Many expatriates who live outside their native environment can prove this theory to be true.  That you do not need a textbook or go to school to learn a foreign language, you just need to experience the language at the place where you work or travel. Young infants can speak by the age of 2 years old or earlier, well before they go to school to be taught to read. There are many ordinary people who will tell you they never went to school to study English but started to speak English in order to sell something, to serve somebody, or simply to communicate with people who only spoke English. Those who live in a multi-lingual community will also tell you the same thing abou their multi-lingual skills.

What these expats, young  infants and ordinary folks have in common is the the ‘surrender‘  factor.  They surrender themselves to the environment and allow themselves to be immersed in that language. They have inquiring minds and that in turn drive them to make connections with the language.

Here are some of my personal tips on how to learn a language naturally:

1. Study phrases in isolation without translating them after understanding its meaning.
2. Do not stop saying or using the same words you have learnt until they become as natural as your native language. You may only be saying Buenos Dias for months, but you will soon discover others will say Bien dia or Bueno tardes. The key is to seek familiarity with repetition. The more familiar you are with one or two words, the easier it is to notice new word combinations.
3. Listen once and use it often enough to discover the difference in sounds, intonations and way of pronouncing the words. Your goal is enjoy learning it. If repeating is boring, then you may have  a problem. How often do we say “I need to…” or “I want to…” or “I have to….” etc? We say them so regularly that we forget that they have become part of us.
4. Work with topics or subjects which you will definitely use in your conversations or dicussions on a daily basis. What is the point of learning words associated with driving when you don’t have to drive everyday or do not own a car?
5. Look for concrete objects around or near you, which you can point to and make connection between words and the objects. However,  I did try that method with my Arabic teacher once, and it was effective only when I had her to prompt me as we spoke. But as soon as she left my house, I totally forgot what I just used. The only way is to repeat step 3, 4, and 5 until my next lesson.
6. Live and let live. Mistakes are bound to surface when you attempt to string a few words on your own in a sentence. This may embarrass some adults but certainly not with young infants. In fact we are amused and entertained by their efforts to speak properly. Enjoy the journey and the progression from one phase to another overtime.
7. You can set targets but do not make deadlines. Enjoy the journey as the lessons unfold. When we learn naturally, the language should come to you. Of course, we can still seek help with others, refer to dictionaries, listen to the radio or read story books. Learning naturally doesn’t mean do nothing. It means you should feel comfortable to go about your normal activities even while you are learning something new.

About reading:

Reading depends on your sense of sight and your ability to scan through images and impressions.

Reading can also be done by the blind who is unable to see by using their sense of touch. The material used in this case is called braille.

Reading is about collecting facts and learning about those facts which you may later use to manage other information previously stored.

Reading helps you decide on a few keywords or key phrases to help you build your topics

Reading has to satisfy a need or it will lose its purpose and knowledge cannot be sustained. What is your need to read? Is it for business, leisure or self-improvement?

Reading is the foundation of learning. If you have no need to read, you have to develop or create a need. As explained above, the only proof that a person is well read can only come when he begins to speak or write about what he has read. If he does not do his homework, he does not develop content which means he wil lack substance in his spoken and written languages.

Reading can be a spiritual journey. It helps an individual to dig deeper into his soul and find a peaceful recess within.

Teaser

“Loo Go You”, that was exactly how a native English may read the name. The brain understands that it has to read ‘i’ in Lui and ‘uo’ in Guo, but inevitably the more creative half decides otherwise. In the name of humour and self-entertainment, in a glance and without further thought, the real name has changed into “Loo Go You”.

How To Read Effectively In 3 Simple Steps

1. Read the heading and the first 200 words.

Tip: You can also jump right to the conclusion to read the last 200 words. Go through the content and index. Do you find the phrases you are looking for?

2. Skim through the entire page and look for keywords or key phrases that you are working on.

Tip: concentrate on a few keywords and scan through to find those keywords on the page you are reading. If you cannot find at least one keyword in the page you are reading, you’ve picked the wrong book. If the keyword keeps appearing frequently, it may also mean you will be spendng time studying rather than reading the book.

3. Study the material around those keywords or key phrases (sub-headings, indexes, archives)

Depending on the depth of the material you are after, you can decide in the first 10 seconds if you wish to continue reading, abandon the process or postpone the thought of pursuing the knowledge written on the passage.

If you have arrived at step 3 and still have not abandoned or postponed the process of reading, it means you ought to own a hard copy of the article or book. Download it from the internet or buy the book so you can start making notes to study the knowledge further.

Difference Between Advice And Tips

A piece of advice helps you overcome an obstacle in your personal journey of learning or accomplishing a goal. You may choose to agree or disagree with the advice based on what you know from the past experience and previous knowledge of the matter. In this regard, you may also seek second or third opinion about the advice, because deciding what’s good or bad will affect your future. Advice requires both emotional and psychological decisions, with not logical expectations for what’s about to happen or will happen in future.

Once you take the advice, and somehow it does not work, sometimes you will not only hate yourself for listening to the advice in the first place. There is aching feeling when you realise you have followed a wrong advice. You suddenly feel alone and your problem is still not solved.

On the other hand, one will often always appreciate tips. This is simply because tip is that extra 10% that you do not have. You get tips only from experts, professionals or just someone who has been practising the act over and over again to a level of perfection. You will find that tips can be used to become a skill and once you apply good tips, you will experience a forward spiral as if you are exonerated from a condition of plateau.

The best thing about tips is that they are also risk free because you can see for yourself what the result is before you ask how it is done. For instance, you can see when people swim the breast stroke better than you, you may want to know how it is done. Or you interested in reducing your golf handicap, so you read about tips for this purpose. You do not seek advice, you look for tips.

Tips response to questions that begin with How or How-to, not what about or what if.

Tips can be told and sold whereas advice is often always given for free.

There can be bad or wrong advice, because whoever gives these sort of advices are not willing to give away their best tips and do want you to fail or falter.

Sign Up For Your Tips

Now that I have explained the difference between advice and tips, let’s ask this question again. Everything that has been written on this blog, previous to this post, is all about tips on learning and self-development to improve your language skills. Have you put these tips to the test? In order to succeed, you have to start using these tips. Otherwise you will never understand where the mistakes are coming from or how to improve on those tips to make it useful and workable for you! You cannot give up on tips, you have to give them a thought or a try. That is what tips are for.

So sign up now for your tips on English and Mandarin. Go for it.

What skills do you develop when you follow the Tips To Learn A Foreign Language At Home?

1. You start by choosing the words that are important for you in your daily lives (cognitive skill)

2. You write them down in your native tongue (writing skill)

3. You isolate yourself in front of a writing table to start the exercise (concentration and focus)

4. You prepare the materials beside you on your right and lay down the plain placemat on the table in front of you. (concentration)

5. You arrange the keywords in a specific right to left or left to right sequence according to the writing sequence of the foreign language you are learning (writing skill)

6. You match each keyword with a concrete object, picture or drawing. (visual learning)

7. You then pack away the keywords in the same writing sequence as the foreign language you are learning (writing skill)

8. You now use a dictionary to check the translation of the keyword into the foreign language. (reading skill….at this point you may not even know how to read it yet)

9. You write each foreign keyword on pieces of cards and start matching them with concrete objects. (eye-hand co-ordination)

10. You read them out loud, pointing to the concrete object with the foreign keyword. (reading skill. If reading is not possible yet, it is still alright.)

11. You keep the concrete objects according to the writing sequence of foreign language and pack them away. (visual and writing skill)

12. You are left with the foreign keyword, the same keyword you have chosen in step one except it is now translated. (language development starts here.)

Here is an exercise you can use to learn a foreign language at the convenience of your home. This exercise is adapted from methods used to teach children who are learning words for the first time. If you go through the whole process once, you will find it possible to apply it to every new language.

You need the following materials to start and it takes only 2 minutes to prepare the materials:

1. A writing table

2. A placemat which has to be plain

3. Your words written on individual cards

4. Writing Materials like pen or pencil

4. Concrete objects or drawings to represent the words

5. A native to non-native dictionary (if you studying Tagalog and your native is Chinese, then you will need a Chinese-Tagalog dictionary)

Exercise

1. Approach the writing table, place all your writing materials, concrete objects or photographs, on you right hand side.
2. Open the placemat in front of you.
3. Place the words at the top of the placemat in row. (hint: you must follow the writing style of the non-native tongue your are learning. If English, arrange from left to right. If Arabic. arrange from right to left.)
4. Point to each word and read them silently or aloud to yourself.
5. Now for each word, find the corresponding object or drawing. For example, if your word is chocolate, get a piece of chocolate bar and place it below the word. If the word is punctual, draw a clock that reads the time you want to be punctual at. Place the picture or object directly below your word.
6. REMOVE the words, starting from left to right or right to left depending on the non-native language you are aiming to learn.
7. Place them next to you on the right.
8. Using the concrete objects and drawings, look for the names in the non-native language in your dictionary. Again always work from left to right or right to left depending on the non-native language you want to learn.
9. Write a piece of card for each non-native word you have translated and place each one UNDER the object.
10. When you are done, read each non-native Word ALOUD, pointing your eyes at the object and word at the same time.
11. Keep all the objects, remember to use the same sequence left to right or right to left.
12. Put them on your right together with the native words you have kept earlier.
13. Now, read the non-native words ALOUD.
14. Keep all the non-native words, keeping to the sequence.

Now You Have Translated 5 Words In This Sequence:

Native Word
Native Word and Concrete Object
Concrete Objects Only
Concrete Objects and Non-native Word
Non-Native Word Only