What is the best way to learn a language? Some of you choose the official pathway, which is also the most thorough, that of university studies. The obvious advantage is that you have a few years' time to go deeper into the subject, learn not only grammar, but also literature, culture and civilization, and eventually undergo a student exchange programme in the country where your studied language is spoken. The latter is one of the best parts, because you will experience the way the language is really spoken in everyday life, beyond scholastic approaches. However, this may not be suitable for you if your dream career is something different, which has nothing to do with teaching, or translation, or working for cultural institutions. Therefore, if you want to learn a language whilst pursuing another career, the points below may be just your cup of (English? Chinese? Japanese? Indian?) tea. ;)
So, you are a student or professional of a different field, but you want to learn a new language, or to improve one that you already speak. What about short courses, lasting a couple of months in length per module, organized by the cultural institutes of the chosen country, such as British Council, Goethe Institut, Institut Français, etc., or even by the Faculty of Languages of some universities. The only warning is that the former may be higher in price. Yes, the course is worth it, but, unfortunately, you may or may not be able to afford them. The only problem is that, most likely, you will study grammar and vocabulary, in a scholastic way, so, if you want to go deeper into other areas, you'll have to do that through auto-didactic activities. Which leads us to...
Self-taught methods. There are plenty of self-learning language books, and some of them also have a CD for you to listen to pronnounciation. Most surely, there are two huge advantages: you spend far less money, and you manage your own study time by yourself. However, this only works for you if you are an organized person by nature, and if you make sure to study and do your "homework" on a regular basis. Moreover, I would advise you to go for a self-taught course if the language you are studying is not much different from your native one. For example, a Romanian would be better off learning Italian, French or Spanish by himself, rather than Japanese or Arabic.
Note that the latter two methods require other additional practices, in order to cover what is not done in the course itself, that is if we want to make the most of it. And, why not, these practices would also benefit language university students and graduates.
.... read. And start with simple things, such as children's literature, moving on to articles on various topics, and contemporary literature. Leave classical literature of the Middle Ages and other such malarkey towards the end. Trust me: I bought myself Dante's "Divina Commedia" in original. I've been struggling with it. Big time. Nobody talks like that anymore!
.... watch movies in original. One of the things I appreciate about my country is that we don't dub movies and TV series (we only do cartoons). So, Romanians are used to watching films in their original languages, with subtitles in Romanian. This helps us a lot even when we're at school, with our English and French homework. ;) And yes, cheesy as it may sound, we learn Spanish from Latin-American telenovelas. But beware of the latter: there are differences from the language spoken in Spain, and the vocabulary you'll develop will serve you more when it comes to moaning about your love life and family drama, rather than basic conversations about everyday matters. :)
.... talk to natives. Maybe not always possible, but when you can, make the most of it. Choose a patient friend or aquaintance, and ask him or her to be strict and correct your mistakes. That way, you'll learn the spoken language, colloquial expressions, slang, language tricks, and much more.
Hoping to have been exhaustive, we'll return at a later date with more specific language tips, and learning adventures. Till then, I'm going to my self-taught, and pretty painful, German course! ;)
Self-taught methods. There are plenty of self-learning language books, and some of them also have a CD for you to listen to pronnounciation. Most surely, there are two huge advantages: you spend far less money, and you manage your own study time by yourself. However, this only works for you if you are an organized person by nature, and if you make sure to study and do your "homework" on a regular basis. Moreover, I would advise you to go for a self-taught course if the language you are studying is not much different from your native one. For example, a Romanian would be better off learning Italian, French or Spanish by himself, rather than Japanese or Arabic.
Note that the latter two methods require other additional practices, in order to cover what is not done in the course itself, that is if we want to make the most of it. And, why not, these practices would also benefit language university students and graduates.
.... read. And start with simple things, such as children's literature, moving on to articles on various topics, and contemporary literature. Leave classical literature of the Middle Ages and other such malarkey towards the end. Trust me: I bought myself Dante's "Divina Commedia" in original. I've been struggling with it. Big time. Nobody talks like that anymore!
.... watch movies in original. One of the things I appreciate about my country is that we don't dub movies and TV series (we only do cartoons). So, Romanians are used to watching films in their original languages, with subtitles in Romanian. This helps us a lot even when we're at school, with our English and French homework. ;) And yes, cheesy as it may sound, we learn Spanish from Latin-American telenovelas. But beware of the latter: there are differences from the language spoken in Spain, and the vocabulary you'll develop will serve you more when it comes to moaning about your love life and family drama, rather than basic conversations about everyday matters. :)
.... talk to natives. Maybe not always possible, but when you can, make the most of it. Choose a patient friend or aquaintance, and ask him or her to be strict and correct your mistakes. That way, you'll learn the spoken language, colloquial expressions, slang, language tricks, and much more.
Hoping to have been exhaustive, we'll return at a later date with more specific language tips, and learning adventures. Till then, I'm going to my self-taught, and pretty painful, German course! ;)
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