Many people adhere to the opinion that acquiring a new language is as difficult as going up to Oxford for free or understanding Quantum Physics, but, according to polyglots, it's not true at all.
I'm not an expert, but I still have some tips for beginners, so get out of the depression caused by stereotypes about learning languages and get ready to write down the notes!
1. The key to success is enjoyment
This fact is pretty popular. Everyone knows that for studying something quickly and effectively you better enjoy it. Same goes for learning languages. It's much easier to learn them when you've got motivation.
Every person likes something, everyone has hobbies. If you want to learn a language without struggling then find parallels between your interests and a language that you'd like to learn.
You like reading? Great! Try to read something in the original language.
You enjoy playing computer games? That's awesome! Change the language in the settings.
And so on :)
2. It's much more effective to study for 30 minutes a day than 7 hours once a week.
I didn't want to burden you with tedious diagrams but this one is quite helpful. It's called «The forgetting curve».
This diagram clearly demonstrates that rare learning doesn't give any result.
The very next day we usually forget about 50% of all the information we got and that's why repeating new material, discipline and class schedule are so important.
(P.S. That's also the reason why almost all educating programmes connected to foreign languages are conducted through the day — it's the most effective tactics)
3. Get used to the way the new language sounds.
A person gets accustomed to the sound of the language for a long time. Here it will be easier to explain with an example.
Imagine, you're Russian and you decide to move to Poland. Russian and Polish languages are very similar and theoretically you will be able to understand it without preparation but everything is more complicated in real life. It won't be easy to make out at least something because of the different pronounciation of vowels and consonants. But everything'll change in a few months when you'll get accustomed to it.
The last but not least is patience.
It's what I'd like to say at last. Remember that learning languages isn't something that you should hurry with. It's better to learn slowlier but more effective. So, you know, feather by feather a goose is plucked.
It's not necessary to have an ear for languages. It's enough to be willing to learn and it will work.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!