Hi, my name is Manuel! I am from Spain and I am a Student Advisor at LTL and I’m based at our Taipei school.
Hi, my name is Mojca! I am from Slovenia in Europe and I work as a student advisor at our Shanghai school.
Launched in 2020, our Flexi Class system has been a huge hit with students so far. Here are three reasons why this is the BEST…
HOW TO LEARN LANGUAGES ONLINE | KILLER TIPS & RESOURCES
The internet allows us to learn significantly faster and conveniently than before and you should definitely make sure you use these opportunities.
Learning languages online has become a very popular world-wide method for getting your skills ahead without travelling to the country itself.
We have taught more than ten languages online to students from a hundred countries.
The convenience of being able to study languages without having to travel abroad or even take a course in your own country and the ability to have access to the world’s best native teachers wherever you live are amazing.
HOW TO LEARN LANGUAGES ONLINE | FOLLOW OUR YOUTUBE
First things first, following our YouTube channel here for Mandarin content specifically, and our Flexi Classes channel for content on a wider range of languages. We cover a plethora of topics from ordering food, travelling, to shopping, song lyrics, podcasts and much much more.
Here’s three useful videos for starters… if you like it, why not subscribe?
HOW TO LEARN LANGUAGES ONLINE | 22 STEPS TO SUCCESS
So how can you learn languages online in the most efficient way possible?
We have been doing this for a long time, so here is some advice from us how you can maximize your studying results.
BEFORE YOUR LESSONS START
- Prepare and get ready for an online class the same way as you would for any other class. For you to be in the right mindset and not distracted during class is essential for maximum progress.
- Be in a quiet environment that does not distract you and allows your teacher to hear your voice clearly without interferences.
- Have your IT equipment ready before class. Make sure your microphone and headset work, you have all other programs switched off and your internet connection works and is stable.
- Bluetooth is the enemy of online classes. Make sure all your blue tooth devices are turned off as they might access your speakers or microphone without you noticing it and therefore make them non available for your class.
- Be ready on time and allow yourself a few minutes to start your computer and check your equipment before the class to make sure you don’t loose valuable studying time later.
- Have paper and pen or a word document ready where you can take notes.
- Prepare yourself a list of questions you have and do not be shy to ask your teacher about them.
DURING YOUR LESSONS
- Tell your teacher what you want. If you are studying individually the content is tailored. Give as much detail as possible to your teacher to benefit the most.
- Give your teacher feedback. If there is something you would like to focus more on, do not be shy to tell your teacher about it.
- We recommend to have your webcam open during the lesson so your teacher can see you. A teacher relies on a student’s body movement, tone etc. to assess whether the class is going into the right direction, learning should be slowed down or sped up etc. and it is much harder to do this when you do not see the student.
AFTER YOUR ONLINE CLASS
- Depending on your time availability your teacher will give you homework. Make sure you complete the tasks you were given. If you would like additional tasks, currently do not have the time for homework or other opportunities to practice, make sure you let your teacher know.
- Use the recording function of the classes. One amazing thing about online classes is that they can be recorded and then viewed again. That means you can later watch your class again, which is a great way to revise what you learned. You can also fast forward through parts that you find easy and stop and rewind sections that you need to listen to again to get it right, like for example pronunciation of specific tones.
IMMERSION WHEN LEARNING LANGUAGES ONLINE
Students who study languages online often do not have a very immersive language environment around them and opportunities to practice what you learned might be much fewer than when living in Beijing or Tokyo for example.
However for progressing fast with your target languages, repeating and utilising what you learned is essential.
There might be restaurants or communities around you that you can tap into – try to find Facebook groups to meet people in your local area.
If there are not, then you can create that environment. Put Post-It notes on furniture in your home with their names in your target language.
Try changing your mobile phone language.
Put a list of current vocabulary where you often will look at it, for example in front of your toilet.
Most importantly make sure you review and revise often. When you don’t get to speak multiple languages in daily life you have to revise vocabulary more often to make sure it sticks.
Finally once you have the time, plan a trip abroad to study at one of our schools there, live with a homestay family and be fully immersed into your new environment by only speaking the language.
HOW TO LEARN LANGUAGES ONLINE | FREE TOOLS
There are endless options online and many of them are very good, though there are also some bad apples.
Have a look at our blog for recent reviews of language online learning software. Here the essentials you should definitely look at:
- Pleco: Pleco is by far the best Chinese dictionary app available. Install it on your phone and use the hand writing function for practice when looking up characters instead of just copy and paste. The dictionary is the main function and it is free of charge, but there are useful pay for add ons like flashcards available too.
- Anki: Anki is our favourite free flash card system around and covers an impressive choice of languages. Use it to create your own flash card decks, test yourself and keep revising vocab whenever you have a few minutes with nothing to do.
- Language Reactor: The best Chrome extension to watch movies/TV show AND learn at the same time. This extension allows you to add two lines of subtitles to your Netflix or Youtube account, with word translations, sentence examples and pronunciation.
- Zoom: It’s the best, fastest and most reliable online video conferencing software available today – and for you it is free of charge as well.
HOW TO LEARN LANGUAGES ONLINE | CHECK OUR CONTENT
At LTL we take huge pride in the content we provide and hopefully this list below shows jsut that!
We’ve written over 500 fantastic posts and provided countless sets of flashcards and resources you can use online, for free. Some of the best ones of which we’ll list below for the languages we teach on Flexi Classes: