The Ultimate Language Learning Guide 4 Years and 6 Languages of Mistakes Made so You Dont Have To. MINUTE READPerfect for you if You want to learn a new language but dont know where to start. Youre already learning a new language but want to speed it up. You think English is all you need or youre not a language person. Learning a new language is one of lifes most misunderstood challenges. It is also one of its most rewarding. A new language is a gate keeper to new people, places, knowledge and experiences. EUROCALL A professional association devoted to promoting the use of technology enhanced language learning. EUROCALL was founded in 1986 and set up as a recognised. Amazon Swedish language learning materials Swedish Pod 101 Modern learning suite with audio and video lessons Pimsleur Comprehensive Swedish course based on. Extensive database of the worlds languages, organizedsearchable by map, language family, country, and language name. From SIL International. Also offers print and. It is a passport to a country that we didnt even know existed. Ive spent most of my life learning languages either because I had to or because I wanted to. I was raised bi lingual EnglishFrench and studied French, Latin and ancient Greek until I was 1. In the last few years Ive raised German to fluency and Mandarin, Russian and Spanish to somewhere between fluency and conversational. This guide doesnt claim to be the best or only way to learn a language. Instead, its a collection of my own experiences and mistakes, plus a few pointers and tools. Things, in short, that I wish Id known about much earlier. I hope you find something in it that gives you the confidence or push to start or accelerate your own language learning journey. Contents. APPENDIXMyth 1 English is Enough. Myth 2 The Language PersonMyth 3 Im Too Old to Learn a Language. What is Fluency How Long Will it Take Languages by frequency. InformationWeek. com News, analysis and research for business technology professionals, plus peertopeer knowledge sharing. Engage with our community. Languages by difficulty. There are three factors that determine language learning success Mindset, Motivation and Practice. Ill lay out some practical tips for each in this guide but for now Ill define what I mean. Mindset. The most important mindset to develop is that anyone can learn a second language. Dont believe me Ask anyone in Germany under 2. English. Still scepticalTake my word for now that language people are not born, they are created. The second most important mindset is that making mistakes is essential to learning. I once called my Chinese home stay familys dog a prostitute for an entire evening. I also remarked to a group of Germans that my face, after a run, was covered in poo instead of sweat. If you want to learn a language you are going to need to make a lot of mistakes. And thats more than ok its essential Motivation. Language learning isnt quick and it isnt easy. There will be ups and downs. Highs and lows. Frustrations and breakthroughs. After the initial rush of quick progress comes the long slog to fluency and mastery. Learning a language requires persistence. Motivation is its fuel. Practice. Finally, it helps to remember that language learning is a skill. Like all skills, progress is a factor of quantity of time and quality of practice. There are no magic shortcuts. You wouldnt expect to jam fluently on a guitar after three weeks or even three months dont expect to learn a language any faster. The role of good training tools and strategies is not to cheat the system. Its to avoid the journey taking longer than is necessary. All languages have the same basic structure. Knowing it will help throughout this guide and the rest of your learning journey. Each language breaks down into three theoretical skills Pronunciation. Grammar. Vocabulary. The relative difficulty of each theoretical skill varies from language to language. Mandarin grammar is much easier than Russian grammar. Pronunciation and vocabulary are a different story. For more on relative language difficulty see the appendix. There are also four practical skills Speaking. Listening. Reading. Writing. Understanding listening, reading is easier than creating speaking, writing. The amount of time youll need to put into each practical skill will vary by both language and personal goals. A clear vision and defined goals will keep you on track and motivated during the hard parts of your language learning journey. Decide on a vision. Take out a pen and paper and ask yourself why youare learning hislanguage. Is it for love Out of necessity For an upcoming trip Now consider the four practical language skills. What level do you need to reach in each to make this vision a reality The definitions given by the Common European Framework of Reference CEFR may help. You can find these in the appendix. Make a plan. Now we have a rough idea of where we need to get to and why lets make those goals more concrete. To do this we need to make them SMART Simple, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time Bound. Ask yourself what specific thing can I doachieve to show that I have reached the level I am aiming for. Some examples of SMART goals might include I make a 1. I read 5 books cover to cover by dd. I write an article for a local paper journal by dd. I pass XXX exam by dd. N. B., Passing an exam is on its own a terrible reason for learning a language. But in the context of a broader motivation exams can be a part of a very SMART combination. Once weve set a clear goal its time to work backwards from it and determine what needs to happen when to get us there. What are the main barriers we face Why arent we already at our goal Whatwho do we know that can help us get there fasterIf the goals weve set are more than 3 months away it can be helpful to break them down into shorter milestones. The only way to eat an elephant is piece by piece. Get it done. Goals give us our why they are a powerful source of motivation. But sometimes they can feel so daunting that we end up procrastinating to avoid them. When this happens, here are two great life hacks that can help us get back on track. First ask What is the very next action I can take to make some progress towards this goal. It could be looking at a single website, asking a question or downloading a new app. Keep it small, write it down now, tick it off. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes all it takes to regain momentum is a little push. Second switch your focus to process instead of product. Commit to making whatever progress you can in the next 2. Then have a 5 minute break. Then repeat. Process goals are a great way to bring us back to the present moment and break big goals into manageable chunks see the Pomodoro Technique. The single most valuable tip I can share with you is to learn how to learn. There are many fantastic language learning guides and books out there. Read some. A small time investment up front could save you years of frustration down the line. In the meantime, here are some general tips on As well as specific tips on Pronunciation. Grammar. Vocabulary. Speaking. Listening. Reading. Writing. Where to focus your time and energy. Focus 1 Speak from the very first day. One on one with a local is preferable see below for tips. Book your first lesson even if you only know 5 words. Speaking early help you progress faster and also keep you motivated. One of the greatest things about languages are the people you meet and new friends you make along the way. Focus 2 Pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Early focus here will pay big dividends later on. Pronunciation in particular is very difficult to reverse and correct once in place. Focus 3 The remaining three practical skills listening, reading, writing. As you advance it is more interesting and fun to learn a language as naturally as possible. Which of these you focus on will depend on your goals and preferences. Start shifting time to these practical skills when your vocabulary hits the 1,0. By this time you should also have a good few weeks or months of speaking and grammar under your belt. N. B., No matter what level, speaking and vocabulary learning should always stay an important part of language learning. Spaced Repetition Systems SRSsSpaced Repetition Systems SRSs are hands down the quickest way to learn almost anything and make it stick. The premise is simple. Imagine a basic paper flash card with a question on one side and an answer on the other. It turns out that that the perfect time to review that flash card is the exact moment youre about to forget it. SRSs handle this scheduling for you but for thousands of flash cards at a time. Unlike paper, they also let you include sound files, photos or even movies on the flash cards you create. My personal favourite SRS is Anki its free and the algorithm is excellent. Its customisability means you can use it to learn almost anything fast from science to history of art. Gabriel Wyners Fluent Forever is my go to on using Anki to learn languages.
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