Some key principles of language learning

Whether you're learning Spanish, Hausa, Japanese, Arabic, or English as a second language, there are certain principles that will help you learn effectively and correctly. This brief course cannot cover them all, which is why you're referred to a true language acquisition course or books like LAMP, but we will try to cover some important basics.

—Listen a Lot

• Children are the world’s best language learners.
• They spend over a year listening and playing with sounds before they can speak at all! (Over a year? Don't forget that they're already listening before they're born!)
• —Listening helps you hear the language in its own terms and not only through the filter of your mother language.

Be Like a Child

Besides spending a lot of time listening, children

• are not afraid to make mistakes
• play with language
• use what they know

Being like a child in these ways can be vital in learning a new language. Being afraid to make mistakes means that you may not want to try what you know and may be afraid to talk to people. Not playing with the language means you won't get it so engrained in your brain.

Be a Parrot!

• Trains your “tongue” even when you don’t understand a word of what you’re saying!
• Helps make the language automatic and natural
• Helps you have a good “accent”

To mimic

• Listen carefully
• Repeat the phrase yourself. Just copy the sounds without worrying about the words, what they mean, or how they are spelled.
• Compare what you said with what you heard
• Repeat the cycle

Make Friends

• Language is about relationship and communication
• Go out and use your new language to meet strangers and make them friends.
• Most people are glad to help learners.
• As a learner, you’re non-threatening and can become a friend.

Learn a little, practice a lot

• Without repetition and practice, you’ll quickly forget the new material you’re learning.
• Pace yourself. If you learn just one new sentence in a day, that’s 30 sentences in a month. If you have learned those 30 solidly and can say them well, that’s great progress!
• By not trying to learn too much at once, you give yourself more space to listen!

To Summarize:

• Listen a lot
• Be like a child
• Be a parrot
• Make friends
• Learn a little… Practice a lot!