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I'm a native English speaking person and I'm interested in learning a new language. I'm in my 2nd year of college and the only language I've ever studied is American Sign Language in high school.
I'm trying to learn German at the moment. I assumed, since the vocabulary spelling/sound is similar, this language would be a good starting point in order to ease my way into exploring other foreign languages in the future.
My biggest problem seems to be understanding the syntax of foreign language. And...I guess...just curious as to what's the best way to "attack" learning a new language?
Recently I was reading short excerpts from a book "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue" which explained that in German, Dutch and similar languages..there are no words such as "did", "do", or "does". They also do not use suffixes such as "-ing", and their nouns (?) are masculine, feminine, or neutral oriented???
Don't try to find a "better" way to learn a language. All the supposedly "better" ways you see in the media are lies. There is only one way to learn a new language: persistence, persistence, persistence, persistence And practice, practice, practice, practice.
Syntax is important, but it's far from being the hardest part. You'll know that classes/books are sufficient enough with regard to syntax. But to actually master a language, you need to
1. Build up a decent sized vocabulary, without that, everything else is moot.
2. Read more, listen more, write more and speak to native speakers more.
3. Keep doing it every day, every week and year after year.
When it comes to language learning, there is simply no substitute for boring repetitive practice.
And you need to adjust your expectations, for an adult, unless you're some language geniuses, it's highly highly unlikely you're gonna be able to be as good as native speakers. It's just not a attainable goal for the vast majority of people. So don't expect TOO much.
I'm learning French. In my opinion, there isn't a magic bullet that will help you with everything. You basically have to use everything that you can find - classes with a native speaker, beginner (even kids') books, dvds in your target language, and computer software. Most importantly, you have to spend time in a country where your target language is spoken.
Also, you have to devote some time everyday to learning and studying the language.
I would also recommend talking to person who knew the language you are learning too. maybe talking to them in person or if you dont know someone who speak on those language. USe Skype, install it and have a a voice chat with interesting people. Some would love to teach you.
Take a year abroad, study the language of whatever country you're interested in. There are lots of universities that you can choose from that have overseas language courses.
My daughter is 15. She has worked on German, Dutch, Italian, French and Portugese, Romanian, and Spanish, and wants to study Urdu. She listens to as much as she possibly can in all of those. She goes on Youtube and listens to music, and talks to as many people as she can find (Her passions are language and psychology.), and seeks out every opportunity for communicating with people from all over the world.
If you have difficulty accessing native speakers, try getting some German podcasts to listen to. It doesn't really matter what the subject matter is - just that you listen, listen, listen. I do this for learning chinese. I stick them on my ipod and I can listen to them whether I'm sitting on the train or lying in bed.
Look for the book "How to Learn any Language" by Barry Farber; he has lots of good advice, and if nothing else it will be inspiration for those days when you hit a rough spot.
And, like others have said, take advantage of travel or study-abroad opportunities.
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