What's the best way to learn a language?

Question

I want to learn a new language, but I don't know how to go about it. I've been thinking about getting a cd, or computer program, but I don't know which one to get. I want to ultimately learn Russian, Spanish, German, Portugese, and Latin.

Answer 1

If you choose to study Chinese, I would recommend you a website http://www.exelchinese.com which are teaching Chinese live online for free for beginners.

Answer 2

I've learned Esperanto, Spanish, and German from books & tapes. Here are some things I've learned:

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

I used to know a couple (they moved away and we haven't kept in touch) who helped each other learn languages through immersion in their home. One knew Spanish and wanted to learn Esperanto, the other knew Esperanto, and wanted to improve their Spanish. They divided the week in half, and for half the week would only speak only Spanish at home, and for the other half the week would only speak Esperanto. They both improved rapidly.

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. Go to the library and check out (audition) different types of courses, and see what works for you best. The correct answer for you may not be one course, but a combination.

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. In other words, don't let your mistakes discourage you, everyone makes them, you're no different.

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.


For learning German, there's a really good site from Radio Deutsche Welle

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,1595,2548,00.html

It's a site with High Quality MP3 recordings and PDF documents of written work to learn the written language. There are several levels from Beginner to Professional. The courses are far from boring, being based around a cute story about a man who's constant companion is an invisible imp. And best of all, it's free.

Answer 3

Contrary to popular myth learn Russian first not Latin. The Cyrillic alphabet and the very complex grammar will make the other four a breeze. The best way is to enroll in a university level course for the first two semesters and then dump the school and get into conversing with native speakers. Once you have two semesters of the same language you have the grammar and now need the practice and vocabulary building. For me with Russian college slowed me down after the first two semesters of Russian. Good Luck

Answer 4

I would definitely encourage you to learn it, listen to whichever language you choose constantly.

Meet native speakers, practice makes perfect. Take classes for grammar and writing proficiency.

I learned through watching television, listening to music, and surrounding myself with speakers of the language I was working on.

Answer 5

The easiest and fastest way to learn a new language is to associate with people who speak it.

Answer 6

Illegally invade another country and don't worry about learning the language.

Answer 7

Total immersion. Be born into it.