Read the article 5 Tricks to Learn Spanish (or any other language) from 2 People who Speak 11 at
https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/tips-learn-spanish?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=CON&utm_campaign=cd_engall_gen_ceu_spanishtips&utm_term=ibtimes and present your ways of learning/improving foreign languages.
When I saw this movie, I was stunned. The way, how they fluently change languages during conversation is just fantastic. It is like some kind of super power.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I'm not sure do I have any ways of learning foreign languages that are different than the standard ones.
I try to keep in touch with the language that I want to learn. Simple tricks like changing language of smartphone or pc. I try to watch a lot of movies with out polish dubbing.
I think that one of the most important thing is to keep in touch with the language in every day life. But the best thing is when you are able to speak with a native speaker or someone that is able to use this language very fluently. Only then you are able to learn foreign language very fast
I think there is no better way to learn a foreign language than to use it on a daily basis. Talk to people, watch TV, read books, magazines, stuff on the Internet etc.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet may be a bit of a double-edged sword though. On the one hand, you can easily find stuff in any language imaginable or talk to people from all over the world (maybe except North Korea), but on the other hand, because anyone can write anything, there is a risk of picking up bad grammar, spelling etc.
I entirely agree that to learn foreign language you have to have contact with it on daily bases. That is why I try to use English not only at work but also in my free time. I am so used to watching movies or TV series in English that I don’t even remember if I watched something in Polish or English. I also try to read books and listen to British and Canadian radio.
ReplyDeleteBut the thing is that usually when you read or write something in a foreign language, you can take as much time as you like. So it often happens that the real challenge comes when you have to speak in another language. I met several people who have no trouble writing in English but can barely speak when you meet them in person. Although watching movies and reading in English helps in some way also in speaking - you learn whole expressions instead of specific words but I think the only really efficient way to learn to speak is practice. I actually think that you not necessarily have to practice with a native speaker to benefit but it probably depends on your level of fluency. For some people speaking with anyone can be useful because they just need to feel more confident in using the language.
Another important thing is to expose yourself to different accents. Sometimes even when you are fluent when you meet someone with unfamiliar accent you can hardly understand anything. To overcome it I try to listen to the radio form various countries.
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ReplyDeleteI must agree with Pavel, that the best way to learn English is to use it on daily basis.
ReplyDeleteMy way of learning foreign languages is very simple, watch and read :D. In computer science it is quite easy to find something valuable to watch or read because most information are in English. Also sometimes when you read book translated into polish you might feel confused because some words that are unique to computer science are translated into polish language. So it's much easier to read book that is not translated.
In my opinion learning grammar is not as important as surrounding yourself with language in everyday situations.
Every time I see that kind of movie, I am always very impressed, … and of course jealous. There is one very important thing that we should not forget about. (My college writes about it above). If you want to be fluent in a foreign language, you must have contact whith the language on everyday. (speak/read/write). Of course, there are some geniuses who would just read one time and would remember everything k, but a regular person needs to practice every day in order to learn. I don’t have many opportunities to speak English, so I am reading English books or watching English movies as often as I can. To be very honest,it’s still not enough for me wrote a very interesting thing about accents. It’s true that if you don’t have contact with foreigners, you may have trouble to understand them. Another problem is that in school noone teaches a colloquial language, but only a literary one. So, after few years of learning for example English, you think you know the language, but after going abyou discover that you have problems with communicating.
ReplyDeleteHeinrich Schliemann (a German businessman and a pioneer in the field of archaeology) it’s very interesting person to talk about in the context of this article. He spoke 13 languages and , as far as I remember, he spoke fluently 10 of them. Every day he had changed spoken language at his home and his refused to understand or respond to anything in any other language. This way he was able to teach his wife 7 languages in a very short time. Because of his approach to the launguage learning, his children
Currently I speak 3 languages (Greek, Polish, English) but it took me years to achieve the level of fluency that the 2 speakers presented in the video. You need an incentive to make the learning process of anything pleasant, easy and fast. In my case with English it was the wide array of English spoken media like movies, books, games and even song lyrics. I've also seen another video of the guy in the hat in which he and his brother (who is actually an identical twin) learned Turkish on a decent level in just a week! These guys are amazing. :)
ReplyDeleteIn elementary school I didn't have good climate for the language learning. In a crowded classroom I learned French for 6 years with people who didn't want to learn it (I didn't have opportunities to learn the English language).
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of secondary school I decided to learn English. Out of school I attended private lessons - it was necessary to catch up. Currently, my favorite form of learning is to watch movies in English with English subtitles, but the most effective form for me, I think the use of language in daily work at the contact with person from other countries.
Totally agree.
ReplyDeleteThe key to learning any language, weather if it's human language or computer language is practice, practice and practice. Looking at myself and the way I learned how to program or speak english, the process in both cases looks very similar. I don't remember how did I learn polish, but from what they told me there was a lot of trial and error involved:-)
First you have to lean the basic words and how to put sentences together. Next you try to put what you know into practice, using all the available resources communicate with the other party. Obviously the products of your creation will not look pretty and they will not be publicized in any kind of journal whatsoever, but eventually you get better. Practice long enough and you become master of the art!
I am agree with Pavel and Tomasz, but I had a similar situation as Maciej.
ReplyDeleteIn elementary school and high school I hadn't good climate for the language learning.
I learned English from typical books and make a excercise from books. But when I need talked with people, I didn't know how start conversation. After high school I have learnt English by reading books, watch movies and read articles. In my opinion it is the best way to learn language.
I've seen this video few months ago. Watching it again, I cannot express how frustrated I am with what they say. It is the same feeling I have every time I read a research paper: give me the d***n details!
ReplyDeleteOK, they say you can learn many languages at once. This is true to certain point. Giving my work background, I can agree that it happens with words (as an Localization Engineer I often realized that I have no problem with understanding User Interface messages in Russian, Czech, ...it's getting tougher, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and sometimes even Norwegian). And I was taught English and Russian at school. OK, I took on a bit of Dutch, German and Czech, but that's another story.
However, I can't agree that you can easily learn the grammar. This is the difficult part. Even in Russian (when you're Polish native speaker). It firmly believe, it takes special gift to learn grammar quickly enough, to be able to talk to another person.
Or maybe there's some kind of trick I am not aware of?
This video was really amazing. Their fluency is astonishing which is a best recommendation of their method – contact with a language on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at schools learning by heart was a sufficient way of learning in order to get maximum points. However, in a real life learning only lists of words is never enough.
I try to watch news in a foreign language, sometimes there are interesting auditions in radio and watching films with subtitles is still a good approach.
I think that changing the habits is really helpful. Instead of reading news about European Union in polish why not start reading it in English, German or French?
In my education I never had enough speaking excercises. I practiced grammar, vocabulary as well as writing and had satisfying notes but when it came to speaking I had and still have problems. In my opinion learning languages should be preceded by vocabulary, speaking and then grammar.
This article was really interesting. In my opinion, the best way to learn a language is used it everyday in every situations for a specific person. We remember best is what we use and what we do. It is the support of the theory learning by doing. Watching movies, browsing the Web, listening to the radio is a very helpful and more effective than learning by rote words.
ReplyDeleteAs most of you wrote, the most important in language polishing is practice. It is not very easy as it looks on the movie - this sentence was based at my own experiences ;). My Albanian friend is speaking in 8 foreign languages. He left Poland 4 years ago and he has forgotten over half what he was able to tell in polish. This confirms that a practice is significant.
ReplyDeleteThe most important in each process is continuous improvement. If you are using the foreign language fluently, then you have to use it with a person who is native speaker. In this situation we have to talk as good as we can, otherwise conversation partner will catch our mistakes.
I am using english at work and when I am reading the documentation, or other english texts like websites etc.
Yes, have to agree with Pavel and Rafał.
ReplyDeleteI’d say the most effective way of learning or improving any (in general) language is to ‘dive in’, jump into deep end. Whenever possible try to speak to native speakers - the must do. Guys in the video are 100% right. As I work using English everyday, this seems so obvious, but definitely it is very helpful. Daily practice.
The next thing which they spotted perfectly, is a smart selection of the next language to learn - go for language within the same language family.
Unfortunately, almost every language I tried to learn was from different worlds. I learned German in primary and secondary school and I was pretty fluent I must admit. Now, after almost 15 years of not using it, almost nothing is left. I still do remember german declination - I could recite at any time of the day - but can hardly speak. The odd thing I can still understand pretty much.
I started learning Finnish during my scholarship - 6 month long adventure - now it feels like pointless effort. But it definitely improved my English back then.
What’s even more bizarre I enrolled now for Japanese lessons, but this at least is driven by the need to visit Japan in few years. But I promise myself, that one day I'd start learning.. Spanish. :)
Great movie :)
ReplyDeleteeasiest ways to learn/improve:
-go all out
-native speakers
-talk everyday
-same language family
-HARD WORK
-LOVE :)
-party ;)
I "know" 4 foreign lagnuages:
french - I learnt in primary school - almost nothig left
russian - I learnt in primary and high school and now I start again - Pre-Intermediate
japanese - I learnt in PJWSTK few years ago (maybe I will start again) - Beginner
english - Upper-Intermediate - a lot of reading but very little talking :(
A.
I won't invent wheel again. I totally agree with my colleagues. The best way to practice your language is by coexisting with native speakers (Point 2). It's hard to learn language from books only, even with the best teacher in Poland. Natives are using expressions which we won't find in books and it's sometimes hard to understand just because of that.
ReplyDeleteThe best example:
https://azimo.com/en/blog/14-polish-phrases-british-people-find-hilarious-say-instead
In our modern society we are obligated to speak in at least one foreign language. We are using english on daily basis at work, while traveling etc.
Every trick to learn foreign language is welcome :) We don't have that much time to improve it anyway, don't we?
I learned english by using it in my daily life.
ReplyDelete-> at work we speak in english with our american clients
-> at home watching tv series and movies
-> on vacation when I travel to England
-> when I search for knowledge I read english articles, documentations and blogs
In my case, the most efficient way to learn english is having conversations with natives.
Hi, I have to agree with most of us. In my opinion, the sentence in first paragraph tells a lot what is the key to learning foreign languages "my relationship with the language never left the classroom and thus never really came to life." That's it! I think that the best way to success to learn something new is to start using this in your daily routine. Especially today, when we have little time for everything.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure if I would really recommend at the beginning to anyone change the language setting in his computer. Except when he really have a lot of time for that but reading news, magazines or books I think can be very helpful. I think listening to native speakers and repeat phrase which you can hear can help feel more comfortable and reach a next level in study too. I think listening to teachers and repeating phrases can also help feel more comfortable and reach a next level in study foreign language.
Spanish, pretty language shortly speaking. How it could be mad if you live in sunny and warm Spain and all luxuries of life are near you? Are you think that learning Spanish is like learning four different languages? Maybe. However if you compare it to Polish you would find that learning it is like learning at least ten different languages. I agree with Rafał about methodology of learning language but there are different stages in human development where different ways are used. Well, where I catch the spirit of the English language? I watch plenty of films with subtitles then without and I realized that I am pretty fluent in some way. Of course visiting other countries when you are forced to speak in foreign language is really motivating. And maybe the best way is to have intense course in language school. I've been in lots of schools and I'm grateful for time that I spend there.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the article and the video. Out of 5 tricks presented I really liked the 4th one “the imitation game”. Actually the other ones were a bit obvious to me, but still valid. Usually when I speak English I try to focus on communicating clearly, I don’t pay much attention to having proper accent. I think I might try to improve my accent by trying to imitate and “act” a bit, as it is suggested in the text.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view the best way to learn a foreign language is to make it part of your life (as mentioned in point 1 in the text). I feel that it’s essential to constantly talk, listen and read in it. The most effective way to learn is to travel or live abroad and cope with everyday situations using the language which you want to learn.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the previous comments. Practicing foreign languages every day is a good way to learn it. In my opinion the best way is to talk to native speakers, but not only. As it was already said, a lot of people speak English nowadays, but with so many different accents and on various levels. I worked in a French team some time ago and for the first moth I have difficulties with understanding their English.
ReplyDeleteWhen I don't have possibility to speak foreign language (mostly English) I read books and articles and watch movies in that language.
Attending language classes or courses helps a lot in learning. It gives motivation to learn new grammar rules, new words and be systematic.
Internet is another source of knowledge. There are on-line language courses and websites where people from different countries teach each other their languages.
I think, that when someone really want to learn something (e.g. foreign language) they will find a way to do this.
It's not a big news that practice is a key to learn something. In my opinion best way to improve language skills is moving to other country for longer time (half of the year and more). When particular person is being forced to use other language all the time and there is no chance to communicate in native language the learning speed is significantly higher than going to classes and switch language for a one- or two hours period. As I experienced during Erasmus exchange, after few weeks speaking other language people even start to think in other words. If there is no possibility to to change living place for so long, mentioned tips look like great alternative. As usual, main factor in learning process is self motivation and use of the occasion.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was watching this video I simply thought to myself: it boggles the mind! It is astonishing and fantastic at the same time how the guys were changing the languages they were speaking. I heard about people who could speak a lot of languages but I thought they couldn’t switch form one language to another without any breaks. I see then as heroes! Really. I am from the generation that was not willing to learn foreign languages. I can speak Polish and a little English. When I was young I could speak Russian but I forgot how to use this language.
ReplyDeleteI think the most important factor in learning a foreign language is regularity. I reckon that if your approach to learning is constant and simply regular you can learn a lot. Of course we all know that the contact with native speaks is of a great importance. You can improve your skills telling to them. But this is a bit difficult and expressive to talk them every day. So you can read a lot, listen to English on BBC online. You should do it constantly, step by step. Generally speaking you must be very patient, hardworking and diligent.
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ReplyDeleteI think the best way to learn foreign language is to live at least few months in a country of the people that you choose their language to learn.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard thing I believe, but if you think about it in other way, it may come out, that you invest only few months to be operational in new language for the rest of your life. I guess especially young people should do such trip during studies or right after it. It expands not only linguistic imagination, but also social, cultural, esthetical or even economical. Even best travel won't give you such language skills, as living with the local people does.
So if you want to learn really intensively, get you bags and star schedule vacations for next few months.
I don't know much about learning a new language. Although English is my second language, I found myself familiar with the language naturally. Maybe years of repeating mandatory lessons (primary, secondary etc.), computer books and magazines, games etc. helped me on the way...
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter if it's my mother tongue or not, I don't know what is really 'present perfect tense'. I don't think that I will ever remember the definition for that `tense` or others.. Obviously it wasn't an obstacle for me to pass IELTS with flying colors..
I wouldn't recommend my way though. It's very hard to fix the mistakes you get used to do whole your life.
Old habits die hard.. I'm approaching to Polish similarly. It will surely take some time for me to feel natural with it.
Go abroad is one of the fastest methods of learning a foreign language. That way you can combine language learning with learning about the culture and customs of the country. For example, if you want to learn English, just go to English-speaking country where you'll be forced to do so, to use the language. Immersion in the new reality quickly accelerate the process of language learning. A trip to an English-speaking country is synonymous with communicating in English all the time. English will surround you twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. There is no better opportunity to practice language skills - and after all, practice makes perfect! Soon improve:
ReplyDeleteThe ability to understand language
- Pronunciation
- Vocabulary
- Communication Skills
You will learn how to really communicate with people in everyday life.
Moving to another country is indeed a great way for improving language skills, but it is also quite hard for most of us on current stage of life (work, studies, family maybe).
ReplyDeleteI think that to learn or improve your foreign language skills you need a teacher or at least some handbook. You can pick up words from movies, telly, or articles but it's very hard to learn proper grammar from those sources.
Using English at work (reading technical guides, articles etc., calling help
desk in India or talking to stakeholders from France) improved my skills very little.
You can also try to talk to people using some online voice/video chat, but it comes with a risk of meeting really bizarre interlocutors.
Awesome video! As great as it is to speak so many different languages, to me it’s “just” a communication tool - it’s a means to an end. That’s why I invest my time to communicate better and better in English - it’s the main language both in academia world and business world. As most of you I also think that the best way to learn new language is to use it on daily basis. It’s much easier to accomplish that with English than other languages like for example Italian. I’m trying to read in English, watch movies in English with English subtitles and listen a lot of audiobooks in English. Because of my job I need to communicate in English with clients from USA or UK so it’s quite easy to make progress every day.
ReplyDeleteI like to take a deep dive into any language I learn. The best way for me is to take a piece of book, an article or a story, read it an listen to it's recorded version at the same time. Then, based on what I read and hear, I make my own guesses on what a word or a sentence may mean, and subsequently check the meaning in the dictionary. If I come across a new word I always learn in it in the context it is being used - I try to remember the full sentence.
ReplyDeleteI found out that this method is directly helpful if the language I am trying to learn is culturally or grammatically related to any other languages I already know - it worked with Spanish. However, it was a bit of a challenge to learn Japanese this way, as I couldn't use my intuition nor make any connections to my existing "language library", not I could read the text at first. I felt frustrated but this frustration turned out to be a good motivator to overcome the first barriers.
Learning language could be tricky. One thing is understanding books, articles and movies or songs. But speaking with other person, especially with native speaker is totally different task. There is a lot of people who are really good in one thing, for example in writing and not so good in talking with other person. Probably the biggest mistake in learning language is giving up because of speaking barrier. To overcome that weakness is good to just talk, no matter with who, but as often as possible. That fear once defeated never comes back and usually every imperfection in common conversation is unheeded.
ReplyDelete