The Secret To Learning Any Foreign Language: Spanish, Chinese, you name it

Are there ways to learn a language faster? Of course. Go live in the country tomorrow and, if you stay away from Americans, you can be fluent in just about 4 months. That’s assuming you study along the way and go out with the native speakers everyday.

I know because that’s how I did it. 4 months. I tell my students all the time that if school were canceled for the next 4 months, they could travel to Mexico and live there and come back fluent. And…in the process, skip about 3 years of Spanish.

But living in the country is no secret. Learning langauges happens through sheer repetition. You get all you need by living there.

If you don’t (or can’t) live in a foreign country, then you have to be more creative.  (more…)

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Learning a foreign language is no joke. If you don’t have a good reason why, then you will never make it to the finish line. In fact, you may never start the race.

What you need to do is ask yourself, “Why?” Of course, there are many good reasons to learn Spanish, Chinese, German or whatever foreign language you choose. But if you can’t decide on one, sure-fire reason why you are going to conjugate verbs, memorize vocabulary and wait weeks or months before seeing any real progress, then you will quit.

So, your assignment for today is answer the question, “Why do I want to learn a language?” You can write it down or go over it in your head. Just be clear so that if anyone asks, you can answer with confidence and certainty.

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