Learning New Languages

Sometimes I think the way language courses are structured are backwards. When we're learning our first language we don't study grammar and verb conjugation. Instead our parents teach us vocabulary and lots of it. Along the way, we misuse it and are corrected and that grammar is solidified as we improve our use of the language.

That is the self study method that I've tried to emulate when studying new languages on my own. I many times will pick up a general guide to a language so that I can learn some basics. Most books or book and audio courses though only give you a structure to work from, you have to fill in a lot of the rest of the work on your own.

One of the big tasks you will need to undertake is learning vocabulary. When I initially started my self study process for studying languages I focused on tv content and reading. I tried not to get bogged down with words I didn't know, but would pick a book that I was familiar with in English. Over time I started to learn meanings for words just by their usage.

If I were starting out again I would have been making use of spaced repetition software all along. Spaced repetition software or SRS is note card software. I'm sure that you remember making use of notecards in school to memorize facts for tests. Well, the SRS software is more sophisticated than that.

Scientists have learned that the secret to moving information to long term memory is something called spaced repetition. In other words seeing a fact once today puts it into short term memory. Seeing it again tomorrow reinforces that and the next day, then two days later. At this point, it's starting to be made long term. Finally the spaces between seeing facts are gradually spread out. It's said that it would then only take seeing some given fact like a vocabulary word once in five years to keep it fresh for another five years.

Popular titles of spaced recognition software are Mnemosyne and Anki. I personally use Mnemosyne more and have a database with a few thousand words in it. Each time now that I read in a book or newspaper or hear a new word on TV I will record the word with it's definition in the database and that way it gets added into my routine for learning.

Since I've added the spaced repetition software into my routine I've noticed my vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds. Now, I'm comfortable that I know multiple ways of saying some of the same things.

Studying a new language is not something you do in one weekend and then you're finished. Studying a new language is a long term goal. I set five years for myself to spend looking at one language. I feel as though I've achieved a decent level of fluency in that language after five years.

Since there is a great long term time commitment you should have very good motivation for learning a language. Otherwise, you may set yourself up for failure out of the starting gates. Don't build up obstacles for yourself like "I never learned it in High School so I just can't learn another language." Anyone is capable of learning a language if they've first learned their native tongue.

Once you've made a certain amount of progress in your vocabulary, try to branch out and find more materials in your new language to start testing and improving on what you have already learned.

If you continue to follow this guide you will become more fluent in your chosen new language. Good luck!

You might be interested in taking a look at my Study New Languages site where I give more detail on specific languages and many of the resources available online.