What is the best way to learn a foreign language as an adult?

Question

I'm really interested in learning Russian or Arabic and want to know what the best way to do this as an adult is. I hear both languages are equally challenging and any feedback would be helpful.

Answer 1

I've learned Esperanto, Spanish, and German from books & tapes. I didn't start learning foreign languages until I was 40.

If I can do it, you can do it. Here's what I've found that works.

Immersion in the language, living in another culture is, hands-down, the best way. It's also the most disruptive to your life, and few can do it.

If you're learning on your own, some general tips for learning languages:

1. Look at people's reviews on Amazon to determine what are some of the best courses.

2. Go to the library and check out different types of courses, and see what works for you best.

3. Put aside 30 - 60 minutes per day and study some each day.

4. If you get discouraged, take a couple of days off, but set your next time to study and stick to it. If you go too long (say a week) between study sessions, you'll start forgetting.

5. Go into the experience realizing that you'll make lots of mistakes, everybody makes mistakes, don't worry about them and keep going.

6. Try to find someone better than you in the language to speak with. You can't learn to speak a language without speaking it. If you're trying to learn with someone else who is also learning, you'll lead each other into learning errors.

Answer 2

If this is your first time learning a new language, there is one point that seriously gets missed when this question is asked.
Some people have a real problem when it comes to translation from one to the other because they expect the language to be a straight substitution of one word for another. In many cases that's true, but for the most part it isn't. For starters, not every language is SVO (Subject - Verb - Object). For another, many languages frequently place the adjectives after the nouns. French does this quite often, yet there are exceptions even to this rule.
A lot of the rot memory work is the pounding of the rule exceptions into your grey matter. This is where any language can get frustrating.
So the best I can tell you, is to get a feel for the language by asking about the potential frequency of rule exceptions and for any language structure idiosincracies.
Failing that, give it up and learn Esperanto. (My choice)

Answer 3

Well, I can't say too much new without repeating what others have said. However, you might want to perhaps try and see if a there's a local university or educational institute around where you live and enroll in a class there. You would certainly gain some speaking and listening skills if you did not want to leave the country, although like many others, the best way to learn a foreign language is to be in the country of the target language.

Answer 4

It is a delusion that you simply are not able to be fluent in a language after the age of 12, don't consider any one who tells you this. (Just proposal I'd get that out of the way in which first). Learning a language and short of to end up fluent in it occur considering the fact that you wish it and are inclined to position forth the effort and time to be trained the grammar, vocabulary, and alphabet. The high-quality method I've determined to move approximately studying a language is to totally immerse your self in it. Buy a few kid's books within the language, purchase a few textbooks designed for an English speaker to be trained the opposite language, be trained nursery rhymes from the language and kid's songs. Basically educate your self the equal method you found out English developing up. It's now not not possible to be trained a language good with out a local speaker of it helpful, however it is vitally tough now not having them to proper pronounciations and minor grammar errors.

Answer 5

the best thing is visiting the country and using it there. it seriously is the easiest way. im basically fluent in spanish now and ive lived 6 years of my life in south america. yet i kno that your language will improve greatly if you go out and use it. so wherever they speak the language you wanna learn, go to that country for a while...good luck :)

Answer 6

For Russian, get a Russian lover.