Forgetting Languages
Forgetting a foreign language is a problem that usually comes to the learner in one of two ways.
If you are still learning the language, you may find that you forget a lot of what you have learned before and have to end up studying it again. For example, you may come across a word a few times and despite looking up its meaning in a dictionary each time, you forget it again and again.
The second way usually happens after a language learner has stopped learning the language or has reached a point they are happy with and decide to take a break for a while. After some time of not having studying or having any contact with the language, you may find that you have forgotten a lot of words and grammar.
So, how can we correct this so that we do not forget the language that we have spent so much time to learn?
In the first case, if you are forgetting a lot of vocabulary, you may be using an incorrect system to learn the words. If you are learning words by simply looking them up and doing nothing further, you should really try an organized system. An organized systematic approach to learning the vocabulary you come across will insure that you don’t forget the words and end up having to waste more time relearning them. The best process for this is out of the scope of this article but I go into detail about how to study vocabulary the best way in my book which you can learn more about below. For now, I’ll say that you should have some way of getting repeated exposure to the vocabulary at certain time intervals to insure that you don’t just see the word once and then not again for a long while which will cause you to forget it.
In the second case, if you have already finished learning a language, you may wonder how you can keep yourself from forgetting it, especially if you don’t live in a country where it is spoken or use it at your job. The best way to keep yourself from forgetting the language in this case is to make sure you do something in the language every now and then to keep it fresh. Remember that even native speakers begin to forget their native languages if they never have any exposure to it. Likewise you will soon forget a learned language if you don’t practice it. There are many ways you can upkeep your language that are enjoyable and don’t take much work. You might get a magazine subscription in something you’re interested in that is written in the foreign language. Or, you may try to find someone in your community who is a native speaker of the language and arranged a once-per-week get together to practice speaking. Or, you might pick up a book to read each month that is written in the foreign language. Like I said in the last case, there is also a very effective method to upkeep your language that is out of the scope of this article but I look at in detail in my book. So you may want to check the book out below.
Whatever the case may be though, it is important that you make some sort of effort to do anything in the language. Like any skill, it will begin to rot away if you do nothing. So, make sure you get out there and do something!
Now, if you want to insure that you never forget your language in the most efficient way and also want the fastest method to learn a language so that you will become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of months, learn thousands of words without worrying about forgetting them, master grammar and do all of this in an enjoyable, painless manner then you need to read Learn That Language Now!
How To Learn A Foreign Language By Playing Video Games
If you want to learn a foreign language, playing video games may be a good way to do it. What, no textbooks, classes or annoying homework?! That’s right. Let’s go over why…
Video games have an advantage over classes and other traditional forms of language learning because it is a fun activity. Chances are that you are more likely to spend more time doing fun activities than doing activities that you find boring. For this reason, when you are playing video games, you will also be spending more time immersed in the language. Not only will you have more exposure to the language’s vocabulary and grammar structure, but you will more likely run across a word that you want to look up in order to understand the game better. For this reason, you will be learning the language without it feeling like a hard task.
Now, you could just go on playing video games and through exposure over a long period of time as well as looking up words every now and then, you will begin to get better. In fact this alone may be better than taking traditional learning methods because you will likely put in more hours in the language which is a key to learning a new language.
However, if you want to take it a step further, I would suggest using the video game as a tool to language study. When you come across sentences with words that you don’t know, you should write them down or keep a list of the vocabulary. This way, you can go back later and study the points that you didn’t know. Since video games tend to have vocabulary repetition, it is likely you will come across the same words again thus reinforcing the words even better into your memory.
There is a lot more I could say at this point about how to use the video game for language learning after you’ve begun playing but it is out of the scope of this article. I have however written a book that covers all these issues and you can learn more about it by clicking on the link below. The point I want to impress now though is that language learning doesn’t have to feel like a hard task. You can, in fact, use enjoyable material to learn a language and this is probably a better route anyway since you will likely end up spending more time “studying” the language.
If you want the fastest method to learn a language so that you will become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of months, learn thousands of words without worrying about forgetting them, master grammar and do all of this in an enjoyable, painless manner then you need to read Learn That Language Now!
6 Good Reasons Why Rosetta Stone Sucks
You’ve seen the Rosetta Stone TV commercials. You’ve read the Rosetta Stone magazine ads. You’ve even walked by the Rosetta Stone kiosk at your local mall or airport. Rosetta Stone is the end all language learning program that will take you to fluency faster than any way possible, right? Well, not exactly…
While Rosetta Stone may have its good points, I’d say it’s far from being the best language program out there. Here are six good reasons why Rosetta Stone sucks.
Reason 1: Rosetta Stone’s vocabulary learning is too slow.
If you have a few years to learn a language and don’t mind learning at a snail’s pace, then Rosetta Stone might be for you. I don’t know about you, but personally I’ve always wanted to learn a language quickly so that I could get on to the fun parts and start using it in real life. You probably don’t want to sit around while it repeats phrases like “The cat is large”.
Reason 2: Rosetta Stone is unclear.
Showing you vague photographs while repeating the foreign language does not necessarily make the word’s meaning clear. Does the photo for the word mean an article of clothing? Or, does it mean a type of shirt? Or, does it mean that specific kind of shirt in the photograph? Or, does it refer to something completely different like the pattern on the shirt? You need to learn the real meaning of a word or you will waste time wondering about its meaning and be afraid of making a mistake in real usage.
Reason 3: Rosetta Stone requires supplements.
Rosetta Stone will not get you anywhere near fluency. It just doesn’t teach nearly enough words and grammar structure. If you want to become proficient in your new language, you are going to need more than just Rosetta Stone or else your ability in the language will be stunted. Rosetta Stone is like a map that shows you 1/8th of the way to your destination. It may be fine for the first bit, but it will leave you lost and stranded on your path to fluency.
Reason 4: Rosetta Stone is lacking in useful phrases.
Rosetta Stone stresses teaching unnatural phrases like “The cat is large” or “The woman is wearing a yellow shirt”. It does *not* teach you useful phrases like how to introduce yourself or even how to say “hello”! Think about this past year. How many times have you said, “The cat is large” and how many times have you said, “Hi, my name is…” Do you really want to be spending all your time learning sentences that you won’t use and not even learn how to say “how are you?”
Reason 5: Rosetta Stone tries to fit every language into a cookie cutter formula.
The truth is, human languages vary widely. One language may be particularly hard in its verb conjugation but easy in its adjectives. Another language may be easy in its verb conjugation but difficult in another aspect like its noun cases. Rosetta Stone does not address the special issues of any one language. It gives equal time to all categories. Furthermore, it simply tries to force each language into its pre-arranged photos and sentences. For this reason, you are missing all of the specifics of the language that are most likely to be different from English and therefore are most important to learn properly!
Reason 6: Rosetta Stone is just plain expensive.
It costs a lot and I’m just not sure if the cost is worth what you are getting considering the problems I’ve outlined. There are cheaper and faster ways of learning a language. If you’re interested in learning about these other faster and cheaper methods, just continue reading below.
As you can see, Rosetta Stone does have its problems but I do admire Rosetta Stone for its innovative use of computer technology to teach a foreign language. It is a nice concept despite its lacking execution and inability to efficiently teach a foreign language. However, its emphasis on interactiveness is a (small) step above textbooks and I would like to see future software products expand on this interactiveness and try to do things right.
That being said, if you want the fastest method to learn a language so that you will become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of months, learn thousands of words without worrying about forgetting them, master grammar and do all of this in an enjoyable, painless manner then you need to read Learn That Language Now!