KISWAHILI NOTES FOR ADVANCED LEVEL – Form 5 and 6

..

WHY WE STUDY KISWAHILI

The most spoken language in Africa is Swahili which is said to have between 100 and
150 million speakers. Known as a ‘Bantu’ language, Swahili apparently
originated from other languages like Arabic. This is the official language of
Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, but it is also
used in countries like Ethiopia, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, southern Somalia,
northern Mozambique and the Comoros Islands. Swahili is the main medium of
instruction in schools and it’s not considered a difficult language to learn,
especially if you already know some Arabic.

It
is aired in radio broadcasts such as the British Broadcast Corporation, Voice
of America, and Deutsche Welle. It is heard in songs of famous singers such as
Miriam Makeba and in popular films like the Lion King. African-Americans refer
to their annual cultural festival as Kwanzaa, which is derived from the Swahili
word kwanza or ‘first.’

Swahili
is taught in academic institutions from Japan in the East to Mexico in the
west. It can be used to fulfill language requirements. The study of Swahili
also provides interesting issues regarding language policies and language
planning. Whatever the area of research one is in, be it linguistics,
anthropology, geography, archaeology, or even sociology, knowledge of Swahili
and its many varieties is essential if one is working in the East African
region. There are many benefits of knowing the Swahili language, including the
fact that it serves as a good vehicle to accessing Swahili culture. Swahili has
a long written tradition and remarkable history. Finally, knowing Swahili
enhances the credibility of researchers interested in East Africa.

Learning any Language

If
you want to learn a new language quickly, you need
to practice as much as possible. The more you practice, the faster you’ll
learn. Practicing the language every single day should become your new habit,
because that’s how you’ll begin to add it to your long-term memory. It’s a
great idea to take classes every day, so you’re sure
to learn something new that has been thoroughly explained.

To
learn a language faster, focus on immersion, consistent practice, and
active learning by listening to, reading, speaking, and writing in the target
language, using language apps, and finding a language partner.

………..

I have found some basic yet useful strategies

It all depends on the type of skills you want to achieve first

• Some people way want to read and write a language first
• Others will prefer to speak it

Tips for those learning by reading and writing first

• Find linguistic patterns

Reading a language involves looking for patterns in another language that you already know.

For instance, spanish and french have similar grammatical structure and similar words.

The first three letters in spanish are often the exact first three letters in french.

Whenever I read spanish, I look for those key patterns in a phrase.

Next you assemple all the known meanings based on these patterns and you get an idea of the meaning of the phrase. You can then look up for unknown words on the dictionary.

Reading regularly allows you to build up the necessary vocabulary. Learning ‘ I am’,’ ‘you are’ and so on is a good start in any language.

• Develop your eidetic memory

Some languages require that you remember their ‘alphabet’ first.

For example in cantonese and mandarin, you will need to learn the chinese characters first.

Here are the steps:

-Look at the character

-Hide the character and write it down from memory

-Look at the character again and look for your mistakes and patterns.

-Repeat until you get it

• Take courses.

I usually recommend taking a course as to help yourself with the grammatical part. Being autodidac is all fun but if you want to improve faster in a language, register for courses.

Tips for those learning by speaking first

In order to speak first you need to hear well.

Use earphones or headphones.

Close your eyes especially if you are a visual person.

Listen to how each word is being pronounced

Try to mimic each word

Listen to phrases and make sure to understand the sentence structure and how it is pronounced

Try to repeat multiple times

Remove one earphone and do it again

• Use flash cards

Remembering words is not always easy for beginers so I generally recommend to write down the words in a flash card and show multiple flash cards on a one minute timer. Do this every 10 minutes three times per day. Remember to ask someone to show the flash card to you and try to to say each word perfectly.

• Watch videos

This is probably the easiest way to learn to speak a language and people are often weary of it.

Choose a short video in that language. Let’s say that you are learning dutch and you are an africaans speaker

Watch video of two people speaking in dutch

Then watch the video with subtitles in the native language, here it’s africaans.

Then watch with dutch subtitles.

Look for the meaning of each word and how to pronounce them.

Listen and listen again

Keep trying to pronounce words like the dutch speakers.

Take a close attention to words that you have difficulty speaking.

Remember to use earphones.

If you are speaking, remove one earphone so that you can hear your voice.

Look for pronounciation videos and practise, practise and practise.

As a fun fact, i was always able to speak french even as a kid. All my cartoons on TV were in french!

It is often a matter of understanding than learning blindly. Focus on delivery. Focus on expressing yourself and be positive.

Listening to music in the language on regular basis also help

………..

The bulk of any language-learning process will depend on your personal learning style. However, there’s still some tips that work for most people, regardless of their preferred learning process. These aren’t as flashy or illustrated as the more upvoted answers to this question, but they work.

Love the language. If you want to succeed in something, never make it a chore. Language-learning works best if you have a real interest in both the task and the language itself – and, more to the point, that you enjoy doing those things.

Develop a deep connection to the language – or to the music, the culture, the food, the something or another, pick one, but it’s best if you’ve got a connection to the actual language along with those – and you’ll find yourself spending your spare time learning it.

Don’t worry about being fluent. “Fluency” doesn’t mean anything. “Use my wonderful program to be fluent in your target language in a week/a year/three months/overnight, while you sleep!” is an empty promise. You’ll never stop learning your language: there will always be another word, another sentence structure, another consonant cluster you need to master.

This scares a lot of people right out of learning a language in the first place. And understandably so: if you’ll never succeed, why try in the first place? This is the wrong way to think about this. I enjoy the ostensible futility of it all. I’ll never run out of things to do with the language. Since I love the three languages I’ve taken in – Esperanto, Swedish, and Japanese – it’s a guarantee of an endless adventure.

You will never be fluent. And that’s not a bad thing. Think of it instead in terms of never running out of things to do. Not reaching fluency doesn’t mean you’ll never get better, or never be able to have conversations – those are things you very easily can reach. Set little goals for yourself and then reach them, one by one.

Use the language. Speak the language. Read it. Write in it, maybe keep a diary in the language. Set those little goals for yourself, sure, and then carry them out. You should spend a minimum of several hours a week if you hope to improve. It’s not as scary or as onerous as it looks: ten words a day, which you can cover in half an hour, is 3650 words a year – enough to have a decent conversation.

To answer your question: love the language, learn the language, and then, y’know, do something with it! (See also here.)

……….

Indeed, IDEs are sometimes more of a hindrance than a help when you’re learning a new programming language. However, this isn’t true of CLion, which can be very helpful right off the bat. Let’s run through some of the advantages of using CLion:

CLion makes it easy to start a new project. The wizard will generate a simple project structure with stub code that you can explore and run right away.

Then, as you start writing code, CLion will highlight its structure and suggest improvements. This allows you to learn both the language itself and the best code practices from the very beginning.

For many error cases, CLion suggests quick-fixes, which means you can start memorizing the proper solutions right off the bat. For example, the IDE catches typical errors like dangling pointers – the types of errors that might pop up a lot when you’re a newbie but can also be hard to debug.

The building, running, and debugging processes are completely transparent, as are VCS operations. You can control every step, see the exact commands, parameters, and flags that are being used, and experiment with them. If necessary, you can always perform the same actions in the built-in terminal.

CLion allows you to become familiar with a variety of compilers and build systems. It works with gcc, Clang, MSVC compilers, and project formats, such as CMake, Makefile, Meson, and others.

Understanding the underlying assembly is important when you’re learning a language like C++. CLion allows you to examine the assembly of a file without having to build the entire project. You can change the compiler flags, refresh the assembly view, and see the effect immediately.

And, of course, the IDE debugger is very convenient for learning. The IDE will help you investigate any runtime problem, including those that require memory analysis and disassembly.

To summarize, CLion will not overwhelm you with a complex set-up process and will not hide the essentials in the background. You’ll be able to get up and running with a project in no time, while learning best code practices and efficient debugging right out of the gate.

And if you’re a student, you can get it all for free!

……….

Learning a new language quickly and efficiently requires a disciplined mix of high‑yield techniques, purposeful exposure, and habits that force active production. The approach below prioritizes communicative ability first, efficient memory methods, and habits that keep momentum.

1. Set a clear, measurable goal and timeline

• Define what “learn” means: conversational fluency, reading news, job‑level proficiency, passing an exam.
• Pick a short milestone (30, 60, 90 days) and one concrete deliverable (e.g., hold a 10‑minute conversation, read a short article, pass A2).
• Reverse‑engineer daily tasks from the milestone (e.g., 30 minutes vocabulary, 30 minutes speaking).

1. Prioritize high‑utility content

• Start with frequency lists and core grammar: learn the 1,000–2,000 most common words and the few grammatical structures that cover most daily needs (present/past future, questions, negation, pronouns, basic connectors).
• Use corpus‑based resources or apps that show words in real sentences so you learn collocations and patterns, not isolated words.

1. Use spaced repetition for active recall

• Use SRS (Anki, Mnemosyne, RemNote) for core vocabulary and key sentence patterns.
• Build cards that require production (type or speak the target word/sentence), not just recognition. Use cloze deletions and example sentences.
• Keep reviews short but consistent; 10–30 minutes daily scales well.

1. Force production early and often

• Begin speaking or writing from day one. Use simple scripts: self‑introductions, ordering food, describing routine.
• Structured output paths: language exchanges (Tandem, HelloTalk), paid tutors (italki, Preply) for 1:1 correction, or conversation practice partners. Prioritize speaking over passive listening in early stages.
• Record yourself and compare against native audio to improve pronunciation.

1. Use layered input: graded → native → targeted

• Graded readers and beginner podcasts build comprehension fast with manageable vocabulary.
• Move to authentic materials (news, YouTube, short stories) with active strategies: first listen for gist, second for key phrases, third to transcribe critical lines.
• Shadowing: listen to short audio and speak simultaneously to improve fluency and prosody.

1. Learn grammar via examples and patterns, not rules alone

• Focus on sentence patterns you will use immediately. Learn one pattern deeply (forms + common verbs + 10 example sentences).
• Use pattern drills in conversation and SRS cards that embed the pattern in production tasks.

1. Optimize time with deliberate daily schedule

• Example 60‑minute daily routine (adjustable):

1) 10 min SRS vocabulary (production cards)

• Add passive exposure (music, background radio) during chores to increase exposure without extra time.

1. Use micro‑habits and environment design

• Label objects in your environment with target words.
• Change phone/computer UI to the language for passive immersion.
• Carry a 2‑minute script of common phrases and practice while waiting.

1. Fix pronunciation early

• Learn the sound inventory (phonemes) and common pronunciation pitfalls.
• Use minimal‑pair drills and targeted feedback from native speakers or tutors. Pronunciation improvements multiply comprehension and confidence.

1. Error correction strategy

• Prioritize intelligibility over grammatical perfection. Note recurring errors, make specific correction cards, and practice corrected forms in context.
• During conversation practice, ask partners for focused corrections (one or two error types per session).

1. Maintain motivation and measure progress

• Track metrics: number of words learned, minutes spoken, comprehension % on graded readers, number of successful conversations.
• Celebrate small wins (first 5‑minute unscripted conversation, first article read without dictionary).

1. Fast‑track tools and resources

• SRS: Anki (desktop + mobile), RemNote.
• Tutors/exchanges: italki, Preply, Tandem, HelloTalk.
• Graded input: LingQ, News in Slow [Language], graded readers.
• Pronunciation: Forvo, IPA charts, minimal‑pair lists.
• Productivity: Use Pomodoro for focused study blocks and habit trackers for streaks.

1. Typical 3‑month roadmap (intensive)

• Month 1: 1,000 highest‑frequency words, survival grammar, 3× weekly tutor, daily SRS + graded listening. Able to handle basic conversations and survive travel.
• Month 2: Expand to 1,500–2,500 words, 4× weekly speaking, begin reading simple news/stories, systematic error correction. Able to sustain 10–20 minute conversations on common topics.
• Month 3: Focus on weak areas, increase native input, start producing longer written pieces, aim for comfortable conversations and comprehension of familiar topics.

1. Common efficiency mistakes to avoid

• Passive-only study (watching without active note/production).
• Overloading with new vocabulary without spaced review.
• Waiting to speak until “ready.”
• Chasing too many resources; better to intensify a few complementary tools.

1. If time is extremely limited (10–20 minutes/day)

• Prioritize SRS (5–8 minutes) + 10 minutes of speaking via quick tutor/voice messages weekly + passive input while commuting. Focus on the highest-frequency words and conversational scripts.

Outcomes will vary by language difficulty and starting point; consistent daily active production combined with spaced retention and targeted input compresses learning time most effectively.

……….

I only speak 5 languages fluently: French, Japanese, English to Spanish effortlessly, but my Portuguese is getting a bit rusty. Anyone can do a better job

The key is belief system:

1. Minimum vocabulary shorter than you think: daily conversation involve 500 words and fewer than 10 grammatical structures. So, learning 500 words is hardly rocket surgery, is it ?
2. Daily increments: when I learned kanji, I did not try to memorise 50 at a time. I just did 3 a day, weekly and monthly review. Every month, I learned 150 kanji
3. Make simple sentences: we have complex expression patterns in our native language. When speaking another language, our natural inclination is to translate those patterns stricto sensu, bad move. Make simple basic sentences. This trains the brain to simplify and learn new languages
4. Learn a language not in your grammatical and thought structure: Example, Japanese is radically different from latin languages. This trains the brain to associate thoughts with speach, which BTW reside in the frontal cortex on opposite side of the brain. You are creating new neural pathways
5. Watch TV and movies: after university in Kyoto, I ventured in INALCO, oriental languages in Paris. Those pedantic morons taught useful crap such as: “the smooth feathered duck is gliding on an icy lake on a frosty Januray morning”. My entire goal in life since then has been to slot that sentence in a conversation… Watch TV, watch movies, get used to earing
6. Believe You can, practice daily and you will. One day, You will dream in the new language. It means the brain will have formed pathways that enable deep learning

…………..

Learning a foreign language efficiently combines deliberate practice, exposure, active use, and smart resource choices. The following framework organizes the most effective methods, sequenced by priority and paired with practical tactics you can apply immediately.

Core principles (apply these first)

• Frequency over duration: short daily sessions (20–60 minutes) beat infrequent long ones. Consistency builds neural pathways.
• Active recall + spaced repetition: test yourself on vocabulary and structures repeatedly with increasing intervals (SRS apps, flashcards).
• Comprehensible input + output: balance listening/reading at or just above current level with speaking/writing that pushes production.
• Focused attention: minimize passive multitasking; study in distraction-free blocks with specific goals (e.g., “learn 30 words for travel”, “master past-tense forms”).
• Errorful production: make and correct mistakes; deliberate errors accelerate learning when followed by feedback.

Practical daily routine (scalable)

1. Warm-up (5–10 min)

• Review SRS flashcards (vocabulary + sentences).

1. Comprehension block (15–25 min)

• Listen to graded audio / short podcasts or read a news article at ~90% comprehension.
• Annotate new words and immediate context sentences.

1. Active production (15–30 min)

• Speak or write: shadow audio, narrate your day, record a 2–3 minute voice note, or write 100–200 words.
• Immediately correct using a tutor, native speaker, or language tool.

1. Focused grammar/skills (10–20 min)

• Target one grammar point or pronunciation feature with drills and example production.

1. Social/immersion exposure (ongoing)

• Chat with language partners, attend group classes, or consume TV/movies for passive reinforcement.

High-leverage methods and tools

• Spaced-repetition systems (Anki, Memrise): for long-term vocabulary retention, use sentence-based cards, not isolated words.
• Shadowing: repeat native speech in real time to improve pronunciation, rhythm, and listening skills.
• Language exchange + tutors: Tandem, HelloTalk, iTalki — use tutors for correction and exchanges for conversational fluency. Structure sessions: 10 min review, 20–30 min active speaking, 5–10 min feedback.
• Graded readers & extensive reading: read many easier texts to build fluency and pattern recognition; track unknown words but keep reading flow.
• Dictation exercises: transcribe audio to sharpen listening, spelling, and grammar.
• Pronunciation practice with feedback: use spectrogram apps, pronunciation tutors, or focused drills (minimal pairs, intonation).
• Task-based learning: practice real tasks (book a hotel, explain a process, give directions) to build transferable ability.
• Error correction loop: produce → receive corrective feedback → revise → repeat. Prioritize corrective feedback that targets recurring errors.

Design learning around goals

• Survival/travel: 300–600 high-frequency words, key phrases, role-play scenarios, pronunciation of numbers and directions.
• Conversational fluency: daily speaking practice, 2000–4000-word receptive vocabulary, colloquial phrase mastery.
• Academic/professional fluency: domain-specific vocabulary, formal writing practice, presentations, reading complex texts.
• Near-native: sustained immersion, correction from native-level mentors, literature and media consumption, attention to register and idioms.

Speed strategies (accelerate without sacrificing retention)

• Core vocabulary first: the 1000–3000 most frequent words cover most everyday speech.
• Sentence mining: extract naturally occurring sentences from media and add them to SRS.
• Intensive short immersion blocks: multiple hours/day of target-language-only exposure for 1–2 weeks to jump-start progress.
• Deliberate pronunciation focus early: prevents fossilized accents and reduces effort later.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Overemphasis on passive input: pair listening/reading with immediate speaking/writing tasks.
• Rote vocabulary without context: learn words in sentences, prioritized by frequency and usefulness.
• Perfectionism blocking production: use low-stakes speaking (voice notes, shadowing) to build fluency; correction refines, don’t wait to be “perfect.”
• Inconsistent review: use SRS and regular revision schedules.

Measuring progress

• Objective metrics: vocabulary count (active vs passive), listening comprehension scores (benchmarked tests), speaking minutes/week, writing word counts with error rates.
• Functional checks: can you accomplish specific tasks (make a booking, hold a 10-minute conversation, read a news article)?
• Use CEFR-aligned tests or language-specific placement tests every 3–6 months.

Example weekly plan for intermediate learners

• 5× 30–60 min daily routines (SRS + comprehension + production).
• 2× 45-min tutor sessions for feedback and structure.
• 3× 30–60 min native media sessions (news, podcasts, TV).
• 1× extended social interaction (language meet-up, conversation exchange).

Sustaining motivation

• Small, measurable milestones and visible streaks (vocab counts, minutes spoken).
• Meaningful content: hobbies, professional interests, fiction — keep the language relevant.
• Mix challenge and reward: varied activities to avoid burnout.

Closing synthesis
Prioritize daily active use and spaced repetition of meaningful, sentence-based input; combine with frequent corrective feedback and goal-directed tasks. Progress is fastest when comprehension, deliberate production, and systematic review are integrated into a consistent, goal-aligned routine.

……….

There’s some very good advice posted here by others.

Some personal views. I have spoken seven languages. Past tense. I’ve forgotten most of them, due to disuse. Immersion counts. It really does.

I learnt Malay (1970+), Afrikaans (2 weeks in 1977)), Portuguese (3 months in 1978) and French (1978-1983, during holidays), simply by being there. Having no choice but to communicate in the relevant language. I must say that having learnt a second language does make it easier to learn the third one. I learnt to speak the language colloquially, with appalling grammar, a restricted vocabulary, but a perfect accent. To get the former right, you do actually need to study. Hit the books.

I’d really suggest doing it this way round. Once you understand the basics of the language, the grammar and vocabulary suddenly start to make sense. Doing it the other way around, learning the grammar and vocabulary first ( as most courses do), makes you feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall, because a few hours of study a week seem to get you nowhere in terms of actual communication.

My definition of being able to “speak a language” is when you think in that language, as opposed to your native language and translate – or transliterate – in your head when speaking. Similarly, when listening, you understand without having to think about it. On this definition, you can be speaking the language with a very small vocabulary – e.g. 3 days of classroom instruction in Fanagolo (1984) without a single word of English being spoken, gave me a vocabulary of 300 words. More importantly, it gave me the tools, with a dictionary in my pocket, to expand my vocabulary to be able to have a conversation with an illiterate Mozambican mine worker about why he was working in then Apartheid South Africa. The answer turned out to be that in South Africa his sons could choose their studies at university, whereas in the then people’s communist paradise of Mozambique, the local commissar would decide that this one would be a plumber and that one would be a doctor. But I digress.

On the other hand, I learnt Zulu (1995) in a formal classroom setting for a couple of hours a week. Fairly complex grammar, but sensible and regular rules. Passed the exam with ease. Promptly forgot every word because I had no one at the time to practice with.

For me, the hardest part of learning a language is learning to listen. To parse the continuous stream of sounds you hear into a sequence of separate words, so that you are able to dig into your vocabulary and translate those.

It’s one thing to learn a language. It’s quite another to maintain proficiency. In languages, the old adage of “practice makes perfect” really counts.

………

I used to loathe writing. It wasn’t because I had nothing to say or the writing prompt was too boring (well, part of it was because of that), but because I didn’t know how to write well.

I used to write blogs in Chinese, my native language. It was so much easier because I was able to write like I talk and write deep. The expression came naturally to me. But for English, it was a different level of challenge. It was like from walking trails in the hill country to climbing Himalaya; like cooking cup noodles to making a three-course French.

But it’s not impossible, right?

After learning and practicing for a while, I’d like to share my tips on how to improve English writing skills even if you’re a non-native English speaker.

1. Copy, word for word, blog post, email, ANYTHING

source: giphy.com

Yes, you see it right.

It depends on what kind of style you want to learn, conversational and/or professional/businessy. As a non-native speaker, it’s hard to come up with idioms and slang right off the bat, that’s why word for word copy can help you learn so much.

Of course, I’m not saying you should plagiarize and copy other people’s work, but it’s important to learn the syntax, the word choice, and the mindset of a native speaker.

All you need to do is find an area that you’re interested in (eg, cooking, business, fashion, travel, etc) and look for articles or emails that really grab your attention, and start “copying.” Trust me, it’s a fun process to go through.

Since I’m interested in the online business and copywriting fields, here are some resources that I constantly check out:

• Talking Shrimp- Laura Belgray is the copy wizard behind the business. Her blog and emails are fun and engaging. It’s like reading a story and you still learn a ton. If you want to learn to write more conversationally, I can’t recommend Talking Shrimp more than enough.
• Susie Moore- Susie Moore is a life coach who I’ve been following for a while. Susie’s articles have been featured on Business Insider, Forbs, Inc., and many more. Her articles usually structured like “X steps to…”, “X ways you can…”, a great resource to learn how to write eye-catching headlines and stories that connect people.
• Business Insider,  Magazine, Huffington Post, etc.

It doesn’t matter what and where you copy from. Just know that if you find the writing style that’s clear and engaging, you’re at the right place.

2. Watch writing tutorials… and anything in English

Listening is as critical as writing.

Write like you talk. For us non-natives, it’s more like, “write like THEY talk.” Nobody connects through stiff and textbook-like message. Instead, we resonate with language that’s conversational and close to our daily life. That’s why I often binge-watch YouTube and binge-listen Podcasts.

In terms of online writing classes, Copyhackers is hands down my favorite. It has several free copywriting tutorial videos that teach you ways to write from good to great. (Although it’s more about copywriting, you can apply the techniques to pretty much any kind of writing, really.)

There are many writing resources online, but I found watching it happens is one of the most effective ways of learning. It’s important to practice, but it’s also necessary to learn the right ways so you can brush up your skill.

3. Read everyday (if possible)

You may have heard this a lot but it bears repeating.

I remembered I was very bad at writing when I was young, like a 10-year-old young. I always started the paragraph with the exact same sentence and used the word “Conclusion” as a title for my last paragraph. I had to ask my parents to proofread it at least 5 times to make it an inch better.Until I read Harry Potter (I know it sounds like a cliche, but it’s true).

I didn’t know what but something just clicked, like a spark in a cave, I suddenly wrote differently and fluently.

And that was the moment I started to like writing.

Whatever you read, books, blogs, news, magazines, all that good stuff, keep a habit to read regularly. And maybe you’ll experience a click moment just like I did!

(If you like reading books, I suggest reading novels once in a while because novels offer that imagery and specificity that you can barely find in other genres of books.)

4. Create a swipe file

A swipe file is a collection of writing samples. It’s a term commonly used in the advertising world.

Anyway, create one for yourself.

Save the headlines, the sentences, the paragraphs, the websites you like that you can go back and review. It is the source for clearing your writer’s block. Whenever you feel stuck, go back and look at the examples and see if you can put your words into the formula.

A swipe file will save you any unwanted effort.

…………….

Know that you can never learn any language “completely”. A language changes constantly, uses neologisms or occasionalisms, shifts the meaning of a neutral word to a derogative or euphemized connotation, has highly specific or scientific terms and rarely used, archaic expressions, posesses a variety of regional dialects – and not even the most well-versed native speaker could have possibly have mastered all. You learn any language your entire life.

So I assume that you want to achieve some grade of fluency and do not expect to learn an entire language.

You’ll need a good foundation in your target language, before you can start immersing yourself in it. A toddler wastes a lot of time by listening and guessing, but we can be more effective:

• memorize the most frequently utilized words (on the internet you may find a list such as “top 100 words used in *insert target language*”). Listen how they are pronounced, repeat the pronounciation otherwise you will memorize a rather off pronounciation, which you internally guessed by spelling it like your native language or your ridiculously exaggerated imagination of how the target language sounds. Been there, made this dreadful mistake. Just no. Simply listen to the original pronounciation. Don’t learn from a script.
• Learn some basic phrases (Hello, Thank You…) you’ll need in daily life
• Progress to learning the most important grammar rules. Only the most important. If there are 20 tenses it’s of no use to learn all of them at once. Instead, learn those that are most frequently used, and which allow you to express yourself on a basic level. If there are various exceptions in declension of some nouns, ignore them, because they’ll only confuse you, unless it is a very very important word like one from the top 100. Crucial grammar rules usually consist of; a) Use of basic adjectives b) Use of frequent tenses c) declension of nouns d) Pronouns e) Structure of simple sentences (“Syntax”)
• Learn how to pose questions, because most languages have very special and varying ways of doing this, and you’ll often need to pose questions when you’re not very fluent in a language, to ask for clarification or explanation.
• Identify “false friends” aka common words that sound/are written like a word in your native language, but have a different meaning. Here’s an example: le chat = cat in french, not “chat” as in an online chat or to chat. German “bekommen” means to get something, like a gift, and is not to be confused with English “to become” – to turn into something/grow up to be. Btw. Gift is the German word for poison! Polish pronoun “my” means “we”. Polish “krew” means blood, not crew… Really false friends can ruin a conversation. You’d not like to accidently say something offensive in your target language. Learn the false friends with greatest diligence
• Use “good” friends as your beginner’s vocabulary. Good friends are words that sound the same and have the same meaning in both your native and the target language. An example: contact – becomes German Kontakt.
• Learn 5 new words each day. Every 3rd day repeat the entire vocabulary you know. Twice a week – test your grammar. Or create yourself another rigid plan of repetition, and stick to it.
• Be creative with your yet limited knowledge: try to write a simple story or dialogue, describe pictures and things. Simple rote learning of grammar rules wouldn’t teach you how to exert them in spontaneously formed sentences.

Before progressing between the aforehead mentioned steps, memorize well. Don’t overrun it, otherwise you’ll understand no more than half of all rules, and make unnecessary mistakes. Don’t try to learn all rules on a single day, you will forget half of it, feel overhelmed by your incompetence, and that wouldn’t be effective. Break it down into “small chunks”. You need a good foundation before progressing to the complex stuff. If you have trouble memorizing things, find some memorization strategies; memes, funny analogies, create akrostichons for grammar rules or make a song about it – really music works wonders to burn something into your longterm memory.

This article gives a nice overview of different memorization techniques: Memorization Strategies – Learning Center

If you think an online language portal like Duolingo helps you with that, use it, but do not let it be your only source for language acquisition. Personally I did not like Duolingo, because it is extremely unflexible in the expressions tested for (e.g. it often will not recognize synonymes), and doesn’t allow you to be creative with the newly learnt phrases.

The next step is immersion.

• Familiarize yourself with the pronounciation of the target language by listening to music in it. Look the lyrics up and try to understand them. If there is unknown vocabulary – search the words in a dictionary and memorize their meaning.
• Write more advanced texts in the target language: Letters? A Diary? A story? Dialogues? A political discussion? An essay? Poetry? Whatever is on your head, write it down. Or sign yourself up in an online forum – maybe one that’s about a fandom you like? Of course you could simply start using Quora in your target language (does not guarantee that all target languages have a Quora page)…
• Read in your target language. It can be child’s stories. But you must be interested in the story, otherwise you’ll loose interest and reading will soon feel like a chore. Most “Lectures for language learners” are so boring and badly written, that it’s no wonder when the reader begins to doubt his dedication. Yes, I’m talking of these terrible detective-stories and those who are drained in some forced p.c. message. No, search for original texts targeted at primary school children. If you like science fiction stories, there will certainly be a sci-fi adventure for 4th graders. You can also read comics or graphic novels. If you think you’ll have an easier time understanding a book you have already read in your native language, then read the translation of it in the foreign language.
• Watch movies/series. In the beginning you can use subtitles (in the target language! Not your own!) to familiarize yourself with the sound of the original spoken language, but progress quickly to watching without any subtitles. The subtitles will not help you to understand spoken language better, so stop using them. Instead rewatch the scene you did not understand.

Remember : you must not learn the most intricate grammar rules, and exceptions, because while reading, you’ll be immersed in them and absorb them subconsciously. If you have a good foundation of grammar rules and vocabulary, you will be able to tell the rest from context. It may be hard in the beginning, and you’ll be forced to reread a page or chapter several times and feel compelled to look up the meaning of a particular word in a dictionary. However I advise you NOT to look up every word you do not understand. Looking up a word should be the last resort, if you are truly unable to figure out the basic meaning of a sentence and plot, having reread it several times. Not looking up everything will school your understanding of the language and challenge your brain to think in new, multiple ways – and using your intelligence cannot possibly be a bad side effect.

Disclaimer: I am no expert. Just some 17 year old pesudointellectual, who happens to be fluent in 3 languages, but compared to many others this is not worldshaking, given that two of these languages are my native tongues. If my advice helps you, I am glad. But don’t be fooled by the professional demeanor.

…………

That’s how I found myself miserably holding a plate filled with green pepper in the streets of İstanbul-Turkey.

I had to stop by and share my opinion when I saw this question while browsing through quora. As an African young student who currently speaks and writes English, French, Turkish and not forgetting my mother-tongue Lamnso, here are some of the things I am convicted you need to do in order to learn a new language quickly and efficiently while having fun.

Before we get there, here is something that I think everyone should understand before diving into this new adventure and experience.

The relationship of the languages you speak and the language you want to learn plays a critical role in determining how fast and effortlessly you are going to learn the new language. Being in class with scholars from countries around the globe such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Iran, Russia, Egypt, Nigeria etc, the time difference in learning the Turkish language between us was humungous. While most African students like myself struggled not only with pronunciation but with understanding the sentence structure of Turkish language which by the way, is utterly different from English and French, the others were able to express themselves conveniently within the first month of lectures. Their languages belong to the same family as the Turkish language, meaning it takes lesser time for them to learn. Check out this article on Wikibooks:Language Learning Difficulty for English Speakers for more information on this.

So now, with that out of the way, let’s get the ball rolling…

1. Take a Trip.

How fast do you want to learn this new language? 4 months?. 9 months? or 1 year? Then here is what you must do. Get your travel bag-pack and move to an environment where you know this language is spoken the most. You got to inundate yourself in it. You have to be in a place where almost everyone speaks this language. Everywhere you turn your ears should pick up sound waves that correspond to this alien language. This way, you will inherently force yourself to learn so fast that, your brain will have no choice but to start messing sense out of the chaos. I call this making use of our survival instincts. This is precisely how I was able to fluently speak French within 4 months and the Turkish language with 7 months. I moved from my hometown-Bamenda in Cameroon to the capital city Yaounde(90% french speakers). Later I then moved to Istanbul-Turkey where I learned the Turkish language.

2. Get a Tiny Notebook.

We had this beautiful smart lady from Mongolia in our class who in her free-time kept starring at her little notebook where she had written words, phrases and so much more. I even met her coincidentally inside the bus but she didn’t recognize I was the one sitting next to her until I said merhaba (meaning Hello/Hi in English). In less than 2 months, she could speak Turkish so fluently that the rest of us, had no choice than to listen and watch in admiration when she started speaking. We could not even understand more than 70% of what she was saying. That is how good she was. The magic was in her tiny little notebook which she carried with her everywhere she went. Get your own little notebook today and write down new words you come across daily in the language you are learning. In your time of relaxation or anytime you want during the day, browse through it and as you do this your brain will automatically and permanently save this in memory without stress or much effort. Keep jotting down words and sentences daily on your notebook and you will be amazed not only on how much you have learned but also on how much you can remember.

3. Get a Friend.

Its actually hard to admit but it turns out Gabriel was right. While I was struggling to have some boring conversation in Turkish with strangers, a couple of my friends were having scintillating chats with their newly found Turkish girlfriends. Guess what..? Their speaking improved prolifically more than mine. I am not saying you should get a new girlfriend for every language you want to learn. Rather, I am saying that go out there and make some new friends who are fluent in the language you wish to learn. Hang out with them and practice your speaking. Chat with them on social media like WhatsApp to further hone your writing skills. This I assure you will be quite effective.

4. Watch Movies and Listen to Music.

When I asked a friend of mine from Albania who I play table tennis with, how many months he attended the Turkish course to be able to speak Turkish like a native speaker, I was mind-blown by his response. He said he had never seen the four walls of a Turkish language class. He spent his time in Albania before moving to Istanbul, watching Turkish TV shows and movies and listening to some beautiful heart-touching music. I followed his foot-steps and it tremendously improved my listening and also speaking ability. You can do the same to any new language you want to learn. Watch the movies with subtitles to widen your vocabulary and at the same time, your ears will rapidly adapt to the accent of the native speakers.

As a final note, learning a new language is normally a slow and gentle process that takes time and often should not be overly rushed. You may feel overwhelmed at the beginning but trust me, it gets easier. Hang it there and don’t give up. Let the reason you decided to learn the new language be the fuel that keeps the flame of motivation going no matter how hard it might seem. Learning this new language will unlock certain parts of your brain while creating new neuro-connections which will definitely result in a smarter and better you than your old self.

…………

The best method for learning a foreign language is by doing the following:

• Have a purpose for learning the language: As long as you have a purpose you’ll have reason to study.
• Have a need to study the language (this is different from a purpose, btw): If you need to speak the foreign language, you will. This is the reason why so many English speakers speak only one language. Who needs more languages if everyone already speaks ours? Your desire to learn the language is what will keep you learning the language.
• Study the language making sure to focus on the type of interface you need most for the language (writing, reading, listening or speaking).
• Get plenty of interaction and practice with the language

Now for what not to do:

• Don’t fear mistakes because you’re going to make mistakes.
• Don’t fear discomfort. You’re going to be uncomfortable.
• Don’t fear looking or sounding stupid. In English, if Shakespeare is the smart guy, guess what, you’re at the other end of the scale.

Remember that the point of language is communication. This means your goal is not to have perfect grammar or to sound like the most revered speaker or writer of whatever language you’re learning.

The goal is to sound like YOU, but in the other language. It is to connect with people and a culture. What this means is that should not be focusing on getting the absolute best accent. You’re not a spy. You only need to sound good enough to be understood. BUT if you do insist on having a good accent, don’t be surprised when you find out that normal English and perfect English are very different.

You should not focus on learning every word in the dictionary. Sometimes you know the absolute perfect word for things and the local population doesn’t. It is better that you have the ability to describe whatever it is that you need to.

You should not focus on having absolutely perfect grammar. Good grammar is good enough. Everyday grammar is a very distant relative of perfect grammar and flawless grammar makes some people nervous outside of formal settings because it often makes them feel under-dressed.

You should

You should focus on being appropriate and using the right registers. This is what people will notice. If you’re saying, “G’day sir/madame. How do you do?”, in a “Hey, what’s up?” situation, people won’t care that your English is good. They’ll be more concerned about the weirdo, they’re going to have to communicate with for the next few minutes.

Ditto for the other way, if you’re in a fancy hotel and you ask, “Where’s the crapper?”, they just might invite you to leave.

Appropriacy is key,

Tips for actually learning the foreign language

My subjective view is that you should get all your education from educators including your teacher, books, online tools and websites, and get as much practice as you can from real speakers of the language.

Why?

Educators

Educators will be able to tell you the answers to questions that native speakers accept as something “just sounds right”, whereas to you, it just sounds inconsistent.

They can usually explain and justify inconsistencies. Native speakers either won’t know or won’t agree on the true and correct answers.

Speakers of the language

Speakers are the trial by fire:

The functionary at the government office or even better, the barista who answers your coffee order with:

• Anything else with that?
• Will that be small, medium or large?
• Whole, skim, coconut, soy or oat milk?
• Would you like an extra dash of (whatever) in that?
• For here or to go?
• What’s your name?
• Please pay at the register/till.
• Will that be cash check or credit?
• Could I interest you in a shop loyalty/fidelity card?
• And, ‘Mind if I have your ZIP/post code?

With a line of 8 stressed out Parisians breathing down your neck, your teacher is unlikely to offer you this level of stress, training and role play. And this is just picking up a cup of coffee.

You need real life situations for this.

So, as you learn more and more of the language, you will spend less time with the teacher and more time with people who use the language in every other capacity.

Last bit of advice

Don’t be annoyed when you get to the bit or bits of the language that are weird. Different languages have some nutty things connected to thing that make absolutely no sense from our perspectives but are normal or even necessary in the context of the customs and culture of the speakers of that language.

……………….

Depends, what language you want to learn, English or some other language.

1. Develop interest: By this i simply mean make yourself curious, figure out why you want to learn that particular language- the reason could be any- lets say cuz you like K-Drama that’s why you want to learn Korean, or anime made me learn Japanese, German might offer me better job opportunities, could be anything, or simply i watch La Liga, which made me curious to learn Spanish. Remember in order to learn a language in a most effective way is to create a connection with that language. That connection will really help you to see the language from a distinctive point of view, that will be only yours.
2. Take professional help: Now that you are full with excitement and curiosity to learn the language, seek a professional help, like a language tutor or language school.
3. Explore: language school will teach you grammar, help with language nuances, now its your turn to make yourself comfortable with that language. That means, you need to start exploring the ways which can help you to become pro. Like talking to natives, or applying for scholarships in the target language country or may be you can start teaching as well. Teaching will help you understand the nuances of a language much more effectively and give you confidence.

Most importantly you need to be consistent with the language, practice daily, learn something new daily, read the history of that target language country, get yourself familiarised with the demographics and geography of the country, and make some good connection. Just remain curious, that’s all.

……….

Let’s see some examples.

Faster than a hamster. Even if hamsters do actually learn foreign languages, they clearly keep it a secret. As much as the academic community is divided with regards to anything else, here they’d be in accord that hamsters are pretty useless at language learning. So, whatever you do you’ll learn faster than a hamster.

Faster than a child. It is said children learn faster than adults, but it doesn’t mean age is a barrier. The ability to learn doesn’t decrease with age. As an adult you will probably need different approach, and you won’t have 10 hours a day of a free native-speaker input. But, what you’ve got is years of learning experience: you know what methods work for you. In a game of “a lazy child who does’t learn for a purpose” vs. “your highly motivated self” you can beat the kid for sure.

Faster than people in language courses. Doh. Easily. When learning on your own you can always keep your study sessions right at your level and make sure you improve every time you pick up a book (without having to bear through *the very same* mistakes and questions of your co-students).

Faster than a polyglot. This could be hard. Polyglots have already hacked for themselves what method helps them learn a language most efficiently. This is while you were learning to scuba-dive, fix Mac hard-drives or to trade stocks. We all have different skills, and language is like any other skill, in that it takes time and practice to develop it.

It will be hard to catch up with the polyglots’ years of practice. But, thankfully a lot of those pro language learners have blogs where they share their tips and experiences. So… make them your mentors and incorporate their methods into your own deliberate practice routine.

……………

Hi,

Here is what works best for me:

1) Primary focus on language production (speaking and writing).

Everything I learn or read I verbalise and rehearse many times. I make sure that my lips are moving all the time and I hear my voice 🙂 For example, I close the book and retell what I’ve memorised and I record myself on video or audio. If I feel that my mouth hurts after each learning session, it’s an indicator that it was fruitful and rewarding practice.

2) Have no fear of making mistakes. It’s a natural part of the learning process. Take a note when in doubt about some point and check it later with native speakers.

3) Apply all the new info directly into practice.

Practice is key. Everyone knows it, few do it in full power and for real.

4) Consistent practice.

Practice a little every day, even if it’s just 15-30 minutes. It really adds up over time.

5) Immerse yourself fully and make sure you have lots of input.

Surround yourself by language with social media, podcasts, documentaries, films, youtube films on the topics that you are deeply interested in. I tend to listen to something in a foreign language when doing some household chores or walking.

6) Adjust activities to your energy levels.

I leave receptive activities (reading and listening) to my energetically lowest moments during the day while focusing on language production when I am mentally sharp.

7) Spaced repetition.

Use apps like Quizlet or Anki for vocabulary and go back to your notes regularly. Check out Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve for exact time frames when you need to revise.

8) Mind Maps.

I love writing down everything and making charts and mindmaps.

9) Shadowing technique.

It’s so effective for me. This is where you repeat what you hear as closely as possible. I usually listen to each sentence in a text or video, pause and repeat with the same intonation and accent. A great way to improve pronunciation.

10) Conversations with natives.

If you have the possibility to practice with native speakers or pay for private tutors, do it.

………………

First, someone should formulate goal properly.

“Learn language” term is commonly used and absolutely wrong.

Language is a set of skills:

1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing

Attempt to look at language as something whole, IMHO misleading, at least in the context of “i want learn as fast as possible”.

What do you want to do with language?

Travel? You need basic listening and speaking.

Work as translator? You need very professional level of reading and writing.

Ability to paint Chinese hieroglyphs, will not help you to understand spoken Chinese. At all.

So, first, you need to decide which skill you need first and train this skill directly.

What means directly?

You train swimming by swimming, and reading by reading.

You can ask: how I can train speaking when I cannot speak at all?

Well, you need to practice with dialogues, phrasebooks, translators, basic speaking apps. And then find speaking partner.

What if you want all skills, e.g. you want be proficient and fluent?

It will not be quickly. It will take years. Years of using language. And it will take forever of learning language (without actually using it).

And, anyway, I would concentrate my efforts, first, on speaking-listening and after several months start to read- write.

…………

I can tell you what worked for me.

I studied French for 5 years at school but it didn’t work for me, not that I was interested in making it work.

Then, over 30 years later, I had the opportunity to work & live in Lausanne, Switzerland, where they spoke French; the office language was English. And I decided to learn French.

I adopted a three pronged approach.

1) I got an English French dictionary, bought a French newspaper every Saturday, and would read it by translating it word by word. This was excellent for building vocabulary.

2) I set my alarm clock radio to a French news station (deliberately NOT music). This allowed me to listen to French speech. I would try to translate fragments I heard. Several minutes later I would pick another half sentence to try. Just extracting the words was hard.

3) I watched French television with French subtitles; news, shows, movies, whatever. Like with the radio (except the words were given to me), I would translate a sentence, and a few minutes later do another one.

After about 3 months, and literally overnight, something happened in my brain. The radio came on, and everyone was speaking slowly; so slowly that I could hear each word separately and clearly. Obviously it was ‘speak slowly for foreigners day’. But no; my brain could suddenly ‘hear in French’.

Things developed rapidly after this. I bought a French dictionary (no English) as my vocabulary was extensive enough to understand the definitions in French.

When I could laugh at French jokes in real time on the TV, I knew I had made it.

Sadly, my time in Switzerland finished early due to the DotCom boom becoming DotBomb bust, and I left after 7 or 8 months.

That was over 20 years ago; I never kept up my French, and it’s probably mainly gone. I like to think I could resurrect it quickly if I needed/wanted to.

……………

5. Come up with writing projects for yourself

Practice doesn’t make you perfect, but definitely improves your English writing skills.

Focus on the area(s) that you want to be good at. For me, I wanted to make my writing deep instead of flat, so I created 20 writing prompts to practice.

For example,

Instead of saying, “I felt lost in my 20s because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”

I changed it to “I’d spend an hour every night, writing out things that interested me or seem interesting on a white A4 paper, hoping that something would come up. An hour later, I still drew a blank.” To add more specific details of what a depressed situation looked like.

If you’re interested in blogging, you can rewrite a blog post that you found online by using the same title.

Again, the more you practice, the better you become. Be persistent.

6. Hit that Publish button (often)

source: giphy.com

There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your work out there.

Medium has a great community and lots of readers (approximate 60 million) every month. To be honest, it’s quite intimidating if you’re just starting out and to publish your first post. But eventually you’ll get comfortable at it.

Don’t be afraid of critiques. You may not even get any clap or share or comment, and that’s fine. The beauty of constantly putting things out there is that it’s a track of your progression. You may feel like deleting your first few posts after you’ve published a significant amount because they looked horrible. Well, just leave it. Everyone’s first draft is ugly (except for some unicorns).

That’s all the tips I have to help non-native speakers improve writing.

Whichever tip you pick, just remember that the more you write, the better, quicker, and more confident you’ll become.

Share some of your thoughts or techniques in the comments that you use to help you get better at writing.

Let’s tune out the self-doubt and go the distance!