Written in collaboration with Deskover
Our 2021 Resolutions Countdown starts today, 26th of December, with our first new year's resolution tip!
How many times did you tell yourself: "I really really wanna learn Spanish, or Italian, or Russian!" or even "I want to improve my English so that I can advance in my career"
Well, a new year is ahead of you and you have the power to decide for yourself, to invest in yourself!!
Learning a new language is challenging, but incredibly fun. It gives a lot of satisfaction: can you imagine that one day you'll start thinking in that language? I know, now it seems impossible, but we promise you: IT HAPPENS. You will start thinking in that language, sometimes even dreaming. Another amazing thing about learning another language is the fact that you will realize that certain words are not translatable into your mother tongue, this means that those words represent concepts that we would not know how to express in our own language. How cool is that? Here some benefits:
Learning a new language means your brain has to cope with complexity: it will develop key learning skills such as cognitive thinking and problem-solving. Highly developed critical thinking skills are a significant benefit both personally and professionally.
Use it or lose it. We're talking about memory. When you learn a new language, you're definitely using it
It increases Networking Skills: opening up to a culture allows you to be more flexible and appreciative of other people’s opinions and actions. As a result, if you are multilingual, you have the advantage of seeing the world from different viewpoints, enhancing your ability to communicate in today’s globally connected world.
Better career: multilingual employees add value to the workforce and 88% stated that recruiting team members with language skills is important to their organization. A multilingual ability is definitely a competitive edge in today’s world.
So, it is time for you to go for that goal. Write this resolution down in your list.
Here's some tools we loved using while learning languages:
@Duolingo : it is a very user friendly language learning mobile app, accessible without charge. Duolingo mimics the structure of video games in several ways in order to engage you. So yeah, it is FUN! 7/10 ==> good to start with. Too basic if you want to start speaking @Babbel: subscription-based language learning app and e-learning platform, available in various languages. The app teaches through real-life dialogue. Our vote: 8/10 ==> good structure, real feel of advancement. Also fun. Notifications keep you on track. @Languagepod101 this is by now our favorite. There's nothing better than getting your ear used to another language. And what if you can do this with podcasts? This platform gives you access to a whole bunch of language podcasts: frenchpod101.com, greekpod101.com and so on. The podcast also comes with extra material: a pdf with transcripts and a pdf with grammar rules you can review. You got a long car drive to work? Listen to some podcast, in one year from now you'll be able to speak another language. Quite cool, we think. Our vote: 8/10. On top of that, there's the typical method: TAKE classes. Having classmates and a teacher is a 9/10 in our opinion. You commit to something and you put it in your agenda every week. You gotta do homeworks. In Luxembourg you can find - @INL : Institut National des Langues, it offers classes for adults in eight languages: French – Luxembourgish – English – German – Spanish – Italian – Portuguese – Chinese. - Athenée de luxembourg - Prolingua - First Language Centre in Luxembourg since 1983, but also Berlitz and Caplangue. Another fun method: Languages Coffee Shop: learn a language in a friendly way! In Luxembourg: Café des langues Vote: 6/10 ==> good to improve. Use social media properly: it is full of instagram channels that can help you learn new languages. Among some that we use: - French: @acupoffrench - Spanish: @marielainspanish - English: @papateachme Vote: 5/10 ==> it is a nice plus, but it will take you more than that to learn. Best method ever 10/10: surround yourself with native speakers and speak, speak, speak.
Make tons of mistakes and learn from them. Learning a new language makes you humble, cause no matter how smart you (think you) are, when you start speaking another language, you will feel stupid. There's no escape from that. But one day you'll stop feeling that stupid, and we ensure you: it will feel great!!
A personal tip directly from me: "if you want to learn a language, you have to sleep with it" ;)