A magpie instinct for learning

Whichever language you are learning, it's a good idea to start a collection. Start looking for words that you need and make sure you use them. Have a notebook that you love and keep it in your handbag or your pocket. Don't be too ambitious about how many words you write down to elarn each day. Keep it manageable. And dos spend spend time learning. Always, always, always jot down a few things while you're in the country that speaks your new language. And a little tip for while you;re at home: once a day, take a look around. Note down three objects or ideas you don;t know in your new language. Make an effort to learn those ones.

Getting Organised

So what do you need? Well, your course book for a start. That is one of the most useful components of your language course. I often used to reflect that if students knew everything that was in their course book by the end of the year, no matter how unexciting the book was, they would actually know a lot of French, German, Spanish, or whatever.

Then how are you going to organise any work? Do you need a place to keep polished work and a space to record rough work which can be thrown away later? What about a good grammar book? And of course a dictionary. But which one? A mall one to fit in a handbag or pocket? or a larger, comprehensive one for the study? What about one for the laptop?

Should you be thinking of other equipment? Something for the computer?

CDs / DVDs? Ipod? MP3?

And that all important notebook that goes with you everywhere for "collecting" language? See The Complete Guide to Learning a Language, Chapter 3

Finding the right course.

Most people fail at learning languages because they fail to find the right course. You have to decide exactly what you want to learn and how you want to learn it. What you want to learn depends on why you are learning your language. How you want to learn depends on individual learning styles and the type and amount of time you can commit to it. Working out what might be reasonable aims and objectives first is always a good idea.
There are so many places you could learn your language:

• at home
• in the office
• adult eduction centre
• lifelong learning centre at a university
• private one to one tuition
• residential course abroad
• homes-stay course- where you live in the home of your tutor
• on the phone via the computer
• a combination of all of these

Really spend some time deciding what you want to learn and how - then start looking for the right course.

The Language Expert

Hi, to any of you out there who are keen on learning languages. I'm hoping to post daily to this blog on tips for language learning and observations about things to do with languages. I am the writer of "The Complete Guide to Learning a Language" which contains all the wisdom that I've gathered in over twenty-five years of being involved with language learning. Maybe some people who have read this informative tome might like to join in a discussion.