So you want to learn a language, but have commitments like school and work that is stopping you from disappearing for a few months to really immerse yourself in a language. You’re reading, writing, studying and practicing in your mirror, but the progress in learning a new language just isn’t as fast as you want it to be. There’s absolutely no arguing that the best way to learn a language is to fully immerse yourself in it, but sometimes it’s always not that easy. But it’s not impossible – in fact, you live like a local in your own city or town. Here’s how to immerse yourself without jet setting on a plane.
Befriend A Native
To be like a local in the country you’re trying to learn the language of, you have to find a local, or at least a native speaker in that language. Even meeting with them once every week or biweekly will really speed up your learning process. No matter how much you try to listen to YouTube videos or movies in your target language, nothing beats someone who can answer any question in just a few seconds. The best way to use this to your advantage is to go to them with the complicated questions. For example, in Spanish, there is a prefix or suffix you can add onto words to represent the tense. The confusing part is that this is only added depending on the amount of times the action is performed in the past and if it will be performed in the future or not. The best way to grasp difficult concepts like this would be to ask a local to walk you through many examples. You may want to offer helping them in another area, or bake some brownies to sweeten the deal – they will help you A LOT!
Find Your Little France (Or Chinatown, Little Portugal, etc.)
Often in big cities, there tends to be neighborhoods that expats make their own. Toronto especially, has nearly a place for every culture filled with cafes, supermarkets and people who are bringing a little bit of their home to Canada. If you’re having a hard time asking a friend to walk you through some language sessions, why not pretend you’re living in that country by getting the closest you can to it? You’re going to have to do some errands anyways – so why not do them in your language? Asking for the toilet in a French coffee shop, or looking at the ingredients in a supermarket that sells french food will definitely make you feel like your living in France.
Use Technology To Your Advantage
Luckily, every time we have a question, we can typically get an answer within a 2 minute google search.There are many free language services to practice for beginners, such as Duolingo. (These will help, but shouldn’t be your only resource). Not only will learning at your own pace, and reading different resources online help, but you can even take it even further by changing the language of your computer, phone, camera, etc. When you’re traveling in a different country for more than 1-2 days, your computer automatically changes the search results to the language of that country. You can manage this setting manually, even if you aren’t in the country! Do you have friends that speak your target language?? Why not talk to them in the language for extra practice!
Be Current
Whatever language you’re trying to learn, it’s likely that you have an interest in that country – so why not learn a little culture while you’re at it? Keeping up with the current news of France, or Spain, or where ever you want to learn the local language is a great way to learn formal words, in addition to events going on in that country. Learning this way can also include local words or traditions that you would have no learned doing a language course online.
Learn About Language Clubs
Depending where you live, there is likely at least one language club, or meetup near by. In these meetups, people talk in languages that they are trying to improve to be able to learn from others and improve their own speech. A great resource to use is Meetup.com to see where people in your city are meeting up to learn your specific language. Also, you can contact your local community center to see if they offer anything in terms of free language meetings.
