Finally… Learning a New Language

Posted on | February 13, 2010 | 3 Comments

The two most popular languages that a lot of people want to learn are Spanish and French. Right now, I’m mainly going to give advice on the Spanish as I’m still learning French. The best way would be to find a great program that you can work with, after all, you will be needing some sort of tool. My advice would be to use a program that best fits your needs. The one that REALLY helped me learn as quickly as I did was Rocket Spanish. I’ll give my informal and completely honest review of this tool I used to learn Spanish.

It Was Easy, but it Did Require Effort
This is kind of a “duh” statement, but it does require some sort of effort from you. You don’t have to sit and learn 24 hours a day 7 days a week, but a fair amount of effort is required. You ARE learning a new language after all.

You Know What You’re Getting Into
Rocket Spanish tells you, pretty honestly as well, what you’re getting yourself into. They really don’t lie to you as far as how long it could take you to learn the Spanish language. What’s even more cool is that they have a very unique way of teaching you so that you can read, speak, and understand Spanish.

It’s Totally Different From High School Spanish Class
I mean this. I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and learned… nothing. From my experience, a lot of Spanish that I learned in school was forgotten after the exam was over. I didn’t learn the language long term, rather short term. Since I took two years of Spanish in high school, it was a struggle to remember Spanish after summer break was over. I found this program was completely different in the sense that I actually remembered my Spanish a lot longer than just taking a class.

I’m learning French right now, and I have never learned French in the past in school or anything. I’m having just as much fun learning French as I did learning Spanish. I’m using the same program, and I’m learning just as quickly. These are my recommendations, I hope you do well!

There’s Nothing Better… Fish Babble

Posted on | February 2, 2010 | 5 Comments

There are very few other feelings of awesomeness when learning a new language than to talk with native speakers and have everyone’s jaw drop. If you can imagine that feeling, that’s the feeling I felt when traveling to Mexico with my friend, Patrick, who went with me not too long ago.

The first time we went, I couldn’t speak much at all. I could say “hello” in Spanish (Hola!) and “how are you” (Como estas?) and that was pretty much the extent of my Spanish language skills. When we came back, I wanted nothing more than to be able to return to that same place in Mexico and be able to talk with people. That’s why the next time I went to Mexico, I brought the same friend I had brought last time with me this time.

I didn’t even tell him that I had been working on my Spanish! (LOL) It was a total surprise. Me and my mother actually learned Spanish together. At first I had started on my own, but my mom was intrigued at how fast I was learning, so she hopped on board and caught up to me quickly. I came over every so often to my mom’s house to chatter with her in Spanish to see what she and I had learned. I think creating a buddy system when learning a language independently is a great way to make sure that you’re learning it right. Just a thought

Anyway like I was saying, I didn’t even tell my friend Patrick. The first night back in Puerto Vallarta we decided to go out for dinner at a really fancy expensive restaurant. The server came over and spoke to us in English (assuming we didn’t speak Spanish). My friend Patrick ordered his drink–in English. I then asked the server what type of wine he recommended with the meal I was planning on ordering–IN SPANISH! Patrick looked at me like I had just risen from the dead. I ignored his reaction, told the server what type of wine I wanted, and looked down at my menu trying to hide the big grin planted on my face.

I looked up, and my friend was absolutely amazed. He wanted to know how I learned to speak Spanish so well and so quickly. I went on to tell him how…….

Throughout the vacation, I did most of the talking. By the end of the vacation, Patrick decided that we were going to learn French together so that we can fly to France soon. We already have the flight scheduled and we’re learning just as fast with French as I did with Spanish. More to come.

What Type of Learner Are You?

Posted on | January 30, 2010 | 1 Comment

Before you jump in and decide which avenue you want to go in learning a new language, you have to know how you best learn things. There are a lot of tests out there that help you determine how you learn, and I will describe the most common methods of learning here.

Visual
If you are a visual learner, you learn things easier by someone showing you how it’s done. You like to read manuals, look at diagrams, and watch short clips explaining the subject you’re learning. You’re probably one of those people who use their hands a lot when explaining things, and connect well with the learner’s eyes. This is one of the most common types of learning, as we live in a very visually driven society. For learning a language, you’d be best using note cards (looking at words repetitively), writing the language a lot, and exposing yourself to the language and culture as much as you can.

Auditory
If you learn things by hearing them, you easily learn by listening to someone speak, and not by necessarily taking notes. You’d much prefer to listen to some type of media to learn whatever it is you’re learning. You would best learn a new language by immersing yourself in dialogue with others within the new language, once you’ve learned the basics of course. You will probably have a harder time learning to write the language, but will learn the language well nonetheless.

Kinesthetic
If you’re a kinesthetic learner, you like to dive right in and try it yourself straight from the get-go, as this is the best way you learn. This is great for learning a language, as you will probably want to start speaking as soon as possible. The more you practice the language, the better you’ll become. Writing out the language would probably be beneficial to you learning the language itself, but not as much as you actually speaking it.

Out of these three, you may find traits in one, two, or even all of these ways of learning. Determining which way your mind finds it easier to learn would be beneficial to you. Click here to check out a website that can help you determine which way you best learn, and then you can transfer that into learning a new language.

Picking Your Language

Posted on | January 13, 2010 | No Comments

Pick a Language
First thing’s first, you have to pick a language. I know this may seem simple, but for some it is not. There are a lot of people like you and I who love to travel to foreign countries and explore the world. That’s why some people want to learn more than one language. My advice to you would be to pick one country, and learn that language. For instance, if you picked France as the country you’d most like to visit, you’d want to learn French only, despite the fact that you still want to travel to Japan, Brazil, and Spain, etc.

Alphabet and Symbols
Other things to consider when picking a new language to learn is the alphabet. For some languages, they use a completely different alphabet and symbols than us English speaking people do. Some examples include Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Russian, to name a few of the most common. Do research to see if your new language also requires you to learn a new language. If you’re feeling ambitious and decide that learning a new alphabet is something you can conquer, than go right ahead–more power to you! I’ve decided my next language is going to be Hebrew as I want to travel to Israel, so I will be in the same boat as you soon if you’ve decided on a language with a whole new alphabet system.

Versatile Languages
One other thought to consider would be picking a language that is spoken in more than one country. This means less work, and more travel! Spanish is a great language for this, as many many countries speak Spanish. Hebrew would be a not-so-good example of a language that is versatile as I’m pretty sure it is the official language in only one country. Think about it this way, learning a new language and traveling to 5 countries where you can speak it fluently is MUCH better than learning a new language and only being able to speak to locals in one country, unless of course you’re absolutely DYING to visit that one country.

I wish you luck in picking your perfect language, you crazy fish babble!

First Post! Learning A New Language

Posted on | January 4, 2010 | 3 Comments

Just got back from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Had a great time speaking with local natives of the area. I can’t believe I did it! I remember going to the same area a while back, not knowing any Spanish, and feeling completely lost. I worried a lot because if anything happened while I was away, no one would be able to help because of the language barrier. Luckily when I went the first time, I brought along my bi-lingual friend, so we were able to get around pretty easy with him around.

This time though, I had a much better time speaking with people. The same friend who went with me last time went with me this time as well. He was absolutely AMAZED at how quickly I had learned Spanish. I’d say I’m pretty average as far as learning goes, but for some reason learning this new language came so easy. I really don’t think it’s because I have some natural knack. I truly believe that if you do it right it can be easy for you too

I’m here (still excited and happy as ever) to start this blog Fish Babble to show you exactly how to learn a new language quickly. Stay tuned, I’ll be posting more soon!!