It’s no surprise that most of us want to learn a language at one point or another.
It’s a sign of being smart, worldly… or just fed up with reading subtitles. But when done the boring way, it can be hard, expensive, and leave you fast asleep drooling on that dictionary you never even opened.
Fortunately, there is a better way to boost your language skills. We’ve compiled five fun ways to learn a language for free — without a grammar book in sight.
1. Embrace your inner child
Thought your fairytale days were behind you? Think again! Kids’ books are the perfect way for beginners to read in their new language. While newspapers might be too tricky, and phrasebooks too simple, children’s stories are just right. If you’re feeling extra lazy, why not get someone to read them to you? We’re sure that won’t be an awkward conversation.
2. Practice your pillow talk
It’s a well-known fact that finding a lover who speaks your chosen language is the best way to get your tongue around all that new vocab. You’ll be able to practice all the time, not to mention picking up words that you definitely won’t learn in the classroom.
3. Turn on the TV
Feeling guilty about watching TV in your pyjamas for the entire weekend (again)? Don’t. Watching shows in your target language can be a great way to work on your listening while hearing tons of different accents. You can even turn on the subtitles (sigh) in the same language to boost your understanding.
4. Sing your heart out
Nothing feels better than killing it at karaoke in your new language. It’s a great way to learn lingo that’ll help you express your feelings. Listen to your favourite tracks several times over until you can pick out the words and understand the meaning. All of a sudden you’ll wail like Whitney Houston, or smoulder like Serge Gainsbourg.
5. Drink your way to fluency
Going out and talking to locals is a great way to get your language skills up to speed. Sound like a truly terrifying prospect? Why not have a glass of wine to take the edge off? Not only will it get rid of any awkwardness, but studies have shown that drinking one or two glasses of alcohol can improve your ability to converse fluently. Cheers to that! Note: Gymglish doesn’t encourage alcohol consumption, but we do acknowledge that it is sometimes required for language acquisition purposes.
Our English and French courses are designed to help you improve in only ten minutes per day. Still not convinced? Check out our Ten Reasons to Learn French.