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"This way of learning a language made complete sense to me. Working with the SpeakEZ German course, I was able to understand more in 2 weeks than in five years of German in school!"
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"The way in which this method is presented provided me with language that will suit me in a foreign country instead of a collection of unusable vocabulary words.
Those who have studied languages realize that looking-up individual words cannot convey a language in the correct manner. Becoming fluent means being able to verbalize ideas ; not learning technical rules and identifying the Past Predicate Indicative.
The audio part of this method has been my favorite portion of the learning process. Not only is the pronunciation slow and clear, but it is presented so that I remember the flow of sentences and concepts.
Thank you for the opportunity to work with this amazing program; it has been a blessing for me."
-- Destiny Yarbro, College Student
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12 Steps To Language Learning Addiction
by Nathalie Fairbanks
There are so many things you could or should do to make progress in your new language. Since it often takes a little fiddling and/or research to implement them, let's take them one at a time. If you commit to one topic a month for the next year, you'll be way ahead by the end of the year, and we promise that you'll be addicted to language learning!
Below is a list of areas we'll go over in the upcoming year. Pencil them in, so you can be ready to implement them one by one. Do some research ahead of time, and we'll add resources and ideas each month.
January: Listen to your new language. Find a radio station that you enjoy, or podcasts on topics that are interesting to you.
February: Find a native speaker to talk to. Brainstorm a few ways to find someone that you'll enjoy spending time with. You might think of someone who wants to learn your native language so you can arrange an exchange.
March: Read in your new language. There are plenty of opportunities on-line - find news stories that you know and re-read them in your target language.
April: Get familiar with the cuisine of your target country. Find a restaurant that serves typical dishes, take a few friends and open the window on your new culture! Also, be prepared to order your food in your target language.
May: Touch up on your grammar. I'm talking applied grammar here, not some esoteric grammatical concept. How do you talk about something that happened yesterday, or something that might happen in the future? How do you deal with adjectives? Which phrases make you stumble?
June: Get a list of movies from your new country and rent one a week. Convince your spouse or your friends that subtitles aren't evil and encourage them to support you in your language learning quest.
July: Find books on tape. Get the book, get the CD. Pick a story or a topic that you are really interested in. Detective stories are good, if you're into those. We'll give you resources on how to find and order books and recorded books.
August: Determine where your grammar weaknesses are and find drills to remediate. If you are prone to make the same mistakes over and over, you'll need to reprogram your brain to pick the right word, verb form, ending, word order, etc. Finding the appropriate drills and practicing them works like magic!
September: Spend time decoding (translating word by word into your native language). Get into the habit of decoding when a particular structure or word order rubs you the wrong way. "What exactly is this saying?" Once you have a word by word translation, you'll have a better handle on a bothersome phrase, plus you'll remember it much faster.
October: Get exposure to your new language. Passive listening - playing a recording in your new language while you focus on something else - is such an easy, highly effective way to boost your brain's intuitive ability to pick out the right tone, the right word order, and the right endings when you start talking to people. You just need to set it up so it becomes a no-brainer.
November: If you had to work in your target country, what would it be like? What do your colleagues do differently? What's the education system like? Are there regulations other than the ones you know? Do you know the vocabulary relevant to your area of expertise? That's what we'll focus on this month.
December: What are the holiday traditions in your country of choice? What is being celebrated? How? Are there traditional dishes prepared? What ingredients do you need, and where can you find recipes?
I think this will fill up your year nicely... Dedicate a set time during the week to spend on language learning. Every day is best, of course! Specify it: one hour after dinner, 30 minutes in the morning before going to work, 30 minutes during your commute, 30 minutes while you prepare dinner, etc. You'd be amazed at how many opportunities there are in a day if you are prepared and have your book, CD, etc. with you.
Let's get to work and have some fun!
© 2007 Nathalie V. Fairbanks
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? You may, as long as you include this blurb with it: SpeakEZ Languages publishes "Language Learning Express", a free bi-weekly e-zine for language learners who are eager to discover the secrets of efficient language learning, transition seamlessly into a new culture and have fun on the way. Get your FREE subscription and your FREE e-book now at http://www.SpeakEZLanguages.com.
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