What is the quickest and most effective way to learn a second language?

Question

I cannot afford to move to another country, so that option is out, but any other suggestions?

Answer 1

the easiest way i find is to get one of those tapes so you get used to the sounds and rythym of the language, then buy some books of increasing difficulty. start with fairytales and buy each age group up to adult. read with your dictionary and verb book and voila!it takes time but it's effective cos it's visual as well.

Answer 2

Someone above said "Practise, practise, practise" and that is correct. Aquiring a second language means repetition until you just know the words without having to think in your mother tongue. 3,000 words will give you a good command so if you learn 10 new words a day it will take you a year to achieve that level. Some languages, like German, are grammatical, and there comes a time when you know every word's meaning but can't make sense of the sentence unless you know the grammar. Other languages, like French and Spanish, start easy but become progressively more complicated. Find a community where the language is spoken and join it. That could be a church or a community centred around a country. Many universities have "international clubs" you could join. Another tip is to get a satellite dish and watch TV in the language.
You can also drill yourself. take a sentence, e.g., Excuse me, can you tell me the way to ...?" and finish the sentence with words like "station", "nearest petrol station", "nearest bank", etc.
With verbs practise substituting different people, e.g., "dolf gave me a new CD", change "Adolf" to "the twins", "You", "Sheila", etc and change the verb.
Do the same with pronouns. "John has a new car and we are going to see him". Change John to "Anna", "the Smiths", etc.
Some languages, like English also have some odd words like "some" and "any", e.g., Here are some," Oh, there aren't any,", She had some but he didn'y have any"> Substitution drills are not taught much these days in text books but they can help improve your fluency.

Good luck with learning.

Answer 3

Well, I'd suggest getting a computer program, the interactiveness is like semi immersion. Then get an audio cd or something like that to take with you and play constantly wherever you go. Last, find a friend who can speak the language you want and make them talk to you in that language all the time, if you don't have one you could try and get someone to learn with you so you can talk to each other cos I find that when you actually have to use the language, you pick it up faster.

Answer 4

oh well that kills my suggestion. I was gonna say move to the country of the language u wanna learn

Answer 5

Find ppl that speak that language and hang with them
Go to cultural areas of your city/town
Get a language CD-ROM for you to learn off your pc

Answer 6

body language is the best language to learn. just make sure when you go to a country they have the same body laguage as some gesture can be insulting to other cultures. latin as well helps as it is the universal language of scientists. a human is a homosapian thats why most things have latin names it cuts the language barrier, uni means one unicycle, universe etc, bi means two biplane two wings, bike two wheels, i could go on with tri triangle tricycle, with a basic knowledge of latin i think that will help.

Answer 7

Buy a CD or cassette.
I recommend "Teach Yourself" products.

A better way to learn is to chat to someone who is fluent in the language, but that can be more difficult.

Answer 8

Find someone who speaks the language you want to learn, and spend a LOT of time with them....

Answer 9

i have never tried it but apparently if u go to sleep with the language tape on u can learn it that way prob smash the tape up before u get that far for lack of sleep lol

Answer 10

Enroll on a college course and get the discs by Michel Thomas. Good luck!