How Can I Learn Language?

SET GOALS!

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You should never attempt to become fluent. If you set the right goals, you will wake up one morning having dreamed in the language you are learning. Then you will realize the progress you've made from not knowing the difference between a verb and frog. Fluency comes in stages.

What are the "right" goals? That's easy. Answer these questions.

  1. How much time do you have to commit to learning this language?
  2. How much pressure are you under to learn the language? Where is the pressure coming from? Who do you have to please? What's at stake?
  3. What resources do you have available for answering the question: How can I learn Language?
  4. How do the answers to these three questions affect your perseverance?

Set your goals to fit your answers.

If you are putting yourself under pressure to learn a language, set the following goals.

How Can I Learn Language: Vocabulary & Grammar

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Choose a specific number of words to learn each week. Choose the most used words in that language. Usually that will be greetings and identity (who are you) words. Do not learn isolated words. Memorize them in sentences.

If you choose to use flashcards, again, do not learn isolated words. You will forget them too easily without a context. If you use a phone app, the same advice applies.

Buy a grammar book with exercises. Set a daily or weekly time goal. Not too high. Consistency is more important than the amount of time or your level of intelligence. Remember: children learn languages by repetition, not by having a super brain. Read and study the text and do the exercises. Repeat a chapter or part of a chapter until you're comfortable moving on. At this stage of "How Can I Learn Language," depth of learning is more important than width. It's not about how far you get; its about about how much really soaks in. As you embed the grammar exercises in your brain, future lessons will come easier.

If you use an online resource, make sure that it fits where you are now: beginning, middle, advanced. I've been using Rocket Languages to study Italian, and I love the pace. The conversations, not the vocabulary, are quality. Yes, there are other online resources that are good. If I could live to be 500 years old, I would learn every language that Rocket Languages puts out.

How Can I Learn Language:
Reading

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Start reading phrases and short sentences out loud at the very beginning of your journey. If someone else is in the room, go outside. As you progress, read more. Don't focus on the amount of reading, but the slow pronunciation of each word and the comprehension of the entire phrase or sentence. Many languages do not use English word order.

English is an SVO language, which means Subject-Verb-Object. "John called the dog." "The dog called John" doesn't have the same meaning. Other SVO languages include Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese and Swahili.

In Korean, a person can say "he a dog called," which is correct grammar for Korean.

Some languages use the VSO pattern: Verb-Subject-Object. Like Arabic: "Called he the dog."

In English, "He came home," is "He home came," in German (Er ist nach Hause gekommen."

Don't expect the word order to be the same as English, even if it is. Just memorize the sentences as they are in the language of your choice. Eventually, you will begin to feel comfortable with the word order without even realizing it.

How Can I Learn Language:
Listening

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Listen to music in your language. Find the lyrics and read them aloud while listening. You will be amazed at how much sticks in your brain from listening to music. Depending on the kind of music you like, try and find music that clearly enunciates the words. Finding those songs might not be easy. Be careful about listening to music in a dialect of a language. That will confuse you, at first.

Correct pronunciation: "I am going to town."

Accent/Dialect: "I'm goin' t' town."

Almost every language has dialects because people are lazy.

As you get more advanced, listen to podcasts and audio books  in your target language.

Watch videos WITH SUBTITLES. Don't worry about the flow of the movie. Just listen and read.

We are moving into the more difficult aspect of language learning. Reading and Listening, which are more passive activities, are the doorway to Writing and Speaking, which are more active activities. Reading and Listening are hard work, because you take taking them and absorbing them. You're not producing anything. Writing and Speaking require output, which contains more errors. Don't give up.

How Can I Learn Language:
Writing

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Begin by writing out the exercises in your grammar book. That is the overall best way to begin your career of writing in your new language.

Find a way to connect and make friends with people who speak your new language fluently. Its best if they actually live in the country of that language. Start emailing them and using phrases and sentences in their language. Ask them to correct your grammar. Does your new country have access to social media?

How Can I Learn Language:
Speaking

You need to begin speaking from the very start. That's the advantage of a program like Rocket Languages. They start out having you repeat phrases in the very first lesson. Don't slide over those phrases. You need as much practice speaking out loud as you can get.

Rocket Languages also uses native speakers in pairs. Two people speaking to each other, like real conversations. I've never had trouble talking to myself, but I've found it difficult correcting one of me in those conversations!

How Can I Learn Language:
Culture

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Begin reading in your mother language about the history of the country and people of your new language. This will further encourage and inspire you to persevere. Choose your favorite subject to read about: dancing, rock climbing, literature, music, hunting, the economy, travel destination, ham radio, movies. As you read about your favorite subjects in your own language, you'll find that you want to know how to say some things in your new language.

Don't choose a boring subject. Read what you enjoy. If you ever visit the country of your new language, you will want to connect with those people who have similar interests.

If you are an order fanatic, keep a journal of what you've learned. Write your journal notes in your new language.

How Can I Learn Language:
Summary

  1. Start small.
  2. Set goals.
  3. Don't get in a hurry.
  4. Don't quit.
  5. Get help from a native speaker and learn to laugh at yourself a lot.

If your boss requires you to become fluent in your new language in a month, change jobs.

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