Studying for the Leaving or Junior Cert and stressing about learning French, German or Spanish? Stress no more, we've got ten top tips to help you learn the lingo.
Firstly, you will have set texts, vocab and verbs on the curriculum, but it’ll help if you try to think beyond your homework and try some of the below outside of class time.
1. Don’t be shy
Try speaking the language even before you know what you’re saying is 100% correct. No one expects you to be able to speak like a native but try to master the accent, use what vocab you have and go for it. You will learn from your mistakes.
2. Chat away
On that theme, try talking to yourself in the language you’re studying. Experiment with saying difficult words out loud then compare with an online pronunciation resource to see how you are doing or get tips.
3. Immerse yourself
Try doing an immersion course like ELC’s 3-week residential courses in French, German and Spanish. They are held during the summer at boarding schools around Ireland and everything is done through your chosen language – like the Gaeltacht but for European languages.
You will receive 40 hours of immersive teaching – equivalent to half a term – all while having fun, playing sports, enjoying cultural activities and making friends for life. Nine out of 10 ELC students reported an improvement in their spoken and written exam results. See ELC.ie for more info.
4. Full sentences
Learn conversational words and sentences – my name is, what’s your name? Where is the train station? and key words like yes, no, please and thank you. That’ll help you master the basics.
5. Study sessions
You can’t get away from the fact that you’ll have to learn to conjugate verbs and vocab but don’t burnout by overdoing it on the studying. Little and often is best – try 15 mins a day instead of four hours of cramming the night before an exam.
6. Listen
This is important as it’ll help you hear how people pronounce words, the accent etc. An easy way to do this is watch a foreign language film and keep an eye on the subtitles to match the spoken words, then after a while try not to look at the subtitles to get your ear in.
7. Daily reminder
Radical one but try changing your phone settings to the language you are studying. You’ll learn a few new words at the least.
8. Paella anyone?
Try cooking the food of your language. Learning the culture is important, and this is a delicious way to get familiar with one aspect!
9. Online resources
There’s lots of online resources for learning languages – TikTok and Instagram are filled to the brim with accounts with short, relatable videos that will help you with basic phrases, slang vs formal ways of speaking the language you are studying, and other helpful tips.
10. Relax
No one expects you to become a fluent speaker overnight. Do your best and try to enjoy the possibilities learning a new language will bring - there’s lots of research that shows having a second language can help improve your career prospects, and it’ll boost your brain power!
