How to Learn a New Language Fast

Co-authored by Tian Zhou

Last Updated: November 14, 2022 References Approved

Want to find out how you can learn a new language as fast as possible? If you commit to your new language, work hard, and have an open mind about making mistakes, you can go from basic conversational skills to fluency without the need for expensive classes and years of dedicated study. We'll let you in on the easiest language-learning secrets so you can get up to speed quickly and start speaking a new language.

1

Watch shows and listen to podcasts.

Immersion can help you quickly improve your listening and speaking skills. Possibly the easiest thing you can do is watch television shows or movies in the language you are trying to learn. Try to avoid subtitles, so you don’t develop a reliance on them. To make things easier, try to watch shows or movies whose plots you are already familiar with—like kids' cartoons or dubbed versions of English movie—knowing the context will help you to decipher the meanings of words and phrases.^{[1]
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- Download podcasts or tune in to radio stations in your new language. This is a great way to immerse yourself in the language while you're on the go. Not only does this help with your listening comprehension, it also allows you to hear the correct pronunciation of common words and phrases.
- Listen to songs in that language. Try to learn the lyrics, then check what they mean. That way, if you hear it again, you can tell what the conversation is about at that point.

2

Read kids' books and simple texts out loud.

Start at a basic level so you can learn easy vocab. As your language level progresses, you can move on to more advanced reading material like newspapers and magazines. When you read out loud, rather than silently, you can work on both your overall reading comprehension and pronunciation skills. Rather than trying to translate each phrase, force yourself to think in the language you're reading.^{[2]
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- You should also try to write a few simple things in your new language—whether it's a pretend postcard or a shopping list.
- Change your language settings on all your electronic devices so that you can pick up words you know already in English but not in the new language.

3

Learn basic phrases.

Study smarter, not harder. Mastering everyday conversation will let you hit the ground running. It’s more important to master basic phrases you’ll use frequently than it is to start off by learning the alphabet or the perfect sentence structure.^{[3]
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- For example you can learn phrases like: Hello, Goodbye, How are you?, I’m doing well, What is your name?, My name is… , and so on.

4

Focus on the 100 most common vocab words.

Knowing a few keywords can help you grasp what someone is saying. Mastering basic vocabulary is probably one of the most important things you can do when learning a new language. Even if you can't understand whole sentences, the ability to pick out keywords can help you to understand the general meaning of a speech or text.^{[4]
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Expert Source

Tian Zhou
Language Specialist
Expert Interview. 19 March 2021.}
- Picking out the most common 100 words in a given language is a clever way to start. From there, you can work your way up to the most common 1000 words. It is estimated that learning the 1000 most common words in a language will allow you to understand 70% of any text.
- Focus on the vocabulary that is most relevant to you -- learn business vocabulary if you're learning a language for business, don't waste time learning the words for different species of fish (which you might want to do if you're traveling to go scuba diving!)
- You should also learn words and vocabulary that pertain specifically to you, so you're able to talk about your life and your background to people you meet.

5

Work on pronunciation.

Pronunciation is the key to being understood by native speakers. There's no point in memorizing hundreds of words and phrases if you pronounce them so oddly that they can't be understood. Therefore, it's important that when you learn a word, you learn the pronunciation simultaneously.
- Pronunciation can be difficult to learn from a book -- so this is where chatting with native speakers (or using interactive software programs and applications) comes in handy. You need to actually say the word out loud in order to learn how to pronounce it correctly.^{[5]
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  Expert Source
  
  Tian Zhou
  Language Specialist
  Expert Interview. 19 March 2021.}
- If you're practicing with an actual person, make sure that they're not too timid to correct you when you pronounce a word incorrectly, otherwise you may never fully get the hang of it. Remember -- pronunciation can be the difference between speaking a language well and speaking a language fluently.

6

Don’t worry about perfect grammar.

Focus on conveying a message and being understandable. The reason why most people can't remember most of the language they spent years learning in school is that school curricula tend to focus a huge amount of time on learning grammar and very little time on speech (or "comprehensible output"). This is pretty much backwards—if you want to learn a language quickly, you should learn how to converse first.^{[6]
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Research source} The specifics of grammar will come later.
- Of course, there's no denying that grammar is important -- you need to learn how to conjugate basic everyday verbs and have some idea of the correct word order in a sentence.
- The point is that you shouldn't spend hours and hours learning verb tables by heart, or worrying about the specific circumstances in which a certain preposition can be used. You'll learn these things as you go along!

7

Learn to count in the new language.

Numbers will likely come up in everyday conversation. Start off with clear goals.^{[7]
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Research source} Try learning to count to ten since 1-10 is usually the easiest thing to memorize at first. Each day learn a new set of ten numbers, keep going each day until you are satisfied with how high you can count. If you are up for a challenge, memorize all the numbers up to one hundred in one day.

8

Study the alphabet.

Learning the alphabet can improve your reading and pronunciation skills. In turn, better reading and pronunciation can help you memorize words with greater ease.^{[8]
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Research source} Plus, it is better for you to be sounding the words out rather than looking at the romanization for the words.

9

Connect with a native speaker.

Hands down, the best way to learn a new language is to speak it. Too often, people spend all of their time studying grammar and memorizing lists of words instead of actually going out there and putting what they've learned into practice. Speaking with a real, live person will help you to feel much more motivated about learning the language than staring at a book or computer screen.^{[9]
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Expert Source

Tian Zhou
Language Specialist
Expert Interview. 19 March 2021.}
- Try to find a friend or colleague who speaks the language you wish to learn and who'd be willing to sit down with you and help you practice.
- Alternatively, you could try putting ads in local online forums or newspapers to find someone to tutor you or participate in a language exchange.
- If you can't find anyone who speaks your language nearby, try to connect with someone online. People in foreign countries are often willing to exchange half an hour of speaking in their native tongue for half an hour of speaking in English.
- Check out platforms like Hellotalk, Italki, and Skype.

10

Download a dictionary app.

Being able to look up unfamiliar words will save you time and frustration. Carrying a dictionary will allow you to find the necessary word at a moment's notice. This is especially important when you are having a conversation with a native speaker and don't wish to disrupt the flow of conversation by not being able to remember a word. In addition, looking up the word and using it immediately in a sentence will help you to commit the word to memory.^{[10]
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- It can be an actual, physical dictionary, or a dictionary app on your phone -- you just need to be able to consult it quickly whenever you need a word.
- You can also peruse the dictionary at random moments throughout the day -- when you're waiting in line at the grocery store, when you're on a coffee break at work, or sitting in traffic. You could learn an extra 20 or 30 words a day this way!

11

Take advantage of free software and apps.

Apps can make learning a new language fun and easy. Most language learning apps offer both a free version and a pro/premium version with more access to additional lessons and features. We’ll breakdown each app below:
- Duolingo gets users to read and speak their new language by seeing, hearing, and internalizing it. Users gain points as they complete lessons, giving Duolingo a fun, game-like feel.^{[11]
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  Expert Source
  
  Tian Zhou
  Language Specialist
  Expert Interview. 19 March 2021.}
- Anki helps you to effectively memorize words and phrases using flashcards. You can upload your own deck of cards with the specific vocabulary you wish to learn, or you can download one of the many pre-existing shared decks to get started.
- Memrise is another flashcard-style program that allows users to memorize words and phrases using memory tricks, images, and other useful tools. Memrise allows users to compete against other users as you complete language-learning activities, making it a fun, informal way to learn.
- Babbel is a fun, interactive language learning tool that helps users improve their vocabulary, grammar skills, and pronunciation. It can also identify your problem areas and offer targeted exercises based on your individual needs.
- Drops heavily focuses on vocabulary as users match words to pictograms, and pictograms to words. You will also have to practice writing non-Latin characters for languages that do not use the Latin alphabet. Note that you are limited to five minutes per day unless you purchase Premium.

12

Study the language every day.

Consistent study will get you quicker results. People often claim to have studied a language "for five years" and still not be fluent. But when they say five years, they probably mean that they studied the language for only a couple of hours a week over that entire time period. If you want to learn a new language quickly (that is, in the space of a few weeks or months), you're going to have to commit to studying the language for a couple of hours per day.^{[12]
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Expert Source

Tian Zhou
Language Specialist
Expert Interview. 19 March 2021.}
- Language learning is based on repetition—hammering something into your brain over and over again until you remember it. If you break too long between study sessions, you are much more prone to forget what you learned last time and you will waste valuable study time going back over what you've already learned.
- You can cut down on this wasted time by studying every day. There are no miraculous shortcuts when it comes to language learning—you just need to commit.

13

Be willing to make mistakes.

Aim for progress rather than perfection. When you're learning a new language you’ll get further if you’re okay with making mistakes and learning from them.^{[13]
X
Expert Source

Tian Zhou
Language Specialist
Expert Interview. 19 March 2021.} You might find yourself in situations where you don’t quite know the right word, or you don’t understand 100% of what the other person’s saying. That’s all a normal part of the language-learning process.
- You're bound to get yourself in a few embarrassing situations, but what's the big deal? The native speakers might have a good chuckle, but they'll still appreciate the effort you're making and be willing to help you out.

14

Visit a country where your chosen language is spoken.

Full immersion in a foreign language will speed up your path to fluency. If you can visit and spend some time in a country where your new language is spoken, you’ll get to connect with native speakers. Learning a language within the context of culture and everyday life can boost your motivation and offer hands-on learning experiences.^{[14]
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- Force yourself to interact with the locals—whether you're asking for directions, completing a transaction in a store, or simply saying hello—and you will gain a new appreciation of the language and its speakers.
- It doesn't matter how basic your oral skills are, keep pushing yourself to speak and you will soon notice a vast improvement in your vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

Expert Q&A

Question

Is 1 hour a day enough to learn a language?

Tian Zhou
Language Specialist
Tian Zhou is a Language Specialist and the Founder of Sishu Mandarin, a Chinese Language School in the New York metropolitan area. Tian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) from Sun Yat-sen University and a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from New York University. Tian also holds a certification in Foreign Language (&ESL) - Mandarin (7-12) from New York State and certifications in Test for English Majors and Putonghua Proficiency Test from The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. He is the host of MandarinPod, an advanced Chinese language learning podcast.

Tian Zhou

Language Specialist

Expert Answer

That's a pretty good pace if you're trying to learn a new language. You should be able to acquire at least 20 words a day at that pace. Just make sure that you review the previous day's work with each new session.
Question

Is Duolingo good for learning a new language?

Tian Zhou
Language Specialist
Tian Zhou is a Language Specialist and the Founder of Sishu Mandarin, a Chinese Language School in the New York metropolitan area. Tian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) from Sun Yat-sen University and a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from New York University. Tian also holds a certification in Foreign Language (&ESL) - Mandarin (7-12) from New York State and certifications in Test for English Majors and Putonghua Proficiency Test from The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. He is the host of MandarinPod, an advanced Chinese language learning podcast.

Tian Zhou

Language Specialist

Expert Answer

Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, and all of those programs are all great supplemental tools. They'll help you sharpen your language skills and practice, but they aren't going to help you master the language on their own.
Question

Can I learn a new language without taking a class or getting a tutor?

Tian Zhou
Language Specialist
Tian Zhou is a Language Specialist and the Founder of Sishu Mandarin, a Chinese Language School in the New York metropolitan area. Tian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) from Sun Yat-sen University and a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from New York University. Tian also holds a certification in Foreign Language (&ESL) - Mandarin (7-12) from New York State and certifications in Test for English Majors and Putonghua Proficiency Test from The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. He is the host of MandarinPod, an advanced Chinese language learning podcast.

Tian Zhou

Language Specialist

Expert Answer

I think learning on your own is going to be exceptionally hard. Classes and tutors give you an opportunity to get immediate feedback and practice your verbal skills. Without any of that, it's going to be exceptionally hard to master the language.