Today I would like to write about how one can begin learning another language. This is probably the most pondered question for anybody who has never had to learn another language fluently. But it doesn’t have to be the most difficult.
In my case, I started learning officially when I was 8 years old. My parents had placed me in a Muslim school here in the states to learn Arabic and I absolutely hated it. Arabic sounds nothing like English, the alphabet is totally different, and I couldn’t pick up anything anybody was talking about during class even though I was doing the work. Neither one of my parents had ever spoken Arabic to me (they couldn’t) and I would suffer for the next 3 years in that class until one day when something clicked...I would have to study on my own until it stuck. After all it’s just a set of symbols...pictures, if you will. And the alphabet was not much larger than the English alphabet although it seemed like it at first. Luckily, at the elementary level we were not expected to speak Arabic very often and that allotted me time to focus on writing. So I began to practice writing some things that I considered most important: my name, the numbers 0-10, and everyday words. Over the course of a year my writing skills had improved greatly but I was still having trouble recognising words when I heard them because I was not yet accustomed to listening. It just so happens that we would be focusing more on reading aloud in grade 6. So I began to practice reading aloud in class as well as at home. I became one of the top students in my Arabic class and whenever a fellow student needed help with their homework they often came to me for help.
In short I forced myself to adapt to learning according to priority level. In my case reading and writing were more important than listening and speaking. One thing I didn’t do that I wish I had is to record myself while speaking and listening to the playback. That way I could have picked out my own weak points. If you are taking lessons in your own country and you don’t have to speak the target language on a regular basis it is better to learn to read & write the language before you speak. However if you are going to move to a new country within a matter of months it is better to learn to make listening & speaking your top priorities and THEN learn to read and write some common words that you will hear every day.
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