Learn Foreign Languages

2. Concrete Plans

After I have found the good reasons to learn a foreign language, I become eager to learn. But I more than often fail to learn a certain language because I don’t have a good plan that is doable and effective.

You know there are so many distractions in life nowadays. You have to walk dogs in the morning, cook for children after work, and watch TV programs … the list will not end. So you need a step-by-step blueprint to take your hand down the road to success.

• To make such a plan, I normally ask myself the following questions.
• How long will I spare for the language learning everyday? What time?
• How are you going to allot the time among listening, reading, and so on?
• What kind of learning materials am I going to use?
• Which method will I stick with?
• How am I going to test my effort? (You need to track and evaluate your performance.)
• What shall I do to improve my efficiency in doing other things so that I can have time to learn the language? (I found that I can accomplish more when I have more things to do at hand. That’s strange, eh?)

Just write your answers down accordingly. Bang, you have got a plan with your own personality.

Many people ask if it is necessary to attend a language course. In my opinion, I don’t think it’s absolutely critical for your success in language learning.

However, language courses have their advantages. They have a plan. They have teachers that will take you by hand step by step and motivate you, which is perfect.

The disadvantages are:

• Money – Language courses could be very expensive.
• Time – you still need time to do homework outside of the classes. And you need a plan for that, too. Above all, the schedule is unchangeable.
• Teacher’s attention is distributed to many students. You often cannot get enough part of it.

Of course, there is a solution. That is online courses. They addressed all of the above issues.

• They are not so expensive.
• The timetable can be made according to your own schedule.
• You can get one-on-one mentoring.

One of those that are best is Rocket Language Series (Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, American Sign Language are available), which should be highly recommended.