Learning a foreign language

[Monkey4Soul]

To learn a foreign language, what steps do you think you should take to learn it with minimal hassle i.e. First, alphabet, then simple sentences, then a little grammar, etc?

[fire_of_avalon]

They say that with non-Roman characters it's best to learn alphabet and sentence structure and vocabulary all at once. I suck at learning languages with different writing systems, so I don't know.

Romance based languages, though, I think it's best to learn vocabulary and grammar at the same time.

[Aerith's Knight]

I speak 4 languages fluently and a couple sparingly..

i learned english and dutch simply from hearing it and reading it.. the grammar came later.. but i suppose it helps..

French and German i learned by studying the words, phrases, grammar and hearing it speak, oral exams and listening tests..

its what works best for you i suppose.. both work, but the first one takes longer

[Namelessfengir]

i got english down. if i really thought it out i could string together a few sentences using words and phrases from 6 different languages

[JaytodaP]

numbers, alphabet, verbs, vocab then you can learn sentences.

[Yar]

Depends on the language.

What language are you learning?

With a Latin-alphabetical or a Cyrillic-alphabetical language learn the letters. Then learn pronunciation and similar mechanics.

Then move onto useful phrases. Once you master those, begin studying verb-conjugation. Begin with the present tense if the language permits.

Don't forget to study any adjective or noun inflections or declensions as need be.

I recommend Wikibooks for some good basic tutoring:
Wikibooks:Languages bookshelf - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Languages_bookshelf)
Some languages, like the French Wikibook, are well written and full of information. Other languages' books may be newer and not have as much information and tidbits.

Enjoy!

[Reasoniamalive]

One word: PIMSLEUR.

They make great audio learning programs for many languages. I'm learning Portuguese now.

It also helps to have a friend who speaks said language keep inserting words, phrases and correcting sentences/mistakes you make grammer-wise. My fiancee is from Brazil, and she helps me a lot. ;p

[Quindiana Jones]

Depends what you wanna learn it for. If you just want to go over and have a holiday-like thing in whatever country, you don't need to concentrate as much on spelling and grammar etc.

But you should definitely learn the alphabet and pronunciation of it all. Mostly so you don't look like a pleb when it comes to booking a campsite O_O.

My mum spent 5 years in France. That was enough time to get her fluent enough to be confused for an actual French person, by French people. :D

[scrumpleberry]

My mum spent 5 6 years in France. That was enough time to get her fluent enough to be confused for an actual French person, by French people. :D

Yes. ITT living there is the only surefire path to fluency. Aside from that, most common methods ought to get you by.

[Polaris]

Depends on which language you are learning!
First alphabet
Second simple vocabulary, just the basic to have notions if you will go on holidays or smth like that
Third: Grammar: which includes verbs and sentence structure
Fourth: Typical expressions: it might not be too important, still if you are learning German is one of the main thing you have to lean how to structure sentences, sometimes doesn't work in a portugese (my language and neither in english) and trust me is the worse thing ever.

[Citizen Bleys]

...a Cyrillic-alphabetical language learn the letters. Then learn pronunciation and similar mechanics.

For languages with cyrillics, yes, definitely learn the lettering. I find it also helps to try to pick up a little bit of Croatian, since it's written in roman lettering (just with a few accents you have to learn, and some letters pronounced differently). I went through a couple chapters of McGraw-Hill's book on Croatian and it helped me get more comfortable with Ukrainian. Which I still suck at. But I suck less.

[Yar]

One word: PIMSLEUR.

They make great audio learning programs for many languages. I'm learning Portuguese now.

It also helps to have a friend who speaks said language keep inserting words, phrases and correcting sentences/mistakes you make grammer-wise. My fiancee is from Brazil, and she helps me a lot. ;p


The downside of Pimsleur is it doesn't teach written language.

[Ashi]

For some of the languages that I learned / am learning, we started with words then simple sentances. The actual alphabets and pronounciation came later on (which confused things for me a little) but learning the alphabets earlier on would have been a little boring.

Before I spent time with an instructor who approached a language simply by teaching me words. That's all we ever did. Studied words. Not how to use them or put them in sentances. It didn't work out.

[rubah]

perhaps it would be best to teach the oral part when someone is a child, then when they're older and can appreciate things such as grammar theory, the spelling and structure of sentences.

One of the first things I tried to make note of when studying french was how the letter combinations worked to make sounds. I guess this is similar to studying phonics in first grade, so maybe it could be done earlier if approached in the same fashion. But then I don't think many of my peers enjoy the aspects of learning to spell etc.