Find Motivation to Learn a Foreign Language: Write to Your Future Fluent/Bilingual Self!

Subscribe to this blog in a reader
Most of us need this precious resource that we call "motivation" on a daily basis. I'm sure you sometimes feel like you will never be able to learn another language. That's not true! You can do anything you put your mind to, especially learning a foreign language. But maybe you don't believe in yourself (yet). That's fine. Get a piece of paper and write a letter to your future bilingual self. Write all the things you want to be able to say in the foreign language. Write the number of foreign friends you will have when you're fluent in Chinese/Japanese/Spanish/French. Write how good it feels to finally be able to communicate using another writing system/other sounds/other words. Congratulate yourself on your progress. I know this might sound silly but your brain will slowly get used to the idea of becoming fluent in another language if you give it positive thoughts to feed on. Being positive + studying a foreign language everyday= Guaranteed fluency!
Share this page on social networks such as Digg or StumbleUpon if you like it! The social media icons are below "Share this page" on the right-hand side of the blog. It only takes a couple of minutes!

Subscribe to my blog (RSS feed): http://feeds.feedburner.com/FluentLanguageLearnANewLanguageToday If you like this website, recommend it to your friends!

How to Find Penpals/Language Exchange Partners/Foreign Friends on the Internet (All Foreign Languages) Part 2

Subscribe to this blog in a reader
I hope you're enjoying this mini-series of articles! 3. Visit blogs which are in the foreign language you're learning and leave comments Try to find blogs which are either just starting out (you could befriend the owner of the blog) or popular already (many potential language exchange partners are visiting the blog!). Look for blog directories that are in the language you're learning. You could also ask your social networks friends for blog recommendations! Leave a few friendly comments and give out an email address. This email address will likely get spam but that's fine, the important thing is that you find a foreign friend! 4. Exploit the power of YouTube in your target language Look for nice videos that are in the foreign language you're learning and start interacting with people that way. Ask them for more video recommendations, post video responses... This is one of the best methods to make foreign friends if you aren't shy! Don't hesitate to ask your new language friends for corrections. In order to become fluent, you will need help from native speakers at some point.

Thoughts About Learning Another Language

Subscribe to this blog in a reader
I've just deleted two posts that I intended to publish today. I really wanted to give my opinion on languages and schooling but many people have done this before me.
I need to cater to my main audience (the English-speaking world) and I figured that going off on a tangent about the French schooling system was a bad idea. However, I will happily give general tips to learn foreign languages, and I might publish mini French courses in the future.
Blogging is a learning experience, and one that is similar to learning foreign languages in many ways. Learn from my mistakes. When you're speaking a foreign language, keep it short and relevant. (KISS!)

When I started studying English, I was very talkative. I thought that speaking a lot (and speaking loudly!) was the key to becoming fluent in a foreign language.
I passed up many opportunities to have intelligent conversations with native speakers because of my behavior. I had many English-speaking friends who were amused by my bubbly "persona"... but who didn't take me seriously.
Oh well, at least I practiced a lot.

In hindsight, I'm pretty sure I spoke loudly because I was afraid of being misunderstood. It's funny how humans start panicking when they're faced with the prospect of being ridiculed. :)

That's all for today. I will post a complete review of Rosetta Stone Level 1 as soon as I'm done with American English L1.

How to Find Penpals/Language Exchange Partners/Foreign Friends on the Internet (All Foreign Languages) Part 1

Subscribe to this blog in a reader
I'm going to give you advice so that you can find new foreign friends on the internet. Finding a penpal is important if you want to improve your linguistics skills. 1. Try to find specific social networks that are used by people who speak your target language Not everybody uses Facebook. Register on new social websites in order to find language exchange partners. Be honest in your profile--say that you're looking for new friends so that you can learn a language and discover another culture. E-mail members regularly and you might just form new friendships! Of course, never tell people where you live, and avoid giving your phone number because it's possible to track you with it if you don't use a disposable phone.  

2. Once you're a member of the social network, visit the links people post on their walls Leave friendly comments on members' walls and you will soon find a new pen-pal. Don't be shallow though--leaving a short comment is okay as long as you mean what you've written. However, if you're a beginner, just saying "Great find! Thank you for sharing this link! Can I add you to my friends?" is okay. You will soon have many international friends. You can also ask the member if they speak another language, if they like foreign languages/traveling... Don't be shy! See you in part 2!

Can I Really Learn a Foreign Language? And Can I Become Fluent in It?

Subscribe to this blog in a reader
Yes, you can learn a foreign language. If you're reading this post, it means you're at least somewhat motivated to start studying another language. A little motivation is all you need to start! Give yourself a week to see if you truly like the foreign language that you chose. If you're too busy to invest a whole week into this project, study the foreign language you've chosen for 30 minutes a day (every day) for a month. Day 1 Look for language-learning resources for beginners. For now, use the internet or the library. Trust me, buying a lot of language-learning material on Day 1 is a big mistake! While purchasing books can be a good way to motivate yourself, you should wait till the end of your seven-day language-learning experiment to go on a shopping spree. Pick one book that is particularly short or start reading an online course that is really easy to understand. Most people think that reading a complicated course means that they will learn the foreign language faster. They couldn't be more wrong. You need to ease yourself into it. Diving headfirst into ice cold water can be dangerous. So is reading a complicated grammar book right away! :) I will post more tips for beginners soon! Try to study your new foreign language for two hours per day this week. Use the "dead" time you have at your disposal (Read tips on time management here: http://fluent-language.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-to-have-more-time-to-learn-foreign.html

How to Have More Time to Learn a Foreign Language Part 3

Subscribe to this blog in a reader

Announcement: The Social Sharing Icons have moved! They are now located under the title of this page for your convenience. Thank you for the Google +1's on my last article!

This is Part 3 of my mini-series dealing with time management and language-learning.

You undoubtedly lead a very busy life. I'm honored you found some time to visit my blog about language-learning.
Second language acquisition doesn't have to eat up all the hours of your day though.
I think most people have at least 30 minutes of unused time per day.

If you're washing or doing the dishes, how about playing the radio at the same time? A foreign language station can keep you entertained for hours.
While you wait for the water to boil, get that grammar book out. It may not be the most interesting book in the world, but reading it beats looking at water that's sitting in a saucepan.

You could also listen to some language-learning CDs and repeat the dialogs to memorize them. That way, you will work on foreign vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation at the same time.

Using these little abandoned chunks of time will help you become fluent in a foreign language. Thirty minutes of daily study is plenty. If you kept this up for a year, you would have accumulated over 150 hours of study!

Trust me, after 150 hours, you will be reasonably fluent in French/Chinese/Japanese/English/Spanish... I know that languages which use other writing systems take longer to learn at first, but 150 hours is plenty to learn all the basic kanji you need and some phrases/grammar/pronunciation.

Share this page on social networks such as Digg or Stumbleupon if you like it! The social media icons are below "Share this page" on the right-hand side of the blog. It only takes a couple of minutes!

Subscribe to my blog (RSS feed): http://feeds.feedburner.com/FluentLanguageLearnANewLanguageToday If you like this website, recommend it to your friends!

How to Have More Time to Learn a Foreign Language Part 2 Commuting

Subscribe to this blog in a reader

This is Part 2 of my mini-series dealing with time management and language-learning.
Here is Part 1: http://fluent-language.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-to-have-more-time-to-learn-foreign.html

If you work or if you're still in school, commuting probably takes you a lot of time. Maybe you take the train or the bus if you're still fairly young. You might also drive to work with your own car (lucky you!).

What you have here is wasted time, even if you like to people watch. How about putting that time to good use instead?

Here are some language-learning tips for commuters:
* Put a CD into your car stereo and turn up the volume. Voilà, you're bopping your head to groovy Spanish music! (Or maybe not.)
* If you're more of a traditional language learner, you might like listening to audiobooks in your car. There are language-learning tapes out there, but they usually aren't any good. Play a simple audiobook instead, and your language abilities will improve quickly!

All those wasted minutes turn into hours if you don't harness them. Moreover, commuting is a lot more fun with a little music.
If you're alone, you could repeat the words to a song to practice your pronunciation.

Share this page on social networks such as Digg or Stumbleupon if you like it! The social media icons are below "Share this page" on the right-hand side of the blog. It only takes a couple of minutes!

Subscribe to my blog (RSS feed): http://feeds.feedburner.com/FluentLanguageLearnANewLanguageToday If you like this website, recommend it to your friends!

Part 3: Becoming Fluent in a Foreign Language Fast by Using the News—Learn Spanish

Subscribe to this blog in a reader

Welcome to Fluent Language. Click on the little icons on the right-hand side of the page to Digg this website or add it to StumbleUpon if you like it. It only takes a couple of minutes!
Subscribe to my blog (RSS feed): http://feeds.feedburner.com/FluentLanguageLearnANewLanguageToday
Support this website by recommending it to your friends.

Another form of news media you can use to become fluent in your foreign language faster is television news. 

In the past, few people in the US had access to Spanish television stations. Now, there is a variety of Spanish language stations to choose from. Moreover, virtually every one of them broadcasts news in Spanish.

To learn Spanish by watching the news, you have two choices. First, you can put yourself to the test by watching it in real time. This is good practice if you want to improve your listening comprehension in the foreign language. You will be surprised at how much you will get out of the broadcast if you listen to it closely. If you don't understand everything yet, don't worry. Just keep listening, and it will get easier!

The second option is to record the Spanish show and watch it a little at a time. 

You can learn Spanish in more depth this way because you can translate every single word. It will take more time, but you will learn Spanish vocabulary that is up-to-date. This way, you will also know about current events in Spanish-speaking countries.

Using the news to learn Spanish faster and to improve your vocabulary is a good move, especially if you are a busy person who doesn't have much time to learn foreign languages. It doesn't require a lot of time, even if you use translations. Furthermore, you get to read or watch the news every day while learning Spanish faster than ever before.

Don't forget to recommend this website to your friends and to send my website to bookmarking websites such as Digg, Diigo, Deli.cious and StumbleUpon. You can also Tweet about this article if you liked it.