How to Learn a Language

[CroMagna]

I speak four languages, two self-taught. The one I learned in school from middle school through college (French) is my worst. The one I taught myself in 3 months (Spanish) is fluent. The other one I partly learned in school and partly taught myself (Portuguese) is in between, conversational. The head of the Spanish department at Duke said "I don't know how you did it." I've also taught Spanish and English. Here are my tips for learning a language:

Why is school language programming wasteful?

I'm a conspiracy theorist about K-12 and I think the purpose is not to learn anything other than how to obey. Most time is spent doing rote, repetitive work. Relax creationists: students aren't learning about evolution. We never read Origin of Species and natural selection was never explained. We just memorized obscure primate names like Australopithicus Afarensis. This is the same with the language program. Instead of understanding the structure of the language and practicing likely and relevant conversations, you make flashcards with names of exotic animals. (Try to think back to the last time you talked about a bear or a toucan). My favorite is the classic first unit: memorizing the objects in the classroom. It's my favorite example of how not to learn a language because the information could not possibly be useful except in that self-same classroom. Now the word "pupitre" (those one sided pupils' desks in French) is lodged in my mind but I don't feel comfortable talking about politics with Francophone people.

Logistics
1. Don't spend money - I have never spent a single dime learning any language. There's no reason to spend $1000 at Berlitz or even $50 on Rosetta Stone. The only time when it makes sense to spend money learning the language is the final step of immersion in the respective foreign country. If you took the $1500 course at Lado, you would still have to take the initiative to memorize the information, so you might as well do it yourself. If you want to take instruction, there are plenty of free programs offered at Hispanic community centers or with meet-up groups.

2. Establish contacts - you'll want to become acquainted with at least one speaker of the target language. You can meet Spanish speakers by frequenting a Mexican restaurant and becoming acquainted with the staff for example. They'll feel flattered that you're learning their language. You can meet French speakers at African shops and restaurants. There are also meet-up groups online for that and you can put an ad on Craig's List to arrange for someone who wants to learn English to teach you your target language. The key is that you genuinely find these people interesting.

Resources

1. The public library has more than enough language learning resources. By far the best way to learn is with books on tape. The #1 best book on tape I have encountered is the Pimsleur language series. They teach you relevant things first, like how to ask for directions, rather than memorizing names of wildlife. There are other excellent tapes, books, newspapers, i-pods, interactive internet programs, and movies at the library, like the Muzzy series. The best video I have come across is Video Passport Spain/France. If you find it hard to read the papers, you may become bored. So you can start by reading children's books in that language until you build confidence.

With watching movies, it's better to watch the movie in English with Spanish subtitles than to watch the movie the way people typically do, in Spanish with English subtitles. That way you hear the word in English so you know what it is, then you read it on the screen so you know the translation and how it's spelled.

2. Your amigos (see above). Don't forget to pronounce well, because otherwise you're learning for no reason at all. You can know the entire language but if you can't pronounce it, no one will understand a word you're saying, and then what's the point? I worked with a fluent English speaker who had such severe pronunciation problems that she had to constantly repeat herself. Repeatedly.

3. The internet is also chock full of language tools. For translating, the best site is Google Translate. (Free translation dot com isn't accurate). Elanguage school dot net is good to establish a foundation. But by far the best way to practice a language is to go on a foreign message board from that country and converse with the people on the message board. Then you'll see how the colloquial speech is structured. You can also enhance motivation through cultural exchange. If you're flustered, use Google Translate. If using Google Translate don't lazily put the entire passage in there and hit translate. Read it first (or write it in that language first), then make corrections as you go.

4. Don't forget to watch TV shows and documentaries in that language. There are three Spanish stations: Telemundo, Univision, and Telefuturo. If you're learning German or something and don't have a satellite, you can check for TV shows on Youtube. Portuguese telenovelas like Caminho das Indias are available on Youtube. These give you a further glimpse, visually, into the culture.

5. I don't recommend listening to music in that language. If you can't understand rap lyrics in your native tongue why would you get anything out of listening to reggaeton? But if you find this incredibly fun and really want to get into it, then it would be best to listen to slower songs, obtain the lyrics from the internet, read the lyrics, learn the words you don't know, sing along, and naturally memorize the song.

The worst way to learn a language

Memorizing vocabulary words is an incredible waste of time. To an extent it's useful, but it can be taken to an extreme in a way that no other strategy can. One noun can only get you so far. One verb or one phrase on the other hand can get you several times more conversational combinations. If you're practicing by reading, looking up every word you don't know will break the flow, causing the process to feel tedious and dull, and making you less likely to do it again. Hard work doesn't have to be crappy. Improving your vocabulary is something you do at the end, when you're ready to discuss illegal immigration. To learn new words, you can read the words within the context of the phrase and get the meaning that way. You can also ask the amigos how you say it, as they probably speak some English.

The best way to learn a language

Verbs are everything. If you can't conjugate regular verbs, you won't get very far. But it's easy. You just need to know the root ending, like -ir or -ar. In Romance languages the main irregular verbs you need are 1) to be 2) to be currently (Spanish/Portuguese) 3) to do 4) to go 5) to have.

My final tip

Know why you're learning the language. This will make you motivated and goal-oriented. For example, will you be motivated if you're only learning it to travel for 2 weeks and come back?

[KazeCraven]

Question: How much does this apply to languages that are completely different in structure, like Japanese or Chinese or Arabic?

[newmark]

I certainly agree that it's quite possible to teach yourself a language, and often much better than at school. Unless you were/are lucky enough to have a good teacher. It doesn't have to be that way, but it often is.
Spending money is ok if you choose the right materials, but it's better to experiment at the local libraries and online first.
I don't really agree about your 'worst method'. Learning and memorizing vocabulary can be fun, depending on how you do it. Mindlessly chanting out new words a hundred times each, as I've actually seen, is of course a terrible method. When I learn new Chinese characters I like to look at each of the parts of the character and make a story that combines all the parts in a meaningful way.
Well, for me it's fun. Better than spending money buying a TV anyway.

[sr2008]

I lived in Brazil during my fall semester of business school. I think the best way to learn a language is immersion. I had classes there and they were completely useless. But I did pimsleur and just spoke Portuguese as much as I could and that made a huge difference.

[Froztwolf]

Thanks CroMagna, some good stuff in there.
I just recently moved to Quebec, Canada so I need to start really getting busy learning french. (Or rather Quebecoise)

[cacheborn]

Good stuff, cromagna. I agree on all points except the worst way. I find it fun to learn new words. It helped me a lot when I was learning Italian. I would learn a new word and when it cropped up into everyday conversation, I would understand a little more. I agree completely about the useful everyday conversations.

While surfing I came across the site of Alexander Arguelles, a hyperpolyglot, who claims to speak 58 languages. He gives some tips about learning languages. I have not been through all of them, but it sure seems worth to check it out.

[freewheelnat]

French is my mother tongue and I learnt English at school, to the level that I was confident enough to move to England. I didn't become fluent until living here for 6 months but I could make myself understood when I moved here, which enabled me to develop friendships with British people and therefore to improve my English skills. English is now my first language, I think and dream in English.

I have learnt a few other languages but not to fluency. I did Spanish as my second foreign language at school and 5 years of it equated to me barely being able to ask for my way when I went there. I did Russian as my second foreign language at Uni and I can barely read the alphabet now.

Since then, I have taught myself a bit of Italian (through having an Italian flatmate and learning it from her), German and Japanese. I like using Berlitz books as it gives a structure to my learning. I agree about not spending a lot of money but equally, I don't expect to spend nothing at all. I just pick and choose the way I spend my money and as I said, Berlitz books with CDs have worked well for me (especially for Japanese).

The internet is great, you can watch foreign TV, I rent out a lot of foreign films as well and of course, going on holidays to said countries is the ultimate way to improve your fluency.

I think it comes down to motivation. English, Spanish and Russian were taught to me in the same manner, yet the results were vastly different. This is because I did Spanish and Russian for the wrong reasons: I did Spanish because we had to pick one and at my school, most kids picked Spanish. I did Russian at Uni because if we picked the language we had done at school (Spanish in my case), we were expected to have a certain level I didn't have. If we picked an "exotic" language, we just had to turn up to classes to pass. In fact, I had no interest in neither Spanish nor Russian and thus no motivation.

I think the method doesn't really matter as long as you have the motivation so you should go along with the method that gets you excited. If you think it exciting to pay for classes so you can meet other people trying to learn the language, then go for it. If you find it exciting to listen to a CD on your way to work, then go with it. If you find it exciting to use flash cards to learn vocabulary, go with it. We always learn better when we have fun

[rocksupreme]

Originally Posted by KazeCraven

Question: How much does this apply to languages that are completely different in structure, like Japanese or Chinese or Arabic?

Pretty well for Japanese. But I would do some things a bit differently.

Since the alphabets are so different, it's useful to just go ahead and memorize as much as possible. This sounds counterintuitive, but it makes learning the language much easier. There are two phonetic alphabets which mastering will help you learn proper pronunciation. Learning the (somewhat) ideographic alphabet is the single best thing you can do to make vocabulary acquisition simple and effective.

As for speaking, I agree with most of the points. A language tape from the library can be useful (though the examples tend to be stilted and only marginally useful). The two most vital things you will need are a strong desire and people with whom to practice.

The advice about mastering verbs is excellent, and verbs are the most important component of meaning in Japanese (especially informal Japanese).