One of the most important things to learn about foreign language is the skill of listening for context clues. As a non-native speaker it will be quite difficult to comprehend full sentences when conversing with a native speaker.
A couple years ago, when I was visiting Paris with my mother and father, my mother and I wandered into one of the larger cemeteries in Paris (unfortunately, I cannot remember which) because she wanted to visit the grave of an author she remembered from her childhood. While I was proficient in the French language, I was not near fluent; when I asked for directions from a kind gentleman, I found that he spoke so quickly that I could not understand him! Luckily, I had learned to listen for context clues.
As the gentleman spoke I listened for words like, “right” and “left”, and I kept a good watch on his body language and hand gestures. Without these context clues, I would never have been able to navigate the cemetery (though, we still didn’t manage to locate the grave).
Most teachers of foreign language start out by teaching how to ask for directions, or perhaps asking questions about items in a store or things around the house. Though this is surely good practice, it is not preparation for actually being able to use the language in order to get around and actually converse with the native speakers.
One important thing to learn is that listening is important. Watch movies, listen to audio books, or even talk to fellow students in the language you’re learning; it is very important to actually listen. Teachers can teach you to speak well, but there is no sense in speaking if you cannot listen and understand the people you are speaking to.
As you browse the site, make sure to listen to audio I have provided; while I may not be a native speaker, I can give you an idea of what something should sound like. If you listen enough, then maybe you will be prepared when conversing with someone in another country.
Tags: Learn Language, tips
When your goal is to learn a foreign language without hard work, you’ll need to find ways to incorporate that language into your daily routine. Here are a list of ways that you can do this:
- Make Flash Cards. Flash cards are a great way to pick up a foreign language quickly! They will help you to learn vocabulary much faster than you would by studying a book or trying to memorize a list. Also, it helps to use pictures on the flash cards that represent whatever the flash card says! That way you will be able to relate the word to life easier.
Use flash cards to learn to speak the Spanish language quickly.
- Impromptu Translation. After you’ve been using the flash cards for awhile, try to incorporate the words into everyday life. For example, when you see a cat, try to think to yourself, “The cat in French is le chat.” This will help you later when you are conversing with another person in the foreign language. (Note: Drache noted that ideally, you should instinctively think ‘un chat’ when you see a cat; I entirely agree and this is the ultimate goal of this technique.)
- Foreign Language Forums. Visiting a forum dedicated to native speakers of a foreign language can greatly help your language abilities. While at first it may be very difficult to understand anything that is said, it will become easier with time.
- Audio Books or Television. Watching television in a foreign language is a great way to get used to hearing the correct sounds! Audio books can also be quite helpful too, as you will want to ensure that your pronunciation matches that of a native speaker. Learning to write a foreign language without learning to speak it correctly can be quite embarrassing!
By using these tricks frequently, you’ll never need to actually memorize a long list of verbs or nouns; you’ll find that you keep track of them just by looking at the flash cards regularly, or by listening to an audio book while you work.
Tags: tips
The concept of learning a new language can be quite daunting, especially if you don’t even know which language you want to learn! Choosing a language from a culture that interests you is very important. Here’s a breakdown of some of the languages of western Europe:
Aleppo Codex
- Romance languages. This includes western european languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian. All of these languages are based upon Vulgar Latin. While many beginners choose to learn the Spanish language, any of these are good second languages to pick up.
- Germanic languages. Germanic languages are spoken mostly in northern and eastern Europe; languages such as English, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, German, and Norwegian are Germanic. Though some of these languages prove to be difficult to pronounce for English speakers, they are not overly difficult to learn. German in particular is very common for beginning students of foreign language.
- Slavic languages. This includes languages of eastern Europe and Asia such as Russian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, and Ukranian. These languages are often regarded as being too difficult for a first foreign language, but that isn’t true! While they are more difficult than Romance languages due to the separate alphabet, most students of language find learning the alphabet to be the easiest part. (Note: Drache noted that Slavic languages also tend to be heavily inflected, making them even more difficult to pick up for a beginner.)
- Semitic languages. The most common Semitic languages are Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, and Hebrew and they are most common in eastern Europe, northern Africa, and Asia. Like Slavic languages, most of these languages have alphabets separate from the Romance languages.
Those are the primary language groups of western Europe; now for a breakdown of common Asian languages:
- Sino-Tibetan languages. These languages are some of the most common Asian languages. This group includes Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tibetan. Due to the fact that many of these languages rely heavily on inflection, they are not among the easiest languages for a beginner. They also share a large alphabet of over 40,000 characters. While they may not be the easiest, students of foreign language should not let that dissaude them from learning the language.
- Japonic languages. Japonic languages are most common around the nation of Japan. There is a lot of dispute about whether they are true separate languages, or merely dialects. These languages, like Sino-Tibetan languages, have a massive alphabet and thus are much harder to pick up than Romance languages.
There are many more languages in this world that I have not covered! You should use this as a starting point to discover what you would most enjoy in a foreign language. Here are a couple handy links:
Wikipedia is a great resource for learning about language, but there are many other great resources out there. Always be on the look-out for new things to learn and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Tags: tips
