5 Tips for Speed Learning a Language

Trying to learn a new language or in a rush to learn the language of the country you’ll be moving to? Here are some tips to help you with your memory technique, as well as ideas to help you optimize your speed learning process.

5 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY &  TECHNIQUE FOR SPEED LEARNING A LANGUAGE:

• Practice first thing in the morning.
Did you know that the morning is the best time for learning and memorization? Your mind is fresh, alert (after you’ve had your coffee…), retentive and most permeable to suggestion.

• Create your own immersive environment.
Dress up in your sari or beret and bombard yourself with the language in various forms- watch films, listen to radio news and music, listen to language tapes, join language groups. The more you surround yourself with a language, you become familiar with its sound and the way it’s spoken. This will help your mind’s receptivity to it- intuitively, rhythmically and tonally.

• Employ active listening.
Listening to a language doesn’t have to be a passive sport- you can add other activities to it to optimize your lesson and make it fun. Be creative! If listening to a language CD, visualize the words and their spelling. If your language has different alphabet characters, challenge yourself to write the characters out as its spoken.  If concentrating on a dialogue, test your visual memory of sentence structure and word placement. If you can find active ways to “participate” in your listening-learning process, you will engrain its lesson by forging active relationships with it. This will also help you with what I mention next…

• Physicalize it… Visualize it.
Did you know you store memory in more places than just your brain?

A known acting technique for memorizing scripts is  to “own the words”. Everyone has their own way of personalizing language.  Ivanna Chubbick, a re-known acting coach, said we speak from the memory of images, not words.  Interesting huh?

Where actors might practice creating a physical, visual or emotional memory-association with a word, you might try highlighting words, jotting down notes by your own hand, make flash cards and stick them around your house and on various objects.  These techniques help to make words a part of your memory by making them more concrete and personal.

5. Observe the non-verbal patterns of a language and get into the role.
Mastering a language is not only gaining the ability to “speak its words”- observe the culture’s non-verbal transmissions and pick up on its idiosyncrasies and physical ticks.  Then get your  foreign groove on and play! If you’re learning French, “become French” and speak through a pout and blase Parisian accent; Hindi, learn the body language- hand movements and head swivels- that Indian people use to extend emphasis to their communication. For Korean, my current observation is that exaggerated facial expressions and head nods up are used to punctuate speech! Every country has their own cultural way of conveying themselves… beyond words. When you pick up on a culture’s joie de vivre and non-verbal ways of communication, it will offer spice to your learning and add dimension to your memory’s retention of the word.

Any helpful tips that have helped you to learn a new language, please feel free to share them!