In my junior year of high school, I started learning Russian so I could use it at my job. After a while, it turned into a hobby, although the goal is to eventually become proficient as a bilingual healthcare provider! After four years of studying a new language from scratch (no one in my family speaks Russian), I’ve got some tips and tricks for college students looking to try it out!
Learn the alphabet first: This step is especially important if your target language uses a very different alphabet than you’re used to, like Russian, Arabic, or Korean. There are a lot of resources to learn new words, like translator dictionaries, but they are more useful if you can at least read your target language out loud to get the pronunciation down. Dictionaries will use English letters to explain pronunciation (this is called “transliteration”), but many languages have sounds that English letters can’t represent well. Besides, even if you can’t translate a book immediately, being able to read it out loud is still a cool skill to show off!
Listen and repeat: Learning a language while taking classes doesn’t have to be a time sink. A lot of my language practice comes from listening to Russian music or watching Russian dubbed television in the background while doing my homework. For bonus points, try parroting back lines back to yourself, or singing just the chorus of a song. This will get you used to the sound of the language, improve your pronunciation and listening comprehension, and will motivate you to learn more.
Figure out your personal goals: Why do you want to learn this particular language? Would it be better to hold a conversation fluently, or to translate a book or letter? Keeping these in mind will help you learn better by motivating you and helping you find resources that align with your goals. If you’re learning a language to watch a TV show in its original language, listening skills will be your priority. If you’re preparing for a trip abroad, you’ll want to learn how to read (especially signs and maps) and learn slang terms so you can understand native speakers.
Enjoy the process Don’t stress yourself out about your proficiency level or how many words you know. Just celebrate the little milestones, learn from your mistakes (you’ll make a lot of those, but that’s okay), and you’ll be alright. Learning a new language is a long journey, so you’ve got to have fun with it to be able to stick with it!