Linglot

This is a difficult question to answer, as there are a ton of factors involved. One, how dedicated you are. Obviously, it’s going to take less time (overall) to become fluent in a language if you put more time into it, and on a regular schedule. Consistency is a large part in language learning, and the best results are received from putting in a regular study session (daily is the best).

Another factor is how related the language is to your native one. As a native English speaker, I found Spanish to be extremely similar to English. For example, the Spanish word revolución is the same as revolution, información and information, and there are a huge number of words that are extremely similar to English ones. The same is true for native speakers of Italian, French, or any of the other Romance Language family–words and syntax in other languages of the same family are similar, so it’s quite a bit easier to learn them.

One more factor that I think can affect how long it takes is talent. Someone who is talented in the area of reading/writing will have an easier time learning a language. As well as someone who has a high listening learning preference.

I’ve made it my goal to become fluent in one language every 6 months. I think that’s a relatively reasonable goal. I heard that once a person has become proficient in a second language, it becomes easier to learn others. So far, I’ve found this to be true.

Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti was a Catholic Italian cardinal who lived from 1774-1849, and learned how to speak thirty-eight languages and fifty dialects completely fluently and without accents. In addition, he was also proficient in several others. He learned everything he did while living in Italy, and without the use of any of the modern technology we have today.

He was a professor of several Oriental languages, Arabic, and Greek at the University of Bologna

That’s inspiring, I think. Although he was clearly gifted in language, he still didn’t have the Internet or podcasts that are available these days. Therefore, we have the advantage and should be able to become masters of language faster and easier. Right?

For more reading about Cardinal Mezzofanti, see here and here.

Listening comprehension can be a tough nut to crack when it comes to language learning. It was my biggest problem when I started learning Spanish. I had much less trouble reading and writing than understanding spoken Spanish, perhaps due to my learning preference.

Fortunately, for people like me, there are things such as free world radio in other languages. Radio Japan Online has its radio program on-demand in 18 languages, including Arabic, Japanese, Spanish (Castillian), Russian, and even Persian. I’ve been listening to the Spanish version for some time and it’s good exercise.

Radio programs are available as podcasts (yay! I love podcasts), for easy listening on an iPod or other mp3 player. There even are RSS feeds of podcasts, so new episodes in a target language can be snatched quickly and easily. Another thing that’s really cool is there are transcripts available in about half of the languages, so a person can follow along by reading while listening to the podcast.

If you don’t like sitting at the computer for this, you can easily print out the transcripts and listen and follow along wherever. Be sure to have a dictionary close-by for the occasional (or frequent?) times you come across a word you don’t recognize.

The Pimsleur Method is among the most popular language-learning programs in existence today. And rightly so–the programs are well-designed, unique, and effective. I’ve used Pimsleur audio material in my language-learning adventures, alongside other methods of course, but Pimsleur has been a favorite. I have gone through almost all of the Spanish lessons, and so far they have been well worth the money.

Pimsleur courses cost around $200 each. This may seem a lot at first, but each course contains around 30 lessons featuring real conversation with native speakers of the language. They are well worth the money–I have experienced better results with Pimsleur than many other audio courses (and I have tried quite a few). Additionally, they are much cheaper than college classes, and can be just as effective, if not moreso.

The only downside to the Pimsleur Method is that very little of the written language is taught. This is understandable, I think, as there is no “all-in-one package” when it comes to language-learning. As always, it’s best to have several approaches to learning a language, instead of focusing on just one method.

iTunes can be an excellent resource for free language-learning material. Originally developed for the iPod, Podcasts are Internet broadcasts on a variety of topics anywhere from politics to news to college lectures to language-learning.

Podcasts can be easily found and downloaded with iTunes, and kept and listened to forever with iTunes itself, another media player, or an mp3 player. The best thing about podcasts is they are free. Free stuff is cool. Especially if it’s quality, and there is a lot of quality stuff on iTunes.

Language-learning Podcasts can be found on iTunes by:

Downloading and installing iTunes

Visiting the iTunes Store, via the link on the left side of iTunes

And finally, going here and here

There are dozens of language-learning podcasts, and the most popular ones are listed on the front page for your convenience. As of right now, CoffeeBreak Spanish and JapanesePod101 are some of the most popular. I’ve listened to both, and they actually are pretty good. Another one that caught my eye was The French Pod Class.