This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.
Knowing a second language is only beneficial to you. It makes you a more desirable candidate for your future career, it helps your brain understand language as a whole easier, and it opens up doors to new cultures and experiences that you were originally shut off from due to language barriers. Enrolling in a foreign language class is a great idea, but actually taking the class can be super difficult. The parts of our brains that deal with language have already been developed and aren’t as sponge-like as they are for children. If you weren’t exposed to multiple languages as a child, this presents a battle for you because you are now fighting with your brain to open these areas up and take on another language. It’s difficult, but not impossible.
1. Take advantage of the resouces you have
You know how much you spent on that textbook, take advantage of it. You aren’t going to cover the book from front to end in your class, so really try to do that in your freetime. The mroe you study, the more you learn.
2. Download Duolingo or another language app
We always have our phones on us, so we might as well use that to our advantage. While on your morning commute or waiting for a friend, you can open up your language learning app and get in a couple minutes at a time of practice. It is great because you don’t have to dedicate a large amount of time if you aren’t able to, but can easily squeeze in multiple lessons in many short intervals.
3. Practice speaking whenever you can
I know you will feel embarassed at first, I was too, but speaking with others in the language you are learning is the best practice to retain the language. If you are at a place where others use the language you are learning, practice speaking with them. I always felt as though I was going to be laughed at, but I’ve found that people will respond positively to you wanting to open yourself to other cultures and will more likely than not be very open to helping you.
4. Surround yourself with the culture
Submerging yourself in different aspects of the culture helps you understand slang, the way people speak the language, common phrases, and more. Find music you enjoy in the language that you are learning, watch TV shows and movies in this language, turn on the radio station for it while you drive. Learning a language in a natural setting is way easier than in a classroom, and this will help you learn how the language is used outside of class.
Foreign languages may seem scary and difficult at first, but the more you deal with the language on a daily basis, the easier it will become to understand it. Push through the tough beginning stages and you will eventually be just as comfortable speaking your second language as you are speaking your first.