You’ll also get the opportunity to learn slang and speak like a local. When you practice communicating with a native speaker, you can better understand their culture and their language. Working with a native speaker is one of the best ways to get immersed in any language. So, for me, immersion is more bang for your buck. When you immerse yourself in a film, some music, or a conversation, you’ll learn sentence structure, vocabulary, and grammar all at once. While learning your French verb conjugations is important, immersing yourself in the language for a few hours can bring a broader range of benefits than just drilling grammar all night. I still make grammar mistakes when speaking French, but I can still communicate fluently. To be honest, a lot of the little grammar mistakes won’t keep you from being understood for the most part. Some language experts might fight me on this one, but if your main goal is to communicate, for me, immersion has been the most helpful. Focus less on grammar and more on immersion So whether you’re trying to speak like a native or just want to feel a little less lost, check out the tips I wish I had known before I started learning a new language. My teacher would write down conjugations, and I would copy them down and memorize them, but I didn’t know what it all meant. When I first started learning Spanish in middle school, I didn’t understand how grammar even worked. Since there have been a lot of moments I wished I had had some guidance, I’m going to share seven things I think you should know before learning a new language. So if you’re thinking of learning a new language, you’re probably wondering what you should know first. If you’re reading this, you probably have some sort of affinity towards foreign languages too. While I didn’t have much choice in the matter, many of my other experiences with foreign languages like studying abroad, being an au pair, and teaching abroad were of my own volition. My language-learning journey started when I was about three years old when my parents put me in a Greek-American preschool.