You’ve probably heard all the standard language learning advice. You’ve probably been through at least one round of live or online language units. You’ve made the flashcards. You’ve even awkwardly fumbled through a restaurant order in another language. But have you ever directly benefited from the hard-won kernels of wisdom distilled over long periods of time by a plurality of top-rated language teachers who are genuinely passionate about what they do?
Top Tips From Teachers
1. “Ish” gives you wiggle room in English
One of the tips I have for my English language learners: the word “ish” can give you a lot of wiggle room. We like using “-ish” with time phrases to say “around the time we want to do something.” For example: “Oh, I’m gonna be at the cinema at 10-ish.” This doesn’t mean I’m gonna be there exactly at 10! It means I’m gonna be there at maybe 10:05, 10:15 — because it’s “ish.”
Another tip I have is that when you’re not sure or you want to sound more polite, just make your statement into a question. For example, if I am at a restaurant and I want to order a hamburger, I wouldn’t say “I want a hamburger.” I would say, “Can I have a hamburger?” Of course, no one is going to stop me from getting a hamburger. I’m not asking for permission. It’s just more polite if I ask.
— Ena, English teacher
2. Learn a handful of colloquial (and regional) ways to say you like something — you’ll sound more natural
If you’re looking for an informal, colloquial way to address your friends in Spanish, look for words like che (which is used in Argentina), cuate (which they say in Mexico), and parce or pana (which is used in Venezuela and Colombia).
Another tip of mine is to find different ways to express that you like something without making it sound too formal. Using words like “wonderful” or “fantastic” can sound a bit stiff. So, try to choose other words like chévere, chido, guay or copado. These are used in different Spanish-speaking countries and are an informal way to express your emotions and to talk about things you think are “cool.”
— Natalia, Spanish teacher
3. Use filler words to sound like a real German (or Italian, or…)
Many people see German as a very complicated language with very long words, but what many people don’t know is that these words are usually compound words and it’s actually quite easy to guess their meaning. For example, Handschuh literally translates to “hand shoe.” So when you know what a hand is and what a shoe is, it is easy to figure out that this is the German word for “glove.”
Here is another tip I can give you: To sound like a native speaker, use filler words, which are words that don’t really mean anything, but emphasize certain parts of what you’re saying. Examples in German are doch, ja and mal.
For example: When you help a friend and she is very thankful for your help, then you can say, Das habe ich doch gern getan, which means it was absolutely no problem for you. You can say das habe ich gern getan and the message is essentially the same, but the word doch adds emphasis that it was done out of pleasure.
— Melina, German teacher
4. No one really says magnifique or fantastique in French
To sound more natural in French, you can use adjectives like super, génial, top or cool instead of magnifique or fantastique, which sound a bit too bookish.
Here’s something for your pronunciation: au and eau are pronounced like “oh.” The lips are very rounded, the back of the tongue is in the back of the mouth, and the mouth is quite closed.
Meanwhile, eu and oeu are pronounced like “er” in “her.” The lips are slightly rounded, the mouth is open, and the tongue is forward.
— Felicia, French teacher
5. Hot tip: Italian is spoken like it’s written
In Italian, every single letter has its own pronunciation. There are some basic rules to learn because pronunciation changes according to the following letter, but it is mostly spoken as it’s written.
Some examples: The letter c (“chi” in Italian) is pronounced “ch” like in “chess” if the following letter is e or i. For example, our way of saying “cheers!” is Cin-cin! Otherwise, c is pronounced like the c in “cake” — for instance, our word for coffee, caffé. A perfect example to illustrate both of these use cases would be the word for our most famous bread, focaccia.
— Mara, Italian teacher