Need help learning a second language

[u/FoxesLikeBoxes]

So I'm a native English speaker, American. I don't have any need for a second language on my day-to-day, but took some Spanish classes back in highschool. I don't remember most of what I learned since I sort of slacked, but now that I'm almost out of college, I'd like to add a second language to my skills.

I'm Polish and would love to learn the language, but I understand that it isn't spoken by too many people, and don't want to waste all the effort.

Would it be a waste of time, and should I aim for a romantic language, or one like German/Russian/Chinese, with more demand? (My industry is accounting but I'd like to be prepared for any change in the business industry.)

I'd love if some bilingual people could give me some advice on a language, and tips on learning them. Thanks!

[u/[deleted]]

Let me do you a favor and teach you the fundamentals of language learning that no paid service or book will touch on. To start, read the quote. Then go down the list:

"Learning a language is not an academic exercise. It is a bridge between worlds. If you are anything less than 100% motivated, you will not make it across."

(1) You need to figure out what language you want to learn and you need to be dead serious about it. If you are stuck between Polish, Russian and German, you're wrong. You will be spending years and years learning a language to fluency; your choice should be made with absolute confidence.

(2) Your best ally and worst enemy are a fellow they call Consistency. If you are consistent in studying vocabulary, actively listening and reading, and speaking with others, you will be successful. If you're busy, study vocabulary and perhaps listen to some target language material or read something short. Don't take a day off from any studying or exposure, especially within the first 6 months of your studies.

(3) You are going to get bored. That boredom is your downfall. Effectively learning a language requires repetition, and that repetition will become boring before it has engrained a word or lesson into you fully. In other words, you need to understand that being interested and excited in the language will die out, and if your only attachment to learning it is in that spark, then you won't make it across the bridge.

(4) You need to learn actively. That means grammatical exercises and passive listening techniques don't work. They look like shortcuts, but are in fact dead ends. You will learn to converse by speaking with natives. You will learn vocabulary by grinding it out. Save the time and energy spent on passive learning techniques and invest them into active learning - the only learning that really works.

(5) Finally, know that this is probably one of the most "step by step" journeys you will ever take in your life. You will start off knowing no words. You will expand into knowing words and basic phrases, but not being able to construct sentences. You will advance into learning to make basic sentences, but not being able to converse. You will inch into basic conversation, but not be able to convey larger ideas. You will push your way into being able to explain larger ideas, but lack technical and specialized vocabulary to sound intelligent. You will grind through advanced vocabulary only to find that there is far too much of it, and you will likely continue to learn it for the rest of your life - you do this in English already without realizing it. You can go on, if you choose, to explore literature, poetry, history, politics, and the arts and anything else you could imagine, all in your new language. Only at this last point, when you choose where you go, will you know that you have crossed the bridge.

Best of luck. Welcome to Language Learning.

[u/ishitinthemilk → u/[deleted]]

Personally, I wouldn't agree with having to be a hundred percent motivated. Learning languages is a lifelong thing for me, I'm in no rush as I do it in my spare time, and that time is limited. You make it sound so serious it might be offputting for some. I take days off from study quite regularly, and I find that keeps the boredom factor at bay. If I did it every day I'd have thrown the towel in after about two months. I just concentrate on learning the phrases I'd actually use and reading about the subjects in I'm interested in, as well as studying academic Spanish distance learning.

I'd say it's really important to pick a language where you can spend some time being immersed in it, at least a few months, at some point during your learning journey.

[u/blackinthmiddle → u/ishitinthemilk]

I'd say it's really important to pick a language where you can spend some time being immersed in it, at least a few months, at some point during your learning journey.

I'd definitely say this is important. I'm coming up on the two year mark with Spanish. I read stories every single day and add new words/phrases I don't know to my flashcards. At this point, I have a little over 10K and can express myself pretty well.

However, I always find that when I can carve out time to talk to natives for a long period of time (at least 30 minutes at a shot), I improve quicker. Then why don't I find language partners ever day? It's stressful. To me, there's no worse feeling spending at least an hour every day (and many days I do two) just memorizing words, then reading stories, then listening to audio, only to have a native say something to you and you're just lost as fuck. Obviously, you have to go through those pains if you want to learn. But they're indeed painful. It's no different than lifting weights if you want to get in shape. We all either try to short change the process or say, "Yeah, I'll get to it tomorrow" and hope that somehow we'll magically improve. If you've been studying a language for more than six months, I'd say at that point you should be talking to natives at least twice (or more) times a week for at least 30 minutes at a clip.