How to improve foreign language skills: 20 secrets to find balance and build fluency

Active listening requires you to be engaged with the audio. To make sure you pay attention during your listening activities, choose resources that you’re actually interested in. You’ll be more devoted to the content when you listen to language audiobooks that aren’t only appropriate to your level but also fall under genres that you genuinely enjoy.
The same goes for foreign language audio and video clips. When you listen to and watch foreign language videos that align with your interests, hobbies and whatnot, you tend to pick up new words and concepts quicker because you’re invested in the topic.
Whether you enjoy pop culture or like to keep up with the news, FluentU has an extensive library of authentic audio and video clips. On this platform, you get to learn languages through your interests, making your language learning journey entertaining yet educational.
Every video is equipped with both foreign language subtitles and English subtitles, so you have all the information you need for comprehension. In case you need more info, you can also click on individual words in the captions to read extended definitions and sentence examples.
You can start learning through your interests in ten different languages by signing up for a free trial.
Diversify Your Listening Resources
Podcasts and audiobooks are great and all, but they aren’t the only listening resources at your disposal. Don’t forget that while you’re watching foreign news and movies, you’re also listening to the language. Although some might consider those examples as unconventional ways to learn, you’d be surprised with how much you can pick up from unlikely sources, such as international films and foreign language cartoons.
Diversity keeps you on your toes, so don’t hesitate to branch out from podcasts to mix up your listening activities.
Don’t Forget about Passive Listening

Active listening is crucial for learning a new language. Arguably, so is passive listening.

Passive listening language learning is language immersion for the subconscious mind where you’re mentally disengaged with the audio. An example of this would be listening to foreign language audio for entertainment purposes or falling asleep to foreign language songs.
Although passive language listening is hotly debated as a method of learning, you can’t deny that it’s an effortless way to immerse yourself in the target language. By immersing your subconscious, you’re basically covering all the bases in order for your brain to retain the language.
Multitask!
Continuing the idea of mindless learning, our final tip on how to improve language listening skills is by putting on foreign music or language podcasts while carrying out other tasks, such as household chores, silent hobbies and workouts.
This isn’t a typical immersion language training technique per se, but if it allows you to learn outside of your designated study hours, why not give it a go? And on days where you’re too busy to squeeze in a quick study sesh, you can at least listen to a podcast while you’re driving, on a coffee break or even on the treadmill.
How to Improve Reading Skills in a Foreign Language
While language audiobooks are a godsend for learners on the go, they aren’t a substitute for the written literature. Reading, both foreign language e-books and books on paperback, broadens your understanding of the target language as you discover the subtleties between the written and spoken forms.
Here are the best tips for learning a language by reading books.
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Take Advantage of Parallel Texts

Reading in a foreign language can sometimes be discouraging for language learners, especially for beginners. But you can’t really blame them, considering how much time it takes when you have to continually pause your reading to look up unknown words in a dictionary.
Thankfully, bilingual e-books exist for you to transport yourself into the world of foreign literature without having to toggle between the story and a dictionary. Additionally, parallel texts allow you to see how words interact with each other in a descriptive setting.