Foreign Language Learning for Developers

Hey everyone! Like many of you, as a developer, I love optimizing the things I do. This post is about foreign language learning for developers. Many, including myself, dream of increasing their salaries or relocating to countries with better currencies and safety.

I’m not here to judge anyone, as I can relate to both aspects. If you relate to just one, it’s your right to do so.

In my country, some people aspire to perfect their English or another language to sound “fluent” or “native.” To enjoy a language, I don’t see it as absolutely necessary because achieving fluency without the proper circumstances, like immersion, can be challenging. Many of us face hurdles such as having a family that only speaks a different language, a job in our native language, dealing with mostly monolingual people daily, or simply lacking the means to move abroad for studies.

But hey, it’s possible to improve language skills significantly, even to a hireable level of proficiency, without leaving your country or current job. Here are my tips:

In my humble opinion, the foundation of language learning is vocabulary. Learn at least the most frequent 2000 words in your target language by searching a frequency list (you can find many on GitHub). Try Googling, for example: “German 2k Frequency Word list,” preferably using example sentences for clearer contexts (it’s not perfect, but has a large scope of language pairs, such as tatoeba.org). Then, venture into the monolingual world, understanding the language in its native form.

It may be challenging initially, but it’s a difficulty that fosters growth. Start reading in your target language—tool documentations, tutorials, anything and everything. Instead of relying on resources in your native language, things will start clicking sooner or later. When you feel tired of technical content, read about your hobbies and interests in your target language.

This is the critical point. You’ll be exposed to the language as it is. As you read, internalize how grammar is used. You can study grammar separately, but it’s not about cramming; it’s about acknowledging how the structure you want to learn works.

Regarding listening and speaking, once you’re comfortable with reading, it becomes achievable. Listen to various accents of your target language (I’m a fan of youglish.com, which despite its name, is not meant just for English). If you mix accents while speaking, most reasonable people won’t make a big deal out of it.

Concerning writing skills, as you read, absorb words, grammar points, idioms, and more. Start a small journal, writing at a pace suitable for your routine. It can be technical articles or just tweets to share with the world.

Start at your pace, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, but also don’t be scared to dive deeper into the ocean. It’s almost endless, and you’ll only need a fraction of it, unless you want to explore further.

Good luck! Or, as we say in Japanese (my current target language), 頑張って (Ganbatte)!