“What’s that thing called?

“I can’t remember the word for…”

“I forgot how to say...”

You know that feeling, like you’re losing your grip on your second language? This can be a rather alarming sensation, especially if you work as a professional translator. As translators, we sell language expertise as a service, so being highly competent in the languages we use is necessary.

This idea brings us to today’s topic: maintaining language skills in a second (perhaps third or fourth) language.

First off, one of the biggest influencing factors is where we live. Do you live in your home country or in a country where your native (source) language is spoken? Or have you emigrated to a country where they speak your second (target) language?

If you fit in the latter category, maintaining language skills in your second language shouldn’t be a problem at all…unless you’ve stumbled into one of those British enclaves in Spain’s Costa del Sol. Let’s just assume you haven’t. In that case, maintaining, or at least staying up-to-date with your source language becomes a priority.

Languages constantly change, so we need to make sure that we have a firm grasp on what’s currently happening with our own. Since culture is intrinsically linked to language, it serves us well to also be culturally fluent.

Inversely, if you fall into the former category, it’s very easy to get rusty in your target language. Although the saying is all too cliché, it truly is a matter of “use it or lose it.”  

But fear not! We've put together 5 simple tips for maintaining language skills. Let’s look at a few ways we can exercise our language muscle and combat linguistic decay:

Hit the language gym: lift books instead of weights

• Sign up for classes, workshops, or courses. Or if you lack time and money, or you simply prefer your alone time, buy some language books to work on at home. 

Comprehension is key: Get it. Got it. Good!

• Reading the newspaper is a great way to practice your comprehension skills and stay informed. Maybe you have trouble making it past the headlines, well blogs are a great alternative; look for ones in your target language and with topics that actually DO keep you scrolling. And if you really want to challenge your brain, read literature. Sorry, but “El Principito” doesn’t cut it anymore.

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  Listen to music in your target language or find a radio station with content in that language. Podcasts are also an excellent source of entertaining content for all interests, and they come in a wide variety of languages.

• Enjoy the best of both worlds by getting into foreign cinema. Watch movies with subtitles on, that way you can practice both reading and listening at the same time.

Find your inner Shakespeare: “dost's” and “thou's” not required

• Start out with something as simple as jotting down your thoughts, posting on social media, or keeping a journal in your second language and work your way up from there.

• Consider finding a pen pal. Technology nowadays makes correspondence that much easier.

• If you’re feeling really adventurous you could start a bilingual blog.

Let your Cicero flow: speaking is the last part of a language you’ll acquire and the first to go

• Look for conversation groups or language exchanges in your city or community. Meetup can be a wonderful source for finding them.

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  Invite a native speaker to coffee, or video chat with someone from another country. There are plenty of websites out there that can connect you with people from all around the world.

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  Write and rehearse a monologue about…well, anything!

• Another good way to get your rhythm back is to do what is known as shadow interpreting. This consists in listening to something, a podcast or the radio perhaps, in another language and repeating what the speaker says word for word. It sounds silly at first, but you'd be surprised by the results!

Dive in the deep end: immerse yourself in the language

• Do activities in your second language and try to mix them with your personal interests. If you like cooking, follow a recipe in your target language. Maybe you play a sport, join a team or a league with native speakers. Most importantly, just try to integrate it into your daily life. One of the easiest ways to do this is to change your cell phone’s language settings. Same goes for social media and your google searches.

Added Bonus:

Honing your target language skills isn’t only useful for when you’re actually translating, it can also provide other related benefits.

For example, you’ll feel much more comfortable communicating with clients in their native language instead of relying on English as the lingua franca. This is especially important when it comes to speaking, since as translators we tend to exercise our hands more than our mouths.

It sounds obvious, but clients and agencies will assess you on your command of the language, so not only will you earn points for making an effort to communicate in their language, but it will reflect your professionalism and competency making you stand out among the competition. In fact, your willingness to communicate in your clients’ language could lead to more clients. It opens up a lot of doors for interacting with potential clients at conferences, and it’s true, word travels fast, regardless of the language.

This certainly isn’t a comprehensive list, but rather the tip of the iceberg. Follow these tips and you're sure to give your second language skills a boost. I mean, they’re like what spinach is to Popeye. Unfortunately, language skills don’t come in a can. Maintaining language skills requires consistent practice. But it’ll be worth it in the end.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the article! Also, please share any other useful ideas for maintaining language skills in the comments section.

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Hasta pronto!