The best way to become fluent in a language is to surround yourself with it, whether that means living in a country where that language is spoken or just listening to music and watching movies. This will help you pick up vocabulary and learn new phrases without even trying—you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can start speaking like a native speaker!
If you want to learn a new language, start by finding a good course on Udemy or YouTube. There are many free resources available online if you know where to look. Then make sure to practice with native speakers whenever possible!
How To Become Fluent In A Language
1. Talk when you read and write
Writing is a really important part of language learning, so you should never neglect it. You need to complete different exercises that challenge you to answer questions, choose the right word that fits into a sentence, write essays and compose email messages.
You’ve surely noticed that most lessons in grammar books come with a review and practice section. Instead of solving these parts mechanically, you can take your effectiveness to a whole new level: read out loud.
Read anything that you read or write in your target language out loud.
Don’t be afraid to get silly and try to mimic the accent of a true native while doing this. Once you get in an actual conversation, your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary will shine through proper speech. You’ll also get a confidence boost, which is extremely valuable for progress.
2. Watch movies with subtitles
You never bother watching movies without synchronization? You need to step away from that habit. Subtitles may seem boring and distracting on the surface level, but they’re not the most important factor in this exercise. It’s the native speech you want to hear (and learn).
There are a few phases in watching a foreign movie if you want to extract speaking lessons:
- First, you watch it while reading the subtitles. If there’s a word you don’t understand, write it in your personal dictionary and define it.
- Pronounce those words and try to get the accent right. Fit them into sentences of your own, so you’ll understand how they can be used in different situations.
- Now, watch the movie again. Don’t read the subtitles this time. It’s important to understand as much of the speech as you can. Then you can move to the next step that will take your fluency to the next level.
Of course, there are online programs that can help you with these steps. One of them, FluentU, is a website and app that helps you learn from authentic videos like movie trailers, music videos, news reports and more. Since these videos are intended for native speakers, so you can listen to the way people really talk.
The video player on FluentU has interactive subtitles, which means you can simply hover over any unknown words for their definition, which makes the process go by much faster.
Don’t want to take the time to write down every unknown word you run across? You can click on any word that comes up on the platform and it’s automatically added to a personalized list so you can study it with the built-in flashcard app later on. Plus there is a video dictionary that allows you to look up videos for different words and a speaking feature, all in one program.
FluentU is available as a website and app in both the App Store and Google Play.
3. Think
People say you’re not fluent in a foreign language until you catch yourself thinking in it. That makes sense. You can’t achieve high levels of fluency if you’re constantly thinking in your native language and doing mental translations.
Thinking 100% in a target language at the very beginning of your practice is difficult, but this simpler technique will drive you forward: Learn how to say your most commonly said words and phrases in your target language.
Think about all the short and simple sentences you use in your daily communication, and then translate them into the language you’re learning. What do you use at the grocery store? At the post office? On the bus? At work? At home? Learn how to say them, and then always think them to yourself as you go about your daily business.
Be careful, though—literal translations don’t always work. Idioms usually require liberal interpretation, so you’ll need to do a research to see how certain phrases are being used in the language you’re learning. That’s a useful practice that will help you remember conversational phrases.
4. Imitate!
Remember that movie? Watch it again! Sure, you’re all too familiar with the scenes by now, but you won’t get bored because this is a learning method with a purpose. Pause the film frequently and imitate the speech.
Listen to the way the actors pronounce the words and try to do the same.
Once you’re able to move your tongue faster and juggle those foreign sounds more easily, stop pausing and just try to parrot back what the characters are saying at the same time! This requires you to understand every word they say in the moment and spit it out quickly. Once you’re imitating like a legit parrot, your accent will start to get closer and closer to that of the native speaker you’re imitating.
5. Listen to local music and learn the lyrics
The words flow naturally when you sing, and you can usually get the pronunciation right when you sing.
Music is also fun because it connects you to the culture you’re researching. Of course, you have to choose music with lyrics if you want to work on your fluency. Find the lyrics online and try to sing along. Thanks to the vast information on the Internet, lyrics of any song in any language are usually available—along with translations and romanized versions (if necessary).
It doesn’t matter whether you have a talent for music or not. The only important thing is to follow the flow of the words. There’s nothing more fluent than words connected through singing.
6. Read local literature
Every country and culture has its masterful writers. Miguel de Cervantes wrote in Spanish, Italy has Dante, Hugo presented the sophistication of French expressions, and the great Tolstoy and Dostoevsky revealed new dimensions of the Russian language. It’s important to explore the literature written in the language you’re learning. It’s even better when you read it out loud. You may also try to succeed in different online literature tests.
Poetry has an even more awesome effect because it teaches you about rhythm. Of course, poetic expression is a bit more difficult to comprehend, so you’ll need to achieve higher levels of fluency to understand complex poems.
7. Find a language learning buddy
Even when you’re imitating the actors from a foreign movie, you won’t notice that your pronunciation is a little off sometimes. The human mind is a peculiar thing. It can easily distort our impressions and we may think we speak perfectly even when we’re making serious mistakes. That’s why you need a friend who will join you on this journey.
You can talk in the foreign language and correct each other when needed. The corrections may lead to heated discussions about the proper pronunciation of certain words, but the confrontations will be productive when you analyze native speech together.
You can also make plans and set goals together, increasing your level of accountability and keeping you on track to fluency.
8. Talk to a native speaker
When you manage to amaze natives with your vocabulary and pronunciation, that’s when you can call yourself a fluent speaker. Your friends are great support when you learn a foreign language together, but they cannot replace natives.
Some of the things you can do is travel or find a native in your area. You may consider taking a semester abroad in another country. Some countries, like Germany, offer wide range of programs through reputable language and culture institutes. If that doesn’t work, the Internet will come to the rescue.
- Conversation Exchange is a platform that can help you find native speakers living in your area. You’ll connect. You’ll meet for a coffee and help each other become fluent in the languages you’re learning.
- Speaky is a worldwide language learning community where you can meet people from 180+ countries and connect with them to practice your language skills online.
9. Travel
When you want to become really fluent in a certain language, you have to understand the culture that speaks it. It’s important to see and feel that country from the inside. That’s when all idioms and phrases start making sense.
You’ll meet many native speakers who will be happy to help you learn the language better. Traveling is not a simple decision to make, mainly because it costs a lot. However, there’s no goal you can’t achieve with proper planning and budgeting.
10. Analyze different dialects
If you’re fluent in the standardized form of the language you’re learning, it’s time to move to a master level: dialects. Explore the way natives speak in different areas of their countries. Try to learn words specific for those areas and experiment with the way the same words are being pronounced across the country.
Your goal to become fluent in a foreign language will be a lifetime journey. There’s no peak that you can achieve.
You’ll always find new heights to reach. All above-listed methods have one thing in common: They’re really fun.
And they’re bound to help you boost your levels of fluency without serious difficulties!
