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The best way to learn a language is to get totally enveloped in the culture and country of its origin. Many students study abroad and live with a host family. When you become a child in a host family, it simulates your experiences with a real family. You become one of several “siblings,” but the catch is that all of them speak the language you’re trying to learn. The continuous presence of your host family is a catalyst to learning a language abroad. A close-knit group of people always asking and telling one another things is an excellent way to learn the basics. Shyness and awkwardness quickly dissipate as relationships are forged, and it’s easy to test the waters without feeling like you’re wasting someone’s time, e.g., a vendor or one of the locals.
A second option that can be added on top of this are group lessons once you arrive in the country. Lessons are considerably cheaper abroad, especially in South American countries. For example, in Peru you can get 25 hours a week of instruction with 4 other students for just $65. If you want lodging and breakfast, it’s just another $60 per week. The particular program is the Claro Spanish Language Program. A good home study program is the Rosetta Stone brand. Anecdotal reports praise the program, and the $200 is reportedly “worth it.” It teaches useful vocabulary and basic grammar.
Other good ways of seeing some of the culture and getting a feel for the words is to hire an immigrant tutor, rent foreign films from the video store, or borrow language tapes from the local library. An evening or day course in your locale is also an option. The camaraderie of your classmates and experienced tutelage of your instructor should make it fun and engaging. Find a few study buddies and chastise each other for not learning fast enough, create miniature contests, and try to simulate living in that country by occassionaly not speaking in your native language with your peers.
Before going to any new country, try to get a feel for the top 1,000, 3,000, or 5,000 words. Pronunciation is key so it’s not too good to just try to learn them from a book and pronounce them yourself. Try to get the top 5,000 words on tape. There are excellent programs for this and can be ported to an iPod. A learner’s dictionary is a good selection too. Some dictionaries and books come with CD-ROM companions, however, the structure of the CD-ROM could mirror the book’s, and it might make it more difficult to learn; make sure that the CD-ROM can stand alone and offers useful coursework in it’s own right. Free, open-source textbooks are also available online without charge, and they offer many good pointers. Print tutorials, buy cassettes, buy a little notebook to journal daily progress, and set the mission aside in a little compartment of your life that plan on tackling. Be excited, unafraid, and overzealous to sense the rumble of new and and unruly syllables.
Source:romow.com
A second option that can be added on top of this are group lessons once you arrive in the country. Lessons are considerably cheaper abroad, especially in South American countries. For example, in Peru you can get 25 hours a week of instruction with 4 other students for just $65. If you want lodging and breakfast, it’s just another $60 per week. The particular program is the Claro Spanish Language Program. A good home study program is the Rosetta Stone brand. Anecdotal reports praise the program, and the $200 is reportedly “worth it.” It teaches useful vocabulary and basic grammar.
Other good ways of seeing some of the culture and getting a feel for the words is to hire an immigrant tutor, rent foreign films from the video store, or borrow language tapes from the local library. An evening or day course in your locale is also an option. The camaraderie of your classmates and experienced tutelage of your instructor should make it fun and engaging. Find a few study buddies and chastise each other for not learning fast enough, create miniature contests, and try to simulate living in that country by occassionaly not speaking in your native language with your peers.
Before going to any new country, try to get a feel for the top 1,000, 3,000, or 5,000 words. Pronunciation is key so it’s not too good to just try to learn them from a book and pronounce them yourself. Try to get the top 5,000 words on tape. There are excellent programs for this and can be ported to an iPod. A learner’s dictionary is a good selection too. Some dictionaries and books come with CD-ROM companions, however, the structure of the CD-ROM could mirror the book’s, and it might make it more difficult to learn; make sure that the CD-ROM can stand alone and offers useful coursework in it’s own right. Free, open-source textbooks are also available online without charge, and they offer many good pointers. Print tutorials, buy cassettes, buy a little notebook to journal daily progress, and set the mission aside in a little compartment of your life that plan on tackling. Be excited, unafraid, and overzealous to sense the rumble of new and and unruly syllables.
Source:romow.com