4 simple language hacks to fast-track your learning

1. Look for words that look familiar

You may already know some of the language without having even started. Try to find words that are similar in sound, spelling and meaning to the English language. You’ll be surprised how many languages actually have very similar words to the English language – particularly when the words are Latin-based.

For example: diferente (Spanish) means different (English); modern (Spanish) means modern (English); Information (French) is Information (English); Compétition (French) is Competition (English); Addition (German) is Addition (English); Sabotage (German) is Sabotage (English).

2. Listen to it daily

Whether you’re listening to an audio tape or trying to have conversations with people, try to listen to it regularly and as often as possible in all different contexts. Watching foreign films can help you to pick it up, listening to audios, and working through workbooks.

Each day try to spend 40-60 minutes on the language you are trying to learn and you will quickly pick it up and be using it in no time.

3. Learn similar languages

Italian is somewhere between Spanish and French, so if you learn Italian first, it should be a reasonably easy step to start learning one of the other two. Some people even suggest learning Esperanto as your first language can make learning languages a lot easier as it helps you to understand the basic concepts.

There are also claims of course that the more languages you know, the easier it is for you to learn the next language. Languages similar to English include: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.

4. Hire a tutor

Maneesh Sethi who wrote How to learn a language in 90 days, recommends moving to the country that speaks your target language for three months and hiring a private tutor to help you during your first month. Even where it’s not possible to make the move immediately, it can still help you to fast-track your learning by hiring a tutor. It may just take you a little longer than the 90 day goal, so make sure you go into your tutoring with a realistic timeframe. You may even like to set a goal (and even create smaller milestones) with your tutor to help you to stay focussed and on track.

To find a language tutor who can help you find more hacks search the Tutors4You directory.