Learn a Foreign Language


1) Spend the time!
By far the most important factor is how much time you are immersed in the
language. The more time you spend with the language, the faster you will learn.
This means listening, reading, writing, speaking, and studying words and
phrases. This does not mean sitting in class looking out the window, nor
listening to other students who do not speak well, nor getting explanations in
your own language about how the language works. This means spending time
enjoyably connected to the language you are learning.
2) Listen and read every day!
Listen wherever you are on your MP3 player. Read what you are listening to.
Listen to and read things that you like, things that you can mostly understand,
or even partly understand. If you keep listening and reading you will get used
to the language. One hour of listening or reading is more effective than many
hours of class time.
3) Focus on words and phrases!
Build up your vocabulary, you’ll need lots. Start to notice words and how
they come together as phrases. Learn these words and phrases through your
listening and reading. Read online, using online dictionaries, and make your own
vocabulary lists for review. Soon you will run into your new words and phrases
elsewhere. Gradually you will be able to use them. Do not worry about how
accurately you speak until you have accumulated a plenty of words through
listening and reading.
4) Take responsibility for your own
learning!
If you do not want to learn the language, you won’t. If you do want to learn
the language, take control. Choose content of interest, that you want to listen
to and read. Seek out the words and phrases that you need to understand your
listening and reading. Do not wait for someone else to show you the language,
nor to tell you what to do. Discover the language by yourself, like a child
growing up. Talk when you feel like it. Write when you feel like it. A teacher
cannot teach you to become fluent, but you can learn to become fluent if you
want to.
5) Relax and enjoy yourself!
Do not worry about what you cannot remember, or cannot yet understand, or
cannot yet say. It does not matter. You are learning and improving. The language
will gradually become clearer in your brain, but this will happen on a schedule
that you cannot control. So sit back and enjoy. Just make sure you spend enough
time with the language. That is the greatest guarantee of success.
Steve Kaufmann is a former Canadian diplomat, who has had his own company
in the international trade of forest products for over 20 years. Steve founded
The Linguist Institute Ltd.
in 2002 to develop a new approach to language learning using the web. The
new LingQ system for learning
multiple languages is now available in Beta. Steve speaks nine languages
fluently and is currently learning Russian using LingQ. Steve maintains a blog on language
learning.
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