How to learn a language the right way. How to quickly learn a foreign language

Today we will not try to draw your attention to the main content of this article with an eloquent introduction, because each of us will have our own list of reasons. The importance is obvious. So let's not waste time.

Is it possible to learn a language on your own? Russian psychologist D. Spivak in the book "How to become a polyglot" gives some tips to improve language skills when learning a foreign language. And one of the recommendations is that it is better to learn the language from self-study books. So everyone can control the intensity of classes, give themselves the necessary amount of information and regularly return to various topics to consolidate. With the amendment, of course, that the process itself, by definition, cannot be completely isolated.

The starting point is the correct setting. First of all, think about why you need to learn a foreign language - for study, moving to another country, resurrection in memory and improvement of school knowledge, as a hobby. An honest answer to this question will allow you to create a training program tailored to your needs, focus on the right aspects, and help.

Another secret to successful language acquisition is daily practice, which allows you to develop the skill of how to. In addition, consistency and constancy favorably affect, without which there is nowhere to study a foreign language. It's like training - the result comes with regularity. Therefore, it is so important to strictly follow the lesson plan by day and hour.

What will contribute to the result?

Immersion

You have probably heard the statement repeatedly that any language is much easier to learn, being completely immersed in the natural environment. But what if you can't go to study English in the UK or Spanish in Spain? The answer is obvious - try to create a suitable environment at home. To achieve maximum similarity, of course, is impossible. But reading books (at first adapted), watching movies, listening to audio recordings, practicing language - all this is available to anyone who has the Internet. Try to surround yourself with the language being studied as much as possible, and do not use study materials alone.

Process gamification

Patience and hard work at any age

There will always be skeptics among the people around you who will raise their eyebrows in astonishment when they find out that in your 30s, you intend to learn French, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish from scratch (substitute or add the right one). “How?”, “Why?”, “This should have been done before, now it’s too late.” Do not allow such formulations to sow a grain of uncertainty in your mind and, moreover, to be disappointed in your own abilities. Patience and a little effort. Learning for results is by definition never easy, so persevere towards your goal. Yes, at a younger age, due to linguistic flexibility and orientation towards the intuitive assimilation of linguistic norms, it is conditionally easier to learn a foreign language. But studies confirm that you can start learning a language and achieve success in this matter at any age.

Everyone knows perfectly well that foreign languages are in fashion today. Now all the formalities when traveling abroad have been greatly simplified, which allows thousands of people to travel freely around the world. Many of them go abroad in search of a better life, some have already found work there, some are still looking. In this situation, knowledge of the language is mandatory and necessary.

And now the textbooks and dictionaries that fell like dust on store shelves are instantly sold out, language courses flourish, and qualified experienced teachers demand exorbitant money for their lessons.

Unfortunately, not everyone, due to their employment or financial instability, can afford to attend language courses or use the services of a tutor.

There is nothing left to do but do it yourself. But the study of any foreign language is quite specific, therefore, from the start of study, a lot of problems often arise related to ignorance of the very methodology of self-study.

What's the schedule? How to build lessons? How to conquer the correct pronunciation? How, how many and what books, magazines to read? How to remember a large amount of information, a lot of new words and grammar rules?

All these and many other questions YOU will get the answer by reading this article to the end! She has collected all the useful recommendations, instructions and advice, listening to which the training will become much easier, more interesting, and most importantly - more effective.

Internal Success Factors

Any sane person without exception, if desired, can learn any language at any age. There are no people who absolutely cannot learn a foreign language, however, language abilities are subject to fairly strong variations. Some learn a language much faster and more easily than others. However, everyone who believes that they are able to learn the language, or simply do not want to spend time on serious studies, is lazy - naturally, there is nothing to help them here, or I have not the slightest idea how to properly and rationally organize all stages of their learning and make this system. The last of this article will take out a lot of useful and interesting information.

As in anything else, in learning any language, the result directly depends on the level of interest, diligence and perseverance. Be that as it may, knowing the language poorly is still better than not knowing it at all.

When learning a language, it is important to have a good memory for words, be able to imitate a variety of sounds and think logically.

Organization of self-study: basic principles

Unconditional success and obtaining the desired result will lead only to the method that the student will not perceive as a heavy burden, burden or necessity. External pressure usually causes only a reaction;
Choose a specific time of the day for your lessons. Try to practice every day, there should be a maximum of one day off per week. Each class, even if not very long, is much more useful and better than many hours of “assault” once or twice a week;
The ideal duration of classes should be 1-1.5 hours a day with indispensable 5-minute breaks or without them if the lesson lasts no more than an hour. After 7-10 hours after the lesson, it will be very useful to conduct a 10-minute review of the material covered;
Be sure to arrange comfortable and cozy conditions for yourself: a comfortable workplace, excellent lighting, maximum silence;
During training, use all your senses: hearing, vision, hands, speech organs. It is necessary to fully use all the ways of entering information, combining and combining their work;
Try to constantly apply the acquired knowledge, persistently practice the language as soon as an opportunity presents itself. Take advantage of any free time for this - in transport, when you are waiting for something or someone;
Create a planned plan in advance, according to which you will constantly repeat the studied material. Only deliberately organized repetition can provide a strong memorization;
Do not try to speed up your optimal pace of language learning, as dynamics can negatively affect the results;
Gradually introduce various game situations into the learning process;
Do not be ashamed to praise yourself if you have achieved positive results - you must be confident in your abilities and capabilities;
Study the history, geography, economy, culture, art and literature of the state whose language you are studying.

First stage

If you have clearly decided to study a particular language, you will need a textbook, a phrase book, a couple of dictionaries and light art books.

Work through the textbook carefully and point by point, correctly completing all the exercises in full. Engage in written translation of the text, leaving free space for correcting errors, separately analyze all your mistakes, their causes.

Many teachers advise studying simultaneously from several textbooks by different authors. This way you can compare the various presentations of the material, and therefore, do not tie yourself to a single option. Nevertheless, this way of learning is very time-consuming and requires a certain dispersion of attention, which is far from being possible for everyone.

As soon as possible, start reading adapted literature, simple plays and short stories. Start with something public, after reading the text a couple of times, write down any new unfamiliar words and phrases for further study.

Try to consult with native speakers or teachers as often as possible. Ask to check you and correct your mistakes, if any, explain their origin.

Pronunciation

Impeccable and correct pronunciation is the basis for learning any language. Defects and flaws in pronunciation make it much more difficult for someone to understand and perceive the speech you speak. Mastering the correct pronunciation is one of the most difficult tasks. During your first contact with a foreigner, he will judge your knowledge solely by pronunciation.

You need to focus on the following points:

Many pronunciation errors can be circumvented by following an accurate and clear display of the position of the articulatory apparatus when you reproduce the sound given in the phonetics section of the textbook. Practice pronunciation as intensively as possible in the first months of learning the language, until such time as you begin to pronounce all sounds automatically, without particularly straining;
It is possible to quickly and efficiently learn all the rules of pronunciation only when you compare them with the rules inherent in your native language. You need to compare the sound that you are studying with the closest maximally similar sound of your language, fix the position of the organs of speech, which makes such a sound different;
In the pronunciation of the most difficult sounds, you should train as long as possible. Work also on those sounds whose incorrect pronunciation distorts the meaning of the whole word;
It is imperative to train your pronunciation at the mirror - this will allow you to perfectly control facial expressions, which are characteristic of certain sounds. It is extremely useful to watch a foreign non-dubbed movie, this will allow you to “read” the sounds exclusively by facial expressions;
Try to listen to radio broadcasts as much as possible and repeat phrases after the announcer. Training right behind the correct perception of sounds will undoubtedly lead to positive results;
Particular attention should be paid to correct intonation and stress. Acquiring skills in the correct one is quite difficult, since the manner in which words are pronounced in different languages varies greatly. The assimilation of the correct melody of the language will be facilitated by repeated listening to radio programs recorded, for example, on a voice recorder;
Try to memorize verses and read them with expression, while trying to convey all the shades of sound with your voice.

Grammar

To learn a language without mastering grammar is only possible for a small child or a person who, for some reason, got into a foreign language environment, while being completely divorced from his usual one.

Grammar rules should not only be known, but also understood. A thoughtful principle will certainly give rise to a habit, and the slow application of these rules subsequently becomes automatic. All the grammatical patterns that you have mastered act on the principle of a template, in the future they allow you to “cut” new forms according to it. The whole study of grammar comes down to the manufacture of these patterns, which is why your task is to master as many stable fundamental patterns as possible.

Here are the main basic rules and tips for learning grammar.

Remember that a solid knowledge of the basics of grammar is much more important than a superficial delitant acquaintance with all the minor elements;
Do not look for any clear logic in grammar, since any language is rich in inconsistent phenomena that are due to the process of its development. That is why, along with the study of grammatical rules, at the same time try to study all the exceptions to them;
Grammar rules must be memorized by memorizing whole sentences where they are used. This approach will facilitate your learning, it is easier than memorizing the rules formulated in the textbook;
Grammar studies try to match the grammar rules in a foreign language with identical rules in your native language. This will allow you to find similar phenomena and will contribute to the creation of associative links;
Initially, learn how to conjugate verbs and inflect nouns with pronouns, try to determine the structure of the sentence, as well as the order of words in it;
Be sure to make tables of the rules that you are studying, this will give you the opportunity to visually assimilate the material;
Try to formulate questions on your own that include the grammar rules you are learning, and try using examples to answer them.

Your goal should be to create a typical sentence model, in which you will gradually include several rules of the same type in order to compare various rules with each other, to compare them using the same model.

Language acquisition

There are four main types of speech that make up language activities: listening, reading, writing and speaking. To know the language well, it is necessary to be fluent in these types of speech.

To understand speech by ear, you need:

constantly listen to tape recordings and radio broadcasts;
communicate as often as possible with people who ideally know the language you are learning;
read aloud with correct intonation;
constantly repeat patterns of heard speech;
use various oral exercises;
get practical phonetic skills, perfect pronunciation.

There are two basic types of reading - extensive and intensive.

During extensive reading, you do not pay characteristic attention to detail, reading is directed solely to the essence of the story. We get a more general and less accurate perception. On the other hand, if you read without understanding what is happening, it will not bring any results or benefits.

Intensive Reading- unhurried and thorough, includes an explanation of the smallest and most detailed details, all the grammatical, lexical and stylistic specifics of the text. In this case, of course, all interest in the text as such and its meaning are often lost.

A detailed analysis of difficult texts must be combined with a quick reading of the lungs. The fatigue that occurs during fluent reading is associated with the rapid switching of one's attention, and is more than offset by both interest and pleasure from reading.

Be fluent in a foreign language- rather heavy characteristic of speech activity. In order to speak, it is necessary to operate with a huge number of words, various model sentences and speech clichés, to apply them automatically, without thinking.

You can learn how to speak correctly and qualitatively with the help of the following exercises.

it is necessary to remember the maximum number of stamps, various short phrases, as well as set phrases and expressions. Try to learn and pronounce some proverbs and sayings, parables, anecdotes and short dialogues;
speech skills are excellently developed by modern plays and stories that are written in a colloquial style. They contain the most necessary words and models. Textbooks and manuals often contain somewhat artificial texts; they are not always a reliable and solid source of colloquial speech;
after a couple of months, it is necessary to include a retelling of texts in the learning process, gradually increasing their complexity. To automate speech skills, during repeated retellings, you need to increase the speed of speech;
after reading the text, ask yourself a variety of questions on the text, independently answering them;
learning to speak correctly and beautifully is possible only in the process of speaking. Therefore, one should practice speech at the slightest opportunity;
talk to yourself as you practice daily, tell yourself what you see and hear around you, what you want to do, etc. You must accustom yourself to obligatory monologues.

Despite the fact that writing is far from being the primary attribute of language learning, however, it cannot be bypassed. If you do not know how to express your thoughts in writing, you cannot be called a person who knows the language comprehensively.

Writing can be developed in the following ways.

You are required to complete all written exercises in the textbook, in particular those related to translation from your language into the target language;
write questions to read;
arrange self-dictations for yourself to test the memorization of the newly learned vocabulary;
freely express the elaborated text in writing;
write essays on topics that interest you the most.

Translation

While learning a language, be sure to practice translating text from a foreign language into your native language, and vice versa. Translation is not only a combination of the meaning of each individual word into one phrase, it is primarily a transfer of thought. In fact, this is the creation of a new sentence, taking into account all the features of the language into which the text is being translated. It will greatly facilitate the translation by memorizing turns of speech that differ from the turns of your language, but carry the same semantic load. Always, remember, always avoid translating text literally.

So, summing up, it must be said that all types of speech activity without exception are inextricably linked with one another. Therefore, never give more attention to any one at the expense of the others. Apply as far as possible all the techniques and means described above. And most importantly - the only short way to the full development of the language is persistent, painstaking, concentrated, systematic and conscious work.

How Language Shapes Our Emotions The School of Life

The need to study foreign languages does not cause any controversy. Knowledge of at least one foreign language is very necessary for every person for education, career advancement and self-development.

Scientists claim that knowledge of a foreign language stimulates brain activity and supports the intellectual activity of a person in the necessary tone. Until now, people still do not know how many languages one person can learn. But at all times there were unique people who were able to study record number of foreign languages. For example, from one ancient legend you can learn that the Buddha studied and spoke fluently in 150 languages, another polyglot of the past centuries, Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, easily communicated in 60 languages of the world.

How to learn a foreign language easily: the rules of Kato Lomb

The famous Hungarian the writer has mastered in a short period of time 9 languages. At the same time, at school, the girl was considered an incapable student. Learn foreign languages quickly in adulthood Kato Lomb helped such rules:

necessary devote to studies for learning a foreign language a certain amount of time daily, classes in the morning are especially effective;
in no case not worth doing empty cramming, do not memorize words and phrases separately, which are perceived in isolation from the main text;
try to memorize ready-made phrases used only in a particularly maximum number of cases;
translate everything you can, for example, texts on advertising stands, inscriptions on posters, fragments of accidentally overheard conversations, constantly train your memory;
never don't get involved rereading uncorrected exercises, since with repeated text subconsciously it can be remembered with all the errors;
write out and try to remember in the first person singular ready-made phrases and expressions.

In order to communicate fluently in a foreign language, it is necessary do some work on yourself and practice learning it. Even if a person is ready to learn every day, some languages require their study for several years. Many begin to get upset that progress in learning a foreign language is small enough, therefore quit studying, resulting in great results.

Television, radio and billboards are full of offers of services for learning all the languages of the world, but few people really thought about the degree of effectiveness of methods of learning a foreign language, be it English or Chinese. Studies conducted on this issue have shown that The most effective and easiest way to learn a language is private lessons. one on one with the teacher.

A foreign language is a fortress to be taken by storm from all sides at the same time.

How to learn a foreign language easily: effective methods

Can read newspapers in a foreign language to listen to the radio, watch films who do not have dubbing attend lectures in a foreign language and talk to carrier people language. You can look for a native speaker in the city where you live. Feel free to speak, and in no case be afraid that you will pronounce words and phrases incorrectly. In any case, they will be able to understand or ask you again. Start play the game "I say what I see", its rules are that you will name the objects that surround you in a foreign language, you can also start learning songs in a foreign language.

Dive Method

This question worries a lot of people. The most cardinal way of learning a foreign language is currently popular immersion method, that is, a situation where you have reason to leave the country, where the language you want is the primary language. By doing so, you will be forced, around the clock in a row, to speak the foreign language you need, and this will give you the best experience, the accumulation of vocabulary. In such an environment you even "start to think" in language, which you want to speak fluently.

Currently, there are organizations that provide opportunities to go abroad for the purpose of learning a foreign language. If you have free time and enough financial resources, then you can take advantage of such a great chance.

Method "School"

The method of learning a foreign language is also widespread and popular. He is co-education in groups, in them you will regularly and purposefully study effectively by completing certain homework. The advantage of such training is that this method is public, and the only drawback of it will be quite long period of study.

Be sure to practice more often at home and at work, with friends, with like-minded colleagues.

The next step towards the study and improvement of knowledge of a foreign language will be vocabulary expansion or regular speaking practice to reinforce what has already been achieved.

For the implementation of your far-reaching plans, you Need to quickly learn a foreign language? What to do for this? You can find urgent language courses and sign up for them. But anyway, from you it takes a lot of self effort if you really want to be good at it.

Every day, scientists around the world try to look for miraculous ways that allow anyone to easily learn any foreign language. Unfortunately, universal unique method yet that no one did not invent.

Method with music

Scientific progress does not stand still. For example, recently American researchers and music workers came to a startling conclusion that opens the way to easy learning of a foreign language. The name of this miraculous remedy is music! This begs the question, how can music help to learn a foreign language? It turns out that it can, despite all doubts. Gathered group of scientists, studied all the nuances, conducted a series of experiments and came to a sensational conclusion, What exactly music- primary phenomenon basis of speech person. And if music is the basis of speech, then it is also the basis for easy learning of a foreign language.

American scientists explained meaning his new discovery. The existence of speech and language is considered as the main characteristic of human intelligence. And music in this case is perceived as something that has developed from the language. Initially, music appeared, and then it was transformed into speech. So it can be said with certainty that colloquial speech is a kind of music. In support of such conclusions, scientists cited reliable results of behavioral studies. They showed that:

newborn children are at first able to listen to how speech sounds, and only later they begin to understand the whole meaning of the speech addressed to them;
newborns have the ability to perceive the speech addressed to them as a melody, namely, to distinguish between individual sounds, their rhythm, pitch and timbre of speech;
young children (up to one year old) have the same ability to focus on the emotionality and melodiousness of the sound of speech.

Thus, following the data obtained, we can conclude that the main principle that forms the human capabilities and abilities of learning languages is discernment individual words or groups of words in a certain sound reproduction. According to the authoritative opinion of American scientists, the main cause of most problems that do not allow it is easy for adults to learn a foreign language, is that they start concentrate on the meaning and meaning of individual words, but in fact, something completely different should be done. Foreign language and colloquial expressions must be perceived in the way that they are perceived by young children. Namely, paying attention on rhythm, phonetics and language components, self the meaning of the words will come much Later. In other words, you need to let the rhythm and sound of the language into your heart.

This can be easily experienced by listening to radio broadcasts in a foreign language. At first, a person’s consciousness begins to reject a foreign language, but over time, the mind will be drawn into the rhythm and mood of the “language wave”.

It immediately becomes pleasant to feel and realize how you soar in a kind of linguistic phonetic flow of speech.

As for an easy way to learn a foreign language through music, the American scientists recommend start the process using classical methods, i.e. listen to songs from the countries of the language being studied. Attentively listen, listening for the rhythm and phonetic pattern, sing, and then write down the words you hear. In conclusion, check with the official originals. After a certain period of time, the differences between your and the official version of the text material will be minimal or disappear altogether, and language proficiency will be much higher.

Using this method in practice is quite simple. In fact, you only need put on headphones relax, sit in a comfortable chair and listen to pleasant rhythmic music. To her accompaniment announcers pronounce various words and phrases, expressions in a foreign language, you can repeat after them if you wish. Expressions and words are divided into specific topics and groups, so you can easily go through the most various types of situational communication and as a result, it is easy to learn a foreign language. The most basic is that after a few listening new words are very well remembered and pop up in memory automatically, to the tune of the music that accompanied them.

Always be sure that you will surely achieve high results in learning a foreign language. Also in the fact that you have an extraordinary ability to learn foreign languages and strong willpower. We wish you a pleasant learning of a foreign language!

You need to learn a foreign language - and so you come to the bookstore in search of benefits, sign up for courses, look for private teachers ... And you don’t know what is good and what is bad. Because you have no criteria, no measure. And if there is no correct setting in advance, then one thing remains: to learn from mistakes and console yourself "after", that a negative experience is also an experience. If only life weren't so short...

Therefore, before giving specific advice, I will try to give you this criterion, the general principle. Once you grasp it, you will easily navigate the sea of benefits and services on offer.

I'll start with a parable.

Russian athletes somehow found out that there is a monastery in Tibet, where monks run 80 kilometers during one of their religious holidays. Athletes became interested in this achievement and sent a delegation to learn from experience. The monks were asked to demonstrate their art. The Tibetans at first did not understand what they wanted from them. Why run when there is no holiday? After all, they usually run to the place where the holiday is held. But the guests insisted. I had to agree to this pointless business. And they ran. And our sports figures see: one monk runs, runs - and suddenly sits down on the side of the road, breathing heavily, then another. They come up and ask: "Why are you sitting there? You haven't even run a kilometer, have you?" And he replies: "I'm tired." A simple oriental person. Tired - sat down to rest. He does not understand that it is possible to run without a goal, but only for time and distance - for the sake of running itself. In a word, no one ran anything, everyone left the race. The delegation left with nothing. And then again there was this Buddhist holiday, and again the monks ran to the place of the holiday, and everyone ran these 80 km without difficulty. And the thing is that they did not count kilometers and did not time the time. They were thinking about something else. Running to the place of the holiday for them is part of the holiday ritual. They run, say, along the lake, hold their hands behind their heads and read a certain set of prayers. (I'm not responsible for the details). Then they go around the mountain, read other prayers, hold their hands in some other way. And so on. So they don't get tired. In short, they don't think about running, they think about celebrating. Running for them is a means, and a holiday is the goal.

What does this story have to do with learning a foreign language? The most direct. You start reading the text of the textbook - and immediately feel tired - like that monk who sat on the side of the road without running a kilometer. Why? Are you lazy? No, you are not to blame, this is a normal reaction of the human psyche. After all, language, like running, is a means, not an end. When you read something, you should be interested not in the language, but in the content of the text. You forget about the language while reading. The text of the textbook is composed in such a way that the language in it is the goal, and the content is the means, the content in so far as. Therefore, your fatigue and unwillingness to read such a text is a defensive reaction of the psyche to an attempt to invade it and turn everything upside down.

Another example. You are a teacher, in front of you is a group. You need this person to stand up and walk around the room now. You can ask him: "Please stand up and walk around the room." He will fulfill your request, but he will be embarrassed, which will be reflected in his gait. However, you can also say: "Be so kind as to open the door, please." The result will be the same: he will get up and walk, but at the same time he will feel completely natural, relaxed. In the second case, opening the door is the goal; getting up and walking around is the means. In the first case, getting up and walking turns into a goal, an end in itself, but this is unnatural. It is a means that has lost its purpose, a means that is forced to be an end.

It's the same with language. I'll tell you: "The table is standing." You say: "So what? What's next?" In itself, the phrase "the table stands" has no meaning, but only a literal (lexical and grammatical) meaning. It can only make sense in a specific life situation. For example, the master, having repaired the table, says: "Mistress, the table is standing!" The meaning of this phrase: "Pay money." Or the hostess says to the guests: "The table is standing!" Meaning: "Please come to the table, everything is ready." Or in a conversation somewhere in the country: "Do you know if the neighbors have arrived?" - "Yes, the table is standing." Meaning: "The neighbors have arrived." The meaning of the phrase is one, but the meaning changes depending on the situation. Meaning is the means, and the end is the meaning. We use language not at the level of meaning, but at the level of meaning. Only a complete idiot can, going out into the street, name what he sees: "The tree is growing. It is big. It is a birch. The leaves are green. The cat runs to the tree. The cat is gray. She runs fast," etc. You have learned, of course, the style of a traditional textbook.

The trouble with traditional learning is that language is given as an end in itself, not as a means. At the level of meaning, not at the level of meaning. Here it is, the necessary criterion.

Therefore, the reading or listening offered to you should be, first of all, interesting in itself, and the spoken language should be mastered in live situational communication.

You have learned to read fluently in a foreign language: you read and understand everything at once - like in Russian. But here you turn on the German radio - and you don’t understand anything. You try to talk to a German - and you can't say anything. What's the matter?

Imagine language as a nightstand. There are three drawers in the nightstand. The first box is colloquial speech. The second is listening comprehension. The third is reading, understanding the text. It just seems to you that the language is one, because you speak Russian, understand it, and read it. But in Russian, without noticing it, you use different boxes.

Hence the conclusions: what needs to be done to learn to read in the language? Answer: you need to read, and as much as possible. To listen? Listen! (If you are already a fluent reader, in a couple of months you will get used to understanding TV and radio programs.) What does it take to speak? - Speak! It's like learning to swim: no matter how much you train swimming movements on land, you still have to learn in the water. And it still doesn't work right. If you are taught a language without lively conversational situations, without live communication in this language, then they teach you to swim without water, they teach you to drive a car without a car.

What does live communication, live situation mean? Communication becomes alive when the language in it is a means for solving some vital task, is the bearer of meaning. When language does not become an end in itself (as, for example, in a memorized text or dialogue). Language is not an end, language is a means. Having understood this, you will understand the main thing that is needed for learning or teaching a language.

So, since the "boxes" (speaking, understanding, reading) are different, then neither translating or retelling the text, nor performing grammar exercises, nor memorized dialogues, nor listened to audio courses, nor books read in the language - nothing will teach you to speak, except for yourself. speaking in situations, at the level of meaning. (Therefore, by the way, advertising of audio courses promising you language skills is an obvious hoax.) If you don’t have the ability to swim in water, then everything you learned in advance instantly disappears in a real situation, you will immediately mix everything up and will flounder as if you didn’t learn anything . You will have no time to think: so, now I will put the predicate in such and such a form, and now the subject in such and such a form. Even if you have been “trained” for all these forms for a very long time, but this only works as long as you do not lose sight of them, as long as you look at the language as an end in itself. But then your handbag was stolen from you in a foreign country, you explain this to the policeman - and here you have already turned away from the language, the meaning is important to you. As soon as you turn away, "everything is mixed up in the Oblonskys' house."

There are many different methods for learning a language. Here and hypnosis, and songs-dances, and by association with Russian words, etc. and so on. What is not! But these are all different methods of presenting new material. That's half the battle, less than half. Then there should be an activation of this material in the conversation. This does not happen, most of the methods stop at the presentation, which is then only "reinforced", repeated, crammed. They stop, end where they should start. In fact, all these methods are just varieties of the traditional method, focused on the passive assimilation of certain material, on cramming. This is a tradition of medieval monastic schools, where the main task was to memorize the sacred text (and in Russia - in Church Slavonic, in Europe - in Latin). The teacher read, the students chanted. They put them in the back of each other's heads, in cramped desks - in order to cut off any possibility of communication. And so it has remained to this day. But it is impossible to master a living language like that! Everyone needs to see each other, be able to move freely and communicate.

Everything that I am telling here is based on the emotional-semantic method of Igor Yuryevich Shekhter. This method just offers, in addition to the presentation of the material, its activation. You already understand that this is not just about one of the methods with a certain set of techniques (which, of course, there are - and here there is a subtle and detailed technology that the teacher needs to learn), it is about the correct, humane, humane approach, about the only possible setting. The traditional technique is "against the wool". Remember school. Even after "learning" the language by the traditional method, you still get into communication with foreigners - and then life teaches you the Schechter method.

So, you can learn to speak either by directly communicating with foreigners (especially good if you have already learned to read before that, that is, you have mastered the language passively), or by finding a teacher who knows the conversational, emotional and semantic method.

When choosing a teacher for yourself, try to avoid a non-professional (which is the majority, wherever he works). Here is a non-professional, if instead of building lively conversational situations, he makes you perform tasks at the level of meaning, i.e. just "drives" you through the textbook. As we have already said, this is unnatural, so he is forced to be violent. Instead of constantly complimenting you, encouraging communication, he makes comments, rejoices at your every mistake, behaves according to the scheme: "I am the boss, you are a fool." (Why make comments and give marks if we don’t learn the language, but just get used to it? The doctor does not give marks to his patient. If anyone can give marks, it’s the doctor and the teacher.) Before you is a layman agrees to lead a group of more than 15 people (under these conditions it is impossible to organize a conversation). If he goes to classes without original materials (newspapers, magazines, books, radio programs, etc.), he is limited to teaching aids. If he shows his fatigue, illness, bad mood, he speaks of his difficulties. If you sit at the desks of each other in the back of the head. And so on. All this, as you already understood, follows from all the same two rules: language is a means, not an end, and language must be learned intensively. If the teacher does not understand this, then he does not know the basics of his profession. After all, knowing a language is not yet a profession; anyone can know the language. And just "chasing" students according to the textbook - for this you do not need to study for even a minute.

What if you can't change your teacher? If you reluctantly learn a language in the traditional way? It is best to just read in the language and listen to the broadcasts, waiting for the opportunity to plunge into the language environment. At the same time, I do not advise you to study on your own using different textbooks and courses (you already understood why).

It is also important to understand that the language does not consist of words and grammar, but of phrases, phrases - of how and what they say in this case, for example, the Germans. The German will not say: "I am in a hurry", he will say "I have it in a hurry". He will not say: "I went to school at the age of seven," but will say: "I went to school at the age of seven." And so is the whole language. Therefore, learning words separately is useless. You need to remember the turns. That is the main thing. (Once, as a child, I thought that it was worth learning the Latin alphabet - and that’s all, this is a foreign language. What was my surprise when it turned out that in a foreign language not only letters, but also words are completely different! the same, and no less powerful insight was that not only the words are different, but in general everything is different, everything is “not in Russian”.) All grammatical forms are placed on several pages. All grammar can be told in 3-4 lessons. Words are not a problem either. Put in front of you a list of 10 words written in context. Can't you memorize them in 10 minutes? A person with the most average memory can memorize 100 or even several hundred words a day. We usually use about 3,000 words when speaking. You don't need any hypnosis or special associative techniques - you can't take words out of context, tie them to another language. It only hurts the cause. So, the problem is not in learning grammar and memorizing words, the problem is in the correct use of words, in each individual case. And in this sense, the language must be learned throughout life, this is an endless process. To speak well (active language skills). You can learn to understand well (passive possession) very quickly (for example, in a few months you can learn to read fluently).

And here is the most important advice: the language must be learned intensively. Let me give you two comparisons. First: the tongue is a pile of bricks. You gradually take bricks from it and carefully stack them in another place. When you select all the bricks - the language is learned. Second comparison: the tongue is an ice slide that you have to run up. In the first case (a pile of bricks), language appears as a certain amount of material, as an academic subject, as an end in itself. You gradually learn it - and it does not matter at all in what mode, with what intensity: the main thing is to go through all the bricks. If 100 bricks, then 100 lessons. It doesn't matter if it's every day or once a week. This is, of course, a misconception. In the second case (ice slide), intensity is important. We ran quickly up the hill - that's it, your language. If not, you will always move out. The result of 100 lessons can be equal to zero (and here the number of lessons does not matter at all - since you are sliding in one place). You can gently touch a closed door a thousand times and it will remain closed. And you can, putting together all these efforts, roughly push it once - and it will open. The language is not studied as any amount of material, one gets used to the language - one gets used to using it. (Therefore, I try to say "master the language" - make it your own, and not "learn the language"). Here you need to follow a certain regime - just as it is observed during sports training or medical procedures. Therefore, before you start, think about whether you can devote at least two hours to the language every day. And not only to devote time, but also to turn your soul in this direction, to make the language become a part of your life? In other words, are you up to the language now? And don't say: "Yes, of course, there is not enough time ... But at least a little ... It's still better than nothing..." That's just the point, it's not better. You will just skid in one place. But you can learn the language in stages, cycles. For example, a month or two - intensively, immersed headlong, a month - a break. Language acquisition cannot be extended. A language cannot be learned in 8 years (the usual period of fruitless language learning: 6 years of school plus 2 years of college - and zero output), but you can learn it in a year. If you started to learn a language and abandoned it, everything will quickly be forgotten, it will disappear. If you have already mastered the language, then it is not forgotten, it keeps itself. During a break, only the conversational skill weakens, but it is also quickly restored - with new practice.

How to determine that you have already run up the ice slide (that is, you have mastered the spoken language)? You yourself will feel it. It's not about the number of classes and not the amount of material you have worked through. There must be a qualitative shift. You suddenly realize that you are already speaking without thinking about how to say it, forgetting about grammar. You no longer think first in Russian and then say it in German, you immediately think in German. And when they say something to you, you immediately understand in German, and do not translate it into Russian first. Likewise with reading. This turning point (when the help of the Russian language is no longer needed, only German remains) is an indicator that you have achieved a result. For different people, this fracture occurs at different times, depending on the characteristics of the character. He did not speak, he floundered - and suddenly he spoke, swam! (Again: why give marks here? For character traits? This is a natural process. You should not, as they say, pull the rose by the petals so that it grows faster).

Many are concerned about the problem of pronunciation. "Do you put pronunciation?" Turn on the Russian radio in English. Terrible pronunciation! You will immediately distinguish it from the BBC. On the BBC, the pronunciation of our announcers is mimicked in humorous programs when it is necessary to present the "voice of Moscow." And these people were given the pronunciation "set", and they did it for more than one year. For months they held a mirror in front of their mouths and observed where the tongue went at such and such a sound, where the jaw went ... This unpleasant occupation did not lead to anything.

For example, two foreigners (for example, a Georgian) live in Moscow for 10 years. One speaks Russian with a pleasant accent, the other without. It depends on the special linguistic hearing (not musical, but linguistic). Some people have it, some don't. It shouldn't bother you. You will speak with an accent - so what? The most unpleasant thing is just the "set" pronunciation - because it is artificial, not individual. Nobody really says that. You need to find your way of speaking - and then you will come closest to a good pronunciation.

There is one important skill: learn to "duplicate" everything that you hear in a foreign language to yourself - as if to pronounce it, moving your tongue. At first you will not be in time - it's okay, "jump over" and duplicate further. Then you will have time to duplicate even continuous fluent speech, even radio broadcasts. You can first try to do it in Russian by turning on the radio or TV. So, monkeying, you will learn good pronunciation, and pick up the right intonation, and remember the turns.

It happens that people consider themselves incapable of language. At the same time, some add: "My teacher told me so at school." What was she supposed to tell you? What is she cheating? There are no people incapable of language. It's not music. Do you speak Russian? It means that everything is in order with the brain centers responsible for the language. Age also does not play a role. As we have already said, it is not a matter of memory, not of memorizing material, but of getting used to the language. This is just a common prejudice that language should be learned in childhood. Most people learn a language as an adult. And there are no age restrictions here. The main thing is not to be afraid to jump into the water.

According to some experts, adults do not have the ability to learn languages the way children do. But this information has now been proven to be completely false and it has been proven that anyone and everyone can learn any language of their choice, be it Chinese, Japanese or Icelandic. Everything is possible, so we want to tell you how to learn any language and never forget it.

1. Spend more time listening than talking

It may sound a little strange to you to hear that you have to listen more than speak if you are trying to learn a language, but this is actually the best step. Listening is much more important for the learner because you don't have the ability to fully recognize all sounds or pronounce unknown words correctly, and listening will give you that ability. Speaking at the very beginning of learning can seem like fun, but it often leads to pronunciation problems and bad language habits that can be difficult to correct later on. Listen more, because at first you don't know how the words should sound, and you may not even suspect that you are mangling them or speaking with a bad accent.

2. Immerse yourself in the language

Immersion is by far the best way to learn a language. You don't have to travel to another country to do this because you can create your own language environment right at home. Immersion means that you must constantly be exposed to the language. Maybe you have acquaintances who know this language, then you can talk to them and listen to them, listening to music, radio and television would be a great option. Make an effort on yourself and expose yourself to constant exposure to the language, because this will develop your listening ability and your pronunciation skills. You can just listen to music while you work around the house, or watch foreign films on the weekends.

3. Believe in yourself

The most essential factor in learning any language is the fact that you are initially confident. There are many myths around the fact that adults can no longer learn languages well, and all of them are completely groundless. Adults may not learn foreign languages every day, but many of them speak with perfect grammar and pronunciation. It used to be thought that adults lost the ability to grasp on the fly, but recent research on brain neuroplasticity shows that it is possible. Just know that you can learn a language regardless of your age, education level or skills. Every day there are more and more people in the world who are fluent in at least one foreign language, and the learning process for you will be no more difficult than for each of them.

4. Connect with native speakers

Contact with native speakers is another great way to learn a language. You can meet native speakers online by visiting websites like Facebook, Livemocha or even Twitter. There are people who are open to language exchanges as well as those who are even open to providing online lessons and coaching. Obviously, you can also find native speakers even in your city!

5. Visit a country where the language is spoken

Of course, sometimes this is not possible due to a number of reasons, but it would be great if you can visit such a country at least for a while. In this way, you will achieve maximum immersion in the language environment, because you will be constantly surrounded by the language, no matter where you are and what you do. This method will help you become fluent in a foreign language even faster than you think!

Everyone can learn a language, but it will require some effort, dedication and love for the cause. The best thing you can do is immerse yourself in the language, get to know native speakers, and visit the country. It's also worth pointing out that there are many language learning methods that work for everyone, so it's up to you to figure out what works best for you.

We hope that our advice will be useful to you. We wish you patience, inspiration and success in this wonderful business of learning the language!