The Best Way to Learn a Foreign Language

If you ask a number of people, they will mostly tell you that the best way to learn a foreign language is just to move to the country where it is spoken, and don't speak your native tongue anymore. What I can tell you is that those people haven't done it! I have learnt seven different foreign languages for my career, and I can tell you that with total immersion you may be able to find your way to the bathroom, and know how much something costs in a short amount of time, but with total immersion, your linguistic skills learned in this method will never approach the linguistic skills that can be obtained by methodical learning in a class with skill practice. (In addition, if you don't speak your native tongue for an extended period of time, you may find that you have to relearn how to speak it, and that is a huge hassle!)

I tried the total immersion trick. I moved to a country where I could say only "beer" and "please," and where I recognized a few words I saw written: "wine," "newspapers" etc. Yes, I came away speaking and reading some of the language, but I never really achieved fluency in almost three years. And I had very little help, and I had to carry a dictionary with me everywhere -- even to the bathroom, because I couldn't understand the signs on the bathroom doors -- and I spent enormous amounts of time trying to puzzle out what people were saying to me (did that official say that I had to go to that window and give that person a form? or do I go to that window and is that person supposed to give me a form?). I spent almost three years being constantly frustrated, all day, every day! As if that were not bad enough in itself, for the first three months, everything everyone said to me sounded like "blahblahblah." BORING!

On the other hand, having a thorough grounding before you go, in the basics of whatever tongue you are studying, including grammar, spelling, and having heard people speak it, will speed up the process of learning once you are ready for total immersion.

I took two semesters of another foreign language in summer school, watched a number of films, and read a few children's books. I went on a two-week vacation to a country where it was spoken, some five years later, where everyone complimented me on my language skills. I returned from vacation, and another five years later moved to a country where this language is spoken. Within three months of my move I had been offered a permanent job taking dictation in my new language for a large business, and soon afterwards I was working as a professional translator for literature, poetry, and scientific papers from my newly-acquired foreign tongue into English. Even after I moved back to my own country, I still retain most of my fluency and awake some days having dreamt in the foreign language, and I often catch myself thinking in it, too.

What about it? It's a learning program like most others out there. It's so darned expensive because they run those infomercials on television, day in and day out. Are you going to trust what you hear in an infomercial? Really? I found programs like French in Action to be much more effective and more reasonably priced. In fact, I highly recommend French in Action for anyone wanting to learn French -- you will learn far more than you realize from this program! (Hint: you can request this program on interlibrary loan: often interlibrary loan is only a few dollars; at best it is free!)

Rosetta Stone offers through level 5 only for English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. All other languages stop at level 3 or earlier. And for all the tongues they do present, including the preservation of some endangered ones, they don't give you access to most of the world's over six thousand languages.

Vygotsky was a Russian academic active in the 1920s. Almost a hundred years ago, he showed that language learning, and especially second-language acquisition, was primarily a social activity. Those software packages completely ignore the social aspect of the language learning process. A teacher and a classroom full of other students provides you with the social aspect you will need for fluency. Where French in Action differs is that they provide contemporary examples from film and television, as well as extensive interviews with people with a variety of different accents; you are also repeating phrases in a semi-social setting.

Don't give up, there are still plenty of free resources out there. First of all, check out your local library. They often have foreign language sections, and many libraries now have online courses for free--all you need to start learning is your library card! Even without an online section, libraries are for more than just books: there are also newspapers, magazines, audiobooks and music recordings, movies, and even software packages you can check out.

You can also pick up advertising papers (like those free papers in English) in foreign tongues in delicatessens, restaurants, groceries, even in shops near churches that cater to the group that speaks your desired language. This is also a great way to find conversation partners who can help you by giving you practice in your target language, and the best of these conversation partners will correct your grammatical errors and explain them so you can understand how to correct them yourself. Through the newspapers, you may also find out about cultural events which will primarily be in your target language. This is another great way to meet native speakers!

There are often Meetup groups in various areas for conversation practice or to learn a foreign language. More experienced speakers can recommend other local resources.

You can also find online courses from sites like Deutsche Welle for German, and podcasts in just about any language spoken.

And finally, you can find conversation partners on the internet. There are plenty of chat rooms in any foreign language, and by joining these chat rooms and trying out your language skills, not only will you get practice in the language, but you will be corrected quickly, and also get a great feel for current slang!

Here's what you need for fluency: a balance of what is called active and passive skills. Active skills are the ones you do: speak and write. Passive skills are reading and listening. After all, it doesn't do you any good to be able to ask a question in a foreign language if you aren't going to be able to understand the answer!

Newspapers, podcasts, TV shows, books, and the rest are all excellent for enhancing your passive skills. Conversation practice and writing are needed to practice your active skills.