Learning A Foreign Language

The speed and consistency at which you assimilate a foreign language depends on a lot of factors, including:

1) Whether or not your mother tongue and the foreign language you're learning have a shared lexical family and glossary (Latin or Germanic languages for example)
2) Your own ability to assimilate new words and think in the new language, rather than translate everything in your mother tongue, translating everything to the new, foreign language afterwards
3) The amount of contact you're receiving with that particular language, externally (for example, English is a lot easier to learn than other languages for most foreigners, since they receive a lot of external contact with it from movies, computer activities, commercials and so forth).

Regardless of the fact that the language you're trying to learn fits into any of the above categories, make no mistake about it, every language is learnable if you follow a few important steps and if you invest a constant stream of time in the learning process. Taking medium to long breaks from learning will be extremely negative in the long run, since it will be harder to get back on track and "re-learn" what you've once assimilated. Think of learning a foreign language as taking care of a huge furnace. You need to place a huge amount of coal in it in order to get it started and then you need to keep the fire burning by constantly shoving medium amounts of coal. If you stop shoving and let the fire go out and the furnace go cold, you'll have to invest almost the same amount of work to get it back on.

So you might be wondering how to start learning a new foreign language, what should be the base point for the learning process. Well, some basic vocabulary will get you started with understanding and pronouncing the language as well as give you something to work with later on. Language learning games are extremely useful in this first stage, since the correlation between images and words will get them to print easier in your mind. Using flashcards is also a good option and although learning what "duck" is in German for example, might not be that satisfying, think about the fact that the whole game thing has a higher purpose. And if you're an adult, try getting past the inherent awkwardness and silliness of this first learning stage as it is proven to be one of the most efficient yet. And who knows, you might even have some fun while you're at it :).

After you're familiar with the new language, after trying out pronouncing what you've seen on the flashcards, or in the game (by the way, always keep a "mother tongue - foreign language" dictionary close to you, since you'll want to check on pronunciations often) you should start off with a couple of translated texts that you can compare. Don't worry about the subject, reading "Little Red Riding Hood" with the annexed translation will be equally helpful as reading a technical view on computer architecture with the relevant translation (actually Little Red might be even more useful, since it will be easier for you to relate the words). Try reading the foreign text, sentence by sentence and then re-reading it in the translation. While doing so, try and spot the similarities in grammar and sentence structure and focus on noun gender, and plurals. It's extremely helpful to get used to the new language's gender and plural system early on or you might get the "habit" of mixing them up, sounding funny at best.

The above-mentioned method of learning a foreign language might not necessarily be the one most appropriate for you. Still, it simulates the way we learn our mother tongue, which makes it easier for us, your brain adapting easier to the new learning process since you've "already been there and done that" once. If you're looking for alternative ways of learning a foreign language, be it Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish, Hindi, Polish, Greek and many more, you could look up one of the many sites out there offering free or paid lessons and tutoring services.

Learning A Foreign Language Through Educational Games

If you have children of your own, or if you have a little brother or sister that you've watched growing up, you might have noticed how they started learning your native language. The first words they usually speak out are the ones that they come into contact the most often, usually the name of their parents, parental appellatives such as "mama" or "papa" or "dada" and so forth. Later on, as they are encouraged to express verbally, their vocabulary base will consist of words that they meet in their "daily activities", which for most children simply include eating, sleep and... playing. This is where I actually wanted to bring the discussion to, learning a language through playing and especially through educational games that are specifically aimed for this purpose.

Since most children follow the above mentioned pattern when learning their native language many scientists claim that simulating the process at an older age can produce the same learning effects with a foreign language. The reason for this is that the brain already got used to that specific type of learning and it will adapt easier when confronted with a similar situation later on in life. That's why learning a foreign language through children's games has become increasingly popular among adults, despite the slight awkwardness of the situation. Flashcard games are such an example, a flashcard being a small piece of material with a picture of an item printed on it and a related word (or small text) describing the picture. The image-text correlation is extremely potent when having to memorize words. Using flashcards is a good way to start building the basic vocabulary for the language you're learning and it gives you a first contact with the language pronunciation (you'll need a dictionary for this of course).

Another great way to learn a foreign language is by playing computer games. Although most games are in English (and if you're reading this, you already know English I assume...) some computer games have translated versions for specific languages (mostly German, Spanish, French or Italian). If you can get a copy of one of these translated games it could be a great way to start learning that specific language and have fun at the same time.

A study exists in this sense, where a young English boy that couldn't speak any language but his native one was invited to play a popular online PC game on a French server. Although he was extremely confused at first, the constant contact with the other human players in the game, combined with a natural correlation between what he saw on the screen and the game chat gradually helped him understand the French language. The game experience was almost like throwing him in the middle of say, Paris, with no knowledge of the French language. After living in a foreign environment, hearing and reading a particular language at all times and instinctively correlating words with actions and images one actually starts learning that particular language, a fact proven by the above experiment. This just proves that online educational games (well not necessarily educational ones, but simply "games") may yet become the future language learning centers of tomorrow. To the same extent, millions of players all around the world learn and perfect their English language skills while playing the numerous online games available today.

Of course, there are still "classic" educational games out there that you can try out. Some sites offer several such educational games for languages ranging from English, German, Spanish or Italian to Polish, Romanian, Turkish or Ukrainian (and many more). If you're thinking about beginning to learn a new language, these educational games might prove to be starting point that you need. Some are actually fun and quite addictive and they are a surefire way towards boosting your vocabulary in that particular language.

Some nice pictures

Hey! Since we have pictures on Internet Polyglot I thought you'll like some of them. Here are my favorites (so far):



http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060140


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[New feature] Chat page

A new addition to the collection of Internet Polyglot features. If you like online chatting and also think that it can improve your language skills, please be welcomed to the Internet Polyglot chat page: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-chat.html

More images! Random word on home page.

A new feature has been added today: a random word on the home page. When you press an icon with two green triangles pointing to the right you see a randomly picked word in all languages of InternetPolyglot. And it has a picture too! It looks like this:


Now you know what is "to be sleepy" in many languages :) . Press the "Next" icon, learn another word and enjoy a fine picture.

Images in Lessons

Now some of the language lessons have images in them. There are only a few now but their number started growing and very soon almost all of them will have pictures that will help visualizing your learning process and make it more fun and efficient.

To take a look at the pictures go here: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lessons-es-en or any other list of lessons and move your mouse over one of the icons of a photocamera. Voila, you'll see something like this:


It means that this lesson has images associated with its word translations. If you click on the large image that is opened in the popup, you'll enter the lesson. For example this one: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lesson-4602101010 and you will see that all words there have this camera icon. Move your mouse over it and enjoy high quality pictures that, we are sure, will improve your abilities to memorize more foreign words.

How to Memorize Words

One of the first steps we take when learning a language, be it our mother tongue as children, or a foreign language later on in life, is expanding our vocabulary by memorizing words (usually nouns and adjectives at first). Memorizing is done naturally when we're living in an environment that forces that particular language on us (such as our homes as children, or as visitors in a foreign country) but it can also be "forced" through several methods. The following article will try to present some of these methods that could help you learn how to memorize words faster when learning a foreign language.

Flashcards

Flashcards are the basic tools for word memorizing and although they are used mostly with small children, they can also be useful for grown-ups when learning a new foreign language. Basically, a flashcard is a piece of carton containing an image of a noun (usually nouns, although they can oftentimes contain colors, actions and so forth) with the appropriate word describing it and possibly, a small text that explains what the object is. They are a good way to take your first step into the vocabulary of the foreign language you are learning and they can be fun to use together with your children.

Using Mnemonic Links

A mnemonic is generally described as an abbreviation or a symbolic representation that helps humans memorize a certain "something" easier. Mnemonics are used to enhance and develop the assimilation of data into memory and there's no better use to them than in learning a new language. Since when you're gradually building your new vocabulary for the new language you will inevitably translate and think those words out in your mother tongue, you can use such a mnemonic to make this translation easier to memorize. For example if you've just learnt how to say "seaside" in the foreign language you're studying, imagine a picture of the seaside and then switch back between the native and foreign language words of what you're seeing. The image, which is easier to remember than a word, will act as an intermediate between the two languages.

Memory Enhancement Medication

There are several natural supplements out there that help you memorize stuff faster and for a longer period of time, as well as help with concentration during the learning process. Some of the herbs that are known to have a memory enhancing effect include Ashwagandha, Reishi, Ginseng, Bacopa, Mucuna Pruriens or Fo-Ti. Ginseng is one of the most popular in the list and it is widely used as a supplement in language learning classes as well as generally used by students before exams or during the school year. There are no side effects to these herbs but you might be allergic to one, so it is best if you visit your medic before taking any of them, asking if you are allowed or not to start a long or short-term memory enhancement plan.
There are also several vitamins and nutrients that could help out with memorizing new words, the list including: carnitine, lecitine, carnosine, choline, inositol, tyrosine and several others, but these are not the point of our discussion.


Visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for word memorizing lessons and games.

New button in the menu

I've just placed a new button at the bottom of the left menu. The button looks like this:

My dearest Internet Polyglotter, if you like the site, if you think that using Internet Polyglot helped you in your language learning endeavor, if your vocabulary increased because of using of Internet Polyglot, you know what to do, right? :D

Let me tell you how your donation will be used:

1. We have long lasting plans to place pictures on the site so that words and translations have colorful, eye-pleasing images.
2. We want to have sound in our lessons.
3. We want to improve the game statistics - organize contests.

And lots of other cool things are waiting to make your language learning more efficient and fun. This donation will help make it possible.

How to Improve Your Vocabulary

Picture learning a new language as building a house from scratch. You can't wait to handle the design, buy the furniture or decorate the rooms, but first you need to go through the hard process of actually raising it from the ground. The vocabulary of a language is both its foundation and it contains the words that you will have to use as "bricks" when building it and although it's not crucial to have a huge amount of bricks, the more you have the bigger the house, hence the higher the comfort. Actually, taking the discussion back to the linguistic field, studies have shown that we only need 100 or so "core words" from a language's vocabulary in order to be able to handle basic communication. But that's comparable to having a single room apartment, when you might need a 2 story villa, so we need to see how we can improve the number of bricks we can use :).

I'm presuming you already have a relatively solid grasp of the basic vocabulary of the language you're trying to enhance, or we wouldn't be talking about "improving" one's vocabulary but rather on how to learn it from scratch. If you've learnt the language from a course book or with the help of some online lessons, you probably have a limited amount of basic words, since these courses focus on a little bit of everything, including spelling, grammar, pronunciation and so forth, leaving little room to concentrate strictly on your vocabulary.

Reading and listening are two of the most important ways of increasing your vocabulary in a specific language. Whenever you have the chance to listen to someone speaking that language, or if you get your hands on some article written in it, make sure you do your best to understand it, focusing on the words that you don't know. If you can't "guess" them out of the context, have a dictionary near you to help you out with these new words. Especially if you're reading instead of listening, make sure you get the pronunciation right for the new words (dictionaries usually offer the pronunciation of the word besides its translation).

Another good way to increase your vocabulary is to engage in interactive activities in that particular foreign language. Educational games can be a fun way of expanding your word pool as well as playing a computer game in that language, trying to relate what's happening on the screen with what you're reading/hearing in case you stumble on some new words.

Last but not least, you could practice what language courses call the "A new word each day" game. Make it a habit to look up a new word in the dictionary each day and memorize it. Of course, you shouldn't stop at rare, practically useless words; instead, focus on commonly used words that are new to you, words that you actually have the chance of using in day-to-day conversation. If you combine this method with other vocabulary improvement ones, the daily amount of new words will probably be high enough to make it count, but small enough to not overload your memory with stuff that you are just going to forget the next day.


Increase your foreign language vocabulary at http://www.InternetPolyglot.com by playing online games. The site contains thousands of lessons in different languages from English, Spanish, French, Russian to Hindi, Turkish, Ukrainian and many others.

Home Versus Travel-based Language Learning

When you’ve set your mind on learning a new language, you are in the position to choose how to start learning it. You basically have three options: starting a practical home-based language learning course (possibly an online one), starting a so-called “travel-based” learning experience that would have you travel to a country speaking the language you intend to learn for at least a couple of weeks, or a combination of the two. We’ll try to dissect these two language learning methods and compare them to see which one is best (or which one is more appropriate for you).


First of all, home-based language courses have two great advantages: they’re cheaper and they’re more comfortable. Regardless of the language you’re learning, you’ll most likely find dozens of “Learn it yourself” course books as they are in high demand. If they’re structured correctly, these courses can actually build a solid foundation for the foreign language you’re learning if you can spend enough time and energy to truly focus on each lesson and tackle any problems you might be hindered by.


If you prefer, you also have the option of taking a free online language course provided by one of the many sites focusing on language learning (such as Internet Polyglot for example). These free online courses are even more comfortable (and cheaper of course) than if you would learn from a course book but they can sometimes be less structured, which makes it extremely important to focus on finding an excellent course to take on, rather than simply start with the first one that turns up in your search engine for the phrase “free online language course”. If possible, find an online language course that offers both written lessons and spoken ones (through E-media). They are extremely useful in correlating spelling with pronunciation and generally getting you used to the language you’re about to learn (not to mention that stimulating two senses, hearing and seeing, doubles the effect of the learning process).


Travel based language learning methods on the other hand are definitely more expensive and they might disrupt your daily routine. They are usually taken in vacation periods, but if you work online for example, you might even set up a small “office” in the country you’re aiming to learn the language of. This way you can keep to your daily duties and start learning at the same time.


The advantage of a travel based language is obvious. By getting plunged straight into an oasis of foreign words, your brain will focus on adapting and understanding the new language a lot better. Correlations between images and words are made a lot easier in this case and even a short trip to the supermarket for example, will get you to learn a few words and get you used with the new language. In a couple of weeks, you’ll already be able to say some of the basic words and some phrases and if the travel period is longer you have every chance of being able to conduct a short conversation with basic words successfully.


To conclude, it must be said that neither of these methods can guarantee you’ll be a fluent speaker of the new language after they are “complete”. Their purpose is solely to create a basic foundation for the new language, a foundation that will be useful later on if you want to further focus on the language and actually learn it in detail. Each method has some strong points (grammar and spelling for home-based, pronunciation for travel-based) and some weak points (pronunciation for home-based and spelling for travel-based for example), which may lead to the idea that a combination of the two is the best way to go, since they complement each other quite well.