I8
Tips on Studying a Foreign Language
Knowledge of a foreign language not only enables you to communicate freely with people from other countries, but
also broadens your experiences and expands your world view. Besides, learning another language boosts both your
analytical and interpretive capacities, which will help you in other academic areas as well. Learning a language can be
hard; it takes a lot of time and practice. Here is a list of suggestions that will make your language study as effective and
pleasurable as possible:

Study every day – Studying for an hour every day is much more effective than studying for seven hours during
the weekend. Try to spend at least half an hour every day in addition to the class period.

Try to understand how you learn. If you learn better orally, devote more time to listening tapes, CDs or videos.
If you are a visual learner, focus more on the textbook and write in the target language regularly.

Distribute your study time – Separate your study time into blocks and devote each block to a separate activity.
For example, spend 10 minutes reviewing grammar, 10 minutes learning new vocabulary, etc.\

Practice the language – Use it in your everyday life. This can be the best studying available. It will help you
associate the vocabulary with actual life.

Prepare flashcards with new vocabulary that you can carry around and review when you have free time.

Use color-coding for languages that assign grammatical gender to nouns. For example, you can use blue cards for
masculine words, pink cards for feminine words, and green cards for neutral words.

Participate during the class – even if you are not prepared. Class time is your best opportunity to practice. There
is no way to make up participation by reading a book. Try not to use English words during the class period unless
it is absolutely necessary.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Part of the reason that small children acquire language skills so easily is
because they are not afraid to make mistakes.

Get help if you need it – Talk to your teacher. Form study groups. Refer to the language lab. There is no end to
the resources available to you.

Use nonacademic sources to practice: Watch foreign TV, join a language club, and meet people from the
country whose language you are studying. You will be surprised how much these activities will facilitate your
learning.

Review old topics. The better you remember the old topics, the easier it will be to integrate new ones.
Center for Transformative Learning
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