Learn a Foreign Language Quickly

Before explaining what the most efficient ways of learning new languages are I am going to give some overview into the overall American view of the topic of learning foreign languages.

A recent topic of discussion in the media is whether or not immigrants to America should be forced to learn English. Without overly expressing what my opinions are on the topic let me just say that if I were to move to Brazil, for example, I would expect myself to either know Portuguese and a great deal of the culture ahead of time, or I would learn it as quickly as I could.

That being said, it should be noted that most Americans do not necessarily feel this way when asked what they would do in a foreign country. America tends to have the overall opinion that everyone, globally, should be able to speak their language. Coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally) most other countries are much more fluent in multiple languages than Americans are, and English happens to be one of the most often learned second languages. This seems only to encourage the overall American belief that everyone should learn English, since more countries know English outside of the United States than Americans know their languages within the United States. With all that in mind if, as an American, you do learn another language other than English, you tend to be much more impressive to non-Americans than if you were from another country and you learned a second language. It's seems to be a given that other countries know multiple languages while Americans seem to be able to get by with one.

So, if you want to be one of the Americans (or non-American for that matter) that knows a foreign language then perhaps these guidelines can allow you to learn another language in the quickest way possible.

In the book How To Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own, by Barry Farber, he outlines an, although aggressive, very efficient approach to learning a foreign language quickly. The key is immersion. That is, people that are suddenly thrust into a new culture/language learn the language much more rapidly than someone that is simply learning without this stimulus. Therefore, John Smith's approach is to emulate this process.

Barry Farber outlines a complete process to learn languages quickly. Here are some of the key points:

1. Find a good series on tape that can teach you the language. Having it playing during down time is a great way to learn passively.
2. Surround yourself with those that will be speaking the language you want to learn. If you can subtly make friends and have a bi-lingual person be sympathetic to your cause than you can be learning daily.
3. Buy a [Language to learn] to English dictionary, and another dictionary (or perhaps one with both) that is the reverse of this process.
4. Buy a periodical or two in the language you want to learn.
5. Children's books in the language you want to learn are also a good idea.
6. Buy a book of key phrases in the language you want to learn.

Interestingly enough, most of these items can be found at the local book store or discount book store.

I would like to emphasize that there is one primary ingredient that is needed to learn a new language: the willingness to do so and the understanding that, since you've learned this much in your life already, you can do this to. This can be a very hard thing for many people to get past and can defeat your efforts before you start if you aren't careful.

Apply all of these techniques, be patient, open minded and persistent and the new words will begin to permeate your brain. You'll be amazed at how many times you are able to use your new words. Use them! Mimic accents, be bold. This is a great new adventure upon which your are embarking. Enjoy learning the new language and be open to the idea of learning more in the future. Consider, once you've learned your first "second language, " why stop at being bilingual?