How Social Media Can Help with Learning Languages by Rachel Summers

No matter how old you are, learning a second language is one of the most valuable things you can do. Having a second language can enrich your life, improve your job prospects, and even put you in touch with more friends around the world.

However, these days it feels as though you just don't have enough time to keep up with a new language skill. There is a solution though, in the form of social media. Here's how it can make learning a language much easier and convenient for all kinds of learners.

Why Use Social Media?

Think about why you haven't learned a new language yet. You probably thought "I just don't have enough time in my day to properly study a language". However, how much time every day do you spend on social media? The answer, probably, is a lot.

That's not to say that you should quit social media to focus on your studies. There's a lot of benefits of using it to stay connected with your loved ones. Did you know that you can use it to stay connected with your language studies too? It's a lot easier than you'd think.

Which Social Media Sites Should You Use?

OK, so you can use social media to keep up with your language studies. Which networks should you use? Here's a shortlist of the platforms you should be looking into:

Facebook: Facebook is the platform that most people use, so there's a lot of learning opportunities there. If you're a teacher, you can create a page that your students can 'like', and then update it frequently in your chosen language.

Youtube: This popular video hosting platform has a huge amount of resources already on there that you can use. There's teaching videos that will guide you through different aspects of the language, and there's also videos by 'vloggers' that you can watch to get a feel of how the language is spoken naturally.

Tumblr and other blogging sites: Blogs are a great way to learn more about a language. Tumblr is one of the best platforms to use, as you can read blogs in a bite sized. There's lots of language blogs, such as Omniglot and State Of Writing, that you can follow too to learn more.

Pinterest and Instagram: These image-based sites are some of the best ways to use flashcards and other visual learning aids. If you learn better with visual tools, then this could be the best way of learning a language with social media.

What Are the Benefits of Using Social Media?

There's a lot of reasons why social media can be a great way of learning a new language. As you've seen above, you have a lot of choice when it comes to the platforms you use and the way you learn. It's not just this that makes it a great way to learn, though.

"Using social media makes you accountable for your learning. You'll be showing others online that you're learning, and they'll see if you fall off the wagon. If you're the kind of person that's motivated this way, then it's a great way to learn." - Liam Orwell, Author at Reviewal 

As well as this, you'll be able to easily document your learning with social media. This is especially true if you use a social media platform that allows you to organise your writing with hashtags or other organisational tools. If you want to go back to something later, it makes it very easy to find it.

Finally, social media, of course, helps you connect with other people. That's its primary function, after all. The best way to learn any language is connect with others who speak that language. Social media makes it easier than ever to connect with people all over the world, so take advantage of this.

As you can see, social media is one of the best ways to learn a new language online. Start looking for resources on your preferred platforms, and you'll see that you're picking up new vocabulary in no time at all.

Rachel Summers is a freelance writer whose passion is helping students get the most out of their learning journey. She started out as a writer and journalist in the newspaper industry, including Best British Essays, before breaking out to go freelance and follow her own passions. Her writing is designed to help you get the most out of college. You can find her blog here.