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As for your initially meagre vocabulary, don't be shy about substituting an English word into your muttering—
至于一開始的詞匯量貧乏，不要羞于用一個英語單詞來代替你的低聲咕噥——
but look up the equivalent as soon as you can. (If you have a smart speaker, their "How do you say ‘tree' in Spanish?" features are rather good.)
但要盡快查找這個不會的單詞。（如果你的語音助手夠聰明，那么它們的“‘樹’這個單詞用西語怎么說”功能相當不錯。）
Keep a list of handy new words on your phone, ideally in a flashcard app. Two more tricks might help you learn more of them.
在你的手機上保存一個方便查看的新單詞列表，最好放在一個閃卡應用程序中。另外兩個技巧可以幫助你學到更多。
A frequency dictionary has thousands ordered not by the alphabet but how often they are actually used:
一本頻率詞典中有很多單詞，它們不是按照字母排序的，而是按照使用頻率排序的：
this quickly gives you the few dozen critical, functional words that glue a language together.
這樣你很快就能找到幾十個關鍵的功能詞，它們把一門語言粘合在一起。
To enhance your vocab, Memrise is another app that uses spaced repetition to drive words home.
增強你的詞匯量，可以用Memrise，另一款使用間隔重復來記憶單詞的應用。
New ones are repeated insistently until they stick, then occasionally thereafter as reminders.
新的單詞會被不斷地重復，直到你記住它們，然后偶爾再重復，以此來提醒自己。
As soon as you can string a few sentences together, study in quarantine offers a consolation:
只要你能把幾句話串在一起，隔離學習就能給你帶來安慰：
a lot of language teachers are at home, too, and only a video-call away.
許多語言教師也在家，只要一個視頻電話就行。
For example, Sara, an Italian tutor in the Piedmont region, says her teaching hours have exploded.
例如，皮埃蒙特地區(qū)的意大利家庭教師薩拉說，她的教學時間激增。
Italki is a platform that links teachers and students for surprisingly low hourly rates;
Italki是一個連接老師和學生的平臺，他們的小時收費非常便宜；
casual conversation practice is especially cheap, formal instruction slightly pricier.
隨意的對話練習尤為便宜，正式指導要稍微貴一些。
Find a highly rated teacher and struggle through a half-hour's conversation, shame-free.
找一位評價很高的老師，在半小時的談話中打磨，不覺得難為情。
They can use the chat function of video-call apps to write down words that elude you or that you haven't understood.
他們可以使用視頻通話應用程序的聊天功能，寫下你聽不懂或不理解的單詞。
Afterwards you can add them to your flashcards.
然后你可以把它們加到你的單詞卡里。
Finally, there is reading and writing. Keeping a journal can force you to write clearly those tricky bits you've been mumbling,
最后是讀寫。寫日記可以迫使你把模糊不清的部分寫清楚，
making you confront half-learned material. As for reading, graphic novels are good for a realistic conversational style.
讓你直面半知不解的材料。至于閱讀，圖畫小說的現(xiàn)實會話風格很棒。
And for no-nonsense written prose, find articles in the new language on Wikipedia on a subject you know well.
至于嚴肅的書面文章，在維基百科上找一些新學語言的文章，文章要選擇你非常熟悉的主題。
Being able to guess unfamiliar terms gives a heartening sense of progress. Browser extensions can make looking up words a snap.
能夠猜出不熟悉的術語會給人一種進步的鼓舞人心的感覺。瀏覽器擴展可以讓查找單詞變得輕而易舉。
Just doubleclick a word with Google Translate enabled on Chrome, for example.
例如，只要用Chrome上的谷歌翻譯雙擊就能查詢單詞。
There is no way to learn a language without time and effort. What technology does is make that effort pay off faster.
學習一門語言是不可能不花費時間和精力的。科技能做的是回報更快。
Just remember the goal—interacting with native speakers in the flesh. You'll be out in the world again one day.
只用記住這個目標——與母語人士面對面交流。總有一天，你將重回這個世界。
譯文由可可原創(chuàng)，僅供學習交流使用，未經(jīng)許可請勿轉載。
