How easy it is to learn to speak different foreign languages

Sometimes it seems to you that you are simply unable to learn a particular language. That for this you just need to fully integrate into the environment that speaks the target language, that you need time, patience and ability. Someone may believe that, due to age, all this is no longer available to him. But this is not at all true!

So what does Zenhabits guest post Benny (Irish polyglot) advise us to do? At school, he was not good at learning foreign languages, but now he can calmly speak eight languages and understand several others. Of course, the author travels a lot and has to speak other languages. Although almost all over the world, in more or less civilized countries, you can always explain yourself in English, Benny does not abuse this. Instead, he happily tries to communicate in the language of the country he is visiting.

He assures that in order to learn foreign languages it is not at all necessary to invest a lot of money in courses, individual lessons and special training programs. To do this, just follow simple principles.

The right approach to learning

Benny believes that everyone can learn to speak a language fluently in just a few months. At school, the time spent on learning languages is not quite right. We spend a lot of time on theory, on performing uninteresting and not tied to reality exercises, we just translate texts and retell them. All of this, of course, contributes, but not very effectively.

Dedicate at least an hour a day to learning the language, ideally a little more. But don't just sit and cram cards with words and rules, but do it purposefully, with interest. You don't just have to want to speak your chosen language. This should become a necessity for you! You have to start speaking this language with people now.

Stop learning the language and start speaking it

It's great if you can freely listen to radio or podcasts, read books in the target language. But understanding and speaking are two different things. If you can do the first one perfectly, then the second one can be a big problem, to the extent that you cannot say two simple sentences coherently. To speak well, you must practice frequently. A language cannot be learned like biology or history. This is living matter that is constantly moving and developing.

Don't be afraid to speak with mistakes. People around you will be happy to help you simply because they are pleased that a foreigner is trying to speak their native language. You're not taking an exam at school, are you?

Do not wait for the end of the course, take matters into your own hands

Don't wait for the courses to finish, start practicing! There are people who can be called walking dictionaries. They know a lot of interesting and difficult words, can easily explain grammar to you, but they cannot speak normally. Don't think about how to say it perfectly, just speak. If you concentrate on the ideal, you will never finish learning a language. Language itself means communication. It's okay if you don't have a very large vocabulary, because many complex words can be explained using simpler ones.

You don't have to travel to learn a language

Now there are a huge number of services that allow you to communicate in real time with native speakers. Take the same Skype. I've tried it myself - it's pretty funny, especially with the video.

Meetup.com is a service where you can communicate with people from different countries. Registration is simple, the search is also simple.

Couchsurfing is an even more interesting service. Here you can register and accommodate travelers from different countries. Likewise, you can live with any of the registered users. You don't have to worry about your safety - everything is checked and registered, you can freely read the reviews about this or that owner and choose the appropriate option. The participants even have their own guarantors. Plus, the participants periodically gather for various international meetings - a great reason to travel to the country whose language you started to learn. There is still a lot of interesting information on the site and it just requires a separate review.

You can also do a good search and find options for free communication with native speakers in your city. Many embassies allow the use of their libraries in cultural centers for a nominal fee. You can also find chat groups there. This is all much cheaper (and sometimes completely free) of courses, and there is more sense. You are not just chatting, you are absorbing information.

In the end, you can pester any elder on the street asking where in this district their community is and to find out if they are conducting classes for those who wish. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to name them correctly. But these are Mormons who come to different countries for several years for their mission. They always walk in pairs and have a name tag on their clothes, and they often hold the Book of Mormons in their hands. But do not be afraid, they will not agitate you to accept their faith. For this they have a specially designated time and place. And at such imaginative courses, where a group of people of different ages just gathers in the evening and chat about everything in the world, but in English, they do not talk about their faith. This is usually free of charge and takes place twice a week. I went to such courses for two years - we had a very motley and friendly company, we played quizzes and games, watched films in English. The only time they spoke about the history of Mormons was at our request, since we were just taking the exam in religion at the university. If we asked, our "teachers" would explain grammar to us and why we should say it that way.

But you can get caught and bores, so how lucky here. If you don't like it, no one will hold you back. You just calmly leave and find yourself a company to your liking (there can be a lot of such gatherings in the city). I saw them not only in Kiev, but also in Rome and Krakow.

Leave your fear of mistakes and perfectionism behind and ahead! Look for different ways to practice, try and find what works for you. And regardless of your age and talents, you will succeed. Even my mother at 45 was able to learn Italian, go to university and graduate with honors!