Yet we’ve all heard about or even met people who’ve lived in another country for years and still know only a few phrases in the local language. Part of what keeps some folks from getting the most language-wise from a stay abroad is a belief in a few widespread myths.

Myth #1: You’ll be Immersed

Traveling to a country where your target language is the official language gives you the opportunity for immersion, but nothing guarantees you’ll take that opportunity. If you’re spending all your time with same-language friends watching movies in a language you know well and avoid speaking because you’re “not ready,” you may as well have stayed home.

Solution: When you’re in a new environment, time goes fast and you can end up wasting a lot of it away from the local language before you know it. Instead of looking for ways to interact with the local language (those are everywhere), focus on avoiding any other language.

Myth #2: You’ll “Pick up” the Language

To some extent this is true, but only if you really pay attention to the language and use it on a regular basis. If you don’t make an effort to hold onto some of the language that surrounds you, it will just wash over you without your absorbing much.

Solution: Keep a notebook with you and jot down phrases you read or hear that contain new words or grammar structures you’re not yet adept at using. This includes phrases you don’t completely understand.

When you get the chance, look up the new words (or ask a native speaker about the meaning) and investigate any grammar that isn’t clear to you. Review them throughout the day.

Myth #3: You Won’t Learn Incorrect Grammar

First of all, we all know native speakers don’t always use correct grammar. That’s not really a big deal because as long as you’re learning from reasonably well educated people, a few “native-like errors” won’t hurt you.

The real problem is assuming that just hearing the language correctly spoken is enough for you to remember it that way and not use it any other way. Unfortunately, something known as linguistic interference (also called L1 interference or language transfer) throws a wrench into those works.

As babies we started with a “Zen mind” about language. We picked up our native languages based solely on what we heard because we had no prior assumptions. As adults, though, we make assumptions about how other languages should work based on what they already know about our own language. Those assumptions tend to override outside input.

Solution: If you have some good native speaking friends you talk to often, ask them to let you know when they hear you making a certain mistake repeatedly. Let them know important it is to you and how much you appreciate the help, so they don’t feel “rude” for correcting you. And when you’re not sure something you’ve just said is correct, ask.

Myth #4: You’ll have Lots of Chances to Speak

This depends a lot on the culture. In very sociable cultures, you may have more opportunities to speak the local language than you even want. If you find yourself in a more reserved culture where lots of people know other language, though, you’ll need to make a concerted effort to get in practice time.

Solution: seek out conversations. If you’re the reserved type yourself, check out these speaking practice tips for introverts.

Myth #5: Your Increase Your Knowledge by a Full Level

If your goal is to improve your speaking fluency or confidence, just getting out an using the language may be all you need. If, however, your goal is to move from beginner level to intermediate or intermediate to advanced, you may run into some trouble. As long as you use the language daily, without a doubt you’ll become more adept at using what you already know, but you may not actually learn anything new.

For instance, if you’re a beginner in German, you’ve probably studied plenty about the Simple Past and the Present Perfect tenses, but may not be able to use them correctly when you speak.
If you’ve never studied the subjunctive, though, you may not learn it just from “living” the language. So, stay alert for things you don’t understand and make an effort to investigate them further.

Solution: It’s really the same as for Myth #2 about “picking up” a language. Make a concerted effort to build your vocabulary and learn how to correctly use those grammar structures you only vaguely understand. When you notice something you don’t understand comes up frequently, take the initiative to learn more about it instead of waiting for it to “sink in.”

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These can all work great, but I confess my method of learning new letters is largely brute force. It’s not a barrel of laughs, but it works for me. I thought I’d share it because it might work for you better than all the association tricks.

By alphabet, I mean writing systems in which each sound has roughly one symbol to represent it. In other words, I’m counting Hebrew and Arabic, even though they’re abjads, and Japanese Kana, even though they’re syllabic. I’m not counting Chinese characters/kanji, which I don’t know any way.

Sounds First

I’m big on input. I’ve only once tried to learn an alphabet without first getting a fair amount of audio input in the language. In every other case, I’ve spent at least a week listening to music or news broadcasts (Thank you, Radio Free Europe) for an hour or two a day. This way when I read a written explanation of a sound, I already have an idea of what it really sounds like.

Thing is if you try to guess a letter’s sound based on a written description, chances are high that you’ll get it wrong. That incorrect sound will then stay stuck in your mind and cause you to mispronounce words. Lots of listening also helps prevents you from developing incorrect intonation habits from your slow reading.

You don’t have to recognize every single sound before you look at the written alphabet—especially if the language has a lot of sounds that seem similar to your ear—but the more you know the better.

Meaningful Transliterations

After some listening, I get a list of my target language’s letters and their English equivalents. Try to avoid using equivalents in another language—for example, Greek into Russian when you’re a native English speaker—or you’ll end up with a double accent. No, really. You will. It may not cause permanent damage, but it will be annoying. (Then again, Rusbrew was actually kinda fun.)

This list should come along with explanations of the differences between your new language’s sounds and your native language’s sounds. It should tell you, preferably with drawings of lip and tongue placement, exactly how to pronounce each sound for which there’s no equivalent in your language.

In any case, for me the equivalents in English are just rough guidelines to jog the memory. I want to match the letters to the sounds I’ve already heard in that language, not to English approximations. I’ll look over the list to see if any letter stands out as particularly memorable, but don’t spend much time trying to “memorize” each letter.

Jumping Right in

With the list handy, I’ll grab a text in the new alphabet and start reading…one letter at a time. Know the first letter? Nope. Look at the list, find the letter, check what sound it represents. Know the second letter? No again. Look at the list, find the letter, and so on. When I get to the end of the word, I read it again hopefully without stopping to look up any letter. See what I mean by brute force?

I’ll keep doing this for three or four days, about half an hour each session, or until I notice certain letters are giving me trouble. When I notice I keep confusing one letter with another, then I turn to mnemonics to keep them straight. More specifically, I make up a mnemonic to contrast the two or more letters I keep mixing up.

As an auditory learner, my favorite is sound association. So if I wanted to remember the Arabic letter gim*?, (a curved line opening on the right with a dot inside the curve) makes a sound like j (unless you’re Egyptian, etc.), I might remember the letter looks like a cover with a precious “gem” inside.

I wait so long to use any memory aids because I don’t see any sense wasting time inventing mnemonics for letters I can easily remember. I prefer to grab a list and start reading so I’m increasing my reading speed and getting more input instead of just memorizing shapes.

Like I say, it’s not the most entertaining method and it takes tenacity, but I find it to be the fastest for me. I’ve worked out this system on Cyrillic and Hebrew, then used it for Georgian, Armenian, and Arabic. But I can’t read fluently in all those alphabets. It’s hard to read fast when you don’t understand a blessed thing you’re reading.

Have any tricks for learning alphabets faster? If so, leave a comment to help out other FFLL readers.

*Sorry, still trying to get Wordpress to let me use different alphabets.

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While phrasebooks, dictionaries, grammar exercise books, and the like are important, it’s equally important to supplement your learning material with native-level text and audio right from the beginning.

It Connects You to Native Speakers

Vocabulary lists and grammar rules in textbooks can feel artificial unless they’re connected to the world of native speakers. If you’re studying French, without evidence that real French people use the words in your textbook, you start to feel like you may as well be learning Klingon in preparation for your trip to Paris.

Once you get to this point, your brain starts to reject the information you’re feeding it because of your subconscious doubts that what you’re studying is important. Seeing words and grammar in use where native speakers are communicating with each other clears up any doubts.

It’s Motivating, Rewarding, and Dare I Say…Fun

Delving into authentic material is a little like taking the training wheels off the bicycle. A kid who can ride well with training wheels still wonders whether they can “really” ride a bike.

Likewise, learning a language from “learning material” can make you feel like no matter how well you read those textbook passages, you might still be very far from your goal of being able to communicate with native speakers.

In reality, you’re probably closer than you think. Realizing you can already get something out of authentic material makes you feel like you’re really entering the world of native speakers.

It also shows you the language may not be as scary or overwhelming as you thought. Learning Russian? Break open that Russian newspaper and start to read anywhere. Can you read the words in Cyrillic? Great! Can you understand anything, even a few words? Even better! That’s proof positive that you’ve learned something.

Sure, it might be hard, but at least you know it won’t get any harder. Native speakers aren’t going to start inventing more intricate grammar as soon as you start catching up to their level of knowledge.

It Helps You Master the Essentials First

A good course book should give you a solid foundation in basic vocabulary and essential grammar. Still, it’s hard for a fluent speaker of a language—native or otherwise—to identify exactly those words and grammar features a learner needs first, next, and later. Not to mention individuals have different needs. You might need vocabulary for job hunting, while someone else needs it for childcare.

When you’re dealing with authentic material, you’ll naturally come across the “most important” words and grammar features again and again. You can’t help but review them. Another advantage of using authentic material is that you can choose which topics you spend your time on. If you’re interested in auto repair, the average text book probably won’t build your car-related vocabulary much, but car magazines will.

How to Get More of the Good Stuff

Check your local libraries for books, magazines, movies on tape, and audio CDs or cassettes. Depending on where you live, they may surprise you with their array of foreign language goodies. If they don’t have anything in stock, ask if they can take something out from another library.

Find an online newspaper, magazine or blog (or several) that has enough content to keep you genuinely interested and coming back daily. Check YouTube.com and similar sites for audio-video. Make it a habit to browse your favorite sites every day, even if you only read a few paragraphs or watch one video.

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Despite what the results of slow-moving high school and college language classes might imply, it is absolutely possible to get comfortably conversant in a language within three to six months. But in order to do that, there are things you need that most language classes can’t give you.

#1: Above Average Desire

To learn a language fast, you need as much exposure to the language as possible every day. Unless you’re constantly hungry for that language, though, you may not make the effort to get that exposure.

In the book Think and Grow Rich, the author Napolean Hill talks about what he calls a “burning desire” that he believes is essential for reaching big goals. It’s the kind of desire that keeps you thinking about your goal morning to night. If you’re not so hungry to learn that you try to squeeze a little study into every free moment, you’re not going to learn as fast as you could.

Think about a sociable immigrant kid thrown into a class with native-speaking kids. She’s probably going to grab every single opportunity she has to learn just so she can feel normal. That’s motivation.

No one’s suggesting skipping meals and staying up all night to fit in study time, but if you find yourself watching some random TV show instead of doing something, anything, with your target language, it’s a sign your motivation to learn isn’t where it could be.

So how to do get that much motivation? Stay in constant contact with what motivates you! Learning French because you want to volunteer in Burundi? Put up pictures of the country, keep up on the local news, and browse the Web for volunteer opportunities daily. Studying Japanese so you can read manga? Then keep those manga magazines out where you can see them.

Constantly remind yourself of what you’re missing out on because you don’t know the language yet and you probably won’t be so inclined to waste time. Otherwise, it’s “out of sight, out of mind.”

#2: Quality Study Material

While you might be able to learn just from conversation, it’s likely to take you longer and be a lot more frustrating. A dictionary of 40,000 entries or so helps you build vocabulary faster. A phrasebook will get you started forming full sentences to can use for communication instead of collecting individual “vocabulary words” you can’t do anything with. Those phrases also provide comprehensible, memorable examples of grammar in use, so you’re not left to memorize abstract grammar rules.

A course book or grammar reference book that lays everything out in a clear, organized way helps you grasp complex concepts without spending weeks trying to work them out for yourself. Beyond this, any authentic material (anything meant for native speakers) you can get your hands on also counts as study material.

#3: Interaction

If you’re studying a dead language you’ll only need to read, naturally this isn’t so important. The rest of us, however, need to get out and communicate in a language in order for all that vocabulary and those grammar rules to consolidates into actual language skills. Writing practice is fine, particularly if you’ll be needing to write a lot in your target language (business letters, etc.)

For gaining real fluency, though, nothing beats real-time, face-to-face communication. This is particularly true if your an auditory learner. Stuck for ways to get more interaction? Here are some ideas on how to get more foreign language speaking practice when you don’t have many native speakers around.

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Sure, some people may say it’s because they don’t have time to study, but what that usually means is that they haven’t organized their learning plan well enough to take advantage of the time they do have.

That’s where audio courses come in.

Use Every Free Minute

Audio courses help you make use of the little scraps of free time you have through out the day. Put the course on your MP3 player or Walkman and it’s ready to go

It also lets you keep your hands free, so can go for a walk, make coffee, clean the house, or just about anything else while you’re studying. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend getting too deeply involved in something else because it will distract you from what you’re trying to learn and reduce your retention of the material.

The up side, though, is hands-free study will take away the feeling that there’s “something more important” you should be doing instead of sitting on the sofa with a textbook in your lap.

The Best Audio Courses

If you’ve read a few articles at FasterForeignLanguageLearning.com, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a huge fan of Pimsleur. The reason I like them so much is the course is very well organized to help you actually remember what you hear. It’s not just someone reading a list of words followed by a few dialogues.

The only downside, however, is that Pimsleur is rather expensive. If you’re not ready to splash out $200 or more, give Living Languages from Random House a try. These courses do come with books that include vocab lists, example phrases, and quizzes, but the audio alone is still useful.

Make you Own “Course”

Not having a professionally designed audio course available doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage audio to improve your language skills. The internet gives you access to a huge variety of audio in the more common languages, but you’ll probably be able to find something in all but the rarest languages. This includes talk radio, interviews, music clips, movies, and even ads.

While it’s true this audio material won’t be neatly organized for language study purposes, you’ll find that just listening—daily—will help your listening comprehension enormously. Keep adding your seven (or however many) words a day and you’ll find yourself able to understand more and more of what you hear. The repetition will also help get the words into your long-term memory.

One caveat, though: if you’re the type of learner who needs to see new words in writing or write them out yourself before you can remember them, an audio-only course may actually be slower for you than a traditional textbook-based course.

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