Best ways to learn languages better

Most of the people are stuck in one country using only one language from their birth. But the world is much bigger than only one country and there is a lot of languages out there. In order to being able to talk with people from other countries, you have to learn another language. And learning a language is kind of hard if you're not actually using it somehow. I will tell you how I was and still am learning english. And I hope it will be helpful to everyone else who is learning any other language.



So I'm from Czech Republic, and we have our own Czech language. It's kinda complicated language and still you're only able to communicate with it only in our country and you will also be able to communicate with the people around our borders, sometimes with ease and sometimes, it takes a lot of patience to explain something to foreigner. But travel any further and people will almost wonder what is that language you're talking in if you use Czech...

Source: google images

English is used to give names to things throughout the whole world, probably thanks to USA (I know that USA is not the country of origin of english language, but I think it was USA and their marketing and commercional systems that brought it to this level of worldwide usage). And not knowing at least basics of english can be a barrier in every civilized country.
But that is also the reason why people find learning english much easier than learning another languages! You can see english words, names or even sentences around you in my country, but nearly nothing in spanish or italian compared to that Not even german words although Germany and Austria are our neighboors. A lot of our words are taken from english and edited to fit in czech, but they're still so similiar that you immediately know that word meaning when you hear it in english.

So how did I learn and how do I improve my english?

I started with playing games in english as a kid
When I was a small kid, games for PC and consoles were all in english with options to set language to few more, but not Czech (and it's not so different today). When playing basic games like super mario or sonic, you only have to know how to start the game and how to close it. But when playing games with goals in it, you needed to know what you have to do. And the only way to do so was guess it and then try it or the other way around.

When you first saw something like "Press START to play" you understood that you should tap that START button on your controller. Anything you had to do was written in sentences but you only needed one or two words to know what to do. Games are designed for this. When "Steal a car" showed up in GTA, I didn't know what I had to do, but I knew what car is already, so when I saw the arrow above the car that was close to me, I understood that I will have to get into it. But how? When getting close to it, another sentence showed up, telling me to press some button to get in the car. I pressed it, character on the screen got into the car and I understood that pressing this button will get me into the car and what steal probably means in my language...

I'm searching for any word (that I don't know yet) in another sentences and context to guess the meaning of the word, using dictionary and translators as the last source
You will remember any information better when you have to guess it or search for it instead of easy and fast translating it using Google Translator or simple dictionary. You won't remember it at all (or very rarely) after copy-pasting the word or whole text into translator and letting it to translate it for you. It's easy and fast, but absolutely uneffective when you actually want to learn the language.

I'm listening music in english
This is one of the most common ways to get to know a lot of words, sentences and it's pronounciation. Song are mostly very simple sentences so it's easier to sing it. It's  good to read translated lyrics while listening to the song. Using hearing and reading at the same time will create associations in your head and next time you will hear the word, you will know the meaning of it.

I'm watching movies and videos in english with czech subtitles
This is very similiar to listening songs and reading lyrics at the same time, but in movies and videos (like tutorials), there are more complicated words and sentences you will never hear in a song. Song needs to be simple in order to be liked by masses, movies are getting translated and dubbed, so it doesn't matter how complicated the sentences will be. And again, doing this will create associations in your head because hearing, reading and seeing (the actual situation and faces of the actors while saying something) is the best combination to learn something.

I'm listening audiobooks in english
Listening is not as effective as watching and listening at the same time, but it's also useful for learning how to pronounce some words and it really helps you to understand what people say when they are speaking around you or directly with you in that language

I'm writing my own comments and articles on the internet
Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr are the best for this, because people can immediately comment on your comments and the other written stuff you post on the internet. And most of the people think that they're better than you, so they will correct you if you make a mistake, mostly making fun of you. Do not get so sad about that part and remember the mistake and the correction. This way, you will be less likely to do the same mistake again.

I'm reading articles all around the internet in english
You don't have to know every english word in order to understand what the text you're reading is about. Read a lot and everytime you will come by a word you don't know, try to guess it using the rest of the words of the whole sentence. Read further and think about it if you didn't solve it and look for the same word in the text. If it is there, your chances to guess it right are bigger and bigger. Only if you can't guess it within few minutes, use dictionary or translator, but try to remember it.

I'm conversing with myself in my head - in english
I know that this might sound stupid, but it can prepare you for your future use of the language. I ask myself questions and answer them, I comment things happening around me. The most funny part of this is, that when I communicate with myself using english it feels so natural, but when I have to communicate in english with someone else I often have a problem to react fast, without longer thinking about my response...

Last tip from me, but surely not last way to improve at all: DO NOT AVOID USING THE LANGUAGE! If you have to use it, do it. Do not spend your energy to find a way out of that situation, use it for your improvement. It's not so embarrassing to try it and make mistakes, but running away from chances to improve yourself is.