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When traveling to another country, knowing that I do not speak the local language has always been extremely intimidating to me. As someone who is a SUPER perfectionist (and gets embarrassed easily), I would rather be mute than say foreign words incorrectly.

Through all of my travel, I have come up with a few ways to learn the basics of a foreign language fast AND pronounce words like a pro!! Seriously, I have done all of the research.. I know what works!

  1. INVEST IN A LANGUAGE LEARNING SOFTWARE LIKE BABBEL, OR ROSETTA STONE

    This one is pretty obvious, but it REALLY does help.

    I personally use both Babbel and Rosetta Stone because they seem to help with different facets of language.

    If you are looking to jump right in to more conversational speaking, I would suggest using Babbel. it s a much more fast paced program but you start remembering the basics in conversation fairly quickly.

    I love Rosetta Stone for the opposite reason. Though it takes longer to be able to form sentences and use conversational speaking, I have found that I retain the words I learn there much better. If you are looking to really learn a language cohesively (and you have more time to commit to it), Rosetta Stone is the way to go. The teaching style reminds me of how an adult would teach a very small child how to speak, which is strange at first but becomes comfortable after a few hours of navigating the site.

  2. LISTEN TO MUSIC IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE

    Listening to music in the language that you are trying to learn has SO MANY benefits! It is my favorite way to practice pronunciation and the unique sounds of the language at hand. I am currently trying to learn Polish and I have developed a real love for Polish music! You can listen to your favorite genre in almost any language. Each language has its own little nuances and it is fun to start recognizing them.

    The best part of listening to music in a foreign language is the (FREE) availability of reading the lyrics and their English translations. I have learned and retained so much from doing this! Side note: you also feel super cool when you can sing along to a song in a foreign language and actually understand what they are saying 😉

    The only down side is that it will eventually start to annoy your friends because they won’t understand the music that you’re listening to… but thats their problem.

  3. TRY TO INTEGRATE THE LANGUAGE INTO EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES

    Even if it is just saying “please” and “thank you” in the language you’re trying to learn, IT HELPS!! It creates habit and makes you more comfortable with the sounds of the language. Try counting things in the new language or try thinking about every day items in the new language (“what is this? this is a blue book. these are three yellow pencils”). You get bonus points if you walk around your home and talk to yourself about these things instead of just thinking the words in your head.

    Moral of the story, the more you speak the words in your new language, the more comfortable you’ll be.

  4. SPEAK TO SOMEONE FLUENT IN THE LANGUAGE

    More likely than not, you will be trying to learn a language that is fairly common. If this is the case, you may know people that speak the language already! I have found that people are always happy to help you learn their language. You can have an extremely basic conversation with someone and still learn so much, plus they can help you with pronunciation! Talking to someone who already speaks the language is a great resource because they know slang and casual speech that you may not learn from formal language learning resources.

    If you do not know someone that speaks the language you’re trying to learn, do not fret!! Interpals is a GREAT website where people from all over the world are trying to make friends. yes, you will get some creeps in your inbox every once in a while.. but for the most part, the conversations are innocent. Just look for people who live in the country you’re trying to visit and send them a message! 🙂 They will be more than happy to help you learn their language because they are probably trying to learn English! They can also be a great resource for unique activities in their country.

    I would highly recommend keeping all of your personal information and travel plans private though.. stranger danger. But having very surface level conversations is SUPER helpful when learning your new language. Please just be safe.

  5. READ ANYTHING YOU CAN IN THE LANGUAGE

    My current obsession is Rupi Kaur’s incredibly beautiful books of poetry. Her latest book, Milk and Honey, has been translated into 25 languages. The most beautiful part about the hard back editions is that each page shows the original English version as well as the translated version.

    This is the same principle as reading the translation of music lyrics but a little more lovely. Bonus points if you read aloud! A normal story book may be a little more difficult than a poetry book because it can get overwhelming but I have found that poetry is easy to translate word by word. .Children’s books are also super great because the pictures help with context and the sentence structure is usually very simple. it may be a little more socially acceptable to read books of poetry though. But you should really read anything you can get your hands on!

  6. RELAX!!

    I had an epiphany when I was in Poland about speaking foreign languages.. Its mysteriously SO MUCH EASIER to speak a foreign language after drinking a few beers.

    Why is that?? Because you’re so much more relaxed!! You aren’t worried so much about perfect pronunciation, sentence structure, or conjugations.

    The best advice I can give is to relax and not worry about speaking perfectly. In most cases, locals are really excited that you are putting in effort to speak their language. No matter how much you study, you can’t learn a whole language overnight. just do your best! Use those words that you worked so hard to learn and be proud of yourself!