{"id":3325,"date":"2017-07-06T14:54:33","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T21:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog-new\/?p=3325"},"modified":"2025-05-07T11:44:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T18:44:37","slug":"improve-language-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/improve-language-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four Language Skills and How to Improve Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

In order to master a language there are four skills you need to focus on: listening, reading, speaking and writing. <\/span>
\nSome learners prefer to only read a language and never really get to grips with the speaking, some jump right in to the speaking and never learn to read, some hate to write and so never bother with it, everyone\u2019s different. I<\/span>f you want to be a language all-star though, a quadruple threat, you\u2019ll need to work on all four of the language skills. Here are some tips on how to improve each one.<\/span>
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Reading<\/b><\/h2>\n

Read content of interest<\/b>
\nNewspapers, blogs, novels, magazines, the backs of shampoo bottles, whatever it is you choose to read you are going to make gains in your target language by doing so. You can\u2019t really avoid it. If you read a word or phrase you don\u2019t understand, you have to look it up. You may forget it a few seconds later, but keep bumping into that word or phrase and looking it up over and over again and it\u2019ll stick eventually.<\/span>
\nIt helps if you’re so into what you’re reading that you actually care what the word or phrase means.\u00a0That\u2019s why reading content of interest is so important<\/a>. This is more difficult if you\u2019re a beginner, but there are ways you can avoid mind-numbing lists of words and sentences. Reading short stories, for example. As long as the vocabulary and structures are simple and there is some kind of narrative, you\u2019ll be more engaged and therefore more likely to remember what you\u2019re reading.<\/span>
\nWe\u2019ve just created a course of mini-stories on LingQ<\/a>. They\u2019ve been translated into lots of languages and can be found in the content libraries. Type \u201cmini stories\u201d into the search bar and see if they\u2019re available in your target language.<\/span>
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\nRead content at or just above your level<\/b>
\nThe next thing to think about when you\u2019ve found content you\u2019re interested in is the level of difficulty. Is it kind of easy? Use it as a quick review before sinking your teeth into more challenging stuff. Staying with easy content for too long puts you at risk of getting bored, and a bored language learner is\u00a0not a happy language learner.\u00a0<\/span>
\nReading content that is at your level or just above it\u00a0is the best tactic. That way you\u2019ll be able to get the gist of what you\u2019re reading and find words and phrases to look up and save to your dictionary. That\u2019s not to say that you shouldn\u2019t try reading more difficult material, this can be extremely motivating for some learners. Just be careful that you don\u2019t frustrate yourself with content that has a high percentage of words, phrases and structures you’ve never come across before.
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\nCreate your own dictionar<\/b>y<\/b>
\nOne of the most frustrating things in language learning is remembering\u00a0vocabulary. You know how it goes, you see a word you don’t know, look it up in a dictionary and then a minute later it’s completely gone from your brain. It’s like it was never there.\u00a0<\/span>
\nA great way to make sure this time spent looking words up is not lost is to\u00a0create your own dynamic dictionary<\/a>. Save all words and phrases, along with any extra information that is helpful, to your own language database. It\u2019s easy to do at LingQ. All words and phrases you tell the system you’re learning are saved. You can take the translations other LingQ members have added, or you can add your own. <\/span>
\nAdding notes and tags to your words and phrases is a great way to get the most out of your personal dictionary. You can categorize by tense, part of speech, or whatever you like. Once you have a number of\u00a0words and phrases tagged, you can click that tag and see them all. This is great if you’re struggling with a certain feature of a language and need to see some examples to make things clearer.
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\n\"Learn
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\nWhen you make your own dynamic dictionary like this you are able to keep track of your progress and see how close you\u2019re getting to the next milestone at any time, too. Give it a try.\u00a0<\/span>
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\n\"LingQ\"<\/a>
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Listening<\/b><\/h2>\n

Listen to native speaker content<\/b>
\nAudio created for language learners is so tempting. Everyone speaks so slowly and they articulate ev-er-y word perfectly\u2026 yay! One big problem, native speakers don\u2019t speak this way. Most talk quickly, blend words and pepper their speech with slang.
\nShould you even bother learning from this kind of beginner audio then? Is it just a waste of time? No, no exposure to your target language is a waste of time, but you should aim to get out of this kind of content and into native speaker stuff as soon as possible. It will be uncomfortable at first, but the awesome progress you’ll make will be worth it!\u00a0<\/span>
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\nFind audio with matching transcripts<\/b>
\nOne thing you can do to\u00a0make listening to native speaker content easier is find audio with a matching transcript.\u00a0This way you can read along and look up words and phrases you without missing anything. It isn\u2019t always possible to find audio that has a transcript, but you can always ask a LingQ member to transcribe it for you. Just add the audio to the Exchange, set the points you are willing to reward and you\u2019ll be notified when someone creates the transcript.<\/span>
\n\"Learn
\nListen fast and slow<\/b>
\nSo you have your awesome podcast and accompanying transcript, but the presenters are speaking so darn fast. No problem, just slow it down! You can catch more of what is being said and your stress levels will lower. <\/span>
\nThere\u2019s one problem with this though, most native speakers don\u2019t speak slowly, so you aren\u2019t really helping yourself if your goal is to eventually communicate with them. <\/span>The solution is simple, combine listening to slowed down audio with listening to audio at regular speed. I like to listen to native-speaker speed audio until I am on the brink of \u201cI can\u2019t do this, why am I trying?\u201d <\/span>despair, then I switch to slowed down audio, my blood pressure normalizes and life is good again!<\/span>
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Speaking<\/b><\/b><\/h2>\n

Speak when you are ready<\/b>
\nThere really isn\u2019t a magic answer to the question \u201cWhen should I start speaking my target language?\u201d Some people prefer to start speaking straight away when they know only basic phrases. It\u2019s motivating for them to be understood and they feel that they’re making headway. Other learners, like LingQ cofounder and polyglot Steve Kaufmann (video below), prefer to immerse themselves in the language a lot more before they begin to speak. It really has to be what you feel is right for you.<\/span>
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