The best way to learn a language

Many people wonder about what would be the best way to learn a language, especially once they find that their language learning efforts are not bringing the results they had hoped for. There really is only one answer to this – improve the way you learn. That is the best way!

There are some people who advocate different methods or techniques or some book or other. There is no doubt that many of them can be effective in teaching you something about the language you are learning, maybe even a lot. The big question is - will you actually learn something from them that will actually translate into skills that you can use with confidence. This is possibly where we have the biggest disconnect – studying but not producing the language prowess we want.

Of course going to a course can help you get over some hurdles. However it is not until you take responsibility for your learning, and start taking on some ways of learning that actually work (not just think they work because you were told they would), will you find what you need so you can reach your goal.
There are a number of key factors to look at once you have decided to see how you can improve your learning. Taking even some of these on board can transform your results.

Many people believe that language learning is hard and consequently everything they do has that as an undertone. It does not need to be difficult and a hard “slog”. A key to turning that attitude around is to find ways of learning that satisfy you and you enjoy. Once you do that, your attitude will change and that may well be instrumental in helping you move on faster. As Zig Ziglar said – “Your attitude will determine your altitude”. This may seem like a little change, but this really is one of the biggest changes for many language learners.

Clearly there is a whole lot more to do than this, but once you take this attitudinal change on board you can discard the ways of learning where you are struggling and find ways which you look forward to returning to. Check out the Strategies in Language Learning website (http://www.strategiesinlanguagelearning.com/ ) and you will find many ideas and strategies there that you can try and see if they are a change for you.
My suggestion is take on one new strategy and see how that works for you. That way you can assess, after some time, whether there has been a qualitative change. After you have tried one such change for a while, try another.

Many times we settle for mediocrity because we lack the belief in ourselves. (Sometimes of course we may not need to get to full proficiency but even if we don't there is the issue of confidence in what we do!) We don’t have to get stuck once we understand that the reason we have not moved on is not because of who we are but because we have not found the way to get there, yet.

Andrew Weiler