For those of you who spoke English as a first language, and now speak another language, how did you get through that barrier!?.. Even if English wasn’t your first language, how did you go about learning 2nd+ language? What was your routine? How long did it take for you to learn your new language?.. How often do you speak, or have to speak the language in order to keep the terminology memorized…?
Thanks…
I became fluent in Bulgarian in my late 20s. I don’t think it would have happened if I hadn’t been living in Bulgaria. My job helped a lot, too - I worked as an elementary school teacher and my kids would laugh at me when I screwed up, which was quite a motivator. My methods for learning were flashcards, reading as much as possible (I read three Harry Potter books in Bulgarian!), and watching TV. I learned a LOT from following the subtitles on English-language TV shows. It took probably about a year to become really proficient.
One of my classmates is Bulgarian and I speak with her. I also talk to my cat in Bulgarian and I do silly stuff sometimes, like I changed my Facebook language setting to Bulgarian.
Language in a classroom can’t compare. I’m taking Farsi now and I’m so frustrated at my slow pace of acquisition. I know perfectly well that I can learn a language faster than this. Unfortunately, going to live in Iran for awhile to study doesn’t seem too likely in the near future.
I found a one year university kind of course really useful for laying the ground work, but after that, I think immersion is more useful.
There are all kinds of good tricks, and you’re only limited by your time and your imagination. For example, I find doing language study in the midst of some kind of physical activity more effective than language study seated at a desk.
Putting some time in just before you go to bed is a great idea, as your mind will sort through it in your sleep. Even if it’s only a ten-minute review of something you’ve been working on elsewhere, it helps.
Podcasts, subtitles, TV shows, radio shows, music in the target language - all can help immensely. I find newscasts are great, and depending on the target language, there are lots available.
Handwriting is important, as it is a kinetic connection to what you are trying to learn. I went back to working on calligraphy when I studied Russian, and I found it immensely useful.
Other than that, the sooner you accept that there are at least 10,000 mistakes between you and fluency, and get brave and just make those mistakes, the better.
I’ll be taking on both Spanish and Japanese this year. I’m planning to reach a beginner level of conversation in both languages by year’s end. At least, that is the most I am expecting.
I have Rosetta Stone and find the lessons to be great, well, amazing really, but at times I am not at home sitting at the computer it’d be nice to be able to take the language around with me. The flash card and music idea’s seem great for on-the-go study;maybe I will find some audio lessons as well. I’ll also take into consideration crunching before bedtime. Actually, I have been doing this off and on and notice is it the key method in which I learn new terms that stick with me, so I will begin doing this each night religiously.
Handwriting I know is going to be the biggest challenge with the Japanese since there are so many characters but I learned the standard characters (Hiragana and Katakana) before within a week so I’m sure I can memorize them again. I find a good technique for memorizing characters or words is to write them multiple times individually then as you go on to the next character go back and forth from the 2, and so on.
I did study abroad in a Spanish speaking country, IME the people who improved the most were the ones who for whatever reason were actually having extended conversations every day in Spanish (and not five minutes of getting directions at the store). I met a lot of gringos who honestly didn’t speak Spanish when they left, not because they were lazy or anything, just whatever routine they had didn’t force them into in-depth conversation on a regular basis.
So if your lifestyle doesn’t allow you to go abroad at this time then I would strongly suggest (once you reach ~intermediate level) trying to do a language exchange locally – ie, find someone who is trying to learn English and meet with them on some set schedule to practice each other’s language - 30-60 minutes in one language and then switch (and IMHO you have to be very clear about when it’s English time and when it’s Spanish/whatever time). Honestly I think you can get far with this type of arrangement. I was already lightly conversant when I arrived in South America and that was because I was lucky enough to go to a good high school with small classes where we had to speak. You can’t get any smaller than two people having coffee.
The best way to learn another language: date someone who doesn’t speak your language. No seriously, it means you have lots of opportunity to practice, and lots of motivation to improve.
I did French Immersion in High School, but didn’t become really fluent until I started dating my now-husband.
Learning grammar and vocabulary is one thing, but practice–with real people–is really essential if you want to have actual conversations.
I had one hour daily of English every day at school from elementary up (just like math, science, history, etc.). Once I learned how to read, my dad gave me what books I asked (no matter language). I never did English immersion. It probably would’ve helped on my accent, though, which is the main difference between those that did immersion and myself (but I have the vocabulary).
I learned Portuguese in undergrad, when I took a one semester advanced beginner level for speakers of Romance languages, and then I made it my minor. Seriously, it didn’t take me that long to pick it up, French was harder. I’ve kept it up thanks to music, reading, travelling to Brazil, and being lucky that wherever I move, I manage to find the pocket of Brazilians with whom to interact and practice. I still forget some words, and may get confused in the meanings.
The biggest me for me, for both languages, was how much different the actual language sounded outside the classroom compared to in the classroom. Dialects and slang and accents… I still remember the first time I went to a fast food in the states, when I started college… I couldn’t understand the cashiers! My thought was “Wait, are you telling me THIS is English? Are you f* kidding me that my English is not good enough? F* that, if this person speaks so bad, then I’ll do fine!” 
When I learned French, I was younger, and just regular exposure to it helped me. I changed my cell phone settings to French, I surfed the Internet for French websites, watched French dubs of English television shows I already knew pretty well, read French translations of English books I knew pretty well, etc. But it faded in and out, although I get a pretty decent amount of exposure to it where I live, so it’s not totally gone. Also, dating someone who isn’t totally fluent in your native language helps. When I dated a French guy with an incomplete grasp of English, there were many many many things I learned from him and he, in turn, learned from me. And some laughs. Okay, lots of laughs. My accent is not fantastic.
When I learned Russian, I was a bit older, and while all of those things I said above applied, I also found that more-constant-exposure helped. And I mean MUCH more constant. Keeping Russian podcasts or Internet broadcasts on in the background while doing other stuff helped, but by constant exposure I mean looking at the target language A LOT. If you’re trying to learn vocabulary, for example, look at the list in the morning while you’re brushing your teeth. Look at it during your midmorning break. Study while eating lunch. Practice on the way home. Etc.
Practice, practice, practice. And practice some more. If it helps you, put up vocabulary words on the items around the house. While you’re doing stuff, try to describe what you’re doing in the target language. Practice speaking about your day–talk about the weather, talk about the news, talk about your friends. Even if there’s no one to listen, just getting your mouth around the words will help. Read aloud. This helps your reading comprehension and your pronunciation. Look up words you think are interesting–if you have a hobby of, say, flying model airplanes, look up words related to model airplanes, and start talking about your hobby in the target language.
As far as grammar and morphology go, practice. A lot. Talk. Write. Do exercises if you want to learn the nitty-gritty grammar and not make any mistakes, ever. In fact, exercises are probably a good idea anyway, but listening and talking will help if you actually want to do anything with your language. If you can, find native speakers to talk to. Find a native speaker you want to impress–a language teacher, a hot girl/guy, a snotty store clerk, whatever–and work to impress them.
-apollonia, trilingual and hopefully soon-to-be certified translator
Immersion. I started learning Spanish in 7th grade and took it all the way up to university level. I thought I knew Spanish when I set off for my year studying abroad in Spain. I didn’t know crap. I got to Spain, and I was like, “What are these people SAYING?!”
Nothing will allow you to learn a foreign language like immersion. If you have to use that language day and night and you can’t fall back on your native language, you can become fluent in 10 weeks.
If immersion isn’t an option, watching TV or movies without subtitles and listening to radio will help increase your stock of vocabulary and phrases. It was really helpful to me to watch American movies that I had already seen that had been dubbed in Spanish. That way, following the plot wasn’t such a chore, and I could just absorb the language. I still remember surprising my fellow American students and the teacher by using the verb “soltar” (to drop, to let go of) in class. The night before I had watched Bruce Willis on TV shouting, “Suelta la arma!” (“Drop your weapon!”).
Routine, what routine?
I’m Spanish, native language Spanish, mother’s language Catalan. The languages I speak correctly are Spanish, English and Catalan.
We started English lessons in 4th grade, compulsory until 12th.
For the first five years it was quite horrid: I had “traditional” teachers who claimed there was “no logic to it” and “just learn it.” The teacher would walk into the classroom, fill the whole blackboard with grammar, we’d copy it, exercises, exercises, exercises. At test time, I was part of a group of 9 students who copied off each other and still barely got passes.
Then in 9th grade we got Micaela. On the first day, she asked how we liked English. The eight classmates who came from The Other Nuns claimed to love it (that butter is a bit drippy, honey), the 30 or so who came from The Nuns said “hate it cos it doesn’t have any logic, it’s all memory, we can’t use for it what we know about Spanish.”
Micaela wrote on the blackboard:
to go to
ir a
And said “say what?”
Oh.
My.
God.
We had her again the following year, in a much smaller group (in 10th grade I was in the same group as the people who studied French as SL, so we were 28 for English instead of 40) and she taught us things that they don’t even teach you if you study English Translation in college, like phonetics.
90% of the English I know comes from Micaela; the rest, from living in English. Books and movies and the Dope help keep my English in shape, when I’m not in an English-speaking country.
The ability to perform comparative grammar analysis and to look for word similarities has come in handy for Latin, Catalan, German, French, Italian. For example: English umbrella (coming from Italian) is similar, not to Spanish paraguas (“water stopper”) but it’s similar to Spanish sombrilla (“shadow giver”) which after all is a non-waterproof umbrella…
For Catalan, my mother never taught it to me (we still don’t converse in Catalan), but I’d heard her speaking it with her mother and sister since forever; I went to college in Catalonia; it’s very similar to Spanish. After a couple years I tried to sign up for a “Catalan for non-speakers” course organized by the Catalan government and the admin made me sign up for “Catalan for speakers” instead, claiming that the people in that class all had the same problem I did: we knew the language, but didn’t dare speak it because our friends and family, who had us labeled as “Castillian,” made a horrible fuss if we spoke Catalan (she was right). That teacher worked a lot with comparative grammar and comparative vocabulary (I just invented this last term), too.
So if anything I’ve come up with the following routine:
look for the logic
use the language as much as possible.
Pyper, “¡suelta el arma!” d&r (arma is feminine, but “la arma” just sounds bad)
The one suggestion I’ll add is music. Listen to music in your target language. Itunes has a free Spanish download each week. I found it especially helpful to listen at night before going to sleep.
The idea of trying to learn Spanish and Japanese in the same year, when now you only speak English, strikes me as a little odd. You might do better to focus Spanish this year and Japanese next year.
Damn your masculine and feminine nouns! (Yes, I vaguely remember that Spanish lesson back in high school about not combining the feminine article with words beginning with “a.”)
I agree with LeMinistre. study it intensively for one year and then go there and don’t put yourself in a situation where you will associate with anyone but locals.
Harriet’s suggestion about music is good except where it might apply to tonal languages. In sung (not refering to any “Sung” dynasty, my meaning is: “singing”) Chinese, the tone of the word changes in accord with the cadence of the song. This would be very counterproductive to learning the tone of the word. In spoken Chinese the tone of the word is very important.
I find that I only learn as much of a language as I need to learn.
This means that if I’m in a class, I’ll learn exactly enough to pass the class. If I’m living somewhere, I’ll get stuck after I learn just enough to get by. I’ve recently been able to bring my Chinese up a notch only because I got so sick of people saying “she doesn’t understand” and me not being able to come up with a witty reply.
So get in situations where you need to learn the language. This means making friends (or lovers!) and getting away from anyone who speaks your home language. Once you do this, you can bring your language up amazingly fast. Even dunces can be fully conversational in six months if they really need to learn a language.
The best tip for learning a language is to just get over your fear. My wife is much better at learning languages than me and it is because she just doesn’t worry about making mistakes, she tries. I get so hung up on not making mistakes, I keep my mouth shut. She’s also smarter than me, so that probably helps.
Hello, first post.
I learned English by watching lotsa Hollywood movies, and repeating the lines (Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die). English lesson in school just wasn’t enough. You guys may have to pardon my English. 
I’ve been doing the same for Japanese and Mandarin. You just have to pick the right movies.
I’ll repeat what has been said here so many times: Immersion is the best method, by far.
My mother came to the U.S. knowing not a single word of English at the age of 21. (My father knew a little, having taken English in school in Europe.) Within a year she was fluent.
Ed
THIS is very important. I see it happen to many of my classmates, coworkers, and compatriots. They’re sooo afraid of a mistake. So what? I point out to them the profs with sucky accents. If they were able to get that far ahead, and are teaching us, then why are they afraid? Conversely, the native English speaker down the road may have less vocabulary and a worse accent than they. Getting over the fear is important.
Not to mention, those that want you to learn the language right will quickly correct you. And if you don’t try it, they won’t be able to correct you.