Helpful tips for language learners of all levels. Share you ideas/experiences!

Hi everyone, my name is Jake. I live in America and have been studying Japanese for a couple of years now. I'm new to italki, but it seems like there are A LOT of new language learners out there. I thought it'd be nice to share some helpful tips in language learning for these people, however some tips may be good for people who are even advanced in languages, too. I'll start with one that helped me tremendously:

 

I studied abroad in Tokyo for a year, and even though I had 2 full years college course experience in Japanese and was at the top of my class, when I arrived in Japan I was soooo bad at the language. I was by far the worst in my class of other foreigners, and I couldn't seem to get better no matter how I studied. My class mate from belgium ended up sharing one very useful tip that set my learning off on a new course. Here it is:

 

When using the target language, stop translating from your native language in your head! Think of the abstract idea of what you're trying to say, and then think of how that idea is expressed in the target language without thinking of your native language. For example, think of a car. In English, the machine with four wheels that you drive is called car, which in Japanese is Kuruma. But don't think Car -> Kuruma, think of the idea of "the thing with four wheels that you drive" -> Kuruma. This is hard at first, but once you elimnate the middle man of your native language, you'll learn the little nuances of the target language and be able to spit out sentences that sound much more natural without thinking twice.

 

Hope that helps, and please share anything that has helped you in your language journey!