Image courtesy of Earworms Learning
When most of us think of learning a new language, we picture 4 years of high school Spanish or College French that never really seemed to stick despite hours and hours in class. Well, there’s good news. You can actually teach yourself a language! That’s right, not only is it quick and effective, but it can also be a lot of fun with these cool new tools.
1-Learn in your car CDs
These are CDs that you just pop in your car and listen to on your way to and from work, school or shopping. No reading or studying is necessary. You just listen and repeat. The whole thing is done orally. These CDS are created to teach you the simple essentials in as short of time as possible. They choose phrases and words they think a traveler will most need and focuse on those. Vocabulary usually focuses on getting around, emergencies, restaurants, etc… Besides the speed and effiiency of this method, you also learn fairly good pronunciation because you are learning based only on listening and repeating. Most of these programs are around $20.
Repetition
When I went to Cameroon recently, I decided to use one of these CDs to learn a bit of French. he one I used was called Drive Time French. There were 3 hours of instruction on the CDs, and I began listening to them 3 months before my trip. I didn’t even really know if it stuck or not, but then found myself in Cameroon at a hospital where no one spoke English. The essential phrases kicked in and I actually ended up being the interpreter for the patient. This method is best for learning correct pronunciation, because there is nothing to distract you for pure listening. Another great company that creates these in a wide variety of languages including Arabic and Hindi is Pimsleur.
Music
These CDs are fantastic. Some of them just use repetition to help you learn, but others even use songs and music to help the vocabulary stick in your memory. One of these you should check out is Earworms. As they teach you the vocabulary they do it rythmically to catchy tunes. Click this link to check out a demo. This method is great unless you are terrible at song lyrics. I love music, but since I am the master of misheard lyrics, I think this method would be enjoyable for me, but not effective. My favorite method can be found below.
Visual Imagery
My favorite method of all is one called Instant Recall. This method relies on your visual imagery. In Chinese, the word for pain is ‘tong.” Picture that you have a pain in your tongue. They give you a visual hook like this for every word. It is so fun! But not only do they give you mental picture, but they give you these quizzes after each section that are also fun and very effective at searing the vocabulary into your brain. They also give grammar points and let you practice translating and creating sentences. The only downfall is that it isn’t so good for remembering exact pronunciation since you are thinking about the hook word. Note:This one is made for your mp3 player or computer, even though it is audio only.
2-Video Game Language Learning Software
If you want to use both audio and actual pictures, along with games and quizzes, a video game type software might be best for you. Eurotalk has a great beginner program called Talk Now, that lets you play games and earn points with sounds and pictures to allow you to learn and have fun at the same time. Another fantastic thing about this exact program is that it has almost any language you can think of from Albanian to Zulu. You can get beginner software programs like this one for only $40.
Tips
1-Consider learning the national language instead of the individual family or tribal language, so that you can communicate in a wider area. However, you should still take the time to learn polite greetings in each family or tribal language that you will be visiting. Of course, if you are going to be living in a specific language area, it might be best to learn that specific language, no matter how narrowly it is used.
2-Go to the bookstore and see what they have there. Look at it all and pick something that looks fun and simple.
3-If you want to learn quickly and easily, don’t worry about learning to read or write the language. Just pick and audio and verbal based program. You want to be able to get around and talk to people. Learning to read a language like Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic etc… will be a lot more difficult and time consuming.
4-Keep it short and cheap. You can’t master an entire language in a short time. Just go for a basic program to get you through. It will be easier to remember and a great way to get you started and build your confidence. You shouldn’t spend more than $40 for software of $20 for CDs. You don’t need to break the bank to get started.
5-Supplement your learning with cartoons and videos. Once you have your CD and want to do more, search YouTube for kids cartoons and songs in your new language. You can also find kid’s language coloring and sticker books for additional learning and fun.
6-Just have fun. You won’t remember it all, but you never know what might come to mind right when you need it. Just give it a try and see what sticks. Learning a language is half the fun of going:)