How to Learn Any Language

Learning a language doesn’t have to be a daunting task. In How to Learn Any Language, Barry Farber provides all the information needed to learn a foreign language successfully — just pick up your list of needed tools and get to studying.

For each language:

  • Basic Textbook — For grammar
  • Dictionary — Two-way (native language and the language you wish to learn)
  • Phrase Book — Practical words and phrases
  • Newspaper or Magazine — One is all you need
  • Student Reader — Sixth-grade level is best
  • Audio Course — Any course will do
  • Flash Cards — For “hidden moments”

And in general:

  • Portable Audio Player — iPods are great little tools.
  • Recording Device — An iPod microphone should do the trick.
  • Blank Flash Cards — Small enough to fit in your pocket.
  • Sturdikleers — For protecting your flash cards in your pocket.
  • Felt Highlighter Pen — To mark unknown words in your newspaper or magazine.

There are two wonderful things about this list: one, the materials are relatively easy to find (for the popular languages, there are many options), and two, the price of materials is certainly not cost-prohibitive. For most languages, the most expensive item will be the audio course. Luckily for you, audio courses can sometimes be found for free (and are completely legal).

One of the most important resources? The book, How to Learn Any Language, of course. It’s a quick read, and well worth your time. It’s a great book to refer to for motivation as well. Here are a few other resources to help you get started on your way to learning another language (or many languages):

A Concise Introduction: How to Learn Any Language

Barry Farber’s How to Learn Any Language details methods designed to teach yourself practically any language. When I say “practically any language,” I’m referring to any language in which language learning materials exist. There are two important chapters in this book that outline the true purpose of LanguageJot in regards to the resource pages: Gathering Your Tools, and The Multiple-Track Attack. These two chapters teach you exactly how to teach yourself any language. It’s a simple approach, requiring only a few materials and a healthy amount of time. In this article, I will briefly summarize these two chapters in order for you to better understand the recommended (“How to Learn … [Target Language]“) and detailed resource pages.

To teach yourself a language properly, you’re going to need a few quality resources (also referred to as “tools,” see: needed tools) for the basis of your self-study. All resources listed on the recommended and detailed resource pages have been well-researched with a simple question in mind: “are these the best resources for learning this language?” The answers to this question are listed on the recommended resources page. I have included a detailed resources page because what might work for one may not necessarily work for everyone else. This doesn’t mean that the materials listed on the detailed resources page aren’t any good — they are.

Let’s get to the materials and how you will be using them. First, you’re going to start with a grammar book. This can be any basic textbook or workbook on your target language. If it has grammar lessons at a basic level, it’s perfect. We’re not asking for much here. You’ll start by learning the first five lessons from the grammar book, making question cards of anything you don’t understand along the way. You’ll be carrying these question cards with you at all times, waiting for the right people to ask for help. If you don’t understand anything you have read, attempt to summarize that information on your flash cards and then skip it; you’ll be coming back to it at a later time to check your progress. Grammar is boring, but that’s where you have to start. Luckily, you won’t have to do much until you advance on your way to using more than just your grammar book.

After finishing your initial grammar lessons, it’s time to move on to the real world: newspapers and magazines. All you need is one newspaper or magazine in your target language — just one. The more authentic the material, the better. And guess what? This tool is available for free online. There’s no need to purchase anything here — luckily, this is where internet access saves us a few dollars.

Find an article in the newspaper or magazine. One article. Now start at paragraph one. Highlight all of the words you don’t know in this paragraph. For each highlighted word, create an entry on a flash card. After you finish recording the words you don’t understand, move on to the next tool: a two-way dictionary.

A two-way dictionary in English and your target language is inexpensive and may be the most important tool in your arsenal. For this reason, it’s worth finding a good one. Yes, there are online versions, but that ties you to a computer and the physical paper dictionaries are often better. Most contain special features of interest to the self-learner of languages.

With flash cards and dictionary in hand, it’s time to fill-in the empty definitions on your flash cards. Finding the entries for a lot of words you have written will prove to be difficult. Most likely, these are conjugated verbs that dictionaries don’t usually list. For this need, your dictionary will most likely be able to help you in a separate section describing verb conjugations. If not, you’ll have to find someone that knows your target language for a quick question or two. This will become much easier as you learn more about the language and how the grammar works — another reason why learning a little grammar first proves to be a good foundation for learning.

Once you finish writing the definitions for paragraph one, continue with paragraph two. Complete this process for each paragraph until you are finished with the article. The highlighted article now serves as a simple progress report for what you didn’t know at first versus what you’ve learned thus far. It should be very colorful with highlight markings near the beginning and less colorful near the end. That’s okay if it’s not, the important thing is you’re learning the language.

Remember: it’s important to keep your flash cards with you as much as you possibly can. Stolen moments throughout the day are an important addition to your regular study times.

After you’ve completed your first newspaper article and have been studying your flash cards in stolen moments throughout the day, you’re ready to learn some actual conversation. This is where your next tool comes to play, a phrase book.

Phrase books intended for travel use are great for the language learner. Take interest in the transliteration section. Your phrase book should have a transliteration guide that teaches you how to pronounce each word within the book. This will allow you to converse with a native and have them actually understand what it is you’re saying. Master the bits of real-life communication by memorizing phrases and creating your own simple dialogues. Parrot these phrases. Learning real-life communication in your target language is a great motivator. After all, there you are, doing what you set out to do in the first place: speaking the language!

Phrases are another item you should be putting on your flash cards. You can even write simple dialogues on your flash cards to help with memorization.

The next tool, while the most expensive, is probably the most fun too: the audio course. While Farber says any audio course will do (as long as the audio carries lessons in your target language of course), I feel it’s best to spend your money wisely in this category. After all, it will most likely be the most expensive resource you will be purchasing (IF you have to purchase). Pay close attention to the recommended and detailed resources in this category. There are a lot of audio courses out there, and many of them just aren’t that great. Though, I do list cheaper alternatives for those just out of your price range, and many are available free on the internet or at your local library.

With an audio course, there are many things you can do, but the best thing you can do first is to follow the instructions of the audio course. Later, you can get more out of it by doing things such as challenging the audio to a duel, and making a game out of how much you know. Learn everything on that course and you’re probably getting very close to reading, writing and speaking in your target language at a decent level.

For more information on the tools you need to learn a language on your own, please visit the Needed Tools page.