Learning a language on your own has many benefits: you can study at any time of the day without taking your pajamas off and learn by listening to your favorite music or having a good laugh with native speakers. Traditional school approach with all grammar exercises, long vocabulary lists, and boring topics may work in part, but it’s not enough to start speaking a language and become fluent. For many people learning at home is more enjoyable and effective. Learning at home will help you to talk about a language better by studying less, get better results without “traditional” language learning methods, and master a speech in the comfort of your home. Of course, these are not the only benefits of learning from home, but let’s focus on how to master a language from home effectively:
Create a Strategy
Everyone has their reasons for learning a foreign language. First, identify your goal and create a strategy and tactics based on your plan. Depending on your short-term and long-term goals, your system may be different. If, for instance, you are trying to brush up on your Italian before your summer vacation, you will probably want to learn essential phrases first to get around in Italy. However, if, let’s say, after your trip to Italy, you fall in love with the country and decide to enroll in school there, you would want to focus your learning on grammar more. Again, having a goal in mind will help you create a strategy and stay on track.
Don’t Study Too Much
You can’t learn a language just by studying hard. You can try hard to memorize grammar rules and vocabulary, but it won’t make you fluent in the language. Pushing yourself too hard may not be the best way to learn. When there’s too much new information, it isn’t easy to take any of it in and sustain that kind of effort long-term. Besides, it may cause you stress. When you are stressed, your mind becomes less receptive to learning. Find a balance and enjoy the learning process. Combine essential parts, like grammar, with something that gives you more pleasure, be it learning slang or watching movies in that language.
Review What You’ve Learned
Unlike in traditional school, you do not have to take tests home. However, you’ll need to review what you’ve learned if you want to learn rather than memorize the material. Mastering a language on your own gives you the freedom that can be a real blessing if you’re a nontraditional learner, but it can also lead to laziness. Reviewing the information you’ve already learned is more sustainable in the long run. You can always ask your friends or native speakers to check your knowledge. It is also a good practice to have regular conversations with native speakers if you want to improve your conversational language.
Build Habits
It is necessary to immerse yourself in the language whenever possible and make it a habit. To immerse yourself in the language, incorporate it into everything you do daily. To build a practice, you can apply the 21/90 rule: commit to a personal or professional goal for 21 days. After three weeks, pursuing that goal should become a habit. Once you’ve created a tradition, keep doing it for another ninety days. You can apply this rule to any aspect of your life. For example, in learning a new language, you can create a habit of reading ten pages in that language every day, learning ten new words every day, or many others.
Incorporate Resources and Social Media Into Your Learning
The Internet brings the world to your screen. We live in an incredible time when fully immersing in a language; you no longer need to buy a plane ticket, pack your bags, and go live in a country where they speak your language of interest. The Internet and social media can help you have a (virtual) breakfast with a native speaker from across the globe. Askademic will connect you to a native-speaking tutor of your choice. You have all the necessary tools at home. Please take advantage of them.
Are you starting to understand how easy and enjoyable home-based learning can be? You can do this. Mastering a new language from home is convenient and suitable for different types of learners, and the benefits are numerous.
