The language house

Learning a language is like building a house:

1. Sketch out your goal

2. Figure out the tools you are going to need

3. Have a schedule on which you can rely on to work ritually

4. Figure out if you need help, and if so hire an specialist

5. Start building/learning

6. Stay motivated and mark down all your achievements

THE SKETCH:

The most significant component of a house is the frame. A house with a weak frame will fall apart at any sight of harsh weather. If the frame and the foundation are feeble, it won't even survive a thunderstorm. This is also how language works: If you become too eager to learn and skip important basic aspects of your target language, you won't be able to hold a simple conversation, even if you studied the language for years. An excellent example for this analogy would be one of my French students: the student could pronounce French words perfectly, however, the student had a problem keeping up with the conversation. I soon started teaching the student shortcuts and important and basic grammar. The student soon after confessed to me that after 50 years of learning the language, that it was the first time she ever had heard of the basic grammar and short cuts I was teaching her. Meaning that, if your frame is strong, you can travel, and hold a conversation, not matter how limited your vocab is. The most important aspect of the language is the frame.

Make sure that your goal is clear and that you know what you want! By knowing this you can create a syllabus for yourself.

The syllabus:

The syllabus must have your goals in mind. However, you have to think basic, VERY basic while your main goal should be place at the end. Even if you think you know the concept by heart, go over it so to make sure you are prepare for what comes next. Remember: you have to work up to your goal:

Pronunciation: For instance, if your goal is to be able to pronounce words and sound like a native, you must work on the letters and their pronunciations! You have to go back to the alphabet and learn the correct pronunciation of each letter. Then you must learn all the different letter combinations and their sounds, as well as the different sounds of the accents. Once you learn this, I promise you, the goal of pronunciation is going to be close to perfect. You also have to develop your ear, and listen to the language.

Speech: If your goal is to speak correctly, you have to work on grammar. It is a must. You also have to develop your ear as well. When thinking, what grammar should I learn first? Well, think very basic and slowly progress to more difficult concepts. For instance, if you are reading something in your target language, you have to dissect what you don't understand. If you end up not understanding anything you have to start from scratch. The very basic is the subject pronouns (at least in the Romance languages and English). You have to learn the ways of saying "she, I, they, we, etc", don't focus on how to say "us or them, of her" just yet. Like I said, start basic. Once you learn the subject pronouns, then you can start conjugating. The number one verb that you HAVE to master (let's start in the present) is the verb "To be". Please have in mind that some languages like Italian and Spanish have two different verbs "to be", which are NOT interchangeable. You must first, before learning how to conjugate these verbs, learn and master when to use both verbs. Then you have to make sure you create shortcuts for yourself! When you finally get to the conjugation of the verb "To be" (which is usually super irregular), you have to know which subject pronouns conjugate together. (When you practice, conjugation, WRITE/SAY the subject pronouns "I swim, you swim, she swims" that way when you speak, it just comes naturally). Then after this, you can move on to other verbs like the verb "to have", pick like a group of verbs together, "the senses: to smell, to touch, etc.." Learn all the other types of pronouns and their placement, learn all types of conjugation, articles, etc.

NOUNS: You must, must, must learn how nouns work in the target language! Are their masculine and feminine nouns? Is their a way to change the sex of a noun? What happens when I change the sex of a noun? Can objects change sex without there being consequences? How do they become plural? Can everything become plural? What are the most important irregular verbs?

VOCAB: LEARNING VOCAB IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF A LANGUAGE!! It is quite annoying part of the process, but you have to think of them as the nails that sustain the house. You have to make it a very important priority in your language learning process.

DEVELOP YOUR EAR: by developing your ear you'll be able to hear in practice everything you are doing by yourself. When you are listening to a language religiously (pick a time during your day) and listen to a show, listen to people speak, etc...(Netflix is great source, it allows you to change the language of any show they make)

DON'T be afraid to practice with the people who are fluent in the language! Practice makes perfect! Some are rude, but for the most part, people admire when you want to learn about their culture! SO, PLEASE, PLEASE don't be afraid!

Listening: Developing your ear is a total different animal. Is like the property taxes of your house, and making sure your house is up to code with everything. You have to keep up with them, because if you don't, you'll constantly run into trouble. You'll become disappointed if you don't develop your ears. You will feel as if all your hard work was for nothing. That's why you must concentrate on developing your ear. Watch a show of your choosing in your target language! Listen to the radio in your target language! Make sure, however, that you do it religiously for at least a few minutes everyday! DO NOT EXPECT YOURSELF TO BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH WHAT THEY ARE SAYING OR THE PLOT. Just listen to the speech and watch the show. That's what babies do, and that's why they learn so fast, but even they have to go through a process.

Writing: You must work with your grammar in order for your writing to be up to code. Remember that the way people speak is not always the way that they write. When we speak, we usually gravitate more on contracting words together or making them smaller. However, we are inclined to be more formal when we write. SO, make sure that you know the order of pronouns, the verbs, the gender of words, and conjugations, articles.

You will also need to learn a lot of vocab!

Reading: If reading is your goal, you have to start reading. But again: START BASIC! Read children's book! Make sure that the book is even for babies! Sometimes children's book can be hard to read because of the type of conjugation that they might use. So start small, and slowly build your reading capabilities up.

ALWAYS MARK YOUR PROGRESS!!

THE TOOLS:

Learning what tools to use is crucial to how you learn the language.

I have a few suggestions depending on your goal.

Duolinguo is a great tool, but you have to go outside of that somewhat to learn what you can do for your own needs.

For vocab: Quizlet, Cram, Wordreference, Google translate

Quizlet is great! It allows you to input your vocab on the website for free (you can pay if you want for more features, but for what you need it for, it's free!)

Features:

Sends you reminders to study

Allows you to add pictures to your study set

You can use on you phone or on your computer

You can play games with the vocab or grammar that you add

What I don't like about quizlet:

Sometimes you have to be super precise to get the answer correctly.

Cram:

This one is nice, you can add it to your phone as an app or go to Cram.com

Features that I like:

It has a really cool study system where it helps you memorize the word by having four levels. The first level, it shows you the word, if you get it right, you hit the check symbol, and if you get it wrong you hit the "x". The ones you get right will advance to the second level and those that you got wrong will stay on the 1st level. And so on and so forth. (If you get any wrong in the high levels: the one/s you got wrong will go to the first level, the other will keep moving up)

What I don't enjoy:

Inputting the vocab on your phone is a nightmare. You will last hours if you are working with a long list. So I will say that you have to use your computer if you have a long list. Still, a little annoying.

Wordreference.com

I love this website for vocab! It is an online dictionary and it is amazing! I love to use it because it gives me all the possible ways a word is used, with the different scenarios as well. I highly recommend it. They also have all the verbs and their conjugations, which is super cool! The users also can ask questions on their forums about grammar or vernacular and natives or people that know the language well, give out their answers.

What I don't enjoy about it:

You can only search for individual words at a time (Not necessarily negative)

Although they have a lot of words, they don't have everything.

Google Translate:

I have to admit, at first I hated this tool. However, they have improved in the recent years. You can translate full paragraphs here or sentences that you wrote in your target language, translate them back into your native language to make sure it makes sense.

What I don't enjoy:

It can still be wrong.

You should be careful when using it. Use it as a tool to help you improve, not to make you lazy (by making it do the work for you).

THE SCHEDULE:

You MUST, MUST, MUST, MUST, MUST create a schedule to study!!!!!! This is a must! Without this you will not do so well.

It is better to study for five minutes everyday, than for 3 hours once a month. So please, find FIVE minutes of your day and study the language.

Maybe wake up a little earlier before work, school, taking care of the kids. Or after all of that. You must keep a regular schedule to study with. Without a schedule (that you follow religiously) you will become overwhelm and will decide to stop the language learning process. So please, make one that works just for you.

Example:

Monday: (the kids wake up at 7am to go to school, I have to get up at 6:30....) I will wake up at 6:15AM, make some coffee and study grammar (abc's)

Tuesdays: (I have to go to work at 5am, I am already waking up too early....I know I have a 30 minute lunch break at 11am-11:30.) I will pack my lunch to make sure I can study for 5 minutes during my lunch break, I'll study vocab.

Wednesday: (I am so busy! There's no way I can study.) I'll google a radio station that I can listen to while I'm in the car that is on my target language.

Thursday: (This is my busiest day! I am up and running all day!) Ok, I am going to go home after the long day, take a shower, relax. While quickly in bed, I will study for 2 minutes my vocab.

Friday: (I will get out earlier today) I will practice my writing a little bit. I will write two sentences or 5, in my target language. Input them into Google translate, make sure that it makes sense, if it doesn't, spend a little time fixing your sentences.

Saturday: (I have the kids all day! I have to take care of them) Well, when they are watching TV for 5 minutes, study your grammar.

Sunday: (My only day off) Watch a show in your target language.

FIGURING OUT IF YOU NEED HELP:

This should be something to think about. If you think that you cannot afford it, do not freak out, just make sure you stay on track by yourself. But if you think you want to make the sacrifice, a tutor is an excellent idea. However, you have to make sure you let your tutor know what your goals are. The tutor must be with you and follow your goals. Make a syllabus together, and make sure that you are hitting your goals in a timely manner. Please, if the tutor says you need to work on something more, please pay attention.

START WORKING:

Now that you have your syllabus, your schedule, your tools, is time to start working! Start basic, and slowly move up to your goal. Try your best to become an independent learner.

STAY MOTIVATED/MARK DOWN YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS:

Staying motivated has to be one of the hardest elements of learning a language. There are ways to remind your self.

Have your achievements visible to you at all times!

Remind yourself that although it is a slow process, that you will achieve it because you are working on it.

Make sure to keep writing your achievements! And brag a little...not too much, just a little from time to time :D :D

I hope this information helps. This are the tools that I have used to learn four languages. If you have any questions, please let me know.