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Why To Learn A Foreign Language
You can fester in bad emotions all you want but there's only one cure to ennui, and that's to get off your butt and do something - anything that nourishes the mind, body and spirit. Learning languages happens to be one of those amazing things that color the canvas of life. Most people, unfortunately, are intimidated by a foreign language. It's not their fault. I blame schools. Indeed! What better way to make learning a foreign language utterly mundane than to stuff kids into a classroom they're already in reluctantly, and force them to learn grammar and vocabulary as if shadowboxing prepares you for a fight. The answer to learning any language quickly, brilliantly and fluently is to speak. This is the heart of language learning and you must begin speaking right from the start and speak whenever you have the opportunity. Everybody who thinks they suck at languages is wrong. Nobody sucks at languages. At least not to the point that they couldn't learn it in the right environment. And what is the right environment? The NATIVE environment! That's right, immersion - even simulated immersion - is the absolute best way to begin speaking a foreign languages rapidly. All of your emotions will be in high gear as your mind works overtime to compute the sheer novelty of your new environment. Imagine going to France and having to get around reliably. This need will force you to learn some French QUICK! Putting pressure on ourselves is a fantastic way to grow and continually challenge assumptions about the world. Second to pure immersion is simulated immersion. Simulated immersion can be achieved by engineering your surroundings, inputs and social life so that you are almost always hearing and speaking your target language. I did this when I was learning Portuguese in the States. I watched all of my movies in Portuguese. I even watched The Simpsons in Portuguese (os simpsons). I hung out with the Brazilians at work as much as possible and had a few beers with them at a barbecue. I went to all the Portuguese classes, even those I wasn't signed up for, just to be able to chat with my professor as much as possible. I also signed up for Mixxer and downloaded Skype and immediately made friends with several Brazilians and began video chatting with them regularly. This isn't to pat myself on the back. It's to show you the lengths you sometimes need to go to in order to achieve a goal. Since peacing out to Brazil wasn't an option at the time, this was needed to be done to learn Portuguese. So I got er done. Another crucial facet to simulated immersion is to actively GROW your technical language skills by reading and using language software such as Rocket Languages which I used to learn German via Rocket German If you DO decide to use language learning software, make sure to read up on the reviews. I mean, if you were learning to sing, you'd do your homework about singing software wouldn't you? As you can see, trying to learn languages the old fashioned way is a stupid, boring waste of time. I know it, you know it, and everybody else knows it. The only way to really learn and retain a language is to SPEAK as often as possible right from the get go and you, my friend, will be golden. Boa Sorte! Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Giancarlo is a professor of linguistics in Southern California and an avid language learner. |
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