Here’s a great article about how to learn foreign languages with the least pain and the most gain.

The author discusses the apprehension a lot of native English speakers experience while learning a foreign language, and why many are turned off from it altogether. He believes that native English speakers actually find it much more difficult than others to learn foreign languages, for the following reasons:

1. Many other peoples in the world are not just exhorted to learn English, they are required to do so. Thus, you can find English virtually everywhere you go.
2. The grammar of most other languages, certainly most European languages, is much more complex than English. Thus, native anglophones often view language learning as a daunting, and even demoralizing task.
3. Most native anglophones, especially in North America, live in almost exclusively English-speaking environments. We virtually never hear other languages spoken live, on radio or television, and virtually never see them written in newspapers, magazines, books, etc. This is hardly motivating.

After coming to the realization that the traditional approach to learning new languages was flawed, he adopted a new mindset that helped him master many more languages.

He then goes on to describe what he believes to be the most effective order for learning a language:

1. Basic grammar
The minimum necessary to put together an intelligible (if incorrect) sentence.

In my experience, this is most efficiently done self-taught. Sit down with a grammar book for about 10-15 minutes each day until you begin to feel somewhat comfortable with it.

2. Basic vocabulary
The minimum necessary to begin using the basic grammar.

Again, in my experience this is most efficiently done self-taught, i.e. the classic “learn five new words each day”. It won’t be very long before you start seeing how different words are related, so you can begin to guess what new words mean without resorting to the dictionary.

3. Speaking the language
Putting basic grammar and vocabulary to work as soon as you can actually begin using them.

This is the time to consider a language school or a personal tutor. With the foundation of what you will have already learned by yourself, you will certainly progress more easily and rapidly than if you had leaped into formal language instruction at the very beginning.

4. Writing the language
Tackling the daunting task of putting the language on paper.

You will almost certainly never need to do much writing. And what you do write will certainly need to be revised and corrected by a native speaker.

Since vocabulary is crucial, then the largely unrecognized key to mastering another language is: Learn to read it.

There is nothing like being able to sit down with a newspaper, magazine, or even a novel in the language to reinforce both grammar and vocabulary. The more you read, the more your vocabulary will expand. And the more some of the language’s apparently bizarre ways of doing things will become increasingly familiar.

For best results, the novel should contain a maximum of dialogue and a minimum of description. With dialogue, you can frequently anticipate and interpret what the characters are saying; with description you haven’t a clue.

When I was learning French, I used novels by Agatha Christie and the adventures of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs, because they are about 90% dialogue and 10% description. Hardly my favourite literature, but they served the purpose. I would also suggest Animal Farm by George Orwell and Candide by Voltaire. However, any novel with a high ratio of dialogue to description will do.

Definitely read the whole thing!

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