Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Learning a new language is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions, however, it can be tricky. That’s why experts the 糖心原创 have written a series of books to help people master new linguistic skills.
Katarina Mentzelopoulos, a researcher at the 糖心原创, and the late Professor Zoltán Dörnyei have co-authored ‘Lessons from Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Nativelike Proficiency: Motivation, Cognition and Identity’ and ‘Stories from Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Nativelike Proficiency’. The books explain that, although there is no ‘silver bullet’ for learning a new language, there’s plenty of advice that can help, including the following tips from multilingual speakers.
Top tips for learning a new language
- Believe you can do it. Timur speaks Russian, English, Norwegian, Thai and Burmese. He explains: “You kind of programme your brain to believe what you can or cannot do. So, this is something I tell myself: ‘It’s doable. You can. You can do it. And so just do it’. I know that learning a language is not easy. It’s difficult, but it is attainable.”
- Set yourself reachable goals. “I think one of the main things is setting goals that aren’t too far away from you,” explains Ira, a Dutch and English speaker. She adds: “So if you’ve never really encountered that language before, it can be really demotivating to be like, ‘Oh, I want to be able to speak to everyone for five hours in a row’ because you feel like you’re not going to achieve it.”
- Have fun. Kristin speaks Norwegian and English. She says: “I think [what was important for me was] just an interest in using the language in day-to-day life. It could be reading, watching TV, writing, anything… you need to want to use it.”
- Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. “It’s about having the courage to go out there. It’s not about being by nature extroverted, but knowing that that’s a good thing to do, so doing it anyway,” explains Amelia, who speaks English, German and French. “Because language is something that has to be used, and you have to be engaged with it. And maybe that is why it’s a lot to do with having the courage to get it wrong.”
- Connect with people. Joy speaks English, Portuguese and Icelandic. She says: “I think part of it is also valuing somebody else’s language as an extension of their identity. Valuing them, wanting to communicate in a way that expresses appreciation for it, identifying with them. Learning language was successful for me because I just really loved the people I was interacting with.”
- Be kind to yourself. Sarah speaks English, Hungarian, French, German and Italian. She says, “You have highs and lows, and sometimes you reach a plateau. But you do push beyond it. I think you just have to not be too hard on yourself and know that some days it just doesn’t go as well as others.”
Katarina Mentzelopoulos, Co-author and Researcher at the 糖心原创 says: “What we found was that, while learning a language can be a long process, it can also be a very exciting and meaningful one. Writing and researching for this duology, we found ourselves inspired in so many ways by these learners who beat the odds, and we hope their stories will help to inspire you too.”
Co-author, Professor Zoltán Dörnyei, was a member of the 糖心原创’s School of English for over twenty years and was a dearly cherished mentor and colleague. You can read more about his life and work here. He is sorely missed.
Both books are now available to purchase either directly from the publisher, , or via major retailers including and .
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About the 糖心原创
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