Top 8 Tips for Learning a New Language

Learning a new language is fun, hard work, and rewarding. Here are some tips to help.

1) Conversation – reading and studying are good. But conversation with a person in the language you are trying to learn will take your skill to the next level! Find a friend and get talking!

2) Common words – Google the top 100 common words in the language you want to learn. Start there with flashcards. Include these 100 words in as many conversations as possible. Listen for them. Speak them. Write them!

3) Consistency – Don’t just study once each week. Find as many opportunities as possible to learn. This is why we are offering two English classes instead of just one. Successful students attend more than one class each week. Starting Monday, September 10, you can attend Global Connections free English classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.

• Mondays, 1:00-2:30 pm at Alliance Church 1161 Napoleon Rd, Bowling Green
• Wednesdays, 9:30-11:00 am at ACT 612 E Wooster St, Bowling Green

4) Carry flashcards everywhere you go. Whenever you have a free moment, look at a few cards. Test yourself. Never waste a moment to learn! Even if you’re not into carrying flashcards, you can still install a translation app (or translation game) on your phone.

5) Commit to learning. Have a firm reason in mind why you want to learn this new language. Are you planning a trip? Do you have a friend who speaks that language? When you know why you want to learn, your commitment will be more firm.

6) Cut yourself some slack. You’ll make some mistakes. When you speak or write in this new language, you’ll mispronounce, misspell, and misspeak from time to time. That’s okay. Don’t let that stop you from learning. Laugh it off. Learn from your mistakes. Keep going!

7) Classify words into groups. Instead of just learning one word at a time (good), learn lists of words that relate to each other (good, better, best, bad, worse, worst, etc.).

8) Closed captions – Watch movies and TV shows in the language you want to learn. Go ahead and turn on the closed captions for translation. Eventually you won’t need them. In the mean time, this will help connect what you read with what you hear and see.

Good luck learning. You’ll be able to communicate with people from all over the world!

P.S. Here are some more options for weekly English classes in Bowling Green:

Monday, 1:00-2:30 pm at Alliance Church on Napoleon Rd
Tuesday, 6:00-7:30 pm at La Connexion
Wednesday, 9:30-11:00 am at ACT on E Wooster St
Wednesday, 1:00-2:30 pm at ESOL East Hall
Thursday, 6:00-7:30 pm at La Connexion
Friday, 12:45-1:30 pm ELS Pizza Luncheon