How to learn a foreign language in 2 months

How it all started

When did you start learning a foreign language? For example, I remember my first English courses back in the second grade of school. These were classes with a strict teacher using serious textbooks. After them, there were dozens more attempts. Despite my love for the English language, I was able to speak it normally only at the university. The study process turned out to be quite lengthy. It seemed that with another language there would be the same story - years of torment and dozens of different courses. But in reality, everything turned out to be much simpler.

Last year I was going on a trip to Italy and 2 months before the trip I decided to learn the language. Moreover, without paid courses and trainers. At that moment, this idea inspired me a lot, and I started to implement it.

What came of it

In the process of preparation, I came across a video course "Polyglot", consisting of 16 lessons with a very effective (at least for me) teaching system. After watching the first of them (it lasted 40 minutes), I was able to tell about myself in a language in which I was a complete zero before. The results have stunned me. I firmly decided to continue practicing every day.

Having built the process of self-education, after 2 months I was able to speak with Italians in their native language. Of course, difficult dialogues were still beyond my power, but I could calmly explain with the locals, ask for advice, and also ask to show the way in those moments when we were lost. And this despite the fact that the learning process itself was quite simple: most often I was engaged in transport, sometimes at home, enjoying the process. I spent about an hour a day. And all this without money and dozens of courses!

Now I want to note, in my opinion, the most important points that should be taken into account when teaching.

How to build a language learning process

Come up with "hour H" - a specific time frame by which you must achieve visible results. It can be a trip, as in my case, or another event. If there is no deadline with a specific date, there is a high probability that all undertakings will come to naught.
Fall in love. In the language, country, atmosphere. Generating interest and inspiration in the topic will help create intrinsic motivation.
Don't learn words. Learn phrases and whole sentences. Only such a teaching method will give visible results in a short time. Memorizing words in context is much easier, and at the very beginning the main thing is to understand the structure and specifics of the language. The same scheme was used in Polyglot.
Choose a convenient training format. Decide what you like: video, audio or text content. Use what you like best. If you want to alternate, do it.
Talk to yourself. Both out loud and inwardly. Practice pronunciation, pronounce the names of objects that surround you, trying to build simple sentences.
Do it "by the way". Do not hope that you will have a separate free time for classes. Use any free minute for this, for example, study in transport, as I did. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to build a regular process.
Learn only what is interesting. Choose the themes that inspire you the most. Culture, art, sports, food, people - you should start with what is most interesting. Less exciting topics can be skipped by returning to them in the second half of the tutorial.

What is the goal, so is the result

At the very beginning of your studies, it is very important to correctly define your goal: why do you undertake to learn a foreign language and what level you want to achieve now. So, a few months after the trip, most of my knowledge "moved to the archive", because there was no further training after the trip. But initially, I did not set myself the task of thoroughly learning the language. I wanted to get the basic skills and immerse myself in the environment. But even now I understand that everything I have learned can be brought back to the surface rather quickly if I study again. It will be much easier for me. The main thing is to define a new "time H".

Language, language of strife?

Surely Italian is easy enough to learn, and it might seem like it won't work with more difficult languages. In fact, it is not the complexity of the subject that plays a key role, but the person's intrinsic motivation and teaching method. With the same success, foreigners learn to speak Russian, which is one of the most difficult in the world. Personally, I know three Sri Lankans who, after two months of classes, were able to communicate with Russian-speaking travelers. Some of them attended courses, while others studied independently. You can envy their perseverance and determination, as well as think about a personal experiment. I hope that my experience will be useful to someone else.

What methods do you use to learn a foreign language?