HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

Elisa Polese

First Edition – 2019 www.speakfromdayonewithelisa.com

 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

TIPS ON HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE

The tips I share here come from almost 20 years of a) my own experience in learning foreign languages; b) my
experience in teaching different language combinations to people from around the world; c) language exchanges;
d) discussions with thousands of language learners about learning strategies.

I have learned 24 languages in total – 14 to a teaching standard. All of this is led by my passion for understanding how
languages work, communicating with people, and experiencing other cultures and mentalities.

I was not raised bilingual and, other than French, I began to speak all of my languages from the age of 20 onwards.
My language method varies depending on the language studied, but these tips correspond to all of the languages
I have learned to an advanced and upper-intermediate level (C2-B2 of the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages).

My tips have already worked for hundreds of people and are designed to help you boost your skills for your
favourite foreign language(s).

I hope you enjoy my language learning tips and try out my learning strategies!

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

1 Spend at least 5 minutes a day practising the language(s) you want to learn

Many people think that in order to learn a language,

we must study for several hours a day. Of course,
the more (quality) input, the quicker you will learn a
language. However, if you don’t have much time
in your day-to-day but you would like to learn a
language, I really believe that it’s better to study
for five minutes a day than two hours every two
weeks (or even less frequently).

Studying a little bit every day will:

a) help you remember what you learn (everyone feels frustrated
when they open a book after two weeks and can’t remember much of
what they previously learned!);
b) help your brain make connections between the different bits of
the language you have learned;
c) keep you motivated: if you only study every two weeks, you won’t
see much progress, and this will demotivate you.

Why don’t you try to learn a language for a short period of time every
day for 30 days and see the results?

If you want, you can also use my “language learning planner” or book
a language mentoring or coaching session with me. More information
on this here.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

2 Make sure you practise the skill you want to improve

if your aim is to be able to speak a language within a short period of time, spending
the whole time reading will not really help you when you want to have a conversation.
There are productive activities (speaking and writing) that help you produce
the language, and there are passive activities (listening and reading) that help
you understand the language. Focus more on what’s useful for you and for your
goals. A language is a system, so everything you learn is useful in the end. If you
really enjoy reading, please keep doing it.

Just remember to mix in some productive activities

if your aim is to speak with people. Understanding
lots but not being able to say much can be very
frustrating.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

3 Distinguish between accuracy and fluency

When we do grammar exercises, or when we say that we want others to correct every single mistake we make, we
are focusing on accuracy.
When we just speak (and make mistakes according to our current level), we are training fluency.
Both are useful and how much we should focus on one or the other depends on our goal (speaking with friends,
passing a written or oral exam, etc.).
What we often forget is that there are two different types of abilities and each should be trained separately. Have
you ever tried to learn something (for example a sport) and your friend or instructor told you so many things that
you couldn’t even remember them, let alone apply all of them at the same time? Concentrate on one skill at a time.
You will see more results if you alternate between working on grammar topics and vocabulary (if possible,
in an interactive and fun way) and sessions where you just use what you know.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

4 Have fun with the language

Each of us is unique and enjoys different things (or similar things in

a different way or with a different goal). If you do things you enjoy, you
are much more likely to keep doing them. The same applies to language
learning. If you use a book you don’t enjoy, speak or read about things
which don’t interest you, or watch or listen to things you find boring, you
are much more likely to give up before you’ve learned the language you
wanted to learn so much. Do what you love! If you really enjoy singing,
please sing! If you love reading, please do so. If you love series, watch
them, and so on.
Languages are systems, so each
part of the language is connected to the rest and every little thing you learn
will make sense in the end. As long as you don’t expect to understand
everything straight away, you can start having fun with the language right
now! Of course, depending on our knowledge of and level in a language,
certain activities will suit us better. However, carrying out a boring activity at
the right level in a language will not
increase our chances of sticking to
our language learning. What’s more,
activities that are more advanced
than our level but that we find
interesting can be very beneficial if approached in the right way. For
example, you can watch a series and the more episodes you watch the
more you will understand. Or, you can read a book you really wanted to
read, look up very few words and still be able to follow the story. You may
not pick up on all the nuances, but you will understand more and more with
each page turn. More on that in the next tip.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

5 Don’t forget the benefits of passive learning

Have you ever listened to something in a language and not understood where a word started or finished? This is
completely normal. Our brain has to get used to a) how words (and which words) are pronounced together; b)
rhythm and intonation; c) hear/distinguish the words we already know; d) make sense of the other words that we
don’t know according to the context. All of this can be improved with passive listening.
Another example: if you watch a series or read a book, there will be words that are repeated many times (even
when you don’t know a certain word, you usually notice when it’s repeated several times). The words that are
repeated are important (either in general or in the context of your series or book).
You can learn words just by paying attention to what you hear (even if you don’t understand much at the beginning).
In the same way, you can revise/reinforce words you have already learned in a much more useful way than just
reading a list: words in context are the best for training our brains because they will be linked to a situation and
you will know when to use them.
When you listen to a large amount of information, your brain automatically starts to understand more.
If you didn’t understand much before, the first thing that will happen is that you will start to distinguish where a
word starts or ends. Therefore, if you learn a little bit every day, you will see how your brain “magically” starts to
understand more and more.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

6 Treat yourself kindly: your mental state is the path to success

As adults, we often forget that we were all students once. We can perform normally in our daily lives but when
it comes to speaking a new language, we feel as if we know nothing, and that is frustrating. We expect to know
everything, and we may even get angry at ourselves for not remembering words or for not performing as we had
hoped.
Bear in mind that you are in a learning phase and as such you simply cannot know or remember everything.
Learning is a beautiful experience, forcing us to leave our comfort zone, but in a very rewarding way. When we are
stressed, we can’t think clearly: how can we perform well if we treat ourselves worse than we would treat a
friend? Our mental state matters. Be open to learning, treat yourself kindly and be aware that this is a path
we all have to and have had to go through in order to improve and grow.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

7 Use different channels

By using different channels (watching, listening, reading, writing), you will see words and structures in
different contexts. This will help you to a) remember things better (different stimuli, different senses); b) build
connections between different things you learn; c) revise vocabulary and grammar structures just by being
exposed to them; d) learn (automatically/unconsciously) which words and structures can be used in each
context. Try out each channel and take the best out of them!

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

8 Build your routine

Motivation is what makes us start, but habit is what keeps us going.

Even people who hate routine perform most of their daily activities out of habit and in an almost automatic way:
eating at a certain time, taking a shower, brushing their teeth, talking while driving, taking the same route to work,
etc.
When you build your routine, things that once seemed difficult become effortless. Even if something seemed
difficult to start with, after just a few days of repeating the activity, you will be doing it automatically with almost no
effort at all. And, the longer you stick to your routine, the more your brain will be craving it.
Build your routine for language learning: decide on a time to sit down and study your language – any time that suits.
Choose a time when you are least likely to be interrupted. Decide on a doable amount of time to start with: five to
fifteen minutes will do. If we really want to learn, we can always find five minutes in the day!
This can be your core learning: if you stick to it, you will improve no matter what.
However, when you start to see some improvement, you will most likely study more because you enjoy it and find
it interesting. Even then, stick to your routine: starting at the same time, and spending the same amount of time as
before. Any extra practice is a bonus.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

9 Set a reachable and defined goal: step approach vs mountain

Setting reachable goals is important. Have you ever set a goal that you couldn’t keep up with and you preferred to
let the stress go? This is what happens to many people, not only in the language learning field.
A good way to approach this may be to have a vision (your ultimate goal and why), whilst working on concrete
goals. If these goals are still quite big, then think in terms of steps. Take things one step at a time and you will
definitely be closer to your goal.
Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves and want too much, too soon. This is a quote I really like: “If you think
your destination is far away, start and think about it when you are already walking”. Don’t look at the
mountain in front of you, concentrate on the small steps which will take you closer to what you want to achieve.
Even the furthest goal is just a matter of steps away.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

10 Adjust the method to your learning style and concentrate on what matters to you

Build your own learning method taking into account these important factors: a) focus (focus on what matters to you
in terms of useful vocabulary and structures, interesting material and activities, and skills you want to improve); b)
input (regular practice from different channels); c) quality time (quality time means practising for just five minutes
but doing the things that you find most useful, and without distractions); d) mental state (embrace learning, have
fun with the language, be kind to yourself); e) goal setting (create your vision, set your goals and define small
steps that you will be able to follow).

Focusing on the right things will help you make faster progress, look back with satisfaction at all you have
learned and keep you motivated.
Unless you are at an advanced level of language learning, you don’t need to learn all the words, structures and
expressions you find in books or textbooks. You need words which you find useful and which help you to talk about
your life, because this is normally what we talk about when we meet people.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

I hope you have found my tips useful and are going to try out my learning strategies.
Above all, I wish you lots of success and fun with your language learning path!

Over the past 20 years, I have almost always studied more than one language at a
time, and I have developed my own learning and teaching method. It works very well:

- for self-study: don’t miss “My tips and method for multilingual learning” (coming
soon!)

- with my online multilingual classes: my students are happy to practise all of their
languages in the same session and learn how to avoid mixing them up.
Having taught different language combinations (German in Spanish, Spanish in Russian, French in English,
English in Italian etc.) to hundreds of students from all around the world, I know what kinds of obstacles learners
have to overcome.
I believe in speaking from day one and learning useful structures and words so that you can use them straight
away and become an independent speaker.

- for self-study: try my unique multilingual online course. This the first course for learning languages
simultaneously.

With this course, you will not only learn faster and with less effort, you will also be able to speak from the first
unit and have conversations straight away in several languages.

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 HOW TO LEARN ANY LANGUAGE IN 10 TIPS

This course includes: a) an interactive PDF: the audio files are embedded in the document itself and
you will often have the impression that you are interacting directly with me. You will hear my voice asking you
questions or answering your questions, as if it were a real conversation. You will also find interactive quizzes
which you can complete by typing directly into the PDF and see or hear the correct answer(s) by clicking a
button. Throughout the units, you will find useful language learning tips, multilingual tips and multilingual
comparisons which are designed to make switching between languages easier; b) videos in which I recap all
the unit’s significant points; c) flashcards of all the unit’s words; d) podcasts that will speed up your learning
process.

Love languages and don’t want to wait for years before starting to learn new ones? Want to train yourself to
switch from one language to another and not mix them up?
If so, this course is for you!

The course is now available in the combination “Italian, Spanish, French and German”, with instructions in English.

More language combinations are on their way including Russian, Dutch and Brazilian Portuguese. If you are
interested in a particular language combination, please send me a message.

If you want to read more about my multilingual method and courses, please click here.
Last but not least, my single-language courses will be available soon too!

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