Photo by Felicia Wong
Even if you don’t feel linguistically-inclined, it’s possible–with patience, diligence, and a sense of humor—to become fluent in a language in six months or less.
Although English is my first language, I learned Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese as a child, picked up French in high school, and have recently became conversant in Spanish as I travel through South America. Over the years, I’ve picked up the following tips for expediting language acquisition.
1. Immerse yourself
It’s almost impossible to learn a new language, or at least to learn it rapidly, unless you begin thinking in that language. But how do you think in a new language you can’t yet speak?
Ingratiate yourself with the community and you’re halfway there!
The answer is to simply immerse yourself in it. Traveling in a foreign country allows you to continuously hear the sounds, rhythms, and inflections of a new language–spoken on the streets, in buses, on television, etc. Your brain will already start to process and interpret a new language.
Even better than simply traveling is being forced to “operate” in a new language by participating in a volunteer program, or working abroad. Best of all is being completely immersed with locals (such as living with a host family) and completely isolated from other native speakers of your language.
Immerse yourself with the locals, their music, culture, media, politics, sports, family, etc. Ingratiate yourself with the community and you’re halfway there!
2. Forget translating: think like a baby!
photo by Felicia Wong
How do babies learn language? Through imitation, repetition of sounds, and above all, by not being shy or self-conscious.
So what if your pronunciation is a little off, or you can’t remember the proper conjugation? Just start talking, even if it seems like babbling. Resisting the urge to translate everything into your native language can be the single fastest shortcut to fluency.
Rather than walking up to the restaurant or giving your host family a pre-memorized phrase for what you’re going to order, simply listen to how the locals order their food, and then imitate them as best you can. The same goes for greetings, small talk, etc. Watch their facial expressions as they say the words; study how they move their mouths.
Copy these expressions and sounds just like a baby would. Whether you understand what they mean exactly or not, eventually you will begin simply calling upon these sounds / phrases / words in appropriate situations. They’ll appear, as if by magic. This is the gateway to thinking in a new language.
3. How do you say?
Besides common greetings, the one phrase you should memorize and always have at the ready is the phrase is “How do you say that / what is that called?”
By being an inquisitive traveler, one who is always asking questions, you befriend the local people. You’ll find that over time they’ll open up to you, making it easier to initiate conversations. These daily interactions with the locals are your best teachers: set a daily goal for yourself of having X number of conversations each day–asking people about things you’re interested in, but don’t know the words for. Even if you can’t finish the conversation, you’re on the way.
4. Write it
After having conversations, jot down the things you remembered hearing but didn’t quite understand.
After having conversations, jot down the things you remembered hearing but didn’t quite understand. (This can serve double duty if you’re also taking notes for your travel blog).
Then go back and use your dictionary. Look up the words, piece the conversation back together in your mind. Then, next time you have a conversation, use what you learned.
When studying French and Spanish, I also used “grammar sheets” where I wrote down the various verbs to learn their conjugations. Besides helping me focus, they also became handy reference guides.
5. Use cognates and draw links
Ever noticed how some words appear exactly the same across various languages? These are called “cognates.” Unlocking the usage of cognates instantly gives you several hundred more words to your vocabulary. For example, most words ending in “ion” in the Latin languages are the same in English.
For example: information / información, donation / donación
Similarly, words across different languages often share the same root word, so drawing on what you already know will make it easier (e.g.: cheese is fromage in French and fromaggio in Italian). Studies have also shown that when you have mastered a second language, your brain becomes becomes better wired to learn subsequent new languages. Fret not, it gets better!
6. Local TV, movies, music
photo by Robert Paetz
Watch movies, listen to music, sing songs, and browse newspapers and magazines. It’s fun and helps improve your pronunciation and comprehension.
I often stumble when trying to read Chinese script because I don’t use it enough and there are no phonetic cues in Chinese characters. But by watching Chinese music videos and following the lyrics, I learned many new characters and also began pronouncing words more accurately.
In the same way, I attuned myself to rapid French prattling by watching French movies on DVD without subtitles and improved my Spanish by paying attention during the dubbed action movies on long bus rides in South America.
Salsa classes have also ensured I know my izquierda (left) from my derecha (right)!
7. Non-verbal cues
Beyond words, observe locals when they talk. Be it the Gaelic shrug or a slight tilt of the head, combining body language with a new tongue helps you communicate better.
This is especially important in cultures where language is closely linked to gestures. For instance, appropriate bowing and greeting in Japanese are inseparable, as with the hand gestures and intonation in Thailand. Picking up on non-verbal cues added a new dimension to my interactions with Thais, as I learned the appropriate bowing of the head and a deep enough wai (palms together) to accompany my greetings.
8. Get emotional!
photo by Robert Paetz
Emotive experiences often etch impressions onto our memory. Make full use of embarrassing / funny / angry experiences by linking them to the new language.
I learned, quite unfortunately, the importance of the special “ñ” character in Spanish because saying “Tengo 24 anos” instead of “años” meant I told everyone I had 24 anuses rather than being 24 years old.
Needless to say, the embarrassment helped correct my pronunciation for good! Similarly, negotiating with shady cab drivers or nasty vendors also helps you learn numbers rather quickly so you don’t get ripped off.
9. A world of friends / then going solo.
While individual classes can be highly beneficial for unsurpassed attention, group classes with friends can greatly aid learning. Having a friend to practice with helps you get better, and you can also learn from the different mistakes different people make.
On the other hand, venturing out solo in a foreign country forces you to speak with local people–say the person riding next to you on the bus, or standing in line at the market. It also prevents you relying on a friend with stronger language skills to do the talking for you in key exchanges such as asking for directions or buying food.
10. Practice at every opportunity before and after you travel.
Ever felt really “rusty” and lacking confidence in a language despite having taken classes or used it (or even mastered it) at some other time in your life? Languages are alive and require exercise. Find avenues to practice wherever and whenever you can.
For instance, I don’t get to use French very often in my daily life, so I found a French penpal to exchange emails. I also keep in touch with people I met in France and French travelers I met in the course of my travels. Writing in French on FaceBook (www.facebook.com) walls does wonders and even helps you learn some local slang!
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102 Comments... join the discussion!
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It’s also important to let go of your stage fright, not worry about your accent so much and make many mistakes. It should only help you to learn and if you make a cross-cultural mistake, that is your cue to laugh.
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Also, joining local organizations such as the Alliance Francaise (similar organizations exist for Spanish and Italian speakers, and other countries/languages) that have email lists that list (or they themselves organize) conversations groups and other events does wonders to find other interested learners/speakers. Time spent speaking and listening to MULTIPLE speakers (at all levels of speed and fluency) is everything, and you have to get yourself out there to really learn a language.. it can't happen only during the 2 weeks you visit the country every year or two. I go to 2 or 3 different French conversations groups per month and get to network and talk with people of levels from very beginner to French natives who attend to create community, and it really helps keep my tongue and ear tuned between visits to French-speaking countries.
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Also, joining local organizations such as the Alliance Francaise (similar organizations exist for Spanish and Italian speakers, and other countries/languages) that have email lists that list (or they themselves organize) conversations groups and other events does wonders to find other interested learners/speakers. Time spent speaking and listening to MULTIPLE speakers (at all levels of speed and fluency) is everything, and you have to get yourself out there to really learn a language.. it can’t happen only during the 2 weeks you visit the country every year or two. I go to 2 or 3 different French conversations groups per month and get to network and talk with people of levels from very beginner to French natives who attend to create community, and it really helps keep my tongue and ear tuned between visits to French-speaking countries.
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OK, this is wonderful! You have no idea how much this article has helped me get past some issues I had with foreign languages. I'll follow-up this post with a reply, 6 months from now, with my new found French and German skills (the languages I want to learn).
-Tibi
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OK, this is wonderful! You have no idea how much this article has helped me get past some issues I had with foreign languages. I’ll follow-up this post with a reply, 6 months from now, with my new found French and German skills (the languages I want to learn).
-Tibi
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'gaelic shrug'? gallic shrug surely?
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Working in a bar is a really good way to learn too – your job is all about communication and you can overhear all sorts of conversations as you work. Joe – http://www.anewbandaday.com
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Great post!!!! , like the baby technique…
, the problem with learning is memory, the problem with memory is that the more you force yourself to remember something the quicker you forget it. solution? dont try to remember so hard but just absorb it as natural as possible.
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I like this advices! I'll add some of the tricks that helped me (native Bulgarian) learn English and German. Of course as a foreigner you should first try learning the language itself. If you learn a dialect, you'll need a couple of weeks to understand the others if you change your location. Every language has some specific melody and to start speaking it fluently, you just need to remember whole expressions and take good care of the intonation (even if your name sounds differently and funnier in a foreign language, you should try pronouncing it properly). If you can't visit the country where the language you learn is native spoken, I highly recommend playing some Computer games (like RPG's). During game play you need to listen, read and finally see the whole story in pictures and you need to make decisions on your own-the best practice at all! Don't forget to use simple and short sentences.Use your arms and legs, before looking at the dictionary. Finally be aware of learning the words without their meaning (respectively not learning all meanings). If you do that, you'll surely have troubles speaking fluently. And remember!! It's better to speak incorrect, but fluently, than otherwise.
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Don't delude yourself – you're not going to be "fluent" in 6 months. I spent 5 years in France and it took at least 2 years of daily speaking to become fluent, having already taken many courses in university before arriving. Now I live in Taiwan – and if you think you are going to learn 3000 characters in 6 months, it's just not possible. Not to mention mastering the tones and learning a grammar which is completely unlike any Western language. You can make great progress in 6 months, and the list is a good one. But don't dream of being fluent in that time, you can't rush learning a language, your brain needs time to absorb it. Anyway, what's the rush? Enjoy the journey, especially if you're living abroad.
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Travelling is the best way ever to learn a new language. But you've to meet people and, of course, don't be shy. You'll improve fastier whatever the mistakes you do.
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I can't but agree with much said. As soon as I realised perfection isn't the key to communications, it all became easier – mainly due to the fact that I started to believe in my own ability to learn another language well enough to be able to communicated with others. I'm not as far advanced in my linguistic skills yet, only knowing four (Germanic) languages (Swedish, English, German and Norwegian), understanding a fifth (also Germanic) language (Danish), but I do intend to learn a handful other languages over time, such as Finnish, Dutch and Polish. Maybe also French, Russian and some Asian language. Now, some might wonder why the heck one shall learn multiple languages, instead of one "universal" language, such as English; to me it's the nuances in the languages that fascinates me, the small details which might not easily be expressed in English. It's also naïve to believe everyone else speak or understand English. So, no – if I go to a place for an extended period of time, I'll absolutely learn the language used there. If not before, I will at least try to pick up something while there. So, my addition; KISS – Keep It Simple Silly/Stupid. Don't worry, it'll work out. No need to make things more complicated than necessary.
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Very good thoughts. Let me add a couple: P.J.T. Glendening wrote a very helpful little book Teach Yourself to Learn a Language, now out of print but available through secondhand books sites. He provides excellent advice, including a core vocabulary that can take you far in any language (the essential words: man, woman, day, night, week, tomorrow, yesterday, bring, take, and so on). He also emphasizes the importance of learning both the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, and so on) as well as the cardinal numbers (one, two, three, and so on)—when you're on the phone and get a phone number or an address or want to tell someone the time and date to meet, you'll need those numbers. One key skill, usually learned in the first foreign language one learns, is not to fixate on a particular set of words you want to say, but to think about the idea and communicate it in words that you know. If you want to say particular words, you can readily get "stuck" because you don't know some word, but if you're willing to paraphrase using the words you know, you can talk around the difficulty. This skill probably accounts for the success of a Finnish experiment: most students study three years of German, but an experimental group studied a year of Esperanto, followed by two years of German (with the Esperanto continued as the language in geography classes). The Esperanto group, at the end of the three years, knew German better than those who had three years of German: they were more fluent, for example, and they found it easier to communicate. The idea was that in learning Esperanto (which was specifically designed to be easy to learn), they also picked up all sorts of skills in language learning in general, which they then used in learning German.
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The 24 anos story is amusing, and it actually is a useful way to start a conversation once you have started getting conversational. The subte sound variations can indeed be embarassing. When I was first learning spanish I was ill and my wife came in to ask me how I felt and I said to her in spanish "soy mujer ahora, tengo hombre" rather than "estoy mejor ahora, tengo hambre"… I essentially told her "I am woman now, I have a man" rather than "I am better now, I am hungry" Needless to say when I tell this story to all of my latin friends they think it is hilarious
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I was sent to Japan for a large construction project for six months. Working with a crew of 15 non-english speakers was a real hoot, since I knew no Japanese at all! Talk about total immersion! The amount of confusion at first was daunting, but by constantly trying (and making many, many mistakes) I slowly began to "get it". I found that body language and intonation was as important as the words themselves. But the best teacher was a man in my apartment building teaching his child to talk. I tuned in to the slowly spoken, gently repeated reinforcement of the father, and my Japanese improved exponentially! It was like getting the keys to the kingdom. Of course, even after six months, I wouldn't call myself fluent by any means, but I can easily make myself understood in almost any situation. Make mistakes, speak and act like they do, study constantly, and practice, practice, practice….
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Good article. I often wonder how long it would take me to become very proficient in a language if I moved to a foreign country. I think I could get it pretty quickly. This makes me feel more confident.
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I think for a first time foreign language student 6 months is extremely generous to become fluent. You may be conversational but fluency can be a lifetime goal depending on aptitude, work ethic, and access to language resources and practice. http://www.letutor.com
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Very nice post. I digg this post for future reference, very descriptive and informative.
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nice post. immersion has been my way of picking up Spanish myself. Thanks for the inspiration.
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Thx for the article! maybe it will improve my english!
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Hello! This is a lot of great information. Becoming “fluent” is obviously a long, on-going process, because there are always topics that come up, with words that you don’t understand if you have never heard them before. However, with open ears it is amazing to see how much you can really understand in a language, and in time you are able to also contribute to the conversation, yourself. I find myself listening in to Spanish conversations between people, when I hear them, and for the most part I can understand everything they are saying. Sometimes there is a word or two that I hadn’t heard before, but usually the rest of the sentence makes sense, so I can still understand mostly everything that is being said. You have give a lot of great advice here, thanks!
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Thanks for the great article. I am trying to learn Russian, Spanish, and Italian. Myhappyplanet.com is a cool social media site for people trying to learn languages. There are lots of free written, audio, and video lessons on this site. You can also make friends with native speakers in the language that you want to learn.
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Great recommendations. I particularly like the idea of a diary in the language you want to learn. Thanks.
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I think the only way to learn a language is to go and live in the country!
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This article and all the posts are definitley a big help! I am moving to Spain in a couple weeks for almost a year and know very little Spanish (I took German in high school and college and have only taken an intro to Spanish class with a horrible teacher). I have been trying to study as much as possible, but I know it will be the immersion that will really do it! These tips have definitely given me a better idea on how to make the most of it and hopefully become as fluent as possible!
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In my opinion the best way to learn a language is to live in the country. Because you HAVE TO use the language and this improves your skills.
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Tanks!!
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I’m an english teacher living in Korea. As I was reading this article, someone rang on my door bell. I knew it was probably an evangelist (people I usually don’t like dealing with anyways) so I didn’t go to the door, but really I should have opened up to have a conversation. I’ve been here 6 months and I`ve been studying Korean quite a bit these days. I listen to Korean all the time but I rarely give myself a chance to try to have a conversation. So I suck. (In Korea, you can get along pretty easily without knowing Korean whatsoever). So if you really want to learn here, you do need to forget your shame and just go for it. I’m hoping to grow a pair soon so I can do it before my year contract is finished.
However, a big reason why I haven’t tried to have conversations is because my knowledge is so limited. I’ve always thought that I need to learn quite a bit of the language before I attempt to have conversations. But I’m starting to think that’s a foolish way to think. I`m not sure. Anyways, don’t be a pussy like me (excuse the language) and just try your best to follow the author’s advice. It seems very good to me. One thing to add though is I don’t think you can get anywhere very fast without studying on your own (learning the grammar and vocabulary). Well at least it can`t hurt.
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My own experience: be local, be talkative and be confident.
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actually it does hurt. you didnt learn the grammer before you learnt english. to become fluent at a native level you have to learn your new language the same way you learnt your own native language. Letting go of worrying about the grammer will work wonders, otherwise it just slows you up.
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Well I think I am pretty good with languages and I agree with this article. For myself, I learned a lot through friends, fun, parties, flirting, and I succeeded because I was never scared.
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These are all very good tips. I make my #1 piece of advice to be to loose your inhibitions. Don’t be self conscious. Children make tons of mistakes while learning to speak and you will to. It is part of the process.
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You’re truly right with that even you don’t feel linguistically-inclined, it’s possible–with patience, diligence, and a sense of humor—to become fluent in a language in six months or less. This happened to me, I learned the English language in less than six months. I used to work for a non government before and it’s really frustrating that you can’t speak and understand a certain language because I never dared to make an effort to learn. That’s the reason I decided to invest in learning English online.
It needs an effort but it’s truly rewarding.
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And it’s really important that you enjoy learning, if you’re not pressured with what you’re doing you will endure discouragement
Thanks for sharing these, very interesting!
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And it’s really important to enjoy learning, if you’re not pressured with what you’re doing you will endure discouragement
Thanks for sharing these, very interesting!
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Nice article! Just a tip: ‘cheese’ in Italian is ‘formaggio’, not ‘fromaggio’ as you wrote!
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Watch you favorite dvd movies with the subtitles (of the language your learning) turned on. For example, if you’re an American learning English, watch Goodfellas or Pulp Fiction, with the Spanish subtitles on. This is fun and hilarious way to learn some new Spanish words and phrases.
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