What Are the Different Skills Needed to Be Fluent in a New Languange

 

​“How do I become fluent in Spanish?” It’s a good question, but if you’ve never learned a new language you may not understand the different skills that you’ll need to practice.

Memorizing hundreds of vocabulary words is a start, but if you can’t recognize those words in a spoken conversation or in a book or article, they don’t help much. 

When it comes to learning a new language, there are four main skills to keep in mind:

• Listening skills
• Oral (speaking) skills
• Writing skills
• Reading skills

These skills are the difference between knowing a word for a vocabulary test, and flirting with a stranger on the streets of Madrid.

By practicing all of these skills, you train your brain to understand the new language in a usable way. Instead of simply knowing the translation to vocabulary words.

This is one of the reasons that I suggest learning phrases for new languages, instead of words. It really doesn't matter what a word means, usually, but instead what's meant by the phrase.

For instance, in Spanish, knowing that Cómo means "how" doesn't help to decode ¿Cómo está? unless you also understand how verb conjugation works in Spanish, as well as what the verb estar means. however, you can quickly learn the phrase and utilize it. 

Think about it. As a native English speaker, I didn't learn the grammar rules first. I learned intuitively how to use the language since I was surrounded by it.

Ok, but how do I practice each skill?

•  Practice Listening Skills in Spanish by practicing  conversations with native speakers
• Practice Oral skills via an online lesson. (iTalki is a very affordable option)
• Practice writing skills by reading and writing about topics you find interesting in Spanish. Try keeping a journal.
• Practice Reading Skills by tackling books and articles written in Spanish.

There you have it, learn those four skills and soon your brain will learn a new language in a natural way, just like it learned your native language earlier.

I hope you find this post helpful and if so give me a share!

If you have any comments or thoughts please leave them in the comment section below. I'd like to hear from you guys :)