I've always had a bad time learning new languages, mostly because the school-taught approach didn't work well enough for me. Or maybe, it did work, but not the way I wanted it to. To me, a very important part of knowing a language is being able to have a casual conversation without stressing too much. It's about knowing the patterns in speech and having enough nouns to express myself. It means having a stack of useful words to pull out at any moment.

At school, the lessons progress by topic, it's a bit slow, the conversations don't really happen. You write down stuff in the textbook, which is nice for familiarizing yourself with the language and words but it ends there.

Since I started trying to learn Dutch on my own, it's been a struggle so I decided to develop a new strategy.

The core of everyday language

To create a good base in a language I decided to make a list of the most used nouns, words and grammar structures. Just mastering these three will give you enough confidence to speak on the spot.

I find this part the most effective to learn with flash cards. Remembering these parts quickly gives you more time to think about where the conversation is going and what you what to convey.

To start, I make a list of:

  • 20 most used nouns
  • 100 most used words
  • 20 phrases to remember ("Can you pass me..?", "Can we meet at..?" etc.)

Then I practice them with flash cards by picking up a random one in English and finding the translation. In the case of languages with a different alphabet you can also do the cards with single letters to practice that. Or translate words to a sign (like with Chinese) and writing down pronunciation under it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When using cards, make them in your language and be the one finding the translated words in your head.

Learn like the kids - but does it work?

I really liked the idea at first and it's what I tried for a long time but I ran into a few issues. The kids learn the language by interacting with it. By watching shows, reading books, hearing it around them, shopping, you know the drill.

The problem is: kids shows and books are boring as fuck. You're not going to naturally want to pick up these things after work and shows on your level of understanding also have more difficult vocabulary involved. The conversations are also less clear and often faster. I think It's much better to sit down to memorize the basics and then start interacting with the content you actually enjoy. You're simply not going to stick with doing something you dislike.

Unless you live in the country that speaks the language you learn, the shopping part is out. So is listening to everyday language. When you're little and sit in the kitchen with your family, you hear some words repeated over and over again. Unless a show you're watching is 100% focused on moms telling you to clean your shit up (which would be really funny tbf), that is hard to replicate. Something I did have some luck with is watching streamers, especially gamers. "I'm going to..", "Don't..", "This sucks", "Are we doing this?" - so many phrases that will get stuck in your head.

You HAVE to talk

I saw the biggest jumps in my language ability when I tried to communicate. It doesn't have to be out loud right away, but it has to be eventually. Better sooner than later. I recommend to start by writing comments on social media and interacting with others in the chat on platforms like Discord or Twitch. Chatting is so so good because you have no other option but to think quickly and have certain words or phrases ready to go.

Still not confident? Well it doesn't matter because you can't avoid speaking face to face forever. Speak and be anxious at the same time, it's alright, it gets better. At this point buying a few sessions with a tutor is useful.

And then what?

And then you interact with the culture. Listen to music, read the news, find recipes in the language, and of course - travel. After you get comfortable it's honestly a slide. It becomes much more enjoyable and casual.

Language cafe's are great to practice the language with others while you're not actively learning. Persistence is the key.

Now, gather your materials and enjoy the process.