The world of stockbroking is a global business, your day-to-day job will involve liaising with foreign colleagues and clients, most of which will have a firm grasp on English. However, for the odd occasion where you find yourself talking to someone who is either in the process of learning English, or even conversing with wealthy clients, you’ll want to be able to their tongue to help out the process.
With the help of new technology and the methods it brings, we’ve devised the quickest and most efficient way of learning a new language – expect to be bilingual in a few weeks!
Get an audiobook and/or download a podcast
The drive home from work can sometimes be stressful, you often find yourself listening to the same radio station, with the same presenters, the same music and simply go through the motions. By listening to a language teacher on your way to and from work, you’ll still go through the motions, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much you actually pick up from it.
Subconsciously you’ll find yourself picking up on words and phrases despite your concentration being on the road; you may find it frustrating at first, but after a matter of day you’ll have grasps some key traits of the language of your choice.
Once you’ve got a basic grasp…
Download the mass of apps
There are plenty out there, you’ve probably already gone ahead and downloaded a few when you initially 
decided you wanted to learn a new language.
Apps can help with live translation, pronunciation, phrases, word placement and so much more, but with something capable of doing it all for you, you’re in danger of relying the app to do the language learning for you. Make sure you’re not only learning through your apps, use them to help you along the way, but remind yourself it’s only an assistant, not your voice.
Find someone that already knows the language
Working as a broker, you’ll know someone who can speak both English and at least one other language – befriend this person!
One of the best ways to learn a new language is by immersing yourself in it; have your new friend talk to you in your choice language, make sure they know not to just ‘give in’ and talk to you in English, ask them to be tough on you. When you really can’t grasp something, your colleague can explain what they’re saying and why it works in certain contexts.
When learning a new language we often find ourselves focusing too much on the correct grammar and pronunciation that we forget the point of knowing the new language, to have a conversation!
Watch foreign language programmes
Sticking with the immersing yourself in the language theme, flick through the mass of channels you never watch and sit there for thirty minutes watching the programme. Avoid using the subtitles at all cost, you’ll just end up sitting there reading English and not taking in anything.
Focus on the facial expressions and body language of the characters on screen. If the character points to a lamp, there’s a good chance something they just said is to do with a lamp – congratulations, you now know how to say ‘lamp’ in Dutch! The same applies to the way characters talk to each other, if you have a very basic grasp on the language of choice, you’ll probably pick up on the usual ‘and’ ‘or’ ‘we’ and gather a firmer understanding on the placement of these words in the given language.
Visit the country that speaks the language
Thanks to ridiculously cheap last minute flights, coupled with services like AirBnB, it’s not easier than ever to explore the world.
If you’re planning on learning Italian, it’s £18 for a return flight – that’s eighteen pounds; not eighty, not eight hundred, eighteen. There is little to nothing stopping you from a short weekend trip to your country of choice.
Use what you’ve learned and communicate with locals as much as you can; unlike the UK, people abroad tend to actually talk to each other, so take advantage of this. Even if you know where you’re going, ask for directions; ask someone how they are; just make sure you avoid English at all costs. The sooner you realise English isn’t the ‘right’ language for the given situation, you’ll force yourself into the language you’re attempting to learn.
