5 Tips for Learning a New Language in 2024: Insights from a Polyglot
From grammar books to Duolingo, there are countless ways to learn your dream language in 2024.
What is lacking in this sea of resources is guidance on how to sustain your learning journey.
Starting is easy. Buying the books is easy. The real challenge lies in maintaining momentum.
It is not uncommon for people to give up after realizing how difficult it is to go from 0–1.
The mindset you have while learning is as important as the learning material.
In this post, I share tips on how to successfully self-study a new language in 2024.
I am a polyglot who speaks six languages. Mastering multiple languages has opened new worlds for my finances and career.
I hope the same for all of you reading this.
1. Know Your Why
Imagine spending 3 months learning, and you still cannot understand what locals are saying.
Welcome to the club.
Language learning is both fun and humbling.
If you do not have a strong why, situations like not understanding the sales clerk can be demotivating.
How do you overcome this initial hurdle?
Find your why—and then make it visible.
Your reasons are personal to you; it might be a desire to move to a new country where your interests are respected, or a need to connect more intimately with a loved one who can’t speak English.
Make your why visible by having written and visual reminders around your study space.
Having a strong why is the foundation of your journey.
Next time you encounter a discouraging event, go back to your why, and remind yourself why you started in the first place.
2. Be Realistic with Timelines
You’re not a Google Translate bot. You are Human.
Take it easy.
Mastering a language doesn’t happen in 60 seconds.
For an average English speaker, it takes more than a year to learn Spanish, 3 years to learn Japanese, and 3–5 years to learn Mandarin Chinese.
Your brain needs time to create new networks for the new language.
Even if you force yourself to memorize words, the information is fragile without the process of real-time recall — a process crucial for learning retention.
Start your language learning journey with the understanding that it takes time. Be realistic with timelines. Take that burden to get fluent in 1 month off your shoulders.
3. If you want to make progress, track your learning
I used to just learn on a whim and not document what I learned.
Big mistake.
I was not clear on where I needed to improve. I was not able to integrate all the learning I had across all apps, books, and teachers.
Keeping a record of your progress helps you identify areas of improvement. It also serves as a motivating factor by showcasing how far you’ve come.
By diligently tracking your learning milestones, you gain a clearer understanding of your strengths.
You can also make targeted adjustments to your approach. For example, if you spent 80% of your time practicing writing, you can adjust and allocate more time to listening.
Tracking your learning becomes a guiding tool on the path to continuous improvement and success.
I track my language learning with Parrot. Parrot makes it easy for me to track my daily, monthly, and annual progress.
4. Commitment to Go All-In
You told yourself you are going to study at 5:00 PM.
5:00 PM comes and you’re bombarded with work.
7:00 PM it’s dinner time.
8:00PM you feel too tired to study.
If this sounds like you, you are not alone.
Life happens, and your self-study plans get pushed to the end of the day.
You can prevent this from happening by putting language learning on your Google Calendar or planner. No room for negotiation. Learning is not a dream floating inside your brain.
You have to make time for it. Put learning time down on paper.
5. Rest, but don’t stop.
You’ll hit a point in your learning where you do not want to touch your text book or see the language for at least a month.
I’ve been there.
Most people give up at this point.
Know that it is okay to rest. You spent a lot of time learning.
It can get tiring and overwhelming.
The good news is, you won’t forget the language even if you took a break. It is okay to take breaks. It can even be beneficial. Give your brain time to absorb and marinate on the information.
Come right back in after you feel rested.
If you find this article helpful, do check out my favorite language learning tool, Parrot — the #1 language learning tracker for self-study students.
You can track your language learning hours, the skills you learned, expenses, and your goals.
I love Parrot because I can now track my strengths and areas of improvement. Seeing my progress also gives me a motivation boost whenever I feel like giving up. Check it out here.
