You Too Can Learn Foreign Languages (by Andy Maingam)

If you are a native speaker of English, then statistically you are going to have more difficulty learning a foreign language than a non native speaker. This has nothing to do with lacking an ability to learn foreign languages, but more to do with laziness, but why is this?

Well, quite simply, the English language is the most commonly spoken language in the world. Therefore, the need to learn foreign languages for native speakers of English is much less than a non native speaker who wants to get on in the world. I don’t know the exact figures, but there is something in the region of 400 million people who speak English as their first language, and almost 2 billion who have at least a basic proficiency of it. So, as you can see, English is the most widely taught and understood language in the world today.

All this said however, doesn't mean that native and non native speakers of English are not seeking to learn foreign languages other than English. Being bi-lingual, or multi-lingual even, is not only a great asset, but is simply a joy to be able to communicate in other tongues.

Obviously, the best time to learn foreign languages is at an early age, but that doesn't mean it's mission impossible for adults of all ages to master a new language. In fact, my grandmother studied French after she retired and became a fluent speaker in just 2 years of part time study. Mind you, she did spend her winter months in the South of France so she got plenty of practice. But the point is that anyone can learn foreign languages if they really put their mind to it, but you have to really want it to succeed.

Most foreign languages can actually be easier to learn than English, as the English language has lots of weird rules that are not found in other tongues. Obviously native speakers are somewhat oblivious to these rules, but non-native speakers will soon tell you that say Thai was easier to lean than English for example.

Remember, the most difficult thing regarding leaning a foreign language is getting started. Once you make a start, be it in school, online, or a home study course, all you need to do is adopt a little patience and persistence, and you'll be amazed before you're half way through. Keeping it simple is also imperative. It's far too easy to stray away from what's in front of you and go off on tangents in a bid to research things outside of your immediate lesson.

To learn foreign languages can be great fun. It doesn't matter what language it is, there are some basic things that all languages have in common. I'll put them below for your reference, and maybe they will help you to keep things uncomplicated when starting your new course.

In every language we do these 3 things:

1. Ask questions

2. give answers

3. Make statements

In every language we talk about 3 things:

1. People

2. Places

3. Things

In every language we refer to these 3 times:

1. Past

2. present

3. future

Yes, there's a lot of filling-in to do, but I've always used the above as my foundation, and as a consequence I'm fluent in 3 languages and have a basic knowledge of a forth. Good luck!

Andy Maingam is a proficient writer for the website DistantSchooling dot com where he has additional articles entitled Home Schooling in the 21st Century and California Traffic Schools. He also has other educational and remote learning pieces throughout the site.