set amount of hours for mastering a language – and the learning process will vary for everyone.

According to data compiled by free language app Duolingo, more than 30 million people attempted to learn a new language in the United States in 2020.

These are words that look and mean the same thing as words you already know – for instance, historia (history) in Spanish or bruder (brother) in German. “This may help the learner gain confidence and think that learning a new language is not that challenging,” says Moghaddam.

Studies have found that individuals who frequently watch foreign films or television shows are typically better at reading, listening and learning vocabulary. Subtitles allow you to see and hear each spoken word.

You must first expose your mind to a language without deliberately trying to learn it, says Steve Kauffman, polyglot and co-founder of the online learning language tool LingQ. As a result, more than 70 per cent of your learning time should be devoted to listening and reading.

Then make a habit of practising hypothetical conversations during the learning process. “You have no control over what the native speaker is going to say back to you,” says Kauffman, so be prepared for different conversation outcomes.

More than 450 million people in the world speak it, making it the second-most spoken language on Earth.

Mandarin has thousands of characters and includes four tones, meaning words can be pronounced in four different ways. Arabic, meanwhile, includes sounds that don’t exist in the English language.

During your break, track the progress you’ve made and take time to reflect on areas of improvement. A lack of motivation could also mean you need to change your studying style, says Moghaddam.

In fact, mistakes can actually make you smarter because you’re less likely to make the same error twice. Naturally, the brain is a slow learner, and the mindset of mastering a skill quickly is counterproductive, says Kauffman.

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Source: RD.com