Language Study

There are literally an innumerable amount of techniques you can apply when building vocabulary. Flip through a couple of websites or forums about memory building and you’re likely to find plenty of them. Some will work better for you than others, but you’ll have to try them out and see how they work in practice. The following techniques, or some combination of them, are among the most effective I’ve seen.

1. Flash cards. Having been around for the longest time, almost everyone is familiar with flash cards. Surviving the test of time isn’t an easy feat and they’ve done it for good reason — they’re simply one of the best tools ever devised for memorizing anything. With the advent of smartphones, flash cards (or the idea behind them) have become more useful than ever, allowing students to carry thousands of electronic flashcards in their phone for use anytime they get a free moment. Flash cards are simple, inexpensive and proven effective, so make sure to take advantage of them when searching for tools to help your vocabulary building efforts.
2. Hear, echo and associate. When you first encounter a word, the first thing to do is to listen intently at the right way of pronouncing it. Then, repeat it to yourself loudly (you can whisper if you’re in public and feel self-conscious). Most people stop there and that’s wrong — it’s very easy to forget a vocabulary item if you simply parrot it. You need to associate it to something that is meaningful to you. That way, the word has a personal meaning that makes it memorable, rather than just being a bunch of syllables and sounds strung together.
3. Read more. Try to spend a lot of time reading in the target language. Start with easy reading materials like product descriptions on e-commerce websites, short blog posts or Twitter timelines of native speakers. Once you get comfortable with that, start reading longer materials, like magazine articles, newspapers and books. Doing so allows you to encounter words in different contexts, giving you a better idea of how to use specific vocabulary elements in the language. Reading will also expose you to a lot of new language elements that you may not have even encountered in your regular lessons. Try understanding their meaning from context first before pulling out the dictionary and thesaurus.
4. Brute repetition. This isn’t the most elegant technique, but you can’t deny that brute repetition works — people have been doing it to commit facts to memory since time immemorial. It’s especially useful for remembering hard-to-retain items, such as words you rarely encounter in your readings and practice sessions. Frequent vocal repetition of a word or phrase allows your mind to form a familiarity with it (auditory memory), making it easier to recognize and recall when you need it later. You can also write words down repeatedly to establish a visual and lexical context in your mind.
5. Form phrases and sentences with each vocabulary item. We suggest either writing them down or recording them by speaking into a computer. Doing this allows you to immediately practice using new words as you pick them up, forcing you to process the words in a much deeper manner than you normally would just memorizing them off of a page. Instead of just learning a word and its meaning, you work it into a whole web of meanings.
6. Latching onto a key sound. Some words have prominent sounds or syllables that are easy to recognize and easy to remember, especially in European languages like French or Russian. You can use those notable elements to improve your memory and recall of the word, associating the specific sound with the actual word. If you like, you can also associate them with memorable hooks from songs, too — doing that works very well for a lot of people.
7. Using cognates. You can use cognates (two words in different languages that share a similar meaning, spelling and pronunciation) to help lend additional context to new vocabulary items. Cognates are rarely the exact equivalent of the original word in question, but the relationship and similarities will help you establish a clear image for it in your mind. Do note that not all words that seem like cognates are actual cognates. For instance, the words exit (English) and exito (Spanish) may appear the same, but one means “to leave” and the other means “success.” This technique is especially useful for languages that share many similar words, such as English and Spanish, where an estimated 30 to 40 percent of all words are valid cognates. For languages that have little in common, like English and Korean, the usefulness of this technique should prove a little less potent.
8. Diglot weave. In this technique, you insert the new foreign vocabulary item into a sentence in English, substituting the foreign word in place of its English equivalent. We suggest making at least four or five sentences for each new vocabulary item — this should be enough to establish a meaningful context for it. Try to create different sentences for every instance (declaratives, questions, commands and others) to give yourself a decent sample variety.
9. Create lists. Put together two numbered lists. On one list, put the words you want to remember. On the other, put their meanings or translations in your native language. You can write this out as a table or as two separate documents. Either way, you can look at the lists periodically to study them, memorizing each item until you’re able to recall everything on cue.
10. Take vocabulary tests. I’m a huge fan of taking vocabulary tests for learning and recall. Problem is, these aren’t as readily available as you’d probably like. If you can find them, though, they’re incredibly useful for reinforcing your recall of new words and phrases. I’ve seen several websites offer crosswords and similar vocabulary exercises in different languages — try using them to help in your own search. Most language software also come with a load of practice tests and exercises, so if you’re using one, it’s a good place to look.

When you begin studying a new language, there’s always plenty to remember. Since you’re not likely to be a sponge that can absorb every morsel of information thrown your way, you’ll remember some, forget others and misunderstand a few.

If you’re currently working your way through French classes or a French language software, there are many things you’ll likely find yourself struggling with, especially at the start. The good news is, none of them are insurmountable. If you’re willing to put in the work, you’ll likely clear every single one of these hurdles as you progress in your language training.

Gender

In French, all nouns have gender. That is, they’re either masculine or feminine. This is a far cry from the English language, where nouns only take on gender when they refer to living things, making the concept a difficult one to grasp for many second language learners.

Don’t think you can interchange gender and get away with it either. Gender is a crucial element of French nouns: use the wrong gender and you’ll create confusion. In many cases, you’ll end up communicating a different message entirely, since a different gender can alter the meaning of some nouns.

Accents

Accents (those lines and dots you see in French words) are required, not optional. They are used to indicate the correct way to pronounce a word, so make sure to pay attention to them when learning to read or write in French. Since they’re not used in the English language, there’s a good chance you’ll struggle with them a bit, especially at the start of your language study.

To Be

The literal equivalent of the verb “to be” in French is “être.” However, it’s not to be used exclusively in forming “to be” constructions. Instead, many French expressions can also be formed using the verbs “avoir” (to have) and faire (to do). Make a point of memorizing these three verbs and understanding how they are used within the context of different expressions.

Contractions

Contractions aren’t optional in French — they’re required. If you’re used to avoiding contractions when writing in formal English, you have to make sure not to carry over that habit. Learn the rules for contractions, which usually occurs when a short word like “je,” “me” or “la” precedes a word that starts with a vowel, and make sure to keep them in mind.

Liaisons and Enchaînement

When strung together, French words tend to flow from one to the next. It makes sentences sound flowing — it’s one of the reasons why French is regarded as a beautiful speaking language. However, it’s also a big cause of problems for second language learners, as it renders both pronunciation and listening comprehension just a tad more difficult than they should be.

The French R

The “r” sound in French is probably the trickiest for English speakers to learn, as the sound tends to come from the back of the mouth (or, even more accurately, the throat area). Make sure to pay particular attention to the use of this sound in your language learning software, as you’ll need to practice making the “r” sound several times before getting the hang of it.

The French U

While not as confounding as the “r” sound, the “u” sound can also be challenging. This difficulty is further compounded by the fact that it flows very similar to the French “ou” sound. Oh yeah, this sound doesn’t exist in English, so you’ll literally have to learn it from scratch. Just like the French “r,” make sure to follow instructions in your language software and practice this multiple times.

Tu/Vous

French uses two words for “you,” which isn’t bad on its own. However, their meanings are very different, so you’ll need to know which one to use at any given time. The main difference is plurality — tu is used when referring to one, while vous is used during instances of two or more. However, they also have connotations — tu is used when speaking to someone with whom you can interact with closeness and informality; vous is more formal and suggests respect to the person you’re talking to.

The French H

In French, “H” comes in two varieties: aspirated and mute. Both are silent, with one difference — aspirated H acts like a consonant (no contractions or liaisons) and mute H acts like a vowel (requires contractions and liaisons).

Nasal Vowels

Nasal sounds aren’t unique to French. In English, both M and N are nasal consonants, requiring you to nasalize the vowel that precedes it (as in “own” or “am”) during use. As such, employing nasal vowels shouldn’t be all that hard, provided you can learn the different nasal vowels in the French language.

Making nasal vowel sounds are done by expelling air through the mouth and nose without obstructing the output with lips, tongue or throat. A few practice sessions should be all you need to get this down pat.

Que

You’ll probably hear “que” (or that) used frequently in French sentences. In the language, it’s required to be used in any sentence that involves a subordinate clause, with “que” used to join the two clauses together. Unlike in English, conjuctions (in this case, “que”) aren’t optional in French, so you need to use them every time to connect separate clauses.

Auxiliary Verbs

Both avoir and être are used as auxiliary verbs to expand the semantic meaning of specific verbs in the language. Each one should be used with different verbs, though, so make sure to use when to use which. The rules are clear cut, so all you have to do is memorize which group of verbs to use with either one.

Silent Letters

A lot of French letters are silent. And if you’ve worked through French vocabulary to some extent, you’ll notice a lot of these silent letters occur at the end of words. Do note that not all final letters are silent, just as silent letters don’t always occur at the end of words. You’ll likely have to learn these one by one. As long as you keep the above distinction in mind, though, you should be fine.

If you want to travel, knowing English can help you plenty, but it’s far from the catch-all language that some inexperienced travelers seem to think it is. While there are plenty of countries, apart from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, where your English skills will get you far, there are probably more where it won’t do you a whole lot of good.

English is used by 341 million native speakers, next only to Chinese (over 1 billion native speakers), Spanish (400 million) and Hindi (366 million). While simple logic dictates those are the languages you should learn, the concentration of speakers for English, Chinese and Hindi are usually restricted to a handful of high-population countries, making them less useful for those looking at languages they can use in cross-continental travel.

For wandering nomads who want to spend an extended period hopping from country to country, learning new languages is a must. You can’t seriously expect to travel that much without having to pick up even bits of pieces of dialect in the places you visit.

Whether you’re backpacking with a crew of young adventurers or jetsetting in style, having a working knowledge of foreign languages will provide great help, especially if you plan to visit multiple countries. Aside from English, what other languages should you learn?

If you can only learn one foreign language, then it’s important to take account of where you plan to go. Few folks, even the truly wanderlust, will hit all seven continents in one long stretch. If you’re going to rip through the countries in Europe, for instance, either French or Spanish should be able to serve you immensely. Going to Africa? Either French or Arabic will be your best bet. North or South America? Then Spanish is a must. And so on.

Remember: your experiences in a country will be closely linked to your ability at using the local vernacular. The better you can communicate with the locals, the more avenues of opportunity opens up. Below is a list of the languages that you’ll likely want to consider learning if you’re looking forward to doing a whole lot of travel.

French

Thought French was only spoken in France and a patch of Canada? Think again. French is an official language in 40 countries, with dozens of others where it is widely used by portions of the population. You will definitely want to learn French if you’re planning to visit Europe (it is an official language in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco) or Africa (over 20 countries list it as an official language). French is also widely considered a sexy language, so you should be able to find some social uses for it even in countries where it isn’t widely spoken.

Spanish

The Spaniards were huge colonizers back in the day, traveling the seas and taking many countries under its flag. As such, they spread their culture and their language heavily around the world. It is estimated that over 400 million people use Spanish as a native language, with 100 million or so more if you add in the second-language users.

More importantly for your purposes as a worldwide nomad, though, Spanish is recognized as an official language in 21 countries, including Spain, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and more. It is also widely spoken in many countries where it isn’t recognized as an official tongue, including the United States and the Philippines. There are many cultures around the world, in fact, where you’ll recognize various Spanish terms integrated in the local languages.

If you learn Spanish, you should find an easy time traveling Europe (where many speakers in neighboring countries often use it as an unofficial language), South America and a large portion of North America. For the most part, you’ll be able to use it effectively in more than 44 countries around the world.

German

German (aka Deutsch) is only an official language in a measly 5 countries — Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. Despite that, however, it is widely used in as many as 40 countries, giving you a wide range of travel options where the vernacular will prove useful. There are clusters of German-speaking communities all across South America, North America, Asia, Australia and other European countries. It is also a close relative to English and Dutch (West Germanic languages), so that extends its usefulness even further.

Portuguese

To the untrained ear, it’s easy to mistake Portuguese for Spanish. That’s understandable, considering the lot of similarities between them. Like Spanish, it’s also widely spoken, with as many as 34 countries worldwide where it is regularly used by the population, despite being an official language in only 9 countries (Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Guiné-Bissau, Macau, East Timor and São Tomé e Príncipe).

When you know Portuguese, you’ll likely be able to recognize some of the things coming out from a Spanish-speaker’s mouth too. And that works the other way as well. This could prove an extra incentive to learn one or the other, as it opens up quite a wide pool of possibilities. While you’re at that, though, you might want to learn both anyway, since the similarities also mean it will be easier to learn one if you know the other.

Arabic

You can skip this one if you don’t intend to travel to the Middle East. If you are, though, then Arabic is a must-learn, as it is the official language in 26 countries across two continents — the Middle East and Africa. Arabic has also lent many elements to the vocabulary of many languages used throughout the Islamic world, including Persian, Turkish, Bengali, Kazakh, Urdu, Malay, Hindi and Hausa. It also has some minor influence in Spanish, Portuguese and Sicilian.

Russian

Only four countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) list Russian as an official language. Despite that, there are over 30 countries where this language is widely spoken (Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Estonia most of the other countries from the old bloc of the USSR), making a working knowledge of Russian particularly useful for travel in that region of the world.

Looking to add a little edge to your language learning efforts? Here are 13 things language learners have done to give themselves a lift, a boost or a swift kick in the backside.

1. Use wasted time to sneak a few lessons in. Those times you spend waiting at the dentist, sitting on a train or staring into nothingness during office breaks can be put to use to further your language training. Learn a new phrase, practice some lines or try to recall earlier lessons from the week. You can also listen to audio-based learning materials from an iPod or leaf through a phrasebook during those times.
2. Listen a lot. The amount of structured input you can process, such as formal lessons from your language software, will be limited during the early stages of your studies. We suggest supplementing it with lots of listening time — Youtube videos in the target language, songs in the target language and similar resources can help a lot to get you accustomed to hearing the language and its various qualities. It’s a great way to get acquainted with the way native speakers use tone, accent and pace in the target language.
3. Learn phrases not words. Forget learning individual words (e.g. reading from a dictionary). Instead, learn full phrases. Not only does it let you learn more words with the same time investment, it makes everything easier to remember because of the context it establishes.
4. Involve your imagination. Use your imagination to visualize new phrases and concepts, seeing them as real scenes or colorful objects, instead of merely letters on a page. A visual, especially a vivid and memorable one, can help you recall new vocabulary much better than rote memorization.
5. Make up stories in your head using your target language vocabulary. One of the things that really help me with language learning is constructing stories in my head using the target language. I limit the stories to what I can construct with my existing vocabulary. Not only is this a fun way to use your mind productively (instead of thinking negative thoughts or whatever), it helps you practice putting newly picked up language elements to use immediately.
6. Use your phone as a learning tool. Most everyone’s got a smartphone today. And if you have one, you should be able to use it for language learning while you’re on the go. You can keep your journal and notes in there; you can download a digital phrasebook; you can watch foreign YouTube videos; you can use a flash card app to test your recall of new phrases; and a whole lot more. If you enjoy using a language learning software on your computer, then a smartphone is the logical extension of your digital education — it just makes sense.
7. Find children’s books. If you’re looking for reading material in the target language, it’s usually a good idea to try children’s books. If they’re effective enough for use by children getting better at their native language, they should be good enough to help you in your training. Of course, children’s books from a foreign country probably aren’t the easiest to find. You could try an online search, though, especially for popular languages. For instance, I was able to find a lot children’s textbooks and fiction books that were either scanned or transcribed (not sure about legitimacy, though) online.
8. Read materials in the foreign language. Blogs and websites make for free, easy-to-get reading materials in the target language. Plus, you can choose to read about whatever topic interests you considering how many websites there are right now. Blogs and forums, in particular, are great for getting acquainted with colloquial and informal writing styles in the target language.
9. Use what you learn every chance you get. If you happen to sit next to a native speaker, say a phrase or two. Have a friend who studied the same language? Say a phrase or two their way the next time you meet. You don’t need to get into deep conversations every time you use the target language — just gaining the confidence to use the new phrases and the feedback you get from it can really boost how your mind process the new language.
10. Think in the target language. This is something a lot of language learners ignore. That’s a huge mistake, as this is usually one of the changes in behavior that can really trigger a steep improvement in your language learning progress. In fact, it’s probably the single most important adjustment you can make, as thinking in the target language puts you in the same mind space as a native speaker — all without having to open your mouth.
11. Talk to yourself in the target language. Can’t find people to practice with? Talk to yourself. Use the same tone, pace and accent you’d use if you were talking with another person. Just make sure to do it in the privacy of your home, though — this isn’t quite the kind of thing that goes over well when performed in public.
12. Put labels on everything. As in, little adhesives with the name of the object in the target language written on it to help you memorize them. At least, everything that is yours. Don’t put labels on public property and, most certainly not, on other people’s stuff. Sticking a label on your neighbor’s truck might be helpful and all, but it won’t earn you any neighborly points. We’re pretty sure there’s enough stuff around the house and in your office workstation to append adhesive strips of paper to.
13. Read jokes in the target language. If you can pick up a joke book or a funny comic strip in the target language, use them as your downtime reading materials. Humor makes things memorable, allowing you to remember the language used a lot easier compared to reading lines off a phrasebook that don’t mean much to you. Comic strips are particularly easy to remember because of the visual accompaniment the cartoon brings.

Slow start in your language learning efforts? Don’t throw in the towel just yet. Not all language learners take to a new language like a fish to water. Some need to warm up a little longer before their engines actually begin running.

Different people take to new language study differently. Don’t compare yourself to those who are able to get up to speed fast. Maybe you’re just one of those slow starters who need a little extra boost that diving straight into your language material just doesn’t provide. Here are some ideas for language techniques you can do to build the momentum necessary to get you moving at a faster pace.

Memorize A Song

Forget about memorizing individual words and phrases in the meantime. Instead, find a song you like in the target language and look up its lyrics online. Print out a copy of the lyrics and sing along while listening to the song. Do this over and over until you’ve memorized it. Don’t even bother trying to figure out what all the words mean — just memorize it enough that you can sing the song without looking at the lyrics.

After you’ve memorized it, you can start figuring out what the lyrics mean by simply using online translators or your language software dictionary. It’s a great way to learn a big chunk of vocabulary that’s likely to become entrenched in your active stock, especially with the melody of the song ready to assist your recollection whenever you get stumped.

Songs have a way of making vocabulary stick that other mediums just aren’t able to do. Music is extremely powerful. If you don’t believe me, take a look at any 18-year old kid from ANY country who’s been listening to American rap music for at least two years: their vocabulary is almost always laden with lingo that’s local to where their favorite rappers came from.

You don’t need to make a habit of this either. Think of it as a way to get a jumpstart in your lessons. Learn one song, gain a small working vocabulary and use that knowledge to help smoothen off your language training.

Take A Week Off

If you’ve been doing your language lessons a couple of weeks and not seeing results, maybe there’s just too much going on in your life that steals you attention. Unfortunately, that means you are likely going to see the exact same lack of results if you continue on the same schedule.

One thing we’ll suggest is to take a week off to focus on language learning. You can time this with your vacation if you want. The idea is to spend a week where your language lessons and language practice can be among your top priorities, instead of having it take a backseat to your work, your hobbies and your personal life.

A week isn’t too much to ask. Taking a week’s leave from work immediately frees up eight hours a day plus another couple of hours of commute time that you can put into other activities, such as your daily lessons. More importantly, it frees you up from having to think about troubles at work, which can occupy a whole load of your time even while away from the office.

Even when you use that week to take a vacation, it’s easy enough to squeeze in an hour a day to devote to your language lessons. While that sound like much, the fact that you’re not burdened by the pressures and problems of work means you’ll be able to actually give the lessons more focus, maximizing the likelihood of the training being really effective.

Work With A Tutor

While we’re huge advocates of language learning software around these parts, we’re not above appreciating the benefits of other methods of training. We’re especially fond of personal tutors since they give you that most ideal of resource — personalized one-on-one instruction and on-the-spot interactions with a fluent speaker of the target language. An experienced tutor can really point you in the right direction, especially during the early stages when you’re not sure how to approach your training.

The costs of a personal tutor will likely be out of reach for a lot of people. Let me tell you now: they’re not cheap. And the more skilled the tutor, the higher the rates they’ll command. If you can manage to pay a tutor even for just a week or two of regular lessons, though, a live one-on-one resource person can really jumpstart your language learning momentum.

More than the personalized training they provide, the quality of practice you can get with a tutor is simply hard to match. It’s just not something you’re going to get, even when you sign up for a language learning class. Instead of having to hustle looking for opportunities to practice a language, you can simply schedule practice time as part of your sessions with the tutor.

Travel

Nothing forces learners into acquiring a language faster than immersion and the only way to do that is to travel to a country where your target language is spoken. Not only are you surrounded by chatter in the target language, you’re thrust neck-deep in the culture.

Word of warning: immersion is hard. If you get anxious around social settings, you might get even more anxious in such a situation, since you’ll have to deal with being unable to understand what people are saying on top of all the anxiety. If you manage to persist through an immersion situation, though, you can learn a lot of things within a short time — much more than you’re likely to learn using other types of language materials.

Using That Momentum

Building strong momentum is only the first step, of course. After that, you’ll need to put in the effort to put that momentum to good use — draw up a regular language learning schedule, stick to it and practice as much as you can. We recommend embracing an organized plan of study, such as those that you can get from a formal classroom or a language learning software.