Tips to speak any language.

I wasn’t writing about languages for quite some time, and because I kinda have education in the area of linguistics I figured out it could be helpful if I share some tips with you guys.

try to remember the key-words, and by them, I mean words that are appearing frequently in sentences (conversations) or just words that are the “building ground” for all the talks, f.ex. (as for the English language) “ok”, “good”, “bad”, “what”, “where”, “I am”, “you are”, “work”, “today”.

it’s important to learn the expression phrases or words that you can use in order to share your point of view. Because what else is a conversation if not a tennis match between people with different opinions? To learn phrases such as “In my opinion”, “I think”, “I like” is much more important and valuable than all those words about colors, flowers or animals (actually till today I don’t think I know words like squirrel or shark in Norwegian)

observe native speakers and their body language. Notice what they say and how they interact when they are sad, happy, angry or scared. And don’t be afraid to copy them; that’s the best way to learn. Not only language – many people in art schools begin their education by copying masterpieces. If you know how native speakers act in certain situations and what they usually say, you can have this fundament to build upon (with more advanced words and sentences).

don’t rely on the dictionary all the time, because you want to come to the point that you will want to be able to be dictionary-free at the time of talks. Instead try to connect words with certain experiences, memories or with words in other languages. You can be surprised how many words in English are similar in French, or how many words from the Slovenian language are almost the same in Polish.

ask for words and don’t be afraid to do it. Native speakers almost always will love to help you, especially as they’re in the position of knowledge and power – they are master of the language and they can teach someone something. Especially when it comes to languages that aren’t so common – the native speakers will be more than just happy to offer you some free lessons (or just correction if you fail).