Learning a new language, whether for school, business, or hobby, is fun and exciting. The language learning process is one enjoyed by many, however, challenging it might be or get. Learning a new language requires a high degree of commitment and motivation. A lot of people fail in learning a new language because they lack the necessary degree of enthusiasm.
However, when you do it as a family, you get to enjoy sharing a hobby together. It is a great family activity to engage in.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be hard work and boring. Here are some ways to enjoy learning a new language as a family hobby.
1. Support children learning foreign languages at school
If you are a family trying to learn a new language as a hobby and you have school-going children learning foreign languages at school, then support them. Try to help with their school work and act like the whole family faces the same issue and challenge. This way, you all get to learn faster, since children below the age of twelve learn languages faster than adults. The children also get to gain a lot of confidence as a result of the solidarity.
This way, you help the kid(s) with their homework and get to learn a new language in a fun and enjoyable way.
2. Set culture days
Learning a new language, in essence, involves learning about a different culture too. Language and culture go hand in hand.
Make learning a new language fun by coming up with set days for a different culture of the language or languages you are learning as a family.
If you are learning Italian, why not have Italian Sundays where you cook Italian pasta, listen and dance to Italian music, and try to converse in Spanish. Spice things up and even do some role play in Spanish.
This learning method makes the learning process more enjoyable and builds a fantastic hobby that can even become a family tradition.
3. Family vacations
If you are a family that loves holidays, then learning a new language could quickly become your best family hobby. To fully enjoy your vacation abroad, it would help if you at least learn some basic phrases in the language of your vacation destination. Combining travel with your language hobby is perfect. If the family is planning a summer vacation to the sandy beaches of Zanzibar, then you could try learning Swahili a month in advance before your holiday.
Travelling with basic knowledge of the language of your travel destination gives you an upper hand. While planning your trip abroad, you might need your travel documents translated, and the patent translation services can come in handy for that.
4. Keep it interesting
Family traditions and hobbies die or fail because we let them become dull or stale. Do not let learning a new language as a family hobby feels like hard work; if you do, the whole family will lose motivation.
Keep the learning process as enjoyable as you can and maintain enthusiasm. Make the new language a part of the family. As a family, you could refer to each other in that new language and everyday household items and foods in the foreign language you are learning.
You could stream that new Korean drama in Korean on Netflix, turn off the subtitles, and later watch a dubbed version and see who understood the film better.
Organize game nights and compete on whose grasp of the new language is better.
Conclusion
Making language learning a family hobby is easy with these tips. Remember, all languages are fun to learn if you understand just how to make it fun. In learning a new language this way, you take away all the typical pressures of the traditional classroom setup. Figure out the best strategy that works for you as a family and enjoy your journey to new language acquisition.
Author’s Bio
Melony Hart is a Spanish tutor, translator and content writer. She has earned a lot of experience as a translator over the past years. If not creating content, she likes taking long walks in the street and making new friends.
