Everyone dreams of a native-like proficiency in multiple languages. The only obstacle is the HOW issue. Want to do it for free and in record time! This article is your way in...
In fact, this article contains TONS of amazing resources I have never even knew existed, including the best free apps and websites for becoming fluent in record time. Want to find a native speaker to help you for $5 per hour? Free resources and memory tricks? It’s all here.
This is what we all need!! so I hope you enjoy it!
You are either born with the language-learning gene, or you aren’t. Luck of the draw, right? At least, that’s what most people believe. I think you can stack the deck in your favor. Years ago, I was a language learning girl myself. The worst in my Italian class in college, being only able to read some detached words on sheets, and even after four entire years learning Italian, I could barely muster up the courage to chat to my Dad, or practice with a mate.
But this is about the point when I had an epiphany, changed my approach, and then succeeded not only in learning Italian, but in getting to learn other languages one of which Turkish nowadays.
It turns out, there is no language-learning gene, but there are TOOLS and tricks for faster learning…
As a “polyglot”; someone who speaks multiple languages, my world has opened up. I have gained access to people and places that I never otherwise could have reached. I’ve become able to chat to people easily, read and watch series and movies without subtitles and even grasp words and expressions easily.
Such wonderful experiences are well within the reach of many of you. So! Let’s get Started!
#1 – Learn the right words, the right way.
Starting a new language means learning new words. Lots of them. Of course, many people cite a bad memory for learning new vocab, so they quit before even getting started.
But–here’s the key–you absolutely do NOT need to know all the words of a language to speak it (and in fact, you don’t know all the words of your mother tongue either). Thus, you realize that 20% of the effort you spend on acquiring new vocab could ultimately give you 80% comprehension in a language. For instance, in English just 300 words make up 65% of all written material. We use those words a lot, and that’s the case in every other language as well.
#2 – Learn cognates: your friend in every single language.
Believe it or not, you already—right now—have a huge head start in your target language. With language learning you always know at least some words before you ever begin. Starting a language “from scratch” is essentially impossible because of the vast amount of words you know already through cognates. Cognates are “true friends” of words you recognize from your native language that mean the same thing in another language. For instance, Romance languages like Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and others have many words in common with English. English initially “borrowed them” from the Norman conquest of England, which lasted several hundreds of years. Action, nation, precipitation, solution, frustration, tradition, communication, extinction, and thousands of other -tion words are spelled exactly the same in French, and you can quickly get used to the different pronunciation. Change that -tion to a -tion and you have the same words in French. For Italian, it is -zione
That’s all well and good for European languages, but what about more distant ones?…
Well, it turns out that even languages as different as Japanese can have heaps of very familiar vocabulary too. This is because many languages simply borrow English words and integrate them into the new language with altered pronunciation or stress.
So to make my life easy when I start learning a language, one of the first word lists I try to consume is a list of “cognates,” or “English loan words,” which can be found quickly for pretty much any language.
#3 – Interact in your language daily without traveling.
Another reason (or excuse, depending on how you look at it) people cite for not learning languages is that they can’t visit a country where it’s a native language. No time, no money, etc.
Take it from me—there is nothing “in the air” in another country that will magically make you able to speak their language. I’ve known countless expats who lived abroad for years without learning the local language. Living abroad and being immersed is not the same thing. If you need to hear and use a language consistently to be immersed, can’t virtual immersion be just as effective? Of course. Technology makes it possible for immersion to come to you, and you don’t even have to buy a plane ticket.
To HEAR the language consistently spoken, you can check out TuneIn.com for a vast selection of live-streamed radio from your country of choice. The app (free) also has a list of streamed radio stations ordered by language.
To READ the language consistently, in addition to the news sites listed above, you can find cool blogs and other popular sites on Alexa’s ranking of top sites per country.
#4 – Skype today for daily spoken practice.
So you’ve been listening to,watching , and even reading in your target language—and all in the comfort of your own home. Now it’s time for the big one: speaking it live with a native.
One of my more controversial pieces of advice, but one that I absolutely insist on when I advise beginners, is that you must speak the language right away if your goals in the target language involve speaking it. Most traditional approaches or language systems don’t work this way, and I think that’s where they let their students down. I say, there are seven days in a week and “some day” is not one of them. Here’s what I suggest instead:
Use the pointers I’ve given above to learn some basic vocabulary, and be aware of some words you already know. Do this for a few hours, and then set up an exchange with a native speaker—someone who has spoken that language their whole life. You only have to learn a little for your first conversation, but if you use it immediately, you’ll see what’s missing and can add on from there. You can’t study in isolation until you are vaguely “ready” for interaction.
In those first few hours, I’d recommend learning some pleasantries such as “Hello,” “Thank you,” “Could you repeat that?” or “I don’t understand,”
But wait—where do you find a native speaker if you aren’t in the country that speaks that language?
No problem! Thousands of native speakers are ready and waiting for you to talk to them right now. You can get private lessons for peanuts by taking advantage of currency differences. My favorite site for finding natives is italki.com
If you still think you wouldn’t be ready on day one, then consider this: starting on Skype allows you to ease yourself in gently by having anoother window (or application, like Word) open during your conversation, already loaded with key words that you can use for quick reference until you internalize them. You can even reference Google Translate or a dictionary for that language while you chat, so you can learn new words as you go, when you need them. Is this “cheating”? No. The goal is to learn to be functional, not to imitate old traditional methods.
Many have used that a lot and then were able to speak on TEDex. I consider that a win!
#5 – Save your money. The best resources are free.
Other than paying for the undivided attention of a native speaker, I don’t see why you’d need to spend hundreds of dollars on anything in language learning. But there is great stuff out there. A wonderful and completely free course that keeps getting better is DuoLingo – which I highly recommend for its selection of European languages currently on offer, with more on the way. To really get you started on the many options available to help you learn your language without spending a penny, let me offer other (good) alternative: BBC Languages. But wait, there’s more. You can get further completely free language help on:
- The huge database on Forvo, to hear any word or small expression in many languages read aloud by a native of the language
- Rhinospike to make requests of specific phrases you’d like to hear pronounced by a native speaker. If you can’t find something on either of these sites, Google Translate has a text-to-speech option for many languages.
The possibilities for free practice are endless.
#6 – Realize that adults are actually better language learners than kids.
Now that you’re armed with a ton of resources to get started, let’s tackle the biggest problem. Not grammar, not vocabulary, not a lack of resources, but handicapping misconceptions about your own learning potential. The most common “I give up” misconception is: I’m too old to become fluent.
I’m glad to be the bearer of good news and tell you that research has confirmed that adults can be better language learners than kids. A study at the University of Haifa found that under the right circumstances, adults show an intuition for unexplained grammar rules better than their younger counterparts. Also, no study has ever shown any direct correlation between reduced language acquisition skill and increased age. There is only a general downward trend in language acquisition in adults, which is probably more dependent on environmental factors that can be changed (e.g. long job hours that crowd out study time). Because honestly: “Babies aren’t better language learners than you; they just have no escape routes.”
#7 – Embrace mistakes.
Over half of the planet speaks more than one language. This means that monolingualism is a cultural, not a biological, consequence. So when adults fail at language learning, it’s not because they don’t have the right genes or other such nonsense. It’s because the system they have used to learn languages is broken. Traditional teaching methods treat language learning just like any other academic subject, based on an approach that has barely changed since the days when Charles Dickens was learning Latin. The differences between your native language (L1) and your target language (L2) are presented as vocabulary and grammar rules to memorize. The traditional idea: know them “all” and you know the language. It seems logical enough, right?
The problem is that you can’t ever truly “learn” a language, you get used to it. It’s not a thing that you know or don’t know; it’s a means of communication between human beings. Languages should not be acquired by rote alone—they need to be used. The way you do this as a beginner is to use everything you do know with emphasis on communication rather than on perfection. This is the pivotal difference. Sure, you could wait until you are ready to say “Excuse me kind sir, could you direct me to the nearest bathroom?” but “Bathroom where?” actually conveys the same essential information, only removing superfluous pleasantries. You will be forgiven for this directness, because it’s always obvious that you are a learner. Don’t worry about upsetting native speakers for being so “bold” as to speak to them in their own language.
One of the best things you can do in the initial stages is not to try to get everything perfect, but to embrace making mistakes. I go out of my way to make at least 200 mistakes a day! This way I know I am truly using and practicing the language.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire