You want to learn a new language but don’t know how? With the plethora of methods nowadays you are just confused about which one to pick. Or, you maybe you’ve tried different approaches or only one and found it was not for you.
What to do?
I guess the main two questions you want to ask yourself when deciding on this are:
What’s your budget?
That can narrow it down very quickly if you’re on a bit of tighter budget.
What’s your reason to learn a new language?
Do you
- simply like languages and would like to learn one for the fun of it.
- need it for your new job or new assignment.
- have a new daughter/son in law who’s parents you would like to be able to communicate with.
- have met someone special who’s mother tongue you would like to know.
- you love traveling and would love to better connect with the natives by talking to them in their language.
- plan to move to another country and need to learn the language.
…and the list of possible reasons goes on.
Your reason to learn a language can make a difference in which method you pick. After all, some methods get you there quicker than others as some are more intense than others.
Whatever your reason, make sure you enjoy it.
My language learning journey is a rather long one as is yours. Why? Because technically we all learn a language from the day we’re born. And we did it with gusto because the more we learned the more capable and independent we became.
Why it is important to enjoy learning?
The first time I learned a second language was in school at the age of 8. It was English (for those who haven’t read anything else about me, I am German and now live in Ireland) and done in a playful way at this stage.
For instance, we all got to pick an English name for ourselves. I ended up with Ruth because I jumped the gun.
Ruth is a good name, don’t get me wrong. But at that age, I much preferred Lucy. So, when the teacher called out the names I only heard the u-sound, raised my hand and to my horror was known as Ruth in English class from that day onward.
No matter how much I tried to argue that it was a mistake, the teacher didn’t budge. And boy did I try. After all the name was going to be mine for a whole school year. And at the age of 8, that seems like an eternity.
But because I have always loved the English language, that incident thankfully didn’t spoil it for me. English was by far my favorite subject throughout my entire time in school. I enjoyed it very much and therefore was very ambitious.
A few years later, we got to pick the third language, French. Back then, I didn’t like French very much because I thought it sounded stuck-up which in turn reflected in my grades. Please note that that statement is made in the past tense. Today I like the French language and could kick myself for not paying closer attention in class. Exactly, hindsight and all that good stuff.
No, I am not going to bore you out of your wits with all the subjects I had in school. This was just to point out how much of a difference it makes whether you like the subject at hand or not. This goes for languages as it does for anything else.
This means the more you enjoy something the easier it is to study the subject.
What to do if learning a language is only a means to an end?
If you learn a language (or anything else for that matter) for any other reason that than you loving it, make sure you keep the benefit it brings you in mind. Every time you lack motivation, visualize all the benefits you will have from learning the language at hand.
Picture yourself bonding with your son in law’s parents over a lovely meal and a nice conversation in their language. Or how you close a deal at the boardroom at work because you convinced your business partners by making the effort to learn their language……
I like languages and decided to learn Spanish.
Spanish and Italian were the two languages I thought sounded particularly lovely. My boyfriend at the time was of Mexican descent and spoke Spanish fluently. That made Spanish the obvious choice at the time.
I was never in a hurry and took my sweet time and a lot of different approaches. Only now that I am writing about it have I realized that it has been roughly 20 years since I have started – Geez, Louise, that is a long time. But hey, I was never on a deadline and only did/do it because I enjoy/ed it.
The 7 methods I have tried and tested:
I took a lot of different approaches. Some worked better than others. But even those that didn’t work so well (for me!) were better than not doing anything at all.
Here’s the list of methods I tried and my two cents on how I think they worked:
1 – Community College
1999 – 6 weeks beginner evening course, 1.5 hours (2x 45 min.) a week at our community college.
2000 – I repeated the same course because meanwhile, I had forgotten about 60% of it. I thought it was worse but a lot was just slumbering in the depth of my subconscious mind waiting to get a wake-up tickle.
Pro:
- It was rather affordable.
- It is face 2 face which means you can ask questions if something doesn’t make sense to you right away.
- The teacher, Carlos, (yes, it was the same Peruvian fella both times) made it fun.
Con:
- If you are in a hurry it might take a little too long. After all, there were about 10-15 of us and it was only 1.5 hrs a week. So, of course, it is not as intense as a smaller group with more hours would be.
2 – Language Learning Holiday
2006 – 3 weeks of Spanish language holiday near Malaga – 4 hrs of class each day, 5 days a week. I stayed with a Spanish lady who didn’t speak a word of German or English. Perfect for my circumstances as I had to use the Spanish I had learned. It made such a difference. One of my classmates was an Irish lady, Moira, we got along really well. She said she could never live in Ireland again because she couldn’t stand the weather. Who would’ve thought that I’d be moving there only 12 months later?
The school I went with back then was Instituto Internacional Alhambra in Malaga (or a suburb thereof). But from what I have gathered on the net they are all pretty similar.
Pro:
- It was great fun. I mean, common, it was a holiday.
- It was intense. There were only 5 of us and we had a class every morning for four hours.
- again face 2 face, great to clarify things you don’t understand right away.
- I stayed with a host “family”. This family was a single mom with grown-up children who were hardly ever there, which was a benefit. Why? Because, unlike their mother, they spoke English. Since the host only spoke Spanish I had to make use of the Spanish I had learned which gave it a bit of a boost. That’s why I cannot recommend staying with a host family enough if you ever decide to go on one of these holidays. It will boost your learning immensely.
Con:
- The cost. As great as the intensity of it is, most of us don’t have that kinda money just lying around.
- It uses up your holiday time. If that’s something you don’t have to worry about, happy days.I was lucky (well, not really lucky, just from the perspective of language learning), as I was made redundant at the time, got a lump sum and was between jobs. So I could easily afford it and had the time.
3 – Rosetta Stone
2011 – I bought a language learning system called Rosetta Stone while we were on holidays in South Carolina. Back then it still came in a set of 5 DVDs which wasn’t cheap (roughly € 300.00).
Now you sign up for 3/6/12 or 24 months and pay a respective fee. The longer you sign up for, the cheaper it gets. It also depends if you choose to sign up with or without the service of a tutor. This service includes live conversations with a native up to four times a month.
So the monthly fees vary from € 7.26 (24 months no tutor) all the way up to € 32.20 (3 months with a tutor). If you can afford it, I think 24 months with a tutor is the best deal (€11.74 per month).
It is a really fun way to learn a language because it doesn’t feel like studying. It’s more like playing some sort of computer game. It is very intuitive.
A bit like a baby learning to speak with loads of pictures and you pair the words/sentences with the correct pictures. No grammar rules you need to study in the traditional way. You kinda figure it out as you go (or not).
For the “or not” moments it would be best to sign up for the tutoring service as well. Unless that is, you have someone you can practice with and whom you can ask a few questions when you have a tough time figuring things out on your own.
So if you going to sign-up with Rosetta Stone and want to learn how to speak the language as well as understand, here is what I recommend:
Make sure you either sign up for the tutoring service or find a language buddy with whom you can practice speaking your target language. If you only use the online course itself it will not teach you how to speak freely.
If you only rely on the course you are prompted to speak or build a sentence, it is about a given subject. So you don’t really learn how to converse and answer unexpected questions if that makes any sense.
Pro:
- It doesn’t feel like studying, more like an online game.
- You’re flexible as you can study whenever, wherever you want.
Con:
- There is a lack of conversational practice if you only sign-up without the tutor. With this course alone you will understand a lot when you’re done. However, you will not properly practice how to speak. This is something you will either have to pay extra for or find a language buddy with whom you can speak for free.
- Needs internet access even if it is only to download lessons.
4 – Benny Lewis’s Fluent in 3 months
2015 – I signed up for Benny Lewis’s Fluent in 3 months. He doesn’t offer a language class per se. But he has loads of ideas and info on how to hack language learning in general.
A lot of this info is in his newsletters. If you are interested in learning any language I would absolutely recommend you have a look at it. Benny is an Irish polyglot and speaks, I believe, 12 languages (I might be one or two off, but he speaks a lot of languages).
FI3M doesn’t teach you one particular language. It gives you heaps of advice on how to make language learning easier and a lot more effective. Through him/FI3M I discovered platforms like italki.com and anki.com.
Pro:
- You can find a way that works for YOU.
- He always has great pointers to free or at least reasonably priced ways of learning.
Con:
- You will not be held by your hand. If you lack self-discipline it might be hard to stick with it. But I guess this goes for all the courses which you do on your own
5 – Italki.com
2016 – March – and again in 2017
This is a language learning and teaching platform where you can learn or teach almost every language on the planet. I found this through FI3M. I told you, it is well worth looking into FI3M.
There are different levels of teachers
I signed up for italki.com and took a few lessons with a lovely, patient and funny teacher. This was four weeks before I went to go on my first Camino. I was hoping to brush up on the crumbs of Spanish I could still trace. Not sure what my expectations were, but it sure was a reality check.
As I said, my teacher/tutor was very good, patient and has a good sense of humor the four to six weeks just didn’t cut it. However, I can highly recommend italki as you can take your class from just about anywhere you have access to the internet.
It makes language learning super flexible as you can pick your teacher or tutor (depending on what you are looking for) from all over the world for about every language you can think of. You can pick a time that suits both of you.
Pro:
- It is very flexible.
- You have a huge pool of teachers, tutors or simply language buddies.
- Depending on which way you choose to go it is pretty inexpensive.
Con:
- The only one I can think of is that it depends on your internet connection. Well, actually yours and your teacher’s. I’ve had a few sessions which were really low-quality connection wise, which kinda made the whole thing a bit arduous.
6 – Duolingo
2016 – Summer – Of course I also signed up for Duolingo which uses more or less the same method as Rosetta Stone does. Loved it, because I could always practice on the Dart (the train that runs along the Dublin bay) on my commute.
It took me a bit of getting used to as the Spanish you learn here is the Latin American one and I have been studying Castellano. There are some differences like there are between Oxford and American English. But once I copped on to it I had a lot of fun with it.
Recently I added another language to it, Irish. After ten years in the country, one would expect me to know at least the basics. Let’s see how that goes.
Pro:
- You can practice for free.
- They have a lot of languages on offer. It’s great for on the go.
Con:
- You don’t really learn to speak freely.
- You need to be connected to the internet for the free version and for the plus version to download lessons.
7 – Instituto Cervantes
2016 – October – I signed up with the Instituto Cervantes here in Dublin. The Spanish government runs this school and you can find one in almost every big City all over the world. It offers great classes.
I signed up for two classes of three months each, 3 hrs 2x a week. It was a lot as I am working full-time and we regularly had homework to do. But it was also a lot of fun and a great time altogether. It’s a bit like being back in school, but only attending the lessons for your favorite subject.
I paid roughly € 1,000.00/$ 1,225.00 /£ 880.00 in total for those two courses. It’s just a big chunk to pay at one time. But if you break it down to the hourly rate it is not expensive at all. These classes were well worth my while. I can highly recommend the Instituto Cervantes as well.
Pro:
- Very effective. The course I picked was twice a week but they also offer courses which only run once a week. The classes I was in were not too big. 6 hrs each week + homework is pretty intense, but I definitely learned a lot.
- You can ask questions whenever there is something you don’t understand.
Con:
- It is a pretty big chunk of money you part with in one go. However, if you break it down to an hourly rate, it is actually a very good price.
- You’re not flexible, as in they let you know the when and where you’d be there or square.
Of course, there were also things like multiple Spanish language learning CDs, books, dictionaries, you name it.
My husband told me one day that my daughter came home, saw my newest acquisition and commented: “Right, exactly what we need, another Spanish dictionary.” She probably rolled her eyes for good measure, which is very understandable considering that I could not put one straight sentence together at the time. In Spanish that is.
What’s your story?
Any tips or tricks you want to share? Let’s hear about it.
Now, here’s to continuously stretching ourselves a little, so we won’t get rusty.
Vamos!
Rena xx
