What is the best way to learn a foreign language?
i would like to learn german but i would to know what is the best way to learn this language ? can anyone give me some tips or advice on how to learn another language ?
Be very careful of the learning method you use. Linguists, and people with vast experience in learning languages will almost always agree on the fact that most language learning methods out there are 50-70 percent fluff! It’s pretty easy to get away with telling you that you’ll be able to speak a language when for example, someone says "hello", they’re speaking English, and it doesn’t mean they can actually communicate. Being semi-fluent means you have a functional comprehension of at least 65% in the conventional range of that language, while fluent would be anything greater than 80%. If you don’t have the time to learn German properly, and you’re after something quick and easy, then you’re probably headed towards disappointment. The best method to getting as far as you can get in the shortest period of time is called the “3 step”. The first step is to complete a FULL Pimsleur (MUST BE PIMSLEUR) course. Listen to each lesson at least 2 times, taking notes the first time with new vocabulary and studying before listening the second time. The 2nd step is to form a list of the 2,000 most common/frequently used words/vocabulary in English, to also include the most common/frequently used eight parts of speech in English (verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections), which you can search the web for. Once you’ve formed the list, you need to find accurate generic-translations, which you can apply to most common case scenarios of German (definatley the most challenging part of all this). Once that’s done, make flash cards or whichever method works best for you in memorizing vocabulary, but try to include each word in a sentence, on top of just the new word and it’s meaning (basically, know how to use it as correctly as possible). In your sentence forming exercises try to use each word in 10 or more ways, and you’ll actually notice yourself incrementally advancing every 500 words. Repetition is the key here, so this would also be a good time to solidify your pronunciation. After you’ve memorized all that, the 3rd step is to locate 4 movies that are preferably some kind of Disney movie, or anything of a slower pace. Childrens movies seem to work best for this. Watch ONLY these same 4 movies in German, with good, quality English subtitles, continuously, to the point where you know what’s going to be said next. If you need a bit of assistance with the movies or sentence forming exercises, this is where you can use whatever you want to help yourself out (dictionary, phrasebooks, Rosetta Stone, internet, etc). Try to plan completing each step in this order, exactly as described within a time-frame of about 10-12 months. When you’re done, you should be somewhere in the range of “semi-fluency”, at the point where learning after the “3 step” is quick and easy, and being close to fluent after 2 years of using it everyday, and learning at least an additional 100 new vocabulary words a month during that time. The downside to the 3-step method, is that when you’re finished, you still may not be grammatically up to par, but will know more than enough to get there easily, which is what makes this the best and most efficient “fast” method, but not necessarily a good substitute for formal education. Either way, it can’t hurt to try! Good luck!
you could take formal classes, but i have actually heard good things about RossetaStone
http://www.rosettastone.com/
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I started listening to German songs a few months ago and now I can speak appalling but perfectly intelligible German… I guess the best way would be to live in a German-speaking country, though:)
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Be very careful of the learning method you use. Linguists, and people with vast experience in learning languages will almost always agree on the fact that most language learning methods out there are 50-70 percent fluff! It’s pretty easy to get away with telling you that you’ll be able to speak a language when for example, someone says "hello", they’re speaking English, and it doesn’t mean they can actually communicate. Being semi-fluent means you have a functional comprehension of at least 65% in the conventional range of that language, while fluent would be anything greater than 80%. If you don’t have the time to learn German properly, and you’re after something quick and easy, then you’re probably headed towards disappointment. The best method to getting as far as you can get in the shortest period of time is called the “3 step”. The first step is to complete a FULL Pimsleur (MUST BE PIMSLEUR) course. Listen to each lesson at least 2 times, taking notes the first time with new vocabulary and studying before listening the second time. The 2nd step is to form a list of the 2,000 most common/frequently used words/vocabulary in English, to also include the most common/frequently used eight parts of speech in English (verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections), which you can search the web for. Once you’ve formed the list, you need to find accurate generic-translations, which you can apply to most common case scenarios of German (definatley the most challenging part of all this). Once that’s done, make flash cards or whichever method works best for you in memorizing vocabulary, but try to include each word in a sentence, on top of just the new word and it’s meaning (basically, know how to use it as correctly as possible). In your sentence forming exercises try to use each word in 10 or more ways, and you’ll actually notice yourself incrementally advancing every 500 words. Repetition is the key here, so this would also be a good time to solidify your pronunciation. After you’ve memorized all that, the 3rd step is to locate 4 movies that are preferably some kind of Disney movie, or anything of a slower pace. Childrens movies seem to work best for this. Watch ONLY these same 4 movies in German, with good, quality English subtitles, continuously, to the point where you know what’s going to be said next. If you need a bit of assistance with the movies or sentence forming exercises, this is where you can use whatever you want to help yourself out (dictionary, phrasebooks, Rosetta Stone, internet, etc). Try to plan completing each step in this order, exactly as described within a time-frame of about 10-12 months. When you’re done, you should be somewhere in the range of “semi-fluency”, at the point where learning after the “3 step” is quick and easy, and being close to fluent after 2 years of using it everyday, and learning at least an additional 100 new vocabulary words a month during that time. The downside to the 3-step method, is that when you’re finished, you still may not be grammatically up to par, but will know more than enough to get there easily, which is what makes this the best and most efficient “fast” method, but not necessarily a good substitute for formal education. Either way, it can’t hurt to try! Good luck!
References :