Learning a New Language: Eleven Fun, Creative and Different Tips - Put Away the Textbook and Get Interactive!

Here are eleven tips for learning language that you may not have heard before. Learning a language is NOT difficult- it is fun!

1. Sing a song

Music is ideal for learning language! It naturally repeats itself, so you have a chance to listen to the words again and again and gradually come to understand them. Since music often rhymes, listening to songs will naturally help you draw comparisons between the sounds and syllables of the language. You will acquire a sense of how the words of the language can flow.

2. Take advantage of DVD features

The next time you are deciding between one movie and another, check out the DVD "extras." Many of them have subtitles and audio tracks in Spanish, French, and Chinese. To work on your reading skills, turn on the subtitles. Meanwhile, keep the audio in English, and listen to the translation as you read! Or vice versa, turn on the audio soundtrack to the language you're learning and read the English subtitles. You can memorize your favorite lines from Family Guy-in Spanish!

3. Watch "foreign" films

"Foreign" is in quotation marks because it's all relative. One person's foreign is another person's familiar. It's only foreign because you don't know it yet! Break away from Hollywood and watch films made in other countries. And stop calling them foreign languages!

4. Go crazy with the label-maker

Or just use index cards and tape. Look up all the names of everything you see around you: desk, bed, closet, hangers, cup, pen, book, bag, stapler, wall, ceiling, floor, door, garbage, refrigerator, blue, yellow, etc. You can learn language while staring at le pared.

5. Explore the "world" part of the World Wide Web

The internet is out there 24/7 for you to explore. Getting out of the country is as easy as typing .fr instead of .com. In addition, many global corporations offer their website in several languages. You can open the English and French version in separate windows, and have a side-by side comparison.

6. Be a kid again

If you visit the country, go to the children's section of the bookstore and check out the materials meant for kids. Picture books and easy readers are just as effective at teaching you as they are at teaching children. Even if you're not able to go to the country, you can get material online. Amazon France offers great sales.

7. Get a partner in language.

Find someone who wants to learn English and exchange your English for their Mandarin, French, etc. You'll make a new friend and have a bona fide connection to the culture. Also, helping someone and figuring out how they learn is a good way to gain insight into how you might better teach yourself.

8. Make your own book!

Take an advertisement that you get from the grocery store that has pictures of all the produce and meats on sale that week. Cut out the pictures and paste them in a composition book. Write the names for all of these things underneath. The cut and paste activity will engage your mind further while you learn the word. You can also do this with a clothing catalog or other type of catalog.

9. Edit your ATM settings

Change your bank account to French, Spanish, etc. You probably already know or can guess what the words mean. If not, there's always the cancel button!

10. Read the directions

Many things these days are printed in several languages. Read the backs of shampoo bottles and that thick instruction manual to your latest electronic gadget. If you pay attention, "foreign" language is all around you.

11. Tune into AM radio

You probably realize that there's a Spanish channel on the television, but AM radio has an even greater diversity of languages. Where I live, there is radio in Greek, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, and one or two languages I cannot identify. Try different times of day. Greek, for example, may come on only on Sunday nights.