How to master three languages on the road.
There are many ways to learn languages, and I’ve tried most of them. I have worked with apps like Babbel and Duolingo, practiced, using special methods, and also tried learning with tandem language partners. Besides all of that, I have attended many language courses too.
The most effective way to learn languages:
By far the most effective and motivating way to learn a language is to have a personal coach with whom you can work simply and well. I have been using the italki platform and app to find my language teachers for several years now. Let me to introduce this wonderful program here: italki.
Italki for learning languages:
Italki is a platform on which both amateur and professional language teachers can create a profile and offer their language teaching services at different prices. You can see the numerous profiles in the form of short introduction videos, and then book a test lesson directly via the platform. Many of the teachers are very good at teaching via video calls, such as Skype, and know exactly how to motivate students to practice regularly and therefore improve their language skills.
I am currently learning Mandarin, Russian and Spanish with italki, and spend one hour a week on each of these languages. Of course there are times when I focus more on one language, and my preference for a specific language changes from time to time (for example when I’m living or travelling in the country where that language is spoken, or travelling with people who speak that specific language), but because my teachers are so committed, I never cancel or postpone lessons, or at least very rarely. It is also incredibly enriching for your personal everyday life to be in contact, every other day, with someone who is in a completely different country, and through the intensive cultural exchange, you will find your own horizon expanding all by itself. Some of my teachers are already good friends and business partners, and I have met or traveled with others. The great thing is that, as you start to speak a language better and better, you are able to find new friends who speak the language too, and then your proficiency really begins to improve in leaps and bounds.
Your ultimate goal should be to have friends who speak the different languages, and also to communicate with native speakers.
Learning languages is one of the nicest and most useful skills you can acquire in life.
And, by the way, because I am asked about this so often: anybody can learn languages! If you can read this article, you’ve already learned one language 😉
If you’re interested in learning languages through italki, simply click on this referral link. referral link If you do so, you will get a small amount of money to get started on the platform, and I will also get a small commission, which will save me money on my language courses, which in turn will help me to expand this blog with articles like this one.
