Today I thought that I would write about learning foreign languages and some tips that would be helpful.
I have studied Chinese, Japanese, Finnish, Korean, Thai, Spanish, French, Russian, English, Norwegian, German, Latin and Swedish. I might have forgot to mention a language because I can´t remember every language that I have studied.
I have studied foreign languages since I was on second grade. I´m currently studying Korean. The first foreign language that I started studying was English. My English is pretty good. I started studying Swedish on seventh grade. I am quite average in Swedish. I don´t know if I would be able to have a conversation in Swedish. I don´t speak Swedish anywhere except in my Swedish class. I sometimes say some words to my friends or family in Swedish but not that often.
I started learning Korean in middle school. If I remember correctly, it was in fourth grade. I tried to learn it by watching Korean dramas, variety shows and also by listening to Korean music. I started learning Japanese two years ago but I gave up because it was really hard learning it without a teacher. I might start it again after I have completed my Korean language course in Duolingo. I tried learning Thai without a teacher. It didn´t really work out so I put it on a pause for now. The problem with learning Asian languages it that the letters are not the same as in Finnish. I would have to first learn the characters in order to understand anything. I studied Chinese for a while but I stopped because it was really hard. I tried learning Chinese through dramas. The main drama I watched was Ice Fantasy.
I started studying Russian last year. My class mate helped me learn the letters. I was able to read some words and remember the letters. I had no idea what the words meant. I have forgotten all of it. I studied Norwegian by watching Skam. I learned few words but I had to mainly rely on the subtitles. My friends recommended it to me. That is the only way I tried to learn Norwegian. My middle school friend was Polish and she teached me some words. The only word I remember is the currency.
We had a theme day in middle school where we learned different languages. We learned Spanish, Latin, German and French. I wanted to study French in junior high school. They didn´t end up teaching it because there weren´t enough students who wanted to study it. I studied Spanish in college. I can remember some words but I wouldn´t be able to have an conversation. I might start it again. It was pretty fun. That is my language studying history.
Now I am going to tell some tips that helped me. First thing that I recommed doing is downloading the app Duolingo. It is an app where you can learn any language available. I am using it currently to learn Korean. I have improved so much thanks to the app. I highly recommend it, if you are trying to learn a new language. In the app you can deside how many minutes you want to learn in a day. I am learning 20 minutes per day. It might not sound like a lot but it is really usefull to me because I dont´t have a lot of free time. I am busy with school, work and teaching.
The second tip is to write down everything you learn into a notebook. You should dedicate the notebook to that specific language and the things you learn in that language. I have a notebook where I write all the characters and words that I have lerned. That way I can see the progress and look back at the things I have learned and not forget it.
The third tip is listening music in that language. I listen to foreign music because I try to learn through the songs. If you don´t understand the lyrics, it´s okay, you can read the subtitles. Suddenly you will start to pick up some words. You might even be able to listen to the song without looking at the subtitles.
The fourth tip is watcing tv shows, movies and variety shows in that language. I like watching tv shows, movies, variety shows and studying languages, so I decided to combine these two. I put on the subtitles but I try to look at it as little as possible and see what I can understand without the subtitles. I can usually pick up words and phrases.
If you have any tips or tricks that I didn´t mention, write it down in the comment section. What languages have you guys studied and what languages can you speak?
Ida Blake Parker
Ida's blog 