Learning Languages

There are from 3,000 to 8,000 different languages all over the world. Some of them are more common, some are less. The popularity depends on how many speakers do they have and how often they are being used in business, cultural work and how easy they are to learn for non-native speakers. However, learning foreign languages have the same strategies. In includes speaking, listening, reading and writing.

The most important aspects, in my opinion, are speaking and listening. Even native speakers start learning their own language not from grammar but from listening, learning how to pronounce different sounds, how to say most common words and then join them into sentences. The same strategies should be used learning foreign language. It is important to find differences in pronunciation of letters and words. F.ex., if someone wants to learn Finnish language, he has to know that unusual sound may the ‘y’, which is a 'front-u', the same as 'u' in French, etc. It is easier to understand language better when you are using it. All people who go abroad and live there for a while can understand language better because they always hear it and have to talk with natives in their language. If there is no opportunity to go into the country where people talk in language you want to learn other possibility is listening to the music with words of that language or find a friend from there you can sometimes talk to even using phone, Skype, MSG and so on.

Reading is other very important aspect of learning language. In this way, you can learn many new words and have their visual images in your mind. It can also help you when you go abroad and have to find streets or buildings, filling some document, etc. Usually reading is being associated with writing. However, it is possible to communicate with people from other countries in their languages even when you do not know the grammar of them.

I always remember one common proverb my first English teacher said to me long time ago - practice makes perfect. No matter how many books do you have or how long you have been dreaming about some language. The most important thing is use it in your life as frequent as possible.



References: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/finnish.html
http://www.ling.gu.se/projekt/sprakfrageladan/english/sprakfakta/eng-sprak-i-varlden.html