Resources

Introduction

Well, here you are at the LTTC/LTTC-LI, and you want to learn a foreign language. You probably have already studied English for a long time, and perhaps you are still learning it. You may be very enthusiastic about learning German or French or Spanish or Japanese. You may be planning to study as hard as possible and maybe for at least two hours every day!But let's be honest: Do you really have that much time to spend studying? Well,most people don't. You may have a full-time job, or maybe you're a full-time student,or maybe you are just busy doing other important things. However, being busy isn't a reason to give up. If you can learn more efficiently, you won't need as much time. When you learn how to learn a foreign language,you can relax and enjoy the process of learning, and as a result, you will enjoy the fruits of your labors even more. The important thing is to enjoy learning!

We at the LTTC/LTTC-LI have collected some tips to help you learn a foreign language. They have all proven to be very successful learning tools.

At first glance, you might think that you have no time to read this, and you may not want to waste a lot of time learning about learning and not learning the language itself.

But give it a try. Just look through our ideas and choose the tips that seem interesting or that appear useful, and apply them immediately. Don't wait. Print them out right now, carry them around with you, and read them every once in a while. You will find that different tasks require different strategies, so your needs will change. The key to success is to keep trying and not give up. Of course, in the beginning, everything appears difficult, but with a little practice, it will become easier.

What do baseball and foreign language learning have in common?

Stupid question, huh? Have you ever played baseball? Do you remember how you hit the ball the first time? Not well? Oh, but I am sure you are better at it now. Was there a trainer around all the time to tell you how to handle the bat? No? So, how did you get better? You had fun, tried it, and practiced often! In this respect, baseball and language learning are the same. If you have fun while practicing, you will definitely succeed.

This is why we wrote this: to encourage you to learn and have fun with a new foreign language. Go on and browse through our tips now!

The 「Read-look up-translate」 Technique

You probably have encountered this problem several times:Someone wants you to translate a foreign language text into your mother tongue. However, even though you understood everything, you still can't find the right words in your mother tongue for a correct translation.

Why is this?It's because all words are connected to each other in our brains. When we talk, we can combine these words into unlimited variations of meaning. However, the connections between the words of our mother tongue and those of our foreign language are not that fast, so we need some practice to make the connection faster.

How can you make the connection faster? Take a text, some sentences, or some word chunks, and then read and understand them. After that, look up and translate them into your mother tongue for your partner. You can start out with this learning strategy at an early stage. While doing so, you learn the new words and their respective meanings along with the grammar. An added benefit is that you might develop into a very good oral translator!

Note:A professional translator translates only into his/her mother tongue. However, for learning purposes, you can translate into both languages—your mother tongue and the foreign language—or even into another foreign language.

Remember: Read and understand, look up, and then translate!

The 「Read-look up-translate」 Technique

You probably have encountered this problem several times: Someone wants you to translate a foreign language text into your mother tongue. However, even though you understood everything, you still can't find the right words in your mother tongue for a correct translation.

Why is this? It's because all words are connected to each other in our brains. When we talk, we can combine these words into unlimited variations of meaning. However, the connections between the words of our mother tongue and those of our foreign language are not that fast, so we need some practice to make the connection faster.

How can you make the connection faster? Take a text, some sentences, or some word chunks, and then read and understand them. After that, look up and translate them into your mother tongue for your partner. An added benefit is that you might develop into a very good oral translator!

Note: A professional translator translates only into his/her mother tongue. However, for learning purposes, you can translate into both languages—your mother tongue and the foreign language—or even into another foreign language.

Remember: Read and understand, look up, and then translate!

The 「Tipp-Ex」 Strategy

You probably have also encountered this problem: You read a text and understand it pretty well, and then your teacher wants you to repeat the content or prepare to give a short presentation on the text, but you can't do it. You don't know what to do because you are nervous and your mind is a blank.

One solution would be to learn the text by heart and recite it in front of your fellow students. That is safe and …um...well…um…boring for the listeners. In addition, you might stumble on words you do not really understand and that gives you an additional reason to worry.

What can you do? While preparing the text, read it aloud (see Tip 1), make sure you understand the content, and slowly start to delete the unimportant words step by step until only 10% of the words are left. Then write down those remaining words and go to bed! The next day, pick up the paper with your key words, look into the mirror, and recite the text in front of yourself. Do this loudly, because then you are actually processing your language! Now you are well prepared for the presentation in front of your classmates. In class, you might look at your key-word list if you are nervous.

Of course, this method does not work perfectly well the first time, but, with a little practice, your performance will improve. Don't worry about the grammar—it will be fine. The most important thing is that your classmates understand you and that you practice the foreign language.

Remember: There is an old proverb that says: 「Practice makes the master!」 You can learn a foreign language only if you constantly reorganize it in your brain. Then you will be successful.