Language News

Meet Our Guest Author

I’m Alex Rawlings, I’m 21 years old and I study German and Russian at Oxford University. I’ve always loved learning languages, and last year I was named Britain’s most multilingual student in a competition after being tested for fluency in eleven different languages. It doesn’t stop at eleven though, I have plans to learn plenty more! I have recently set up a YouTube channel and am keeping a blog at www.rawlangs.com. In this article and accompanying video I hope to answer some of the questions that you might have about language learning and my own experiences of it. Enjoy!

Learning languages – most of us have tried to, many of us want to, all of us need to, but why is it that it can so often seem like an impossible task? And why are some people better at it than others?

There is one simple explanation – method. How far I’ve managed to get with languages is not because I’m gifted or was born with any special talent. Linguists have proved time and time again that that just isn’t a thing. It’s down to the fact that I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I’ve had plenty of trial and error to work out where I’ve been going wrong and what I’ve been doing right. I know now what I enjoy and what I find boring. I think that definitely by the time you’re moving onto your fourth or fifth language, you should already have a pretty clear idea of how to motivate yourself and how you to get results.

This article is about the journey of language learning: what to do, what to expect, and where you can hope it’ll take you. Before we get started though, there are a few things I’d like to set out first. I’ve written more extensively about some of the reasons for these on my blog (www.rawlangs.com), but this is the mind-set I think you need to get started:

1. Language learning never stops. Learning is an eternal process: no matter how far we come, there will always be more to know.
2. Forget about fluency for a bit. For our purposes, fluency is the ability to form sentences independently and spontaneously, and once we’re doing that, we’re speaking the language. You can concentrate on ‘perfecting’ it later.
3. Don’t worry about any letters or any numbers, and don’t use these to measure your ‘fluency’. Qualifications and certificates are a whole different kettle of fish, and are not that relevant at this stage.

Now let’s get going. The world of languages awaits.

Stage 1: Pick a language

We know we’re in this for the long haul, so let’s not make this decision lightly. We need to work out why we want to learn a language, and how we’re going to use it. Have we got friends and family that speak it? Will it help us in our working lives? Did we go on holiday and fall in love with somewhere (or someone), or are planning to make a trip there? Whatever the reasons, we need to have them. Don’t just learn a language because you started it at school. This is your chance to break free, make your own choices and discover your own worlds. Put to rest those painful memories of being cooped up in classrooms on Friday afternoons learning être and avoir.

Stage 2: Set goals 

You never leave the house and just drive for a few hours if you’re hoping to get somewhere in particular. Likewise, we can’t go on our language adventure without some idea of where we’d like it to take us. Have a sit down and work out at what point you will be satisfied with what you have achieved. Will you be happy with a smattering of phrases and handful of verbs? Do you want to just cover most of the grammar and see what happens next? Or will you not rest until you’re watching the news, running a business, and writing a novel in your new second tongue? This is also a good opportunity to decide how much time you’re going to be able to dedicate to studying, and how often. The ideal that I aim for is an hour a day, 3-4 days a week, but I break that up between around 15 minutes in the morning, half an hour in the afternoon, and another 15 minutes in the evening to keep things fresh and interesting.

Stage 3: Make a start

Start listening to the language. Find podcasts, watch YouTube videos, listen to music, take advantage of the vast wealth of free language resources available on the internet these days. This is your ‘try before you buy’ period, and use it to get used to the sound of the language: the rhythm, the pronunciation, and the intonation. Learn some basic phrases like how to greet someone and ask how they are. This will give you a great head start before you really get going. Make a real effort to try and learn those first few phrases and that should give you the confidence to go on to learn more. This is also a perfect time to make sure that you like the language, and if not, to go back and choose another.

Stage 4: Get a course 

We’re wading into serious territory now. There are plenty of inexpensive, well-written courses available on Amazon and at the bookstore. If you don’t want to spend money, your local library will probably have a surprisingly good selection. Strike a balance between picking out the bits that you find the most relevant for your language goals, but also trust in the course’s ability to guide you through it all.  Personally I don’t focus too much on vocab at this stage – that becomes a lot easier once you’ve got a better grasp of how the language works. Try and keep to your work schedule, but take things easy. Languages are fun, remember! It’s really important to take breaks to let everything sink in as well. Make sure you’ve looked over everything as many times as possible before you move on to the next units. My acid test is to make sure I can completely understand the dialogues just by listening to them, and that I can form my own sentences with the new vocabulary I’ve learnt. But don’t forget: you’re not performing magic, you’re learning, and that needs patience!

Stage 5: Extra material 

You’ve reached this stage when you’re starting to feel confident with what you’ve learnt so far. You’re getting a clear idea of the basic structures, you’ve got a decent vocabulary of 100-150 words, and it’s time to start supplementing your course with some independent learning. Find kids’ TV shows on YouTube, read children’s stories online, get hold of anything that can provide you with clear and basic vocabulary for you to learn as well. It might also be time to make more of a push for vocabulary now, so you can talk about more topics and put to use your knowledge of grammar.

Stage 6: Navigate your first mid-language crisis

Unfortunately this happens. I get these when I’ve started to get a good knowledge of the present, past and future tenses, a decent vocabulary, and can have basic conversations with a native speaker. At this point you might become complacent and get bored with the language. You might think that you’ve done enough to get by in the situations that you’ll need it for. But don’t be fooled. You’re only half way there. Think about making some changes to your schedule, tackling some new topics, remind yourself of the goals you set out in Stage 2 and work out what you’ll have to do to get there. In an ideal world, you’d also move onto Stage 7.

Stage 7: Visit the country

Obviously this can be easier or harder for you depending on where you live and your financial situation, but it is an essential pilgrimage for every serious language learner. It’s also your reward: see how your new language skills make everything easier from taxi journeys to restaurants, from bizarre transport announcements to chance acquaintances. Be prepared to hear words and phrases that your course never told you about (but don’t be angry at it! It really did have your best interests at heart.) Learn the limits of what you’ve achieved so far, and use that as your inspiration to go on to learn more. Sure, you can buy a metro ticket and ask for directions to the post office, but can you talk to locals like you could back home? You’ve got a foot in the door of your new culture, but are you really in the club?

If a foreign trip is really out of the question, check out some of the numerous free language exchange websites. You’ll find someone to exchange emails with, maybe have a few chats with on Skype, and that’ll be invaluable for making sure you’re not going wrong with your learning!

Stage 8: The confidence plateau

This is similar to Stage 6, but it’s reached at a much more advanced point in our studies. Let’s say you’ve finished your course and you now feel like you can speak the language fairly well. You can even talk about exciting topics such as the environment. This is the point where many people might just put their feet up and decide that they can leave making further progress to simple osmosis. But now is not a time to stall. We need to be much cleverer about how we approach our learning, and remember that we are nowhere near finished. Remember, language learning never stops: there’s always more to learn. It’s now all down to the crucial next two stages. These are what will take us that extra mile.

Stage 9: Immerse yourself in film, TV and news

We can stop watching just the kids’ stuff now and start becoming proper grown-ups in our new language. Watch soaps, watch chat shows, watch the news. If you don’t have a satellite connection, there is still plenty available online. Pay attention to how the language used varies in those different contexts. Take advantage of the range of different topics that are discussed, and think of other words that you’d find useful to know. Keep a good dictionary and a notepad next to you and write down, say, 10-20 new words each time, and crucially, the context in which you heard them. Go away and learn these, then come back and do it again.

Stage 10: Read literature, do translations and writing exercises

We are so close to the pinnacle now. You’ve got a big vocabulary, sturdy grammar and a good familiarity with the culture (particularly through Stages 7 and 9). This is your motivation to keep going. Start reading literature. If possible, pick a book you’ve already read in translation in English and that you know well (and really like). Don’t start looking up every unfamiliar word unless you’ve got a death wish, just look up those that are vital for understanding what’s going on, so you enjoy reading it. Again, write them down and learn them as in Stage 9. Many e-books are free, and e-readers can often be installed with dictionaries that will tell you what words mean as you go along. Reading isn’t for everyone though, and it also isn’t everything. Have a go at translating newspaper articles, speeches and things on Wikipedia both into and out of your target language. Play around with nuances of meaning and different registers. Go online onto one of the huge language learning community sites and find someone to check it all over for you. Equally, set yourself writing exercises: try keeping a short diary in your new language, write opinion pieces, obituaries, anything that’ll get you using advanced vocabulary. Initially this stage is hard ­– you’ll find you need words that you’d never hear or use in speech normally. But this is also the most rewarding part. By now you can proudly and deservedly take your seat, and conduct the rest of your studies from the warmth and comfort of the inside of the language club.

By Lizzie Davey

Lots of people think learning a language is a lonely process that is all about dry textbooks and memorizing phrases that you would never use in a real situation, but this is simply not the case! In fact, learning a language can be a very social (and fun) task if you know where to look.

It’s amazing how many people put off speaking in their target language because they don’t think they are ‘ready’. Chances are, you’re probably never going to be ready, so practicing getting your tongue around the intonation, accent, and sounds is something you should be doing from the start.

Yes, it can be daunting speaking to people who know the language so well; you might be scared that you won’t be understood, embarrassed that you’ll use the wrong word, or just plain frustrated if you can’t get your point across. In all honesty, you’ll probably feel all of these emotions at some point when chatting with a native-speaker, but that’s all part of the learning process. Once you realize that no one is going to laugh at you for trying and that there are many ways to get your point across, you’ll soon see your confidence blossoming as you learn from your mistakes and go from strength to strength.

If you’re not in a native-speaking country, though, it can be difficult to find people to talk with. If you live in a large enough town or city, though, there will be loads of people who will be willing to connect with you. If you are serious about getting sociable with your language learning, here are some ideas for you to try out.

Couch-surfing

The word “couch-surf”  has become a well-known verb over the last couple of years as the act of couch-surfing has hit the big time. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a site that you can sign up to and pose your interest in accepting guests to stay on your sofa or to pose your interest in staying as a guest on others’ sofas. It is a great way to meet people, as hosts usually double-up as city guides and show you all the local hotspots. If you are visiting your target language’s native-speaking country, this is an invaluable tool to use, particularly if you want to get under the skin of the place. However, you can also use it for meeting people in your area and, with the in-depth search settings, can find people who speak your target language.

Study or Work Abroad

One of the best ways you can learn a language is to surround yourself with it all day, every day. This means spending an extended amount of time in a native-speaking country. Money or time might prove to be an issue for you, but there are usually solutions. Take working abroad, for example; not only will you meet native-speakers in your place of work, but you will be enhancing your career prospects at the same time. And studying abroad? Well, you’ll be meeting like-minded students, many of whom will be native speakers, and still gaining credits for your course and improving your resume at the same time.

Intercambio Sessions

Intercambio sessions refer to a meet up of people who speak two different languages. For example, you might come across a Spanish and English Intercambio evening where native Spanish speakers turn up to learn English and vice versa. The atmosphere tends to be very relaxed and casual, especially when the drinks start flowing, and it’s a great way to make native-speaking friends who you can then meet up with outside of the Intercambio session.

The best immersion environments are natural social hangouts

Cultural Events

Festivals and other similar events related to the culture of your target language are a great way to semi-immerse yourself. Not only is it highly likely that a number of native-speakers will be there for you to get chatting to, but you can find out more about the customs, traditions, food, and arts of the culture, which ultimately helps you gain a better understanding of the language itself. These events might not be highly publicised in a non-native speaking country, but if you do some asking around and trawling on the internet, you will almost certainly be able to find somewhere that is celebrating.

Film Evenings

Foreign films are a great (and fun) way to practice your target language. Take it a step further, though, and invite fellow language learners to join you for an evening of films. If you want, choose to watch it with English subtitles, but don’t rely on these too heavily; familiarize yourself with the way your target language sounds and the sentence structures instead. For an extra special touch, discuss the film afterwards without using any English.

Start a language group

There are loads of languages classes you can choose from where you can meet like-minded learners which are great for getting to grips with grammar and learning the technical details.  In addition to this, you can set up your own language group that focuses on getting out and about and doing stuff related to your target language. Choose some fun activities to do, like going to a theme park or a museum, and remind everyone that English is banned for the duration.

One-on-One lessons

In between language classes, you might want to arrange some one-on-one tutoring sessions with a native speaker so you can improve your conversational skills. A great way to do this is to find someone who wants to learn English and do a language exchange with them, where half of the lesson focuses on teaching you your target language and the other half centers on your partner and teaching them English.

Join a Book Club

Even if you’re not in your target language’s native speaking country, you should be able to find a book club with native-speakers in any large town or city. Doing this encourages you to read books in the language and then discuss them afterwards, much like the film evening concept.

Social Networking

The internet is one of the best ways to connect with native-speakers of your target language and like-minded learners. There are a multitude of online games and sites where you can find people who want to do a language exchange via Skype or other means. However, you can also follow a few feeds on Twitter that are in your target language, or you could connect with native speakers on Facebook and make an effort to interact with them, as well as read and comment on blogs that are written in your target language. By doing this, you are creating an online community that will be there to fall back on if you can’t find any native-speakers or learners to meet up with offline.

Fall in Love

This might seem like a joke, but falling in love with a native-speaker is one of the best (and most sociable!) ways to learn a language. There’s nothing more motivating than wanting to be able to interact with your beloved and their friends and family. Plus, you will have your own personal teacher every step of the way who can introduce you to the culture, traditions and, of course, other native speakers.

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Author bio: Lizzie writes for GEOS Languages Plus and other language school sites. Last year she went to learn Spanish in Spain, where she realized that language learning has to become a part of everyday life if you want to succeed. She writes about the language learning process and the things you can do to make it fun and easy.

I’m making a turn here in my posts. For the past year, I’ve written language learning tips, advice, and all kinds of ways to help you learn a language and improve on the skills you already have. Now I’m going to put my own advice to work and learn a language along with you so I can show you how I learn a language from scratch.

What Language Did I Choose?

First of all, choosing a language takes some thought. Some questions I usually consider are: Why am I learning yet another language? What language will I need? Are there resources available for the language chosen? Will I have the time to set aside for the lessons?

I’ve learned and studied quite a few languages over the years, so I decided the language I want to learn now has to be something I’ve seen, but never learned. A language that is not related to another language I am familiar with (not in the Romance family or Germanic family, etc.). I went to the Transparent Language Online website and looked at the list of languages they offer. And based on the criteria I need, Hindi was the winner.

Hindi is actually a major world language. It’s one of the top ten most spoken languages in the world, and it’s not related to any of the languages I know.

Before I Begin

There’s a situation I’ve seen many times: Someone learning a language goes to the bookstore, looks through the plethora of language books and courses, and proceeds to buy what they feel is needed – a book or two, an audio CD course, and a dictionary…maybe a phrasebook for good measure. Upon getting home, they dive right into it hoping to make sense of what’s before them.

In my experience, that’s a source of discouragement and, for many students, failure. So I learned early in my career that a language is not a thing that causes burden, but someone who wants to be courted and loved. Really? How can you do that? Glad you asked.

First Encounters

When I meet a woman, I don’t just dive right into a relationship and expect it to be serious right from the start. I want to get to know her first. Who is she? What does she like (or not like)? What are her interests, experiences, etc.? I want to be sure I like her enough to meet with her again.

In the same way, before I sit down and start learning a language, I want to know something about the language and let it convince me that I made the right choice in wanting to learn it. This is something every student should do before going out and buying anything.

First step, I go online to find and download a couple of e-books or e-magazines that are published in the language I’m learning. Then I’ll look for and download some audio files or bookmark a streaming radio website so I can listen to the broadcasts anytime I need. If I find some interesting articles, I’ll print them out.

Since I’m going to be using Transparent Language’s software, I went to “List Central” and downloaded some vocabulary lists for my Byki software so I can practice the words. (You can download the free Byki Express software at www.byki.com and get more lists at the List Central tab).

Getting Acquainted

Now that I have these, I start with first listening to the audio files I downloaded. Why? I want to hear the sounds of the language first of all. What sounds are just like English and which ones are not? I also want to hear the rhythm of the sentences, how the words flow into each other, and what emotions are expressed in them. I will think about these things for any and all audio files I listen to or download now and in the future. This process helps me get used to hearing the sound of Hindi and get my ears attuned to the sounds that are not found in English. I’ll also see if I can somehow imitate the sounds.

Yes, that means actually trying to sound out aloud what I’m hearing. This step will help a lot when I get to the speaking part of the lessons.

Personally, I like to keep the audio going on a loop over and over in the background while I’m looking at other things. I won’t have the volume up so loud that it disturbs my concentration. Just low enough to still be able to hear it in the background. Why do this? The brain will keep listening to the sounds and it will sort them out as time goes on, which actually helps make the lessons on pronunciation and speaking less intimidating. Plus, it would be like there’s a conversation going on around you as in a real world situation.

While this audio is looping, I’ll look at the e-magazines and newspapers I downloaded or printed and look carefully at the text. How is it written? What do they use for punctuation? I also notice that some letters look similar to others so I’ll have to keep an eye out for these small, subtle changes.

I will be doing this for a day or two until I feel more at ease with how the language looks and sounds.

These are usually the first steps in my language learning journey. After a couple of days…maybe three from the way the Hindi script looks – I’m going to use the Byki software to go through the vocabulary lists and see what I can learn from that. I’ll be posting the results in the next article.

In the meantime, here’s a recap of what I do before I actually start learning a new language. Take note of these tips and use them when you begin learning a language:

First Encounters

1. Go online – download or print a couple of e-books or web pages in the language you’re going to learn.
2. Download any audio files or bookmark a couple of websites that broadcast streaming radio online in the language you’re learning.
3. Download Transparent Language’s Byki Express software and visit List Central to download more lists for quick and easy vocabulary building

Getting Acquainted

1. Listen to the audio often to get used to the sounds of the language – try to repeat what you hear.
2. Look at the e-books you’ve downloaded and examine the language’s script and structure.
3. If there’s a non-Latin based alphabet, look at how the script is used in writing. Take note of any similar looking characters and see what makes them different from each other.
4. Practice with your Byki Express software often until you’re comfortably able to move on.

As you go along, feel free to use any ideas or methods, anything you find useful that helps you with your lessons. I may be including some downloadable learning materials with some posts to share with you so you can implement them in your own lessons.