• Choose your language

There are so many languages around the world, so how can you know which one you want to learn? You may already have an idea, because of your family, your friends, or your interests. If you don’t know, but you’re sure you want to learn a language, then go on YouTube, or search on Internet recordings of different languages until you find one that you really like.

PRO TIP: Disney’s songs are available in at least 20 different languages. So, if you have no idea what to type in, here is an example: “Let it go” + “The language you want to hear”.

• Find your motivation

Why are you learning the language? What level do you want to get to? Do you want to be able to have basic conversations or do you want to understand everything? There aren’t good or bad motivations, but if you consider not taking it seriously then it won’t work. Learning a language needs practice and will require you to “live the language.” It means speak to native speakers, listen to their music, watch their movies, and their tv-shows, until you finally understand them. So take your phone or a sheet of paper and note why you want to get into this and fix objectives. Don’t write something like “Learn Spanish.” Try something like “I want to be able to speak Spanish fluently” or “I want to be able to understand basic conversations,” etc.

TIP: Here is a link of the different levels you can aim towards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages#Common_reference_levels

• Find a book or a website with the basic vocabulary (common words and sentences)

The first thing to do when you learn a language is to get familiar with the vocabulary and the pronunciation. There are thousands of books, websites, and applications that are free and can give you the basis of a language. Just remember, there is no magic application that can teach you everything (even if the way you’re using costs you money), so don’t spend your time looking for the best, but just start practicing! Actually, the advice I could give you as you start learning is to find a place that can provide you recordings. It’s best for you to be sure to pronounce correctly as you start.

TIP: Even an application like Duolingo is good at the beginning because it provides pronunciation. Just make sure to practice everyday. It’s better to do language exercises 30 minutes a day than 3 hours once a week.

• Learn and speak

As soon as you go through your first lesson, find a platform to speak to people in that language and try to start a basic conversation. Yes, you could do it even after the first lesson. I know it’s scary, but you don’t need to have a very long and deep conversation. Just try to say “Hi”, to ask how they are doing, or to introduce yourself. If you are scared of making mistakes let me ask you a question. As a native speaker in English, are you ever making mistakes? You’ve also probably met people that were not speaking English as a first language,  but you could still understand what they were saying to you. So get over your fear, usually people are very nice when they see someone trying to learn the language they speak.

TIP: Try to put Hello Talk on your phone or to find a website to look for a penpal (it may seem old fashioned, but it’s still working).

• Start basic grammar

Once you start to have some vocabulary and you feel good about the language, it’s time for you to start learning a little bit of grammar. Most languages use basic tenses to speak like past, present and future. Most of them also have modal verbs like can, will, must,… and those can be very useful (even more as a beginner). Since you already have some practice, you’ll probably understand the explanation better and if you stuck on something, ask a native speaker or Google it. Don’t worry if you don’t understand something, it’s normal and it’s a part of the challenge.

TIP: In the early stage of your experience, try to limit the grammar with the basics. If you’re learning a latin language with a very complicated conjugaison, try to learn only a few personal pronouns (I, You) and let the rest come to you.

• Evolve faster

As you go through grammar while continuing to enrich your vocabulary and speaking to native speakers or learners, you should feel your progress.  As I said earlier, you need to live the language you’re learning, so at this point, you should really consider watching movies or listening to their music and tv-shows. If you have the money to do it, go to a country that speaks the language, and enjoy your stay in the language you have spent time to learning. If you don’t have the money, it’s not a big deal, just consider using even more skype and call tools to meet people. In other words, make the country come to you.

TIP: If you are learning Chinese, consider that most of the social media are not allowed in their country, you may consider the application “WeChat” to get in contact with them.

• Reach the fluency level 

Remember that grammar? Well, it’s time now to really get into it. You don’t need to read the whole rules in ten days, but start doing language exercises regularly. Vocabulary is also very important so try to make you lists of 20 words and study them. Start with a subject that really matters to you and then start looking at other subjects.

PRO TIP: Cram is an application used to make cards. It works a little bit like Quizlet and helps you to study everywhere at any time.