How would you go about learning a language?

I have no idea how such a ‘lazy day’ could be so exhausting but there we have it! I spent the day with Lloyd, a friend of mine from college, enjoying the sunshine alongside the quay, looking in knick-knack shops, playing board games…

Anyway, during the day a question came up, and a question that I often get asked “How do you learn langauges?” Well, I wish I knew. The thing is that I am widely considered a ‘language nerd’ which is something I would protest that I am not. I can think of many people who are a lot more capable with languages than I am. I guess that, by language nerd, they simply mean that I enjoy languages and possibly that I’ve learned them in a slightly unconventional way. I learned German through sitting with a dictionary and translating things. It happened. It was an accident. I’ve had French classes for about 12 years yet I still struggle.

That said, I have found some useful things to help in the language learning process (other than one, they are all quite general);

• Byki – this is a piece of flashcard software. I get the express version when learning a new language because it’s incredibly useful with the pronunciation. It’s also possible to play the words and phrases slowly and to be tested on your spelling of the phrases. I have never used to paid for version but that’s more because my learning style isn’t structured than because there are flaws in the program.
• LanguagePod101 – This comes in various languages and is basically a free podcast. I used this when learning Japanese to compliment my GCSE classes in school. It was more useful than my school classes and particularly if you’re wanting to learn over a longer period and at a slower pace. It might be a bit too slow for some people. The added features that you get through paying for a subscription are fantastic and, especially for a language like Japanese with a different alphabet, I would think about getting them. You get a free trial of the premium features so you can decide for yourself.
• Heardutchhere.net – This is a website focused around learning Dutch. I don’t think the lessons are that good as they don’t work as my brain does. That said, the recordings of words, lists of vocabulary, and general information is invaluable.
• Mnemnosyne – this is another flashcard program in which you create your own lists. It tailors your revision session to fit previous progress and I find it really useful for vocab learning. Actully, I use it for a lot of subjects and reasons.
• Interpals – This is a website with an aim of finding penpals. You can also find language exchange partners. I have been a member of this site since 2007, I think, and, although you get the odd perv, it’s a wonderful place to share culture and to practice languages. You’re not going to learn if you don’t practice after all!

As for my Dutch learning… it’s not going so well. I can, more often than not, memorise the word but my pronunciation is not good. I can’t get the ‘g’ sound… I either sound extremely angry or like a slowly deflating balloon. On the plus side, no matter how much I may struggle with languages I still managed to conquer the world today, beating Lloyd in the board game Risk!

Embarking on a language learning adventure!

Although, technically, my gap year has already begun, in my mind it doesn’t start until the beginning of August when I’m off to Castlefest in the Netherlands with my mother and one of my best friends, Aimee.

However, there are a fair few weeks before that and, in my normal style, I have decided to be productive and have decided to use my up and coming trip as an excuse to do something that I have wanted to do for a while now. This leads us nicely to the question:

“How much Dutch do we think I can learn in one month? Do we think that aiming for fluency is a bit optimistic?!”

I posted this question on facebook this morning (the second question being a joke, before anyone mentions it) and had some lovely replies from people which is quite nice. They wouldn’t have stopped me anyway!

However, it’s a long time since I’ve started learning a language from scratch and it’s a funny place to be. French took me ten years of lessons to be anything like competent, Japanese took three months until I could converse in it, German happened by accident, and lets ignore Hungarian for now, shall we? The bonus with Dutch is that I find I can understand a fair amount because of the similarities to German and to English but it’s still a daunting task.

But if you know me at all you will know that daunting tasks are my favourite!