Are you looking for the best ways to practice and improve your language proficiency? Continued learning of a language, especially as a grown-up, can be a challenging task. However, it is an incredibly gratifying experience. Whether you’re looking to improve your language proficiency for professional or personal reasons, there are a wide variety of resources and strategies that can help you achieve your goals.

Benefits of Being Bilingual

 The United States continues to become more linguistically and culturally diverse with each passing Census. For this reason, providing services in languages other than English has become a necessity for businesses in different industries. As revealed by a survey conducted for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the demand today in this country for foreign language skills is greater than ever before, and the steady increase is not expected to cease. It is crucial for employers to hire bilingual and multilingual employees to better serve their customers in their preferred language, and your linguistic skills can make you stand out when looking for opportunities in the job market.

Read more: Why It Pays to Be Bilingual

Language Immersion

One of the most effective ways to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. That is, surrounding yourself with the language as much as possible. An effective option includes finding a language partner to engage with in conversation. A person who commands your target language, with whom you can practice speaking and listening, will help you improve your conversation skills, as well as acquire insight into the culture from which the language stems.

Living in a country where the second language is spoken is one of the best ways to be completely immersed in a language and culture (I know this from experience), but this is not always possible. Don’t be discouraged! Other good alternatives are listening to music, watching movies, TV shows or soap operas in the language you want to learn. This can help develop your listening and comprehension skills and give you a sense of the culture as well. Reading in the target language is always a powerful strategy to obtain more vocabulary, familiarize yourself with the grammar, and improve your comprehension skills.

The Power of Consistency

An important aspect of learning a language is consistent practice, because as with everything else, practice makes progress! Research on the behavior and learning patterns of language app users shows that regular practice, even if it is only for a short amount of time, can help you create a habit and generate a noticeable improvement. In addition to immersion and consistency, using technology and its variety of online resources with its unique features can be beneficial. From apps to online software, there are many engaging and effective tools to choose from. Whichever one you choose, be sure to be consistent! Furthermore, using traditional textbooks, taking classes in a classroom, or receiving the feedback of a private tutor are alternatives that should never be ruled out.

If it is important to you to meet or exceed your goals and start feeling confident in another language, remember to work at your own pace, because learning a language is a journey that you are supposed to enjoy.

See Where You Are on Your Language Learning Journey

As you work on improving your language skills, you can measure your level of proficiency and improvement after a period of additional practice, by taking a valid and reliable language assessment. Language Testing International (LTI), the exclusive licensee of ACTFL assessments, is a leader in delivering language proficiency assessments in over 40 countries and offers reliable and valid language proficiency certifications in over 120 languages. With remote proctoring options, you can assess your speaking, reading, writing, and/or listening from the comfort of your home at your convenience.

Sources

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Lead with Languages Campaign commissioned Ipsos Public Affairs, with the support of Pearson LLC and Language Testing International. (2019). “Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers.” https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/report

 

Madeline Martínez is a Multicultural Navigator Specialist at URBANDER, a Woman and Minority Business Enterprise (WMBE) specializing in transforming businesses to advance humanity. URBANDER’s role is to serve as an extension of Marketing, Diversity, Human Resources, Procurement, Community Relations, and Social Responsibility teams, providing innovative approaches in the areas of strategic marketing, content development, workforce development, community outreach and IDEAS (inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and sustainability). Madeline holds a both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Communications from the University of Puerto Rico and is an experienced copywriter and content developer dedicated to amplifying the voices of URBANDER’s clients. From blogs and articles to social media posts and interviews, Madeline is a skilled writer across diverse topics integrating her marketing, business and academic acumen. Though her earlier work as a Publications Officer at the Inter American University in Puerto Rico, and her most recent performance as a Spanish Interpreter, Substitute Teacher, and Instructional Assistant for English-language learning elementary school students, Madeline has impacted countless families as they have navigated migrating to the U.S. from Spanish-speaking countries. As a bilingual professional, Madeline is also proficient in translating written documents from English to Spanish, and vice versa. She has received LTI issued ACTFL Language Proficiency Certificates in Spanish as follows: Advanced Writing, Advanced Listening, Advanced Reading and Superior Speaking. During her downtime, Madeline loves spending time with her family, and enjoys dancing, movies, photography, and coffee. She considers herself a continuous learner. “A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers”- Helen Keller

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