Learning languages (not just for travel) has been one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. By now, I have learned 3 foreign languages fluently, and I’m counting.
Not only have they enriched my travel experiences and helped me get closer to locals, but they also saved me in my real life (when moving and having to live in other countries).
In this article, I’ll tell you how I’ve been learning languages for travel and why it’s so beneficial. I’ll give you actionable steps so you can start your language-learning journey as well!
Happy learning!
11 Tips For Learning A Language For Travel
Learning a language for travel is an exciting but also demanding activity. You need to be disciplined and stick to your goals.
Here are my 11 tips to learn a language for travel to make the process easier for you:
- Find motivation inside you
- Choose a topic (situation) to learn new vocabulary
- Set up achievable language learning goals
- Write down topic-specific vocabulary
- Learn new vocabulary using effective strategies
- Listen to podcasts
- Study grammar
- Create your sentences & talk to yourself
- Practice speaking with native speakers
- Travel to the country where the language is spoken
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes & overcome your fear of speaking
✈ Language Resources For Your Learning ✈
Here are some of my favorite language-learning resources I use to learn foreign languages:
Practice speaking on iTALKI Listen to a podcast on COFFEE BREAK LANGUAGES Read 101 CONVERSATIONS IN SIMPLE ‘LANGUAGE‘ Get my LANGUAGE TRAVEL NOTEBOOK to keep track of new words Watch TV Series & Movies on LINGOPIE. |
1. Find Motivation Inside You
Once you are planning your journey in a country, traveling is a motivation in itself. Travel will push you and help you find the motivation to learn the language. Because let’s be honest. Traveling gets much easier, enjoyable, and exciting if you speak at least a few words of the language.
You have to define the reasons why you want to learn the language. Once you have them, write them down into your language travel notebook.
It’ll help you keep up with your language learning in challenging times when you feel down or unmotivated. Knowing your motivation and having your ‘WHY’ is essential to keep you going.
2. Choose A Topic (Situation) To Learn New Language
At the beginning of our language learning journey, let’s think about specific topics and situations when we want to use the language once we travel. It can be anything – ordering food in a restaurant, vocabulary for accommodation, traveling at the airport, etc.
Write these topics down in your language travel notebook.
Then, think about all the words (in your native language) within that specific topic and write them down under each topic.
You can choose one category first, write down the words within it, and then translate them into the foreign language you’re learning. Then it’s time to learn all this vocabulary.
👉 READ ALSO: How To Learn A Language By Yourself (more details about this learning approach)
3. Set Up Achievable Language Learning Goals
Setting up language learning goals is another crucial part of language learning. It’ll help you to stick to the learning process and keep you on track. Your goals have to be specific and small when it comes to goal setting.
🔆 Set Up Specific Goals
Remember that your goals need to be specific. Don’t just say I’ll learn how to communicate in a hotel and in a restaurant. Be more specific.
Say – ”Once traveling, I’ll greet the receptionist at the hotel in a foreign language, listen to him, and ask relevant questions about the hotel, such as when the breakfast is, how to get there and there, etc.”
Say – ”I’ll order food in that language in a restaurant and have a small conversation with a waiter. Also, I’ll be able to ask for the bill and pay in the end, all speaking in that language.”
I think you get the point. Set up specific goals you want to achieve before traveling to the country. But think smaller so that you can stick to that plan. Making big plans can mean not learning much eventually.
🔆 Set Up Smaller Goals
Let’s say you are leaving to explore the country in a month… Don’t be too strict with yourself. Nobody is a hero, and let’s be honest, learning a language takes some time. So set smaller goals like, for example:
‘In a month, you’ll learn how to communicate at your accommodation and in a restaurant.’
That’s already a lot and is manageable. If you are too strict with yourself and want to learn a lot before traveling to the country… well, unless you have plenty of time, it’ll be more difficult for you to follow the plan.
Ultimately, you might be disappointed that you didn’t make it. So, instead, pick up one or two topics and learn words within that area.
Once you master speaking within the topic, you’ll also gain more motivation.
👉 Get My Language Learning Calendar
I’ve created a language learning calendar for you to keep track of your learning and motivation. This calendar is designed for one week. Each day, you can write down the topic & vocabulary you want to learn, how much time you’ll spend, and the method you’ll use.
Either plan and write down what you’ll learn before each week starts, or you can write down what you have learned each day to keep track of your learning process. I like to write down things I learned on that day. Choose what works best for you.
4. Write Down Topic-Specific Vocabulary
Once you have set up your goals, let’s start achieving them. First of all, I recommend you start learning vocabulary step by step. First, think about words you need to speak within the particular topic/situation (checking in to a hotel, ordering food & drinks at a restaurant, etc.) in your native language.
Then, write these words down into your language travel notebook, and when you have them, translate them into the foreign language you want to learn.
PRO TIP: Pick as many words within a topic as can think of. Then, simply try memorizing them and imagine you’re talking to people at the hotel or in that restaurant (even if you can’t speak proper sentences yet).
👉 READ ALSO: What To Learn In A New Language: Complete Guide For Beginners
5. Learn Vocabulary Using Effective Strategies
Perfect. You’ve selected situations when you want to communicate in that language and on a specific topic. Now, it’s time to learn that vocabulary on your own. This is a step that scares many people. They think it isn’t so effective, just memorizing words.
I have to tell you that when you are at the beginning of your language-learning process, it’s great to start memorizing vocabulary. You need some base to create sentences, have a few conversations, and start understanding the language. But how would you do that if you had no vocabulary in your pocket? So that’s why I, first of all, encourage you to learn the vocabulary.
Get creative; don’t just memorize them from a list. Use some of these effective strategies to learn new vocabulary, such as flashcards with images, mental visualizations, week sheets, vocabulary walls, scrabble, and games.
6. Listen To Podcasts
While learning new vocabulary, I also recommend listening to some podcasts. You don’t have to understand it at this stage. But while listening, you’ll still get a feeling of the language and pronunciation of the words, and you’re becoming more familiar with it.
I suggest choosing a podcast episode related to the topic/situation in which you’re currently learning the vocabulary. Listen to it on the way to work, while walking your dog, or cleaning dishes.
It’s a game-changer when you spot a word you have already learned and will understand in the podcast episode. It’ll motivate you even more.
Some of my favorite language-learning podcasts are:
✅ Coffee Break Languages
✅ LanguagePod101
✅ The Fluent Show
✅ News In Slow
7. Study Grammar
Well, here we go… I knew you saw this coming. But my friend, we need to make peace with grammar because it’s equally important as vocabulary and speaking.
Just imagine someone who texts you, and his/her message contains at least 10 grammatical mistakes. Or someone talks to you, and it breaks your ears because the person just makes so many mistakes, and you can’t even focus on what he/she is saying.
Grammar is one of the 4 major language structures we must also focus on.
So, buy a grammar book for beginners and start learning the basics apart from learning new vocabulary for your topic. It’ll teach you main sentence structures, tenses, and essential rules.
8. Create Your Sentences & Talk To Yourself
Excellent! You have started learning new vocabulary, listening to a podcast, and learning some basic grammar; now it’s time to get even more creative.
This step is best to approach after about 3 months when you have already learned a considerable amount of new vocabulary within various topics.
Take a notebook and try to create some sentences. Pick one topic/situation again and using the vocabulary you have learned, try to create full sentences or even a dialogue.
Imagine ‘ordering food & drinks at a restaurant’. Think about the exact words and sentences you would use and the waiter would use – write down the dialogue in your native language and then translate it into the foreign language you learn.
Try to incorporate the basic grammar you have learned. Then, when you communicate to work, do dishes, or walk your dog, talk to yourself, repeating these sentences and the dialogue in your mind. It’s so much fun, and it works!
👉 READ ALSO: Easy 100 Words & Phrases To Learn In A Foreign Language: Study Guide
9. Practice Speaking With Native Speakers
Congratulations, you have come this far! Now, this step might seem to be the scariest. You might think, how do you want me to talk to native speakers if I can barely construct sentences?!
Don’t worry, I get it! But believe me, it’s about getting rid of the fear. Go online and find a friend or a tutor who speaks the foreign language you’re learning, and speak to him/her.
The best approach is to find a tutor and tell him you’ve been learning all this vocabulary and would like to practice the dialogues and sentences within each topic.
The tutor will help you with pronunciation and grammar, and speaking with him gives you extra confidence. You can even create new dialogues and sentences within new topics with him instead of doing it by yourself.
This step will boost your language learning like no other, and I recommend starting with it after about 3 months of learning new vocabulary.
PRO TIP: My favorite platform to find tutors online is called iTalki. I’ve been learning Spanish with my tutor from iTalki and it has significantly improved my skills.
➡ Check out iTalki and find your tutor here.
10. Travel To The Country Where The Language Is Spoken
Now, the fun part comes. It’s time to travel to the country where your foreign language is spoken.
By the way, even when you start learning the language (let’s say Italian), imagine how amazing it’ll feel once you come to Italy, the beautiful Amalfi Coast, sit down on a terrace overlooking the sea, and you’ll order your first Aperol Spritz in Italian. Isn’t that awesome?
Now you’ve done all the work, and you’re about to do it. And it’ll be so rewarding.
So go ahead, book those flight tickets to your destination, and practice the language in the situations within which you have learned the vocabulary and practiced speaking with your tutor online.
Have fun!
11. Don’t Be Afraid To Make Mistakes & Overcome Your Fear Of Speaking
This is my biggest advice to you. So many people are afraid of speaking in a foreign language because they are afraid of making mistakes. Man, everybody makes mistakes. Nobody cares. Forget about it. Making mistakes is actually great because we learn from them.
Believe me, it’s the other way. Once you travel in the country and speak a few words to locals, they aren’t paying attention to your mistakes. Instead, they are amazed that you speak their language. They appreciate it.
For example, before going to a bakery in Barcelona, I stood in front of it for 3 minutes practicing the sentence I would tell the shop assistant…. I was nervous that they wouldn’t understand me. Or I would forget some words and stand there, and others would be angry at me because I would delay them.
No, no, no. Nothing like that will happen to you. And even if, whatever. You have tried. So overcome that fear of speaking a foreign language and start chatting.
6 Things You Will Need To Learn A Language For Travel
Here is a quick list of the things you’ll need to adopt this language-learning process. These are just a few of the very important essentials.
1. Motivation
2. Foreign language you want to learn
3. Language Travel Notebook
4. Small budget for getting a grammar book/podcast, and a tutor
5. Find a tutor to practice speaking online on iTalki
6. Positive mindset
Language Travel Notebook
I’ve created a language travel notebook for you to help you with this language-learning process. It’ll guide you through all the steps of learning a language for travel.
It’s your own book, where you’ll have all the vocabulary within the specific topic you want to learn.
Take it with you once you travel to add new words as you go. When I learn a new word, I write it down to remember it.
Why Should You Learn A Language For Travel?
There are hundreds of benefits to learning a language for travel, so in this section, I’ll reveal to you the main reasons why you should do so.
Here are 6 major reasons why I encourage you to learn languages for travel:
1. Feel more comfortable in a new country
2. Be more independent as a traveler
3. Connect with locals
4. Have better travel experiences
5. Be a traveler not a tourist
6. Enrich other people’s lives
You know, it’s not just you visiting this new beautiful place and getting to know it and its people. It’s also often the locals who are curious about you, why you came to visit their place, and what stories you have to tell.
That’s when knowing a bit of their language comes in very handy. You might not be able to communicate fluently in that language, but that’s okay.
Sometimes, it just takes a few words that you can exchange; if a local person doesn’t understand you in English, you can say it in the local language, and the bond becomes even tighter.
Learn about more benefits of learning languages if you need some more motivation by clicking on the image below:
FAQs
I’ve also answered some of the questions I get frequently asked about learning languages for travel.
How Long Does It Take To Learn A Language For Travel?
It can take between 3 months and 2 years. That’s a general timeframe for learning a language, but it will depend on several factors, such as the time you can spend on learning, the effort you put into it, motivation, and how easy/difficult the language is.
My friend used to tell me, ‘You can learn Italian easily within 3 months’. But you wouldn’t say it about Chinese or Japanese, for instance, which might take a longer time to master not only the accent and the structure of the language but also the writing.
Generally speaking, it will take you about 1.5 to 2 years to master a language and be confident in speaking it (assuming you’re a busy person, you can dedicate about 30 minutes a day to practice your language).
How To Learn A Language For Travel Fast?
The fastest way to learn a language is to be in a country where it’s spoken or have a friend/tutor online to speak to. Start by learning vocabulary while listening to podcasts and YouTube videos. You don’t need to understand at first, but you’ll get a sense of the language.
After you learn basic vocabulary, start talking to yourself and trying to put together sentences.
Then, I will find a tutor online and have a conversation on a regular basis. Keep writing down new words to remember them. It’s about knowing the basics and not being afraid to speak as soon as possible with someone who can correct your accent and grammar.
What Is The Best Language To Learn For Traveling?
German is the best language to learn for traveling because even if you don’t visit a German-speaking country, you’ll always meet German people anywhere you go.
So you can easily communicate and meet friends. The second best language to learn is Spanish, as it’s also widely spoken around the world.
Should You Learn A Language Before Traveling?
Yes, I encourage you to learn a language before you travel. It will enrich your travel experience, make you a more independent traveler, and it will be much easier for you to travel.
Is Duolingo Good For Travelers?
No, I don’t think so much. I feel like language apps like Duolingo make you study words and sentences, but you’re not thinking much about the entire language structure.
It’s better to choose your own material, listen to podcasts, watch videos, and choose which words you’ll learn. Language learning is more conscious this way, and you’ll be more familiar with it.
Can I Be Fluent In A Language With Duolingo?
Yes, you can become fluent in a language with Duolingo, but it will take you a lot more time than if you choose your language learning resources by yourself and implement more things like listening, handwriting, and speaking.
WRAP-UP: How To Learn A Language For Travel
Lastly, I have a few words of encouragement for you. My last piece of advice to you is to think positively. Yes, this is an essential part of it.
Tell yourself that you’ll make it and order something in a foreign language like a pro. You won’t make mistakes. If you go into the conversation with this mindset, believe me, it’ll work out.
Follow my steps to learn your dream language for travel, and don’t give up. If you lose your motivation in the process, always come back to your ‘WHY’ (the first step), and then just imagine how you master ordering Aperol Spritz during your Italian vacation! You’re doing great, and you can make it happen!
If you need any help with language learning or have some questions, contact me at info(at)voicesoftravel.com.
Happy Learning!
More Language Learning Tips
Looking for more language learning tips? Check out my related articles:
7 Benefits Of Learning A Foreign Language For Travel
How To Learn A Language By Yourself: My Proven Language Learning Tips
How To Set Achievable Language Learning Goals: 9-Step Guide
How To Learn Vocabulary Fast: 17 Practical Tips
How To Overcome Fear Of Speaking A Foreign Language: 9 Proven Tips
Easy 100 Words & Phrases To Learn In A Foreign Language: Study Guide
What Is The Most Important Skill Of Language Learning? Revealed!
What Is The Best Language To Learn To Travel Europe? Revealed!
About the author: Nicoletta is a travel enthusiast and passionate language learner. While traveling, she loves to connect with locals using her language skills to learn about new cultures. Look for her skiing, hiking in the mountains, or exploring new destinations as she designs travel itineraries for her clients.
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