How Do You Learn Languages, From Home, From Zero Knowledge To Fluency?
OK. Three “steps” to learning a language: 1. Learn the pronunciation and writing system to the point where you can look at a new word and pronounce it correctly. For Spanish, this is pretty easy, but for any language, you have to find a native speaker and read some things to them and get their approval of your pronunciation. 2. Learn the grammar system. You should try to find a concise overview of the grammar that gives you a complete sense of what structures can act as a subject, verb phrase, object, adverbial, etc. Memorize verb inflections and irregular verbs. Use flashcards to do this (making them yourself helps — you can design them the way you like). When you start to understand the grammar system, write some sentences and paragraphs and take them to a native speaker to check them. 3. Build your vocabulary, and learn the “connected speech” pronunciation changes for the language. Flashcards are best for building vocabulary. Blank business cards work great because they’re small en
