If you live or visit Miami, you will soon learn that knowing how to speak Spanish is a must in this city. There are instances at the bank or the grocery store where Spanish is the spoken language over English. Those non-Spanish speakers may all of a sudden have the urge to learn Spanish and to do it fast.
Immersion is one of the best ways to learn a new language. In a city like Miami, where English is the main spoken language, how do you immerse yourself in a second language without the temptation to continue speaking English?
Here are some tips to help you learn how to pick up a new language and to do it quick:
1. Practice with a native speaker. Choosing a friend to speak with could make you fall back on the temptation to communicate back to English. It may be best to do a language exchange with someone you don’t know. That way you can alternate speaking each other’s native tongues in 30 minute intervals. Skype has become a popular method in our technology world to apply this practice.
2. Study the language. Although the word study doesn’t sound much fun, there are other ways of studying than doing it with a book. Watching a foreign film with sub titles will help improve your comprehension. Audio lessons are quite good too, and could be done at times where you could use some distraction, such as commuting to work. These two methods help by comprehending the language through sight, audio and speech. By reading subtitles you can see the words spoken. Through audio lessons you can hear and repeat the language being heard.
3. Keep a dictionary handy. In the past this didn’t seem too doable as carrying a big dictionary around seemed more heavy than handy. In today’s technology friendly world though, there are many free dictionary apps you can carry with you on your smart phone. These apps, as well as others such as iTranslate, will help you practice and perfect your language on the go.
In the end, it’s just a matter of practice. Learning a new language is not easy; so, practice as much as possible, don’t be afraid of pronouncing words incorrectly and have fun at it.
