Anyasdagbok

A method is only a good method if it’s a method that works for you, and this is what I found out works for me.

1. 1. Exposure first, understanding later.
The day I realised that babies don’t understand anything we say, was the day I realised I should approach language learning the same way. I realised that, when we are little, we don’t know how to say anything but we also don’t understand most of what’s said to us. And, before we can read, we also just see a bunch of letters we don’t understand. By the time we learn how to speak and write, we are already more than familiar with what our languages sound and look like. Before I start studying a language, I listen to songs, podcasts, tv shows, read books and song lyrics, even if I don’t really understand them. Getting familiar with the look and the sound first, makes it much easier for me to get familiar with the meaning of everything after. One trick I like to use, is to listen to Disney films music in my target language. These are songs I grew up on and that are ALWAYS translated along with the movies. I get to hear a language I’m completely unfamiliar with and still know what the song is talking about, which then really helps me connect the dots later on!

2. 2. Basics first, rules later.
None of us wants to be making mistakes or not knowing the words for what we want to order at a restaurant. But I once had a customer at work asking me for “please, water, bubbles, thank you” because they didn’t know how to say “sparkling water” in Portuguese and I understood exactly what they meant, because they used the basics and that made something click for me. No, I don’t want to go into a French bakery and only know how to say “hello, a brioche”. I would much rather be able to have a small conversation while I order, but knowing the basics will allow me to get what I need, makes me much less nervous about using the language and actually allows me to use it more than I would otherwise! Don’t wait for perfection before you start using your new language, but also don’t forget to be polite.

3 and 4 continue in the comments!