Learning a language is a challenge that can be frustrating and feel overwhelming when you first make the leap.However, learning a language is the best way to be able to learn about different cultures and to gain insight into other points of view. Our brains are wired to pick up languages when we’re very young, which is why children who grow up in households easily learn the languages of their parents and usually can speak those languages throughout their lives.If you’re older it’s difficult to learn something new, even if you study for hours and weeks, learning a language will take time. You may start to get frustrated and feel like there’s no way you’re ever going to get through it and you might even consider deserting your attempts.Studies show that people who speak multiple languages are less likely to develop dementia and are better at multitasking. This is probably because people who speak more than one language are constantly working out their brains.

Learning a new language is a lot like trying to get in shape. It’s frustrating at first and you might not see the immediate results you want, but you have to be persistent and confident that you’re doing this the right way.To help you get started, here are 5 easy ways to simplify your language learning.

1. Learn A Few Words Each Day

It doesn’t feel like much but trying to master an entire conversational outline quickly will leave you feeling stressed and you’ll feel like you’re getting nowhere. But taking your new language a few words at a time is a great way to break it up into small chunks and make it manageable.Over time you’ll discover that even though you’ve only been learning a few words a day, a lot of these words are similar to each other and you’ll be able to remember a lot just from association. You’ll also do a lot better job with the inflections of the language and keeping yourself from having a stifling accent if you’re only using a few words each day.You can check out our free learn a language challenge, where we send you 10 new words each day.

2. Speak, speak, speak

You have to speak your new language all the time if you want to master it. Going a day without at least pushing it around in your brain is going to make you lose a lot of the progress you’ve made. You have to feel the language and words on your tongue all the time until they’re familiar, at first you’ll stumble and these strange sounds will feel awkward, but it’s like riding a bike and over time it will begin to feel natural.Talking with native speakers is best way to get used to the inflections and intricacies of the language. You can take short, 30-minute lessons with Rype or go through language meetups to immerse yourself. The coaches take you through short, impactful lessons that will keep you from feeling exhausted and overworked.

3. Listen more

Listen to the language that you’re trying to learn every day, anything from sitcoms to podcasts to commercials for cereal is great for you. The goal is to get to the point that the new language no longer sounds strange but instead sounds like something that you understand and are comfortable with. Try to remember the basic words and how the speakers are pronouncing them. At first you can listen to it in the background and maybe you’ll pick up one or two words every minute, a pronoun or preposition but over time you will be able to understand more and more.You might even consider falling asleep with the radio on the Spanish or French channel, anything to get yourself used to the way it sounds in your ears and should feel when you’re speaking it.

4. Hit the books

Using a dictionary to learn your new language is essential. Most experts suggest moving from a bilingual dictionary to a monolingual dictionary in your new language. That will help you learn each word in the way that it is meant to be used.You also want to have a thesaurus handy so that you’re able to use other words that might mean similar things and so that you can always pick the best term. You should definitely get a monolingual thesaurus so that you’re always looking at terms in your new language rather than seeing them in the language that you’re already speaking. Using a monolingual dictionary will completely immerse you in the language in the same way that moving to a new country would immerse you in the culture.It’s a great step to take if you’re ready for the challenge.

5. Embrace making mistakes

You’re going to make mistakes when you’re learning a language, you can be absolutely sure of that and you can also be sure that over time it’s going to seem like you’re making the same mistakes and that’s going the frustrate you. However, it’s important to stay confident and not let the problem areas get you down.If you type the wrong word three times in a row, you finally might get it on the fourth time. Also, if you’re writing and you realize that you misspelled a word or used the wrong term, delete the entire sentence. Re-typing the entire sentence will get it into your brain the right way while just fixing the word won’t make much progress at all and you’ll find yourself repeating your mistake.The most important thing that you can do for yourself is to take it slow and not get frustrated, it takes several months to be comfortable speaking a new language and it could take years before you’ve mastered the minutiae of it. Always remember each day you’re going to make a little bit of progress and you’ll soon be able to look back and wonder how it was so hard to learn in the first place.