In my school days I never really learned how to learn a language. As a result, I spent years struggling and failing to learn various foreign languages. To help me finally become successful in my language learning, I had to research and learn about the techniques used by the seemingly “natural” language learners. I learned that successful language learners develop three very distinct areas of their minds.
Speak It To Learn It
The first pillar of language learning is to practice speaking. This is the primary skill to develop and also the most neglected aspect of language study. If you want to learn to converse in a second language, you have to speak it, often. It is that simple. The main purpose of learning a language is to communicate. However, if you spend all of your time making lists of words and learning about grammar, you will never progress past a simple conversation in the language.
Listening – Immerse Yourself In The Sounds Of The Language
The second pillar of language learning is to practice listening. In addition to being able to speak the language, you have to be able to understand the person who is speaking to you. You have to expose yourself to the sounds of the language. For this to be possible, you need to immerse yourself in the sounds of the language. Spend as much time as possible listening to podcasts, conversations around you, the radio, radio, etc., all in your target language. At first everything will be unintelligible. However, over time you will begin to recognize certain repeating patterns and phrases. In time, you will begin to comprehend individual words. Finally, one day, you will begin to start to understand meaning. However, all of this takes time. It is necessary to expose your ears to to the sounds of the language.
Reading Practice
The third and final pillar of how to learn a language is to practice reading. It is easy to disregard this step, but it a very effective method of learning a language. As with listening, reading is a method of immersing yourself in your target language. The key is to read, as often as possible, newspapers, popular magazines, and web pages in the foreign language. This helps you learn the language in context, as it is actually used. You will also develop a sense of correctness about the language. You will know when things just look right
To maximize your success with your language, a good starting point is to study how to learn a language. Successful language learners devote time to each of the three main pillars of language learning: speaking, listening, and reading.
By: Chris Chan
Archive for October, 2009
How to Learn a Language – The Three Secrets of Foreign Language Learning
October 29th, 2009Why Learn German? – 8 Benefits of Learning German Language That You Just Cannot Ignore
October 29th, 2009A global career: Knowledge of German increases your career opportunities with German and foreign companies in your own country and abroad. The proficiency helps you to function productively for an employer with global business connections. For example, learning german in mumbai is an essential requirement for all employees – right from staff to managers to senior executives of German and multi-national corporations with operations in mumbai and India. A Basic requirement for promotion and growth in many such companies, especially heavy industries, is that one atleast learns to speak german.
An invaluable skill for business executives, IT professionals and entrepreneurs: Knowing the language of your German clients or business partners improves your relations and therefore your chances for effective communication and success.
India’s IT professionals are increasingly finding projects/assignments in Germany where comfort with the local language is a key success factor. Thus a major career move for business executives, IT professionals and managers is to learn german language.
Get comfortable in Europe: German is among the most popular language in Europe. In many of the countries neighboring Europe as also in greater distances, German has and continues to be a popular spoken language. Thus, Benefits of learning German extend way beyond Germany or German corporations/companies!
Opportunities to study/work in Germany: Germany awards a generous number of scholarships and other support for studies in Germany. Working holiday visas are available for young foreigners from a range of countries, and special visas are offered to skilled workers and professionals. Learning German thus opens up yet another opportunity for advancement in career. In fact, a number of German study abroad programs reward applicants significantly if the applicant is well-versed or has working knowledge of German. At our german language courses in mumbai, an increasing proportion of students have been students seeking a career through German education. This is just the beginning of the career benefits of learning German.
Opportunities for exchange: A wide range of german exchange programs exists for both school and university students between Germany and many countries in the world. Thus, you could gain an easy cutting edge over others who have not learnt German!
German is the second most commonly used scientific language: Germany is the third largest contributor to research and development and offers research fellowships to scientists from abroad. Thus learning German will open you vistas for you in the area of science and technology too. The need for scientific, technological and engineering talent with german language skills has been growing steadily across the years.
Communication: Developments in media, information and communication technology require multilingual communicators. One in ten books is published in German, and a wide range of important websites are in German. Knowledge of German therefore offers you extended access to information.
Tourism and hospitality industry: Tourists from German-speaking countries travel wide and far, and are the world’s biggest spenders when on holiday. They appreciate to be looked after by German-speaking staff and tour guides. This is yet one of the benefits of learning german! At our german language classes in mumbai , we bring in hands-on exercises to train you the mastering german and knowing the German culture. German Books, novels, CD and movies are used to make the classes entertaining and well as learning filled.
On a lighter and interesting note: German is the language of Goethe, Kafka, Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. Indulge in reading and/or listening to their works in their original language. Learning German provides you with an insight into the way of life, and the hopes and dreams of people in German speaking countries, broadening your horizon.
By: Bindas Bol German Language Labs
Learning German in Mumbai Made Easy – Success Notes From Among the Leading German Language Experts
October 29th, 2009Get a good German-English dictionary: You need an adequate i.e. atleast 40,000 entries dictionary (available in Mumbai). Don’t just accept the first translation you see. Just as in English, most words can have several meanings.
English German Similarity: English and German language share common words. Most of the German days of the week end in one word, “tag”. Whereas with the English language all the English days of the weekends in “day”.
German week starts with Monday (der Montag) and not Sunday which is what the English language follows.
Learn German words, phrases and pronunciation: Sentence structure is difficult in German. Therefore join a cultural center in your hometown that organizes German language readings, films and has a German language library, cinema that shows German films with English subtitles. Learn German by listening to the German music. Find out and use the opportunity to get frequent exposure to the German language and German culture.
Learn German Grammar Games: Games for German language help the student to experience easy learning of the German language. If a student is at the beginning level of learning German, self-scoring games are ideal. This is because German beginners are yet to have a real understanding and grasp of the grammar rules.
Check German games in Mumbai that enhance in using comparisons, sentence endings, gender of nouns and even proper capitalization of the German language.
Learn German Greetings of the Day: German language has specific greetings ready for the different periods of the day. ‘Morgen’ is a popular German word. Learn basic German greetings below and use it to greet everybody else you meet to enhance your german speaking skills and at the same time, to let you remember these German words effortlessly.
Guten Morgen = Good Morning
Guten Tag = Good Day
Guten Abend = Good Evening
Guten Nacht = Good Night
Bis später = See you later
Bis Morgen = See you tomorrow
Learning German requires a long period of sustained exposure to German.
Identify mistakes that occur regularly. Use your study materials to do so Draw a colorful chart on the topic with basic rules and some German phrases and words and place it over your desk where you pass regularly. The subconscious mind will memorize the rule almost without you noticing. Practice German at home by talking to self loudly on a regular basis Buy children’s picture books in German that has easy format readily available in Mumbai. Learn German by reading phrase books or books for German beginners available in Mumbai at reasonable rates Learn German in Mumbai by joining coaching classes for the same Don’t pretend you are a native-speaker of German. Avoid jokes, swearing and other linguistic minefields that can make one sound and look foolish.
Learn German Online for free: A good interactive program is needed as it enables you to get the correct German pronunciation. One’s study method should be emphasized more on speaking than reading. One can buy audio tapes by native German speakers in order to learn German fast, or one can listen to interactive German online audio materials available in Mumbai and thereby learn German free of cost. German language may be difficult in terms of pronunciation. Initially learn the fundamentals of German vowels and consonants and progress to learning how these letters are used in words and phrases.
By: Bindas Bol German Language Labs
