Did you know that the great majority of people who start learning a foreign language give up before they reach even a lower intermediate level? The main reasons why they decide to stop are: boredom (the unchallenged number one cause), lack of motivation, difficulty, not liking their language course and not making enough progress.

I strongly believe that anyone can learn a foreign language, if they set their minds to it. That’s what I’ve seen with my students over the years. But you need to know what to do and not do in order to keep going. In this guide I’m going to list some tips that will help you become a successful language learner.

Things to do to learn a foreign language successfully:

Get a language course you like. Getting just ANY course won’t do. There’s a vast range of language courses on the market, all aimed at different people with different learning experience, amounts of time available, goals, needs, budget, etc. Some courses are heavily based on grammar, others are only audio-based, for business people, exam students, etc. Getting the language course that’s right for you will make all the difference to your progress.

Make it enjoyable. In addition to your language course, you can do many activities in the new language: watch films with subtitles, listen to music and learn the lyrics; read comic books, magazines and ‘parallel text’ books (those are books with stories in both English and your chosen language); play video games, read about your hobbies on the Internet, listen to audio magazines, etc.

Set yourself small and realistic targets: getting to lesson 10 by a certain date, not making more than two mistakes in your drills, understanding a dialog you find difficult ... Achieving your goals, however small they are, will not only help you learn one step at a time, it’ll also keep away the temptation to give up.

Learn something new every day. It may be just a couple of words or a phrase, but never leave a study session with having learned something new. It’s essential that you feel you’re making progress.