How to start using the language properly.

Hello dear reader.

If you want to learn a foreign language, your goal might be using it. For communication purposes. That is why humans developed language and what we use it for. But there are different sorts of communication and different ways to deal with it.

There are many problems you have if you want to start communicating in a foreign language. Take Swedish as an example. It is spoken by arround 10 million people mainly in Sweden and parts of Finland. So when you travel to the north and visit Sweden, you may be able to start some conversation in the bakery, the supermarket or with people you meet. But is that your goal? Maybe, but not always. So where else are you able to speak Swedish?

I will give you a few examples in the following article.

• Tandem Partners

• The basic idea is quite simple. For example you want to learn Hindi. Then you look for someone who wants to learn your native language for example French. You can now help each other learning the others language. The Hindi speaker learns french and teaches Hindi. Even if none of them is a licenced teacher, it will be super easy. You just start having a simple conversation on whatever you like. For swedish I currently have got four language exchange partners whom I speak to about once in a week.
  You do not have to speak all the time, it is also great if you start chatting, via Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype, whatever you want, but the main goal is to talk with each other (Skype, etc.). The great advantage it delivers you is having a naturally speaking Partner. Not someone who speaks perfect French/Hindi/..., but someone who speaks it like you would do when you visit the country. They might not help you with grammar or with special vocabulary or might not explain things as good as teachers, but well... they do not have to. Those are things you can look up on the internet or in grammar books. You also may play learning games together. 

• Pen pals

• The Same idea as above, but this time you do not have particular conversations but more long texts to write. You can do it via e-mail, with the normal mail or with social media. What is really good using pen pals is the possibility of writing long texts, like stories, essays or dialogs the partner may read and correct. So you can really improve you reading comprehension as well as your vocabulary and your writing skills. This is really important if you want to write in the future, for example
  when you have to use the language at work.

• Blogs/Vlogs

• Especially young people like writing Blogs on language learning or recording themselves speaking foreign languages. A famous example therefore is Tim Doner who became famous doing Vlogs in foreign languages. Just record yourself speaking on whatever you want and upload it on Youtube. The community will give you a review of your skills. You will also highly improve your presentation skills and your self esteem speaking to a camera. Blogs are the same thing but in written form. 

• Multiplayer Video Games

• If you like to play online video games, that might be yours! Take yourself a foreign clan or somebody from another country and start speaking his language instead of English. That will improve your speaking skills. But do NEVER expect to find people who will learn the language with you this way. They want to play the game, so it is an amazing thing to do, when you can already speak the language at a certain level, while tandem partners or pen pals can help you from zero onwards.

• Meet foreign people in your town

• When you learn turkish, start ordering your favorite kebap in turkish instead of your native language, if there is a russian store, start speaking russian to those people, or if there are language clubs at your university, go and look there for people who speak your target language.

• Visit Language Gatherings

• There are language meetings all over the world. Not only the big ones like the Polyglot Gathering, but also smaller ones. Use them to meet people and start friendships with them!

• Search for a teacher.

• If you are willing to pay money, you can also look for a teacher. Either on the internet or in your town or region. The advantage is, that he will teach you the language properly and he will do it correctly and at a level that fits to you. Italki is a great websites to find teachers in every language. Teachers can give you the best advices how you should practice and they can prove your progress.

• Great sources for finding partners are:
• Italki
• ConversationExchange
• Tandempartners
• Duolingo
• Look for more in my Language Resources side

So if you found someone you can speak to or to write with, what hinders you from getting started? But have some things in mind: You do not have to speak "fluent". Speak for the sake of beeing understood. If you can tell the opponent what you think and if you keep the conversation going, it does not matter how well you speak. What is most important is speaking. If you want to improve your skills in specific areas you can do that but do not overconcentrate on not making errors. And do not correct your partner as long as he does not say he wants to be corrected. That will stop the flow of the conversation. If you do not understand something, aks for it, do not be anxious. Just speak. If you have got questions or if you have suggestions for new articles, please send them to me.

"If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can´t survive"                                                                         - Brené Brown

Thank you for reading.
- Alex