Spanish Immersion Isn’t The Only Choice
You're feeling a little adventurous, and you want to try something new. But after you've read about the many different language immersion programs available in this country, you're having trouble choosing. Should I take Spanish courses? How about Japanese? French seems like a good option too. But I'm worried it will be too hard to learn a language that isn't used at home.
You've tried other ways to learn a foreign language, but you're not sure whether you're doing it right. You want to find the right language program for you, but you don't even know where to start.
So what do you do?
In this article, I'll be talking about some of the different options available for learning a foreign language, while offering some advice on how to choose the best course for your particular situation. I'll also discuss some of the best ways to make sure your chosen program or teacher is effective at teaching a foreign language.
The first thing to understand is that learning a foreign language isn't about being a super-hacker with perfect pronunciation, impressive vocabulary and spot-on grammar. Learning a foreign language is about making real progress over time, and it can be done any way you like.
You could spend months studying Spanish, maybe even years… But that's not the only way to learn a foreign language. You could hone your skills in 10 hours each week, or do it in 4 hours per day . The amount of time you put into your studies can be up to you—as long as you make progress and continue to learn new words every day, every week or every month. If you focus on the right tools and techniques, it doesn't matter how much or how little time you spend.
You might be wondering where to start. The good news is that it's easy to find the best language learning program for you. There are lots of reasons why one program might be better than others, but there's no one-size-fits-all approach to learning a foreign language. For example, some programs are better than others if your main goal is to travel abroad and speak with natives in their native language (called communicative competence). But individual teachers may be more or less effective at teaching a particular skill or method. Maybe a program is great at teaching grammar, but the teacher is boring. Maybe a popular language program isn't right for you, even though it got great reviews online.
It's important to match your learning style with the right teacher or program. And even if a program isn't perfect for you, you might still be able to use it effectively and make progress through trial and error. But if you really want to find the best possible source of learning opportunities for your situation, follow this guide:
1) Start thinking critically about what you want from your chosen language program.
If you want to travel and use your new language skills for social or business purposes, then choose a program or teacher that's designed for this purpose. If you're fine with learning phrases in order to communicate, whether it's by speaking, writing or texting, then long-term immersion is probably not the best choice. And if you don't feel like learning any other language than Spanish and French (and maybe some Italian), then stick with a beginner course.
There are a lot of programs designed to teach specific grammar points and vocabulary that have never been shown to lead to real-world fluency in a foreign language. On the other hand, there are programs and teachers out there who will help you communicate fluently with natives in just no time at all.
The point is that it's important to think about what you want from your language program before you start investing any money. This will allow you to make sure that your investment is well-spent, and help you avoid wasting time on unhelpful lessons or teachers.
2) Ask around for recommendations.
You can find great teachers by asking friends, neighbors and co-workers if they know of anyone who speaks the language well.
Conclusion