• Post author:
  • Reading time:23 mins read
  • Post last modified:January 29, 2025
  • Post comments:1 Comment
what is the most important skill of language learning

I believe the most effective way to learn a language is to incorporate activities that interest you in your language learning and make it part of your everyday life. Besides, it’s essential to practice all of the language skills to adopt the language a lot easier.

I have already learned 3 foreign languages (English, German, and Spanish); my native language is Slovak, and I keep learning more. Over the past few years, I’ve studied quite a lot about language skills.

In this article, we’ll look at the most important skill of language learning, how to improve your skills and the resources you can use to build your language skills.

What Is The Most Important Skill Of Language Learning? Answered!

Speaking is the most important skill of language learning. But it mainly depends on where you need to use the foreign language (for business, leisure, travel, or fun). Still, in most cases, speaking skills are the winner for any language learner because if you can’t communicate, you won’t get anywhere.

However, you need to remember that if you want to learn a foreign language, you must work on the main 4 language skills: speaking, listening, vocabulary, and reading.

So, in this article, I’ll introduce all 4 skills and give you tips on how to incorporate them into your language-learning process.

how to improve your language skills what is the most important skill of language learning

✈ 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.

7 Types Of Language Skills

We all know there are 4 general types of language skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. However, let me go into more detail.

If we look at the language as a whole, there are more than just these 4 types of language skills. The full package contains 7 language skills. Yes, there are 7 of them, and each one is significant for mastering a language:

  • READING
  • LISTENING
  • VOCABULARY
  • GRAMMAR
  • PRONUNCIATION
  • SPEAKING
  • WRITING

Passive & Active Language Skills

Some language skills are passive, and some are active. When we first start learning a language, it’s best to focus on the passive skills to get familiar with the language.

After, we’ll create some results (outcome) with the active skills.

PASSIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS:

✨ listening
✨ reading
✨ vocabulary
✨ grammar

ACTIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS:

✨ speaking
✨
writing

3 Pillars Of Language Learning: How To Combine Language Skills To Learn A Language

Let’s dive into this even more. As I mentioned above, some of these language skills are passive, and some are active. Therefore, we can divide all these 7 skills into 3 pillars based on their passivity/activity.

When learning a new language, it’s best to divide the language skills into different stages of your learning process. I don’t recommend learning all of them at once. Instead, divide then into 3 pillars and focus on one at a time.

First, I suggest focusing on the first pillar, then adding the second and the third.

1st Language Pillar

The first pillar is composed of listening and reading. These two passive language skills will help you put something into your learning process. They’ll help you to start your learning journey. Thanks to these two language skills, you’ll be able to understand the language.

2nd Language Pillar

The second pillar includes vocabulary and grammar. These two language skills are your rocks, the foundation for your language. Without vocabulary and grammar, it’s difficult to understand and to produce your own language.

3rd Language Pillar

The third pillar contains three output language skills. These are speakingwriting, and pronunciation. They are the outcomes you get once you listen, read, and have a good vocabulary & grammar package in your head.

These three language skills are the pride and satisfaction you achieve if you work on all your language skills.

7 types of language skills what is the most important skill of language learning

How To Build & Improve Your Language Skills

Building your language skills is the same as constructing a house. First, you need to have some input material to make the basement. Then you’ll work on the construction. Eventually, you’ll build a beautiful house where your family can live.

It’s the same with language learning. First, you have to get some input (with listening and reading) to get familiar with the language and to be able to build some foundation and understanding of the language. Then, you have to work on your vocabulary and grammar to build your language, understand it better, and create a proper foundation to produce it.

Out of all these activities, you’ll get a great output in speaking, writing, and pronouncing the language correctly. This will lead you to master the most important language learning skill, speaking in the first place.

It’s essential to combine all language skills into your language-learning process.

At first, get as much input as possible with listening and reading.

While reading, you’ll also learn new vocabulary and start understanding basic grammar.

Eventually, you’ll practice writing when creating new sentences and dialogues. And then you’ll practice speaking with pronunciation.

Listening

Listening is a language skill you can start practicing right from the beginning of your language-learning journey. It’ll help you to get familiar with the language.

I’ve selected the best language learning podcasts in various languages for you. Some focus solely on travel; some talk about everyday life.

Listening also encompasses audiovisuals. It’s even better because the visual side will boost your understanding. It’s because you are listening to the content and, at the same time, watching engaging videos or movies.

To boost your listening skills, get some of the best audiobooks from my lists:

listening to language podcasts while walking
Me listening to language podcasts while walking in Switzerland

Reading

Reading is a powerful language skill because you see how words are written, how the sentences are constructed, and in which context the vocabulary is used.

When you read, I highly recommend highlighting new vocabulary and writing it down in your language travel notebook. It’ll help you to remember new vocabulary more easily.

I’ve selected some of the best foreign language books for you that are easy to read for beginners. Read some thrilling stories that show you the everyday life of people living in the country where your language is spoken.

Or grab some foreign language magazines – they are the perfect way to learn a language and, at the same time, learn something new.

reading what is the most important skill of language learning

Writing

Writing can be difficult if you’re just starting the language. But don’t worry, we’ll start with small steps. I recommend creating your own flashcards learn vocabulary (writing words) and then creating your first sentences and dialogues.

You don’t have to write an essay at the very beginning.

Create flashcards and learn to write single words first. After some time, start writing down your own sentences.

Imagine a situation where you want to speak the language (e.g., while traveling – it can be ordering food in a restaurant). Think of all the sentences you would say when ordering food and what the waiter would say. Write the entire dialogue into your notebook.

It’s one of the best ways to practice writing, especially as a beginner.

learning topic-specific vocabulary for travel
Me learning topic-specific vocabulary for travel

Speaking

Practicing all of the above language skills will lead us to master the most important skill of language learning: speaking.

You’ve got some input; now it’s time to get some outcome and produce results.

First, I encourage you to talk to yourself. It’s a great way to break the ice and start practicing, especially if you’re afraid that someone might judge you for your pronunciation or get stuck in a conversation.

However, practicing speaking with someone, a friend, or a tutor is best. If you don’t have a friend or a relative speaking the language you’re learning, I recommend finding a tutor on iTalki.

I’ve been using the platform to learn and improve my Spanish, and it’s been a game-changer. My tutor helped me with my pronunciation, and I became more confident in speaking Spanish daily. She’s been very encouraging and always gave me great resources to learn.

travel to the country and speak how to learn a language for travel
Me travelling to Spain & practicing Spanish with locals

FAQs

I’ve also answered some of the frequently asked questions when it comes to language skills. Check my answers below:

Which Skill Is More Important In Language Learning, Speaking Or Writing?

Speaking is more important in language learning than writing in most cases. Most people learn a language to communicate in a foreign country, while doing business, to make new friends. We speak more often than we write, so speaking is the most important language skill.

What Are The 4 Skills Of Language Learning?

Reading, listening, writing, and speaking are the 4 main language skills that everyone needs to focus on when learning a new language.

Which Language Skills Should I Learn First?

Listening and reading are the essential language skills that you need to learn at first. They will give you a basic understanding of the language; you’ll get more familiar with it. They’ll give you the foundation you need to be able to produce the language on your own later when you speak and write.

What Is The Most Important In Language Learning?

Communication is the most important in language learning. That’s the ultimate goal for all of us who learn a foreign language. We want to communicate and understand others, whether it’s for traveling purposes, making new friends, or doing business in other countries.

What Is The Number 1 Easiest Language To Learn?

Spanish is the easiest language to learn. It widely varies, because depending on your native language, some languages will be easier for you to learn than others.

If you speak Chinese, learning Japanese will be easier for you, but learning Spanish might be challenging. However, for a French-speaking person, it would be the opposite; Spanish is very similar to French, so it will be easy for him, but learning Japanese will be very challenging.

So it depends on your native language. Generally, the majority of people find Spanish easy to learn.

WRAP-UP: What Is The Most Important Skill Of Language Learning?

These are the 4 main language skills and how I approach practicing each of them when learning a new language. Make it fun, and incorporate resources that you like and enjoy. This way, it’ll become a lot easier to learn the language.

If you have any questions or need help learning languages, contact me at info(at)voicesoftravel.com.

Happy Learning!

voices of travel about me profile photo

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.

LANGUAGES: Interested in more articles about foreign language?
Check out my Language Blog:

This Post Has One Comment

Leave a Reply