Language learning tips

The very first part is to listen to people again, again and again... Then I try to practice as much as possible, even if I make a lot of mistakes! Sometimes it makes people laugh (I try to laugh with them ), but generally people really appreciate when you make efforts!

Watching TV and/or movies in that language can help improve your ear a lot! And "hearing/listening" is paramount in language learning.
Watching TV will also teach you quite a few things about the country youare living in, so that's a + too!
Otherwise, as Julien said, trying to speak with people as often as possible, even if it's difficult.

I joined a choir, and while it's not for everyone, it's been the most effective way for me to learn Icelandic.

My choir director is very expressive (as most of the musical people I've met here are) so when he wants the altos to sing he also gestures widely in their direction.  He tends to explain the phrasing or feeling he wants in the music with his words as well as his hands.

We sing a lot of songs in Icelandic which is great for pronunciation since I'm standing in a huge crowd of people all saying the words around me, and since a lot of older songs tend to be based on familiar (religious) texts, it's helped build vocabulary too.

An added bonus is that it's helped me meet a lot of people who aren't also expats like me.  It's another common problem (meeting locals rather than other foreigners) that I know expats have problems with.

I know another guy who's joined a choir for exactly this same reason and has also had good success with it.

While each person may have a method that is better suited for them there are two ways to learn a language that I have found to be by far the most efficient and easy - yes easy.

The first is the best hands down and that is the Michel Thomas audio learning. All that is required is some free time to listen to the cds and repeat a phrase from time to time. Guaranteed to be conversational in 6 hours. Simply amazing. I tried this for russian and had basic communication ability by cd 3. Simply incredible.

The second method is to submerse yourself in the language and read simple books with a dictionary at hand. This way you will learn to write as well as speak. This method is much harder than the one above but better than going to class. Trying to communicate and then reading things of interest that are simple with a dictionary are better.

Hi Karimik,
The way I improved my English was :
1) I listened to the radio and tried to catch as many words as I could, then I tried to understand
2) I went in Ireland as an au-pair for an immersion
3) I read English books and magazines.
I hope it helped. Good luck
Your French Assistant

Hi There !!

To improve English you can read English newspapers and try to listen to the news and try to watch more English movies, listen how they talk, it will help to improve you a lot.

Hope it helps

Thanks & Regards
Annete Duffel
(modereted: no free ads)

There are quite a few things that you can do. Watching TV or listening to the radio helps pick up the language of the country you are going to. This is what I did when I was learning Dutch. I found it to be quite useful to combine this with a language course. It is probably the closest you can get to immersion when you're abroad. Nowadays, you can watch a lot of shows and TV series on the internet. This is very helpful when it comes to finding out how people dress in that country, how they behave and how they really speak.

The other thing, that Julien already mentioned, is definitely a good idea. I spent a lot of time just sitting somewhere and listening to the people around me. I also did what ECS said. At first, you need to get used to the way words are pronounced in the other language. Singing is a very good and fun way of learning this. Plus, you meet a lot of new people and who knows, you might even make some good friends as well.

My last piece of advice is this: Stay away from expats. I'm not saying that you should stay away from people from the same country in general. But if you want to improve your language skills and adapt to the local culture, that might not be the way to go. This, obviously, differs from one person to another. My cousin (who also lives in the UK but down south) and I avoided people from our country of origin. Then again, striking something of a balance between spending time with people from your new country and your former country could be ideal. This can help you adapt to your new country while staying in touch with your home country. Obviously, this depends entirely upon whether or not you're interested in maintaining something of link with your country of origin.

Aprender un idioma, lo ideal es ir al pais.
Si que puedes leer,ver peliculas,escuchar...pero cuando terminas tu hora de estudio, tu mente vuelve a tu idioma materno.

Lo digo por experiencia.
En tu pais de origen nadie habla un idioma si no vas a clases o practicas con alguien...pero solo es momentaneo...
Pero si vas al pais...o hablas en ese idioma o "tu mismo te las ingenias" para hablarlo.

If you meet anyone who wants to learn English, you can suggest having a tandem language learning partnership. I met a French friend through my kids' school 2 years ago, and we have been meeting weekly to speak 1 hour English and then 1 hour French. It is great for improving your language.

Once you have decided to learn a language, you may not be quite sure which language to choose. To some extent, your choice depends on your reasons for learning a language. After choosing a language, you can start thinking about how you're going to study it. For popular languages like French and Spanish, there's a wealth of materials available. This kinds of various tips can be had from various custom essay writing services and [moderated: kindly no links to commercial websites here, thks . Those contains an ever-growing collection of useful phrases in many different languages, with audio files for many of them. The phrases are arrange by phrase and by language.

to build up your confidence, its good starting to talk with kids. their language is simple and its easy to practice having a conversation.

it is important thing to learn the languge of the place you are

Hi, I think that while learning a language you kind of put yourself in the position of a child and it can be frustrating not knowing how to express exactly what you want to say, but with patience and a constant urge to learn more you´ll finally speak well!

1.  Take on the mindset that you are a language learner - all the time.
2.  Realize you will be the town clown - get used to the idea.
3.  Think about ways to control the input you receive so that more of it is comprehensible. 
4.  Think multi-entry - enter the language from as many different directions as you can - reading, writing, listening and speaking.
5.  Find ways to integrate review into everything you do so that there is a natural circling back on what you have already learned.
6.  Maximize your time with the language. 
7.  Find good techniques - good techniques enhance effort. Poor techniques require more effort. Perfecting a technique takes practice and discipline.  (good techniques are rare though)

Good luck all who are learning a new language.  The hardest part is starting. The next hardest is not stopping.  Keep going!

I think best way to learn another language is just to learn basics, then read a lot and actually use it. Writing E-mails is a good way nowadays to make use and practice a language. Reading and writing. Others would like to listen and talk too to get accustomed to use it verbally.

i just participate all the activities with public..and maximum try to participate with public..so i can learn more from there...

Mix with people,have many friends. Watch movies with English subtitles.

Hi everyone,
To learn a language you need to first approach the language as a child do then you need to :
- Listen to language from native speaker
- Repeat
- Practice
Soooo Simple
Arabic Language Tutor in Dubai

listening music, trying to translate lyrics
You have to be passionate about the language you want to learn. Listening is important and try to build phares yourself too

Although I live in Belize and the official language is English, I am right next to Guatemala that has many "Spanish Language Immersion Schools."

So for the last few years about 2 times a year I travel to Antigua, Guatemala and go to Spanish Language school.

It is very reasonably priced. I go to school 4 hours a day in the morning and in the afternoon I do business or practice my Spanish in a coffeehouse or at the market.

Complete Immersion works for me.

I've been listening to people speak Chinese for almost a year and I still can't understand anything.  I find it hard to watch the TV because it's all so loud with whacky sound effects.  I've thought about taking classes, but then that would take precious time away from goofing off online.

Listening alone doesn't help. Very hard for  those of us who do not want to consider travelling abroad as an exciting experience but find a way to get language lessons even on a short term basis.

After that TV should become uu best friend especially soap operas, I used to hate them but help a lot when I found myself abroad.

More important find that little child still dormant in you. Everybody can do this; no excuses!!

Try all this then get back to me later

Have plenty of fun wherever u r in the world! Not many of us have the privilege of living the experience twice.

Language Teacher in Douala, Cameroon
French-English-Italian, etc

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Self learning doesn't work for everybody so at least a little bit of formal education in a language is desirable, after that you can chart your own course as far as learning a new language. The following are some of the learning tools that will round out your learning experience, be it formal classroom instruction or being self-taught.

Internet - the internet has to be the single biggest change to learning a new language. It is an excellent learning tool and it is free. Seek out chat rooms in your new language, even if only to observe. Of course participating you will learn more. Don't be afraid to let others in the chat know you are learning their language - they will be eager to help. Accept suggestions as advice, not as criticism. www.paltalk.com is a site that I recommend highly.

CD/DVD based software - there are many excellent programs out there for learning most languages, they are worth checking out.

Video - Watch films on DVD in the new language. If necessary watch 2 or more times, first audio only and try to get the general idea, second audio and subtitles in that language, to catch what you missed. NEVER USE SUBTITLES IN YOUR MOTHER TONGUE!

Music - Great for learning and training your listening skills. Try to write and/or sing the lyrics as you hear them. Listen several times to the same piece of music. The pace of music is somewhere between reading which is slow and bores some people and conversation which can be so quick that you simply don't understand anything. This will gradually build your listening skills to normal conversation speeds.

Reading - Read short articles in the new language and translate them. Newspapers, magazines, anything that works for you.

Use the language constantly - Listen to people as much as you can, participate in simple conversations, talk, talk, talk. The more you immerse yourself in the language the faster you will grow in the language.

Illustrated magazines...

Before leaving for Spain, I read the magazine "Holà" for about 6 years every week. It was a cheap way to get vocabulary progressively without the stress of a course.

In addition, when you read about a famous event that you've heard about in your own language, it is easy to understand it in the language you learn. For instance, if you read about Prince Albert and Charlene's wedding, if you have a basic knowledge of German, Spanish, Italian, or whatever language, it is very easy to understand the story in this language and thus just focus on vocabulary. Enjoy !