Learning a new language: Part 1

How does one learn a language; specifically English? That is a common question asked by many... It's a tough yet simple question, primarily because everyone learns differently. However, there are a few things to consider when learning a foreign language.

The first thing any new learner should work on is vocabulary. Building a large vocabulary is important, because that is the key to understanding what is being said and to learning the names for people, places and things. Focus on learning the common vocabulary used in the language being studied.

Secondly, learn the basic sentence structure. Learn how sentences are built! Learning and understanding verb tenses and how verbs are conjugated is important as you move from building basic sentences into more complex-compound sentences. Additionally nouns, pronouns, articles, singular, plural, masculine and feminine forms of that language (if there is one) are also important when speaking a new language. From here on, moving into more complex-compound sentences will become easier and more natural.

Something that goes hand-in-hand with learning vocabulary is colloquial expressions. There are colloquial expressions, fixed expressions and idioms in every language. When traveling to a new country on vacation one thing most people tend to do is learn is key phrases, essential or basic expressions for specific situations. In conjunction to learning vocabulary, why not broaden that by learning colloquial expressions or idioms? Fixed expressions, idioms and fixed phrases are an essential part of learning new languages.

Listening can be difficult depending on how familiar one is with that language or how well train the listener's ear is. What languages are you familiar with or have you been exposed to? When first listening to a new language that is unfamiliar, everything can sound like gibberish. However, over time, as you train your ear to listen to the words, you will then be able to hear and distinguish between the pauses, questions, exclamations, periods and more importantly each vocabulary word.

Pronunciation can also be a struggle for many when learning a new language. There are so many ways to pronounce the SAME word! In any given language there are so many words that are spelt the same but pronounced differently and the reverse is true. For example in English "live" and "live" are great examples of this. This is how they are used in a sentence:
"I want to live for my children."
"I am going with my boyfriend to a live rock concert tonight."

In the first sentence the word "live" has a short "i" sound and in the second sentence it has a long "i" sound. However, this situation is not unique to the English language alone, but is true for most languages. That's why pronunciation is so important in order to be understood.

verb-subject sentences

For many students it's easier to learn the grammar and to put/string together an English sentence than it is to speak the language.  Like everything, all you need is practice, which in turns builds confidence.  Now let's take a look a the basic English sentence.

The basic English sentence has a subject followed by a verb.  This is the common way in which they are written!  For example:  The man [subject] is tall [verb].
The president of the United States [subject] is smart [verb].

However, in some sentences the verb comes before the subject; for example:  There is [verb] a lawn mower [subject] in the street!
We are [verb] the cookie monsters [subject].