Do You Need Penpals/Friends to Learn a Foreign Language?

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I started voice-chatting in Italian after studying the language for only a few hours. I was very shy at the time but I did learn a lot from this first experience. I ended up finding an Italian friend that I called on a regular basis. I was still a beginner at the time.
Talking with my new friend helped me improve my Italian language skills, and it was a lot of fun too!


However, if your penpal speaks your native language very well, you might be in trouble. I picked a penpal who didn't speak a word of French or English. That's why I had such a great time talking to her.

If your friend speaks great English, they will quickly get tired of correcting your mistakes and trying to understand you. They may even switch to English.


Make sure you know some basic phrases before looking for a language-exchange partner/friend.

As long as you're polite (and apologetic if you make mistakes), you're good to go!

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The Importance of Listening to Material in Your Foreign Language

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Listening to material in the language you're studying is very important. However, I'm not an advocate of passive listening for the sake of passive listening. Such artificial "immersion" isn't beneficial in the long run.

For example, listening to hours of K-pop won't teach you a word of Korean unless you look up the lyrics of the songs and use a dictionary.

There are some songs which actually teach you vocabulary, but they were made for little kids--think "Sesame Street" or "Dora the Explorer".

If you're visiting this blog, surely it's because you want to become fluent in a new language.
How about turning this goal into a reality?
Take a piece of paper and write your daily "listening goal". Be reasonable: if you're a busy adult who is working full-time, you probably have little time to set aside for language learning.
That being said, I'm sure you can play a CD when you're commuting.

Unless you're currently studying for a very difficult exam or in the middle of a big project at work, devote at least 30 minutes to active listening every day.

I think beginners should start by studying a few songs that they like. Watching TV is less rewarding than understanding a short song in its entirety when you're just starting out.

Good luck with your language-learning endeavors!

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Start Using DVDs to Learn Languages! Part 2

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As I said some time ago, DVDs are great tools to learn languages. As long as you watch the DVD in your foreign language, you are making progress. That's the beauty of it-- you can just sit back and relax. You don't have to study your foreign language actively.

However, what do you do if you don't speak your foreign language much? Let's say you're a beginner in French and you want to learn vocabulary fast. Well, first of all, you should pick a movie you know well.
That will make things easier for you.
Then, you should only watch the movie you picked for a few minutes every day.

If you're still having trouble understanding the movie in French, get a French dictionary. Look up some words each time you watch the movie, and you'll become better and better at French.

See you soon for the next part of the article!

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