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Many people who learn a second language mistakenly believe that they can’t learn anymore languages beyond this. In fact the opposite is true - learning languages becomes easier.

The first language you learn - your mother tongue, or native language - is the hardest. You learn by trial and error for the first years of your life, and you learn out of necessity - a pretty good motivator. Some people are born into multiple language environments, but most learn additional languages by attending school or self-study later in life.

We assume that because of the time and effort required to learn a second language, we won’t really have the ability to learn more languages later. We learn languages differently later in life than we did as a child, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As we begin to study our second language, we begin to learn and sharpen a set of skills that we don’t use completely in the other aspects of our life. As we get better at our second language, those learning skills improve. The phrase I like is - “we can learn to learn languages.”

Which brings us to learning multiple languages. There are a few tricks to learning several languages, whether you are learning them at the same time, or one at a time in succession.

Cognates - There is often some vocabulary in a language you are learning that has words in common with English or another language that you know. This is because languages are related to each other or at least borrow from each other. Use that to your advantage. When you begin to study a language, look for a list or collection of cognates. This will not only get you started on expanding your vocabulary, you will begin to recognize patterns of spelling and pronunciation that are peculiar to this language. A neat bonus is the fact that your list of potential cognates grows with each language. For
instance, when I learned ‘ayer’ in Spanish, I didn’t recognize any cognate in English, but the French word for ‘yesterday’ is ‘hier.’ It’s almost identical when you account for the slight difference in pronunciation.

Language Families - Remember that many languages are related to other languages and share many features in common. If you already know some Spanish, learning Italian or French is much easier. You already worked hard learning many of the grammar features that don’t occur in English when you studied Spanish, like gender, agreement between nouns and adjectives, and more complex verb conjugations. Now when you begin to study French, let’s say, those features are second nature and won’t require nearly as much study time and effort to learn. In addition, much of the vocabulary will be similar like in the cognate example above. Learning a related language really cuts down learning time.

Grammar - Even when you are learning a language unrelated to one you already know, you may begin to recognize how languages behave. This is partly what I mean by “learning to learn languages.” You begin to understand how languages ‘handle’ different things. You may not know the grammatical terms for parts of speech (although I recommend you begin to learn them, it will help you) but you will recognize patterns both within one language, and from one language to another. Fundamentally, all human languages operate on the same principles. With each language you learn, you will pick up on
more and more of those principles.

Time - This is your biggest advantage when learning a language. Unless you need it right away, you can spend all the time you want on it, for years and years. The greatest leaps in learning will occur at first. After that the curve will slow down, but that core knowledge that you worked on at first becomes fully entrenched. The longer you have it and continue to use it, the more it sinks in. Now, when you learn another language, you may find some interference between the languages, especially if they are related, but as long as you maintain your other language, that core understanding will always be there and it will grow in time. You won’t replace one language with another. When you need to go back to that other language, it’s still there and it comes back quickly.

Remember that learning a language is a lifetime process - no one ever really finishes learning. So, if you begin learning another language, you may not be actively studying your previous ones, but you are still learning them if you expose yourself to their use, or ‘maintain’ them.

Goal-Setting - Set your goals carefully for each language. You may find that adding another language is much easier if you know you that you don’t really need to be fluent in it. Maybe you just want to read that language. Then, you don’t need to focus on speaking and listening skills. Or maybe you just want to know a few greetings and basic conversation. Forget about heavy grammar. Focus on a few conversation skills and study accordingly.

Maintenance - To me, this is the real trick to learning several languages. By trick, I mean it is essential for your long-term success, and I also mean that it is hard to accomplish. Once you’ve learned a language, at least its basics, you need to maintain it. Use or lose it, they say. It’s true here, too. When you are learning a new language, you still need to expose yourself to the other languages that you know. As a general rule, I like to say 15 minutes a day. Read something, write an email or two to penpals, watch a movie or tv show once in a while, listen to some music etc. Then, when you need that
language for something substantial, the vocabulary and grammar and pronunciation is not so far away from you. If you hadn’t used it at all for 6 months or 6 years, I can assure you that it wouldn’t come back so easily.

Of course, the problem with this is, for each language you know, that’s 15 minutes less time for studying your new one. I think ultimately, this is what puts an upper limit on how many languages we can effectively learn. There’s nothing stopping us from learning more, but without using that knowlege on a regular basis, keeping it fresh, it tends to get away from us. Then we are ‘replacing’ one language with a fresher one. I don’t think that’s what we have in mind when we learn a language.

For myself, I have a short list of Priority 1 languages that I focus on. I expect this to be a lifetime hobby, so I’m not rushing. I also have a much longer list of languages, each with different goals. I doubt that I’ll ever hit my goals in all of these languages, but I’m sure I will hit my goals in at least some of them.

If you really enjoy learning a second language, then maybe consider a third or fourth or more. You may already be thinking ahead and wondering if you could do it. Come up with a list of priorities, set some goals and go to it.

Ron is a long-time language enthusiast, exploring Spanish, French, Swedish, Cornish, Esperanto and others. Learn more about studying a language on your own at Language Learning Advisor
This guide for self-study language learners has reviews and recommendations of language learning methods and products, links to online learning resources, learning tips to maximize your study time and effectiveness and articles on language learning.

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During the modern age, with globalization at its height, knowing one or two secondary languages has become more than a simple feat of high class and intelligence but also a strict requirement in many occasions. Whether it’s for professional, social or personal reasons, learning at least one foreign language is a must for anyone that wants to keep his or her head up high in today’s society. Let’s take a focused look on 5 of the main reasons that should turn you towards learning a foreign language.

1. Professional Requirement

This is probably the main reason for which one would learn a foreign language. Many professions require the knowledge of at least one or two foreign languages, depending on the field of the job. Most jobs may ask that you know an international language such as English, French, Spanish or German or a business-specific language such as Chinese, Japanese, Russian and so forth. If you’re a native English speaker you may have it a bit easier, since English is the main international language (and one that is present the most often in job descriptions) but knowing a secondary might also prove vital.

2. Social Bonus

Yes, knowing a foreign language (or more) is definitely a social bonus. There’s definitely a steep hill to climb between being presented as someone that doesn’t know any foreign language whatsoever against being presented as a polyglot. Another case when knowing a foreign language can be literally a social blessing is when meeting a foreigner whose language you can speak. They’ll be extremely impressed by your ability to talk with them through their own native tongue, although you’re on home grounds and this fact can single handedly create a great impression around you. If the foreigner happens to be part of a business meeting, this impression can turn to a successful business partnership, bringing you both professional and social satisfactions.

3. Family Communication

It’s often the case where a couple formed out of persons of diverse nationalities understand each other through a commonly known international language such as English. However, they’ll soon want to start learning the other person’s mother tongue, not only for a better communication, but also out of respect for them.

4. Personal Satisfaction

Learning a foreign language is one of the highest intellectual goals that one could have, on a personal scale. Think about a difficult puzzle, or math problem that takes months if not years of constant studying in order to be solved. The process of solving it may be a hard, arduous one but the yell of joy at the end is well worth it. It’s the same case with learning a foreign language: the learning process is not easy and you’ll have many small issues and problems to tackle along the way. You’ll have to focus on various aspects of the problem, such as spelling, grammar, reading, pronunciation and so forth. If you keep the problem in sight however and if you don’t lose interest in it, the chances of solving it are extremely high and the intellectual fulfillment that you get at the end is incomparable to anything else.

5. Keeping Your Mind Healthy

It’s been scientifically proven that by learning a new language, the process stimulates your brain in such a way that it will make you more keen on understanding and learning other subjects, including “real” disciplines such as math, physics, chemistry and so forth. Learning a new language requires the memorizing and understanding of several thousand new words and concepts, which offers your brain a good training for future occasions where memorizing is a must. After studying a foreign language you’ll have better results with studying for exams, with information assimilation and generally, with keeping your mind healthy and “active” even at older ages.

Misha Gavryuchkov is a life-time language learner and a web programmer too.
This explosive blend led to creation of the ultimate language learning solution http://www.InternetPolyglot.com.

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Benefits of E-learning

When it comes to Second Language Acquisition, E-learning has definite benefits over traditional classroom training. While the most obvious are the flexibility and the cost savings from not having to travel or spend excess time away from work, there are also others that might not be so obvious. For example:

* You learn at your own pace and much faster without depending on someone else’s progress. If something is too easy you can pass on to the next topic with the click of a button. If something seems too hard for you, you can devote as much time as you need to comprehend it entirely.

* You can work from any location and any time - E-learners can go through training sessions from anywhere, usually at anytime. This is crucial; in a world in which many busy professionals, business managers or just students need to travel on a regular basis, sometimes within their own country, and sometimes abroad, E-learning is the only choice to enable them to continue studying just as if they were at home. This of course, could never happen in a traditional course.

* For those students who need to improve their speaking or listening comprehension skills, E-learning, especially the one delivered via audio or video conferencing, is an unbeatable alternative. The student talking time is maximized up to 100%, something unthinkable in a traditional course in which every single student’s talking time is very restricted.

* When classes are delivered by native Spanish speakers via audio or video conferencing, Spanish learners can acquire the language almost as effectively as if they traveled to a Spanish speaking country. After all, they will be learning not just language but also culture, from someone who is originally from that very same setting. In addition, if the online instructor is a native Spanish speaker, the student can be practicing his or her listening comprehension skills in real time, around real contexts and listening to the same Spanish that is used outside the classroom. In most traditional classrooms, students are exposed to simplified recordings that have no resemblance to the way native speakers talk. In an online class with a native speaker of the language that does not happen. It is REAL Spanish, all the time.

* It can be updated easily and quickly - Online e-learning sessions are especially easy to keep up-to-date because the updated materials are simply uploaded to a server. In traditional instruction this is more difficult. Imagine a book that had to be reprinted in the light of new discoveries. It may take at ages to reach the bookstands, whereas online, changes and updates can be posted overnight.

* It can lead to increased retention and a stronger grasp on the subject - E-learning goes in line with the theory of multiple
that basically states that we all learn differently. For example some people have visual memory, so retention is produced by watching, reading or visual stimuli. Some others are more musical, and rely on their auditory memory. And there are of course many other different ways in which people learn. E-learning is ideal due to the fact that in presents students with info from very different angles. This is because of the many elements that are combined in e-learning to reinforce the message, such as video, audio, quizzes, interaction, etc.

* Quick and fast revision of contents: at any time you can revisit or replay sections of the training that might not have been clear the first time around. It goes without saying that this is literally impossible in a traditional classroom setting.

These are just a few of the MANY substantial advantages of E-learning over traditional instruction when it comes to the teaching and learning of a second language. In future articles we will study each of these advantages in detail.

Julio Foppoli is a teacher of English as a Second Language and a teacher of Spanish as a Second Language. He is the creator and owner of http://www.esaudio.net/Spanish/online_classes.html, an online educational website with a technological edge, specialized in the teaching of Spanish as second language via audio-conference to native speakers of English from all over the world.

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