What are your tips for learning a new language?

Question

I can already speak English (obviosly), German, Spanish and Italian. Im learning Polish now and finding the things I did to learn my other languages are not helping with this. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I can speak french, english, german, and understand italian and spanish (cause they are similar, as french).

I know a few of greek cause thats my half part.

But the best way is to talk to native ppl, to be passionate to this language and to think in this language (i think in english).

I'm not sur to be the good exemple, so, good luck too you

Answer 2

Everyone learns different, but here are some things that help me learn German so, in no particular order: 1) try to read a lot of French books (or websites) for fun in your free time while you are studying the language. You won't understand a lot of what you are reading at first, but that's ok -- it's things like sentence structures etc that you will start to pick up naturally with time just from reading them (and also an excellent way to introduce new vocab.) 2) Write in the language; keep a little journal or something. You can even look for online diaries in French where you can get feedback from others. Again, you aren't going to do everything correctly just starting out, but the point is to write a little bit every day to get more accustomed to the language, and it can also be fun since you can express yourself in a new way. 3) Listen to French music...basically try to surround yourself with the language as much as possible...it does, after a while, become second nature somehow. 4) TRANSLATION -- I love this method, though you won't be able to likely go very far with it until you've learned a semester or two of the language (roughly speaking) but once you have a main idea for how the language works, trying to translate things is an excellent way to go even deeper and learn a lot more. There's so much you can translate...your favorite song, quote, poem, spiritual verse, whatever. Try going from english to french as well as french to english. I never personally found flash cards etc to be very much help (but you might.) To me it's just too dry, and I find that just adding a bit of time each day to fun activities in the language is more helpful in the long run.

Answer 3

Here are some ideas many second language learners don't normally realize.

FIRST: Completely eliminate idioms when you speak. We use a LOT of phrases that are not understood in other countries, and they use ones we don't understand. Examples: Get to first base. Flip the switch. Hitch a ride. Hit the road.
Put yourself in the place of a new learner of English and ask yourself if you would really understand the meaning of 'hit the road' when you heard it, or would you litterally try to 'hit the road'?
Even between England and North America, for example 'knock someone up'. In North America it means get someone pregnant. In England it means knock on their door. So you can see how embarrassing it might be should you stumble on an idiom that means something else.

SECOND: Realize that it is not ALWAYS a one-for-one word exchange when translating. Some languages can express an idea in as little as one word compared to a few, and vice-versa.
Also, many languages don't use the Subject, Verb, Object sequence that English does. Some are S-O-V or V-S-O, etc.
Hand in hand with this, understanding that the idea being expressed is what's important, not the way it's said. Just because the sentence wasn't constructed the way we would have said it doesn't make it wrong.

THIRD: Pronunciation can be improved by reciting the names of things you see as you walk about, and holding conversations with yourself in the absence of friends to practice with. (Warning! Don't do this in the vacinity of mental institutions.)

LAST: I cheated. I learnt the worlds easiest language first and now I find I understand English better (my native tongue) and I'm in a better position to learn more languages. I've provided a link below to better explain this.

That language was ESPERANTO. It is designed such that you MUST understand sentence structure, which helps to understand other languages. It has 16 gramatical rules... with NO EXCEPTIONS!
Plus you end up with a multitude of Esperanto friends; oh the burdens we bear.

Not to understate it of course, but listen to and read as much as you possibly can, whenever you can.
Immersion, immersion, IMMERSION!
I listen to Esperanto music all day long, just to tune my ear to it.

Any second language makes learning a third easier because you acquire a feel for the differences that other languages might have. Esperanto is the logical choice as the second language because it demonstrates linguistic principles better than most, but more importantly, you can learn Esperanto in months instead of years for any other tongue.

In either case, the first points should help you master another tongue, regardless of whether you learn Esperanto or not.
Of course will and determination are required no matter what language you learn.

Good luck!

Ĝis!

Answer 4

I speak Spanish English and Portuguese.

The tried and trusted techniques are:
-Find what type of a learner you are, e.g. visual/ putting words on paper/ learn by experience etc- then use this as a basis for your study.
-Arrange a language swap with someone from that country (even half an hour weekly will help you lots).
-Buy a good language course and stick to it: little and often is better than lots once in a while.
-Make sure that all of the four are being covered: Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing.
-Learn one new word every day.
-Use 'Before you know it' on the Net: I found it useful.
-As you know: You find words/ grammar you want to practice as you study. Write these down on small cards, and keep them in your pocket. You know all those times when you're bored during the day? E.g. waiting for a bus, your friend etc? Read them at those times.
-Immerse yourself in the language as much as possible - rent films with subtitles, go to parties, read novels etc.

I wish you well.

Answer 5

1) Learn to spell in your first language...'obviously', not 'obviosly'.
2) Polish is a difficult language for English speakers. Take it very slowly at first.
3) Have you tried a linguaphone course? It helped me a lot when I started learning Portuguese.

Answer 6

Find someone from poland to talk to either in person or in a chat room. (there's plenty of them around hee hee) You can get lots of help from them and get a new friend at the same time. Lots of polish speak good english too which helps!

Answer 7

parli anke l'italiano? complimenti...

sometimes is not possible to go and speak to mother language people...

I suggest u listen to polish radio as much as u can...maybe try and watch some film in polish even if I guess they're not very easy to find...

But, anyway, on internet u'll certainly be able to find some polish radio and talk show...go and listen to them!

Hope it helps. good luck!

Answer 8

go to poland and speak to the natives it's the best and fastest way to learn a language. ciao amico

Answer 9

best way to learn any language is to spend some time in that country.

Answer 10

immerse yourself - speak with those who speak it - read in the language - write in the language - watch tv or listen to radio in the language.

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