How to learn foreign language well?

[recycled]

Mississippienne said it quite well. My thoughts on learning one or more other languages is that it will help one understand their own language even better.

English is my native language here in the US, but I started learning Spanish at a young age as a second language. By the time I was in high school I could carry on a good conversation in Spanish and had a good vocabulary. Spent one year of HS in Chile, didn't speak English hardly at all for a year. Spanish got pegged into my brain on almost an equal par with English, and that was 36 years ago. Spanish is a 2nd language I use daily here in CA.
In my 20s, spent 3+ years in Germany while in US Army. Took lots of German classes, spent lots of time off post with German people and had a GF that didn't speak English. She taught me German quite well, but my grammar in writing isn't very good. A large number of words in English are derived from German so some aspects of the German are self intuitive.
In my 30s, worked in several parts of the former USSR on contract jobs on several occasions lasting many months. Learned basic Russian. Once you learn the 33 letter cyrillic alphabet, Russian is really not difficult to pronounce, read or speak. Unlike English, Russian is phonetically written. I still have a good enough survival vocabulary to get by OK over there, would like to visit again. A couple of women I know at work are from Eastern Europe and know Russian as a second language - we greet each other in the hallways sometimes in Russian just for fun.

Knowing a language besides your native one is la little adventure that can open your eyes and open doors in ways that are hard to describe. It's a good thing!

[Hameed ullah khan]

hello sir i want to learn spanish as correspondence course can i do

[minniemouse]

Hi.
I'm Italian and I tell you that Italian language is very difficult for the grammar because it's must complex.
English is the primary language in the world and learn its very important and basic!

I try to learn English (sorry for my terrible mistakes ).
For me it's difficult but the grammar is more easy than Italian.
French is complex to write because there are many accentes.

I recommend you to learn English.

ciao

[Mooseketeer]

The best way to learn a language is to live in the country for a while ( I would say a minimum of 3 months), read a lot and watch TV, listen to the the Radio...
A course will teach you the basics, grammar etc... but to become truly fluent , you must learn about cultural background and how people think as well as to what they say. I found reading crucial in my learning of English and still do. It will teach your brain how the language looks, widen your vocabulary and make you understand the cultural differences between the country of your birth and your target language country. English is currently obviously the most useful for business, but Mandarin is now becoming a hugely useful trading tool. I believe learning languages should be fun though, and it shouldn't be all about making money.