How to Learn a Language Fast

So, you want to find out how to learn a language fast?  Fantastico! Prima!  Fantastique!

Welcome and thanks for visiting this web site.  We will be sharing with you the tips and knowledge we have gleaned about learning a new language fast.  Stick around, and read on.

German Oktoberfest at Sofitel Xian by Joe Whittingham

Want to learn Spanish fast? = Different to being able to Learn Mandarin fast !

The first thing is: which language do you want to learn?  I confess that this website is geared towards those whose first language is based on the Roman alphabet.  Later on , when I get around to being more computer-savvy,I may get around to adding translation software so you can start from where you are at if your language is not from the Indo-European tree of languages.

Ever felt “Out on a Limb” learning a Second language?

Two Trees in the Wood

That’s because you probably are! Just as we all come from Adam and Eve originally, but through many different family branches it’s the same with languages.  There are two main TREES from which proceed most of the world’s languages.  The biggest tree, with the most appendages, is the Indo-European, and then you have the Sino-Tibetan (speaking in very simple terms).

If you speak English as your first language and want to learn German fast it should be easy because both languages come under the same group (Germanic) within the Indo-European languages. And if you are Spanish and want to learn French fast it should be a breeze because both languages fall under their own group -the Italic/Romance languages.

But if you speak Mandarin and want to learn French fast you have a bigger problem.   Because Mandarin Chinese comes under a completely different line of languages -the Sino-Tibetan languages.  There are considerably more differences to languages between one “tree” and another than between branches of the same tree.  One of the main differences between learning English and learning Mandarin Chinese is that English is a stress-timed language, and Chinese is a tonal language.   Chinese makes a very definite distinction between written language (wen) and spoken language (yu). This distinction translates into a distinction between written word (zi) and spoken word (hua). The idea of having a distinct and unified combination of both written and spoken forms of language is normal to us in the West but much less strong a concept in China. They have a variety of spoken Chinese languages (Mandarin, I think, is the most spoken) but only one distinct written script.

Please note, this is not an exhaustive list -I haven’t even included the Baltic and Hellenic languages!

Then you have another TREE called the Sino-Tibetan family of languages.  The Sino-Tibetan languages are a  family of languages comprising, at least, the Chinese languages and the Tibeto-Burman languages which are some 250 languages from South-east, Southern and East Asia.  They come second only to the Indo-European languages in terms of the number of native speakers.

Anyway, therewith ends the technical bits.  I am not a linguist-just a world traveler and have been forced into learning a few languages out of necessity (Korean-and this failed because it was taught in a classroom by a non-language expert-he was actually an engineer) as I was going to teach English as a second language there,;and some languages I have learned out of love (French-the capital of “l’amour“).  I would also like  to learn Spanish, probably in the hope of meeting Penelope Cruz, and because I think I would like to retire in some balmy place that speaks Spanish.

Click Here to Visit Rocket Spanish Website

If you start researching your options on any language-lets say how to learn Spanish fast you will no doubt discover local Spanish courses and private teachers. Doing a short course is probably a good idea but private teachers are usually very expensive. If you want to learn Spanish online or you want to know the best way to learn a language on your own, then this website will help you with reviews on the best language learning software.

We will cover briefly the idea of full immersion in a language as an option.  e.g French immersion. My daughter did six months full French immersion. It’s probably one of the best ways to learn a language but not necessarily the fastest way to learn a language or,in the example, the best way to learn french fast.

Some Tips on How to learn a Language Fast

Mimic-try and get tapes or listen to native speakers and copy one or two phrase that you hear over and over.  If it’s a friend, ask him or her to give you some basic sentences you can repeat over and over.   This is a highly effective way for you to practice speaking. Simply repeat exactly what is being  said by the person you are listening to whether it is a friend, a teacher, a TV host or film star in a film you have borrowed with your language’s subtitles running at the bottom if necessary. Then

Read out loud.  This will help you with listening and reading and pronunciation, not to mention grammar and vocabulary as well. Learn your target language by reading (of course if you are going from English to Korean you have to first learn the Korean “alphabet”.

Watch TV shows! You can aid your language learning by watching TV.

Listening is Important-Get Started Now

A Dr. Paul Sulzberger from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, has recently found in “ground-breaking” research that the best way to learn a language is through frequent exposure to its sound patterns—even if you haven’t a clue what it all means.

In a Victoria University news article we learn from him that “However crazy it might sound, just listening to the language, even though you don’t understand it, is critical. A lot of language teachers may not accept that,” he says.

He asked the question :“what makes it so difficult to learn foreign words when we are constantly learning new ones in our native language?”.  He arrived at this conclusion : listening to a new language sets up the structures in the brain required to learn the words.”

And the way to build those neural structures is…?: “by lots of listening-songs and movies are great!”

He says that “However crazy it might sound, just listening to the language, even though you don’t understand it, is critical. A lot of language teachers may not accept that…”

So listening is very important if you are trying to find out How to learn a language fast.

If you are going to learn a new language fast it should be fun.

Read Japanese comics like….Japanese in MangaLand 2: Basic to Intermediate Level.   If you’re bored you’re not going to learn fast, or learn much at all.

If you simply can’t get to grips with the new language, don’t worry.  We recommend and tell you more about the ECTACO dictionaries.  Ectaco, Inc. has developed the very best electronic multi-purpose dictionaries and translators that we have come across.  They were recently featured in PCWorld magazine and received the prestigious Innovation Award for Design and Engineering. State-of-the-art technology as well as the most advanced linguistic research make their personal electronic dictionaries pretty darn good.

The dictionary includes not only words, but phrases, idioms, irregular verbs as well as linguistic games and grammar. There is built-in voice synthesis technology that produces high-quality voice output in multiple languages. The organizer has all the features you can imagine ..read more info elsewhere or GO HERE

Thanks again for stopping by!

© 2012. www.howtolearnalanguagefast.net.