1) Set aside 10 mins a day
Grab your diary and schedule in at least 10 mins each day to memorise what you’ve learnt. Then, when the time comes, practise your vocabulary by saying each word out loud. You could also try scribbling vocab down on post-its and sticking them around your house or at your desk to be sure the words stay in your memory!
2) Try visualising words
As a way of memorising vocabulary, consider visualising each word or expression you learn. For example, for the French expression
“avoir la pêche / patate” (lit. to have the peach / potato = to feel great), you could imagine a peach or a potato with a happy smiling face. It might seem like a funny technique, but this way, you’ll ALWAYS remember what this expression means!
3) Listen up!
A great way of picking up fluency in a language is by listening to people speaking it. If you don’t know a native speaker of the language you’re learning, listen to the radio or watch foreign language films and TV as a substitute. Trust me, you’ll start picking up words and expressions without even realising!
4) Get out of your comfort zone
It’s okay to make mistakes! It’s also an excellent way of improving and strengthening your language skills. And remember, we all have an accent. The more you practise speaking, the quicker your pronunciation will improve. So be confident, leave your comfort zone and dive in!
5) Take part in a language exchange
Exchanging conversation with a native speaker is an invaluable way of upping your ‘language game’. busuu makes this easy for you with
our language exchange where you can find a native speaker of the language you’re learning and get feedback from them. Try and friend as many people as you can to get a variety of responses! Then, when you’re feeling really brave, why not find yourself a language partner (either locally or online) who is learning your native language too? Even just one hour a week of conversation will work wonders for you!
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