Sorry for not posting for five days. It has been a ginormous week of activity and study for me, and I'm only finding free time on my bus commuting. Today's article is more of the same thing- me giving silly advise through a quirky article- however I want to take a different approach. It's about doing something spontaneous and learning a language; it can often be made into a mountain when really it's just a mole hill (depending what language you learn. Don't start commenting about latin- that's a dead language and very very hard).
So what's the first thing you need to know when studying a new language? The biggest thing is to have passion for the language itself. It's no picnic to immerse yourself in an alien like culture (mine is Russian and believe me it's like another planet) so if you're gonna start off learning, decide firstly what interests you about the culture specifically, and make that your goal.
Besides the obvious 'language passion' there are other ways to improve visualisation of another speech. Scientists argue that by the time we are 9 years old the main language we have learnt will be our core cultural provider, and everything based around that, so what a person studying a language would need to do is re visit the basics. Place everything into a context and learn that context through a child like manner. Sure it will feel like repeating the first grade, but you need to crawl before you can walk and you need to pronounce before you speak.
Other tips:
1. Place yourself in the context of that language.
Visit the country. Go to an international film night and watch movies in that language. Cook foreign foods for your friends and follow that menu. By assimilating the lifestyle, it can trick your mind into relearning new subtle frames for the language itself.
2. Don't just speak.
Write, speak, memorize, develop. Make creative sentences or find little quotes in another language that seem interesting or funny. If you make it exciting, it will be exciting.
3. Find a tutor.
Don't bear the burden alone. There will be days when you skip a letter or mispronounce or get swamped with the *grimaces* culture-shocking-status-quo moments, so you will need someone to lift your spirits and encourage you to keep going.
That's about it. Pretty basic I know, but it's still good. Have a great week!
Cam xx
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