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

When learning a foreign language, “Don’t worry about mistakes!” You are learning your second language so you are not going to be as proficient as you are with your first. Get used to it. Enjoy your mistakes, learn from them and make them.

In fact, make a lot of them because the more you make the faster you learn. Learning Spanish or Chinese takes a while. But, it will take even longer if you wait to get everything perfect before you move on.

The more mistakes you make the more you learn. It sounds insane but it’s true. However, it presupposes one thing: that you learn from your mistakes.

In other words, make the mistake, make note of it, and learn from it. As long as you do that you will eventually eliminate that mistake and move on to conquer other ones.

Maybe I’ll tell about my mistakes in another post one day. For now, believe me when I say, it’s all about the mistakes.

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If you want to learn a foreign language, Spanish in particular, you need to have your verbs in order. Luckily, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. Here is a great tip. (Taken from “The Secret to Learning Any Language” book/mp3).

Get into the habit of using verbs on a daily basis. Either with another person or in your head. You need to find easy ways to get the repetitions. There is no other way around it.

A person who wants to learn guitar needs to play the guitar. A beginner skiier needs to ski and a person learning a foreign language needs to use verbs…daily! The only question is how to make it interesting and even fun. And that’s easy.

Decide on a verb or two each day or week, depending on your motivation. Then, use those verbs in your daily routine. For example, if you want to learn the verb “to eat lunch” use it in the morning, “I eat lunch with Mary,” “Mary eats lunch at 11:00,” “Yesterday, I ate lunch at 11:30. Today, I eat lunch at 11:40.”

You can do this in your head or talking to a colleague who is also studying. Either way, you are keeping it real and getting practice with different tenses, different subjects and different circumstances. And that makes for a more interesting lesson.

Are you ready to learn a foreign language? Then get busy with those verb conjugations!

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My foreign language students swear that accents are no big deal. In their mind,  a little mark is not going to affect the meaning of a sentence. It’s just one more thing to study so some skip it and end up losing valuable points on tests and quizzes.

Are they right? Is it a waste of time to learn the accents in a foreign language? Don´t ever let them know this but…..maybe! (more…)

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This question is more for students in school than adults. For adults, learning Spanish or learning Chinese will depend on need or pleasure. For students, there are many more things to consider. (more…)

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What do I mean by the street? I mean, learning expressions from a foreign language that native speakers use. “Off-the-cuff”, “no holds-barred” anger, joy and frustration that you never see or learn in a classroom.

These expressions are the lifeblood of any language and can spice up your conversations to any level you desire. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to promote bad language (like cursing). That will also spice up your language but only within a small crowd. (more…)

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Do you have an accent when you speak another language? Is it a bad accent or are you a perfectionist (like me) who can’t stand mispronouncing words? I have a very good accent but I mispronounce words from time to time and, although it never bothers the person I’m speaking with, it drives me nuts! (more…)

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Most people think of the internet as a place to learn. You can find language learning materials for every conceivable level.

Free ways to conjugate verbs, new vocabulary lists and explanations of all grammar points are just some of the things you can do right now. But, as with many things, there are more interesting and creative ways to use the internet to learn a foreign language. (more…)

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Everyone knows that, in order to learn a foreign language, it’s important to have the right materials, practice all four skill areas and be consistent. Well there is one tip that most people leave out…your motivation.

When I say motivation I’m referring to your drive to learn, your desire, your reason for putting in the time. You need one or you will quit…guaranteed!

So, here’s the quick “learn a language” tip: Get an image of the end result of your studies and put it on your screensaver. It could be a picture of the town you are moving to in Italy, customers (from the target language) entering your store and smiling (and spending money!), a tourist speaking with a waiter, who knows!

All you have to do is get a clear idea of the “Promise Land” so that you see it everyday and feel the magic and thrill that awaits you when you can finally speak Spanish or speak Chinese or whatever. Each time you look at the screensaver, you’ll be invigorated with a new sense of excitement and motivation and you’ll go running to your books to continue studying!

So there you go…now get to it!

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