• Be realistic in assessing yourself.

Be clear and honest about your language learning

abilities. It helps nobody to lie to yourself or worse, to underestimate your own skills.
Don’t knock it until you try it. Also, bet on yourself, put your money where your mouth
is, if you feel that you can begin to master at least one or two aspects of language
learning.
• Trying has no price, to paraphrase a Romanian saying. As in, test the language that
seems interesting or sexy sounding enough to make you want to take some classes or
purchase a book, e-book and so on. Remember that if you must learn a language out of
purely private interest, you can switch to another one anytime, no pressure there. Find
out which glove suits you best.
• If you have to learn a new language for professional reasons, do not see it as a burden,
but as an unforeseen chance to develop and grow. If your company or employer covers
the costs of learning, even better. As teachers, we are aware that breaking the ice when
it comes to a different language can be cumbersome, especially if you don’t have many
good memories or experiences related to school or learning by heart, under pressure.
• A new foreign language is a passport and a key to unlocking fresh opportunities. At
times, it does mean more cash flow, a better reach, more networking and all the good
stuff that these generations are chasing, particularly during these strange and somewhat
confusing times of the newly- adored `Home office`.
• Pro- tip: learning is never a straight line. I will say it louder for the people in the back:
leaning anything new, for that matter, is not a straight clear line. Whoever says that is
either lying through their teeth, has clearly never had to really learn anything or is a
genius. Let’s exclude that last option, shall we? It is perfectly acceptable to take one step
forward and a couple of steps back, as we do not have the privilege of living in a glass
bubble, protected from all outside factors. Life happens and it happens fast and
furiously, one might say. So sometimes learning and being focused on that process can
take a back seat.
• Think and visualize that you have already achieved success. Do not allow others, who are
not involved in any kind of learning or teaching, to tell you what you can and cannot do,
language wise.
• No two learners are the same, just as no two teachers or trainers are the same. And that
is perfectly alright, as variety and flexibility should reign supreme in the emotionally-
charged process of learning and acquiring knowledge.
• Give yourself some homework, before anyone else does: plan 10-15 minutes a day or
every few days when you are fully focused on learning, practicing, listening or reading
what has to do with the new language. You do not need hours without end and hope in
sight for studying. In fact, speaking from experience, a quarter of an hour can work
wonders and can be the turning point where progress is achieved, as opposed to much
time with low focus. The internet offers endless learning and practicing possibilities:
YouTube videos, social media, emailing, texting even. Use your platforms and time wisely
and you will not even feel the slight, beautiful breeze of knowledge wrapping itself
around you.
• Lastly, here is a very easy trick for developing and adding new words and ways of
expressing into your language arsenal: if your language level is medium to advanced or
even academic, you can always test yourself by writing down a very basic sentence and
transforming it into a more and more elaborated one, not changing its meaning, but only
 finding synonyms and other modalities of practically saying the same thing with other
words.
• When learning a language which is a very memory intensive task, using visualizations
helps develop a much better understanding of words. We as human beings take our
majority of information visually and using this mean of data gathering isn’t easily
forgotten. When the next time you see that thing the words will simply pop in your head.
• Find something that you absolutely love to do, be it a sport or a hobby and try to find
info about that using the language you want to learn. Because you’ll be able to pick
vocabulary faster this way knowing something about that hobby already and the more
you practice the stronger the connections between the two get.
• Given the blessing that is the internet today, we can find communities of people around
the world who speak the language of interest natively and asking them for help, picking
up tips and quips will not only give you a faster mean of picking up the language but
boost your confidence in speaking the language.