So you want to learn a new language, but you studied years of french or german in school and never learned a thing. You think its unobtainable. It's so daunting. It's a nice fantasy.

You couldn't be more wrong. There are so many people that can speak 3, 4 or 5 languages and upwards! But why? Because they're super-smart? Were they exposed to these things early on in life, so it was easier for them? No! Learning a new language its completely possible and obtainable, and this is how I know:

I studied 5 years of french in High-school and never learned a thing. Now I know why.

• I was never intrested in it from the off. It's got to involve the motivation and self-interest of the learner.
• The teaching was poor. And I'm being pretty fair saying that!
• It was too book based and quantified to fit within a set 'standard' - met to achieve a measurable means of collating and improving individual teaching ability.

Now, during my 3 months here in Portugal I have learned more Portugese than I ever learned during five years attempting to learn French. And this because I want to learn it, and because I enjoy it. Yes its true to say it can be tough. But I've found it's so much more benefical to take the time to learn the 'WORDS' first. So many people (through no fault of their own), buy textbooks, buy programs, read and read, speak a little but never get anywhere.

Now, you can know all the grammer in the world but if you go into a flower shop in China, and want a certain flower, the only thing that will get you that is the actual word for the flower you're after - no amount of grammar is going to help you there.

So, by recognizing and understanding this, you can potentially see that you can learn to speak a language easier if you start to learn the nouns/verbs etc. But you don't just want to be able to spit some words out, you want to get conversational and have debates, or tell someone to get out your face in another language right? Or maybe go live in a foreign speaking country and manage a bit more than 'thankyou'!

It's not that it's hugely difficult: a foreign language is an alien sound to your ears, but with time and study they adjust and "tune in".

One of the big tricks to learning a language fluently is not thinking it's some mad task. But recognize the system in which that language works, as this will help you understand so much more. I'm talking about conjugation!

As an example, Japanese sentence structure:

• The sentence "I eat bread" in japanese would directly translate as: "Bread I eat"

Chinese has a tone system, with 4 basic tones. So, you can use a word in a high tone, it means one thing, the same word in a low tone, and mean something compelety different. This is what gives it its unique sound.

Portuguese, as a rule, alters nouns, verb and possessive word order

So - Sun Glasses is Glasses of sun, Electrical Appliances is Appliances Electrical.

I'm no language professor by the way; these are just things anyone can find out easily with a few clicks round the web and personal observations.

When you realize all this, and are using it as much as you can, you'll eventually hit a stage where things start to become less difficult. It becomes exponentionally easier to learn new words. I (now) only have to hear a new portuguese word a few times for it to stick. If I don't know a word I'm now at a point where I can describe what I mean and the person I'm talking to can tell me the word straight away.

I would say the best way ( though this is also the hardest and not necessarily the most feasable method for everyone) is living in your foreign language country of choice. Through this method you get complete immersion. Yes, at first it's like being a baby all over again, and no amount of english is going to help you. For all the native english speakers out there that think its spoken all over the world, it isn't!

But, what happens is this: you hear the same words over and over again, and slowly they begin to compute in your head and make sense. All of a sudden a seemingly impossible task is becoming possible. The cracks in the wall start to appear, and the bricks come down. You are now realising that people aren't talking about cutting you up and serving you with fava beans and a nice glass of Chianti! They're talking about when the dog crapped on the floor again, or the mother-in-law is a pain in the ass or they hate their spouse etc.

Through learning another language we can learn a different outlook on life, new ways to cook, new ways to celebrate, new ways to live. This is something I think everyone should consider because of the rewards it gives and even better, it can be done at any age!

But getting past all this, its fun to learn a new language, culture etc, I think its something everyone could accomplish, even if you only ever become bilingual. It reaps so many benefits. You discover tricks you can do with a language that you can't do with another.

In Portugese you hardly ever have to use the words 'You' 'I' 'He' 'Do you'. An example would be the single word 'falo' - this means 'I say'. It's the 'o' that shows the possessive. Equally, male friends are 'os amigos', female 'as amigas' so you can see that in many ways portuguese simplifies things. Now try and do similar in english and you're going to get mixed up.

So I say to all those that are thinking about it: get learning another language! You'll be glad you've done so when you start to use it day to day.

NB: I apologise for any inconsistencies in this article i.e some words may be backwards and vice versa but this is the effect of speaking Portugese everyday to english tourists!