How to Master a Language
Mastering a language will open doors in business, travel and your personal life. Many people study a language in school, but few achieve real mastery. However, geniuses do not have a monopoly on language mastery. If you have a good mastery of your native tongue, you have the ability to master another language. Just follow these tips.
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Instructions
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Define your goal. Mastery usually means having the same ability as a native speaker, or nearly so. But even native speakers vary in their capabilities. Decide what you want to do with the language. If you wish to write professionally, you need a high degree of literacy. If you want to give lectures, you need excellent speaking skills. Make your goal specific and keep it in mind as motivation.
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Have a can-do attitude. David Shenk, author of "The Genius in All of Us," maintains that excellence in any field comes more from consistent practice than inborn superiority. Realize that mastery lies within your grasp, and practice with confidence.
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Learn the basics by working and studying diligently in a traditional classroom setting or on your own. According to Shenk, to achieve superior results, you must practice a lot, and in a way that continually challenges you. Don't just keep working at your comfort level. If you take classes, do extra work on your own. If you study alone, take at least two different courses so you understand better. You can choose software, books or audio programs, but you will achieve the best results by combining two or more of those options. After learning essential grammar and a basic vocabulary of 1,500 to 2,000 words, proceed to advanced study and mastery of the various language skills.
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Master listening through lots of practice. Stephen Krashen, author of "What Does it Take to Acquire Language?," says that "comprehensible input" is crucial. To improve, listen to language that, for the most part, you understand, but make sure to continue increasing the level of difficulty as you go. You can find difficult material in advanced audio courses, in movies, in songs and on television. Download various media from the Internet or travel to a country where people speak the language. Malcolm Gladwell, author of "Outliers," asserts that mastery of any skill requires at least 10,000 hours of practice. Patience and hard work over the long term will help you reach your goals.
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Practice speaking the language. Master speaking by continuing to practice, preferably with native speakers. Living in a country where the language is spoken makes this easier, but you can use other methods. Join a club or religious organization where people speak the language. Make friends with people who speak the language. Find a job or volunteer work where people use the language. Seek out opportunities to speak so you become fluent. This practice makes up an important part of your 10,000 hours.
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Read in the language. Read in the language every day. Make sure you expose yourself to texts of increasing difficulty. You can take advanced literature or subject-matter courses in the language, or you can do this on your own. Timothy Bell, author of "Extensive Reading: Why? And How?," says that you should read things you enjoy. As much as is possible, read without relying on the dictionary. Though this may seem counter-intuitive, using a dictionary will often slow your progress. Keep increasing the difficulty of your reading material, and plan to read for many hours until you reach mastery.
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Write in the language. Write in the language every day. Keep a journal and write for 20 minutes or more. If you can take a writing class, you will benefit from the teacher's corrections. If not, find a native speaker to correct some of your work. It is not necessary to ask her to correct all your work. Most of your improvement will come from consistent practice. Writing practice makes up part of your 10,000 hours to mastery.
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Learn like a child. Continue to study grammar on your own or in classes, but don't overemphasize it. Krashen says that we should acquire our second language much like our first, similar to the way a child learns. Of course, you need to understand grammar to write correctly. Strive to understand the rules, but don't confuse memorizing a grammar book with mastering the language. Instead, let your many hours of listening and reading help you acquire most of the rules naturally.
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Keep on working in the language as long as you intend to use it. When you reach mastery, you will realize that there is no end to learning a language. Whenever you stop using a language, even your native tongue, you start to lose it. Stay in top form by using the language every day. Mastery of a language can become a process to benefit you all through life.
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References
- Photo Credit sign language wedding image by msw from Fotolia.com couple talking image by GeoM from Fotolia.com girl read book. write your text image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com she writes image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com child image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com
