How To Master Word Order & Sentence Structure In Unfamiliar Languages

Learning a language with completely different word order and sentence structure can feel like trying to solve a puzzle where all the pieces have been rearranged.

Freddy, a polyglot from China now living in Portugal, is tackling this exact challenge with Kazakh.

Although I don't speak Kazakh, in this post, I'll answer Freddy's question and share how I'd go about learning any language with unfamiliar word order and sentence structure.

If you prefer watching videos to reading, hit play on the video version of this post at the top of this page. Otherwise, here's what you'll discover in this post:

Meet Freddy: A Polyglot's New Challenge

Freddy is no stranger to languages. He speaks Chinese, English, Afrikaans and Portuguese fluently, with some Russian knowledge under his belt as well.

Now he's taking on Kazakh, a language from the Turkic family that's proving to present a unique challenge.

About Kazakh and Turkic Languages

Kazakh belongs to the Turkic language group, which includes Turkish, Azerbaijani and Uzbek, among others.

What makes these languages particularly interesting for learners familiar with Indo-European languages is their fundamentally different approach to sentence construction.

While Kazakh may have relatively few irregularities compared to other languages (at least according to Freddy), its word order and sentence structure are completely different from anything Freddy knows.

The Hidden Opportunity In Structural Differences

Here's what makes Freddy's situation both challenging and genuinely exciting: he's identified that Kazakh isn't necessarily a “very difficult” language, but its sentence structure is totally different from the languages he already knows.

This observation reveals something crucial about Freddy's language learning intuition.

As someone with extensive experience across multiple language families, he can look at Kazakh and recognise that he's not facing one of those overwhelmingly complex languages where every aspect presents massive challenges.

I had a similar feeling with German. I was saying this to a friend the other day – with some languages, you can look at them and see exactly where the difficulty is going to come from.

But back when I was learning German, because it's quite a logical language, I couldn't see where the really big stumbling block or plateau was going to come. I didn't know exactly where I'd hit the wall.

Freddy's probably feeling something similar with Kazakh. He can sense that whilst the word order and sentence structure are radically different, the language itself isn't going to overwhelm him.

This is actually a brilliant position to be in. You've got what I'd call a “big opportunity” here.

Think about it this way: if you were going to tackle another language that had very different word order but was also incredibly difficult – starting to learn Japanese for instance – then you'd be fighting battles on multiple fronts simultaneously.

But with Kazakh, you can channel all your energy into really understanding and mastering the structural differences. You're not getting distracted by overwhelming grammatical complexity or endless exceptions to rules.

The opportunity is to focus laser-sharp on just getting as much exposure as you can to the language. And with that exposure, your understanding of word order and sentence structure is going to grow naturally.

Mastering Word Order And Sentence Structure Via Exposure

The fundamental truth about word order is this: it only really becomes natural through massive, consistent exposure.

You need to listen to the language so much that the correct patterns just start making sense in your brain. It's not something you can logic your way into – it has to become intuitive.

You've got to get used to hearing it and just being immersed in listening to or reading the language. But beyond that passive exposure, you've also got to get experience actually speaking it and using it. Over time, what happens is that the word order will just start to make sense.

Now, Freddy speaks Chinese, English, Russian, Portuguese and Afrikaans, so he absolutely knows what it means to get used to a language. Here, with Kazakh, it's simply no different – the word order will come naturally just by using it consistently.

Practical Steps To Master Word Order And Sentence Structure

1. Build Your Foundation With Systematic Exposure

Get used to the language through intensive reading and listening

If you're still a complete beginner, look at getting a good textbook and working through all of the dialogues one by one. The goal isn't to rush through them – it's to get used to listening to the language systematically.

If you can read the language, then definitely look for some texts online that you can use and just spend a lot of time reading.

This systematic exposure is what allows the language to start becoming natural for your ears and eyes.

2. Transform Reception Into Production: The Game-Changing Copying Technique

This is something I've started doing recently. I never used to do this, but my friend Richard Simcott does this a lot and I've started to find real value in it.

Here's what you do: once you've got a textbook dialogue you understand, simply copy it out into a notebook.

What this does is change reception to production. At the beginning, you're just listening to the language and understanding it – that's reception.

But when you copy it out, you're producing it. You're actually doing it yourself, using your hand, engaging different parts of your brain.

This gives you a completely different angle for your brain to process the language. It helps the patterns to sink in a bit deeper.

When you're copying out those texts that you're studying, you're not just reading Kazakh word order and sentence structure – you're physically reproducing it, and that creates a much stronger neural pathway.

Translation Exercises for Active Practice

You can also try translation work. If you have a textbook where those texts are translated into English, take the English version and try to translate it back into Kazakh. This is going to force you to try to produce the language with the correct word order.

That's an exercise you can do by yourself every day that will be really helpful. You're taking something you understand conceptually and forcing yourself to reconstruct it using Kazakh sentence patterns.

3. Master Mini-Speeches And Dialogues

Something I do a lot is to prepare little mini-dialogues, mini-speeches and learn them by heart.

Work with your tutor to create something like an introduction about yourself, or talk about your home country, your job or anything that's relevant to your life.

Write out a one-page talk and then memorise it completely. Practise giving it over and over again, because what that's going to do is give you confidence.

You're going to have the actual experience of speaking correct Kazakh with the proper word order and sentence structure. You'll know what it feels like when it's right.

4. Navigate The Speaking Challenge: Overcoming Native Language Interference

Now, here's where things get interesting with speaking practice. Find conversation partners and start to actually produce the language, because this is when word order differences really become apparent.

When the word order is different from your native languages, you end up speaking like you would in your native language initially.

You might start to speak Kazakh with Chinese word order, or English word order – which are quite similar to each other but very different from Kazakh patterns.

The way to overcome this and start to get the natural word order of Kazakh correct is by doing lots of speaking with people. 

At first, it's confusing and it's a bit crazy. Your brain is constantly trying to default back to familiar patterns. You'll catch yourself mid-sentence thinking, “Wait, that's not how Kazakh works.”

But then, over time – and time being the key thing here – it just starts to become natural. Your brain stops translating from your native language patterns and starts thinking directly in Kazakh sentence structures.

This process can't be rushed. You have to go through that awkward phase where you're consciously fighting against your linguistic instincts.

But every conversation, every mistake you catch and correct, every time you successfully produce a sentence with proper Kazakh word order, you're training your brain to default to the new patterns.

The Time Factor: Your Secret Weapon

Here's something crucial that I want you to really absorb: don't get frustrated, don't get stressed by the initial confusion around word order and sentence structure. This is absolutely fundamental to your success.

Simply work at it day after day. And over the course of the next few months, it will start to become natural for you.

I really mean this – some things in language learning can be forced or accelerated, but deep structural patterns like word order need time to settle into your brain.

You already know this process works. Think back to when you were learning Portuguese, or English, or any of your other languages. There was definitely a period where the sentence structure felt foreign and awkward.

But now, when you speak Portuguese, you're not consciously thinking about where to put the verb or how to arrange your thoughts – it just flows naturally.

The same thing is going to happen with Kazakh. Right now, the different word order feels strange because you're conscious of it.

But through consistent exposure and practice, it's going to become as automatic as breathing.

The real key is simply to give it time. Don't measure your progress day by day or even week by week. Think in terms of months:

• work consistently
• use the techniques we've discussed
• get as much exposure as you can
• and trust that your brain is doing the work of internalising these new patterns even when you can't consciously feel it happening.

Your Action Plan To Master Unfamiliar Word Order

1. Learn the rules systematically – you can do this fairly easily with Kazakh
2. Immerse yourself in reading and listening to let the language become natural for your ears
3. Use the production techniques – copying out texts, translation exercises and memorised mini-speeches
4. Practice speaking regularly with conversation partners, accepting that initial confusion is normal
5. Give it time – consistency over months, not perfection in weeks

Remember, you've got a genuine advantage here. You're tackling something that's structurally different but not overwhelmingly complex.

That's a brilliant opportunity to really master word order and sentence structure without getting bogged down by other complications.

You know what it means to get used to a language, and this process is simply no different. The patterns will click – you just need to give them the time and exposure they need.

Word Order And Sentence Structure FAQ

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.