How to Learn Foreign Languages

Once upon a time shortly after WWII (1949), in a small rural town in Central California, USA a baby was born to a middle class family. The mother was a teacher, the father a builder of houses. The mother only spoke English, as did her whole family. The father only spoke English, as did his whole family. But the baby ,(Buddy, they called him, because he seem to be everyone's little friend... little buddy)seemed to pick up strange words, not only from the neighborhood migrant children, but also from what he heard on the radio and TV.
After graduating from high school, Buddy moved to Mexico to live with a Mexican family. Spanish quickly became his second language and made him desire to learn other languages, the more the better.
When Buddy, now Bud, entered the military,the aptitude tests confirmed what his family and friends had known for a long time...that he had an uncanny ability to pick up foreign languages.
Bud was sent to the Defense Language Institute to learn Vietnamese and was an interpreter for the US Navy for the next four years. While stationed temporarily in the Philippine Islands, he quickly learned Tagalog, the national language. His facility in Tagalog caused him to quickly become a favorite in the Filipino community.
After being discharged from the military, he went to college and majored in Linguistics, the study of languages. There, he studied Japanese, Mandarin, French, Portuguese and American Sign Language, used in communicating with the deaf.
Always looking for newer ways and methods of learning foreign languages, he bought courses that promised overnight success. Some were easier and some were harder. Traveling the globe brought more languages under his belt. It seemed that the more languages he studied, the more his thirst for language learning became.
Now, he is prepared to share what worked and what didn't, what was easy and fun, and what was too boring. This site is a result of that desire. Come back often.