How to Learn Any Language

I read this book upon the recommendation of a polyglot (multi-language speaker) and found it very informative and helpful. The author talks about how he became interested in languages and how he managed to learn them so quickly. He also explains ways of remembering difficult words and tells you which languages to learn next by showing you how closely related they are to each other. I like this book because the author doesn't babble on taking up too many pages. He relates a story, shows you what he learned from that experience, cuts away the rubbish and presents to you absolute nuggets of information for learning a language quickly.

This book is very superficial in its content most of which is common sense and probably already familiar to most language students. I was hoping for just one or two nuggets of inspired technique but alas nothing worthy of a second glance. In summary not worth buying unless you are a compulsive bibliophile.

Many of us learned a first foreign language by learning grammar first. My first foreign language was Latin and we used a book written by Robert Henle S.J. I later took courses in Latin from Robert Henle S.J. in college. Those courses were fun and very instructive. My high school taught Latin as did most at the time. Grammar first. Barry Barber proposes that is not the way we learn our first foreign language. In the USA that is usually English. Conversation first and when a basic fluency is reached then grammar. He proposes that once you reach basic fluency you will want to learn grammar. I have found him to be right. I am now teaching (mentoring might be a better word) 6-8th graders in Latin. The kids spend 15->30 minutes a day You-Tube watch/listening to conversational Latin one video an evening. They watch grammar videos as they need them. They are using The Cambridge Latin Series as their text book. No homework just suggestions for next class. No tests except the final which is a pass/fail. They are allowed to use medieval Latin or Roman Latin pronunciation. No correction in class except a reciting on the correct way. So far they are doing very well. The kids are all volunteers for a new program and can drop the class whenever. So far they all want in. If they pass the test I will write a letter indicating their fluency in Latin and asking they allowed to skip 1st year Latin. They will be urged to go through Henle 1st Year Latin in the summer before high school. Grammar and vocabulary are important but fluency is more important. Read this book before purchasing any expensive language course. Obtain basic fluency and then perfect your language skill with that DVD/CD/Academic course. If taking academic courses become fluent first and then ask to test out of the boring part. Once I got pass 1st year Latin and began reading Caesar's Gallic Wars that was fun. And so it is with any language. Learning to conjugate Spanish verbs by pure memorization is boring. But reading Los Cipreses Creon en Dios is not. Read I adapted much of what I am doing from this book. I suggest that you read this book before buying any language course.

Great read! Easy. Fun. Entertaining. Insightful. Helpful. Inspiring. The book not only helped me in my language studies, it helped me in all my studies because the lessons taught apply to any learning endevour. (Such lesson as... have fun. Use multiple methods. Keep at it. Be enthusiastic. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.) The other reviewers have done a better job than I have explaining the book. I just wanted to echo their praise. This book is a winner!

To sum up Barry's methods, his multi track approach has merits, especially if you have no idea or game plan to follow in an orderly fashion. I give his methods a five, but the overall book gets a three, at best. A two wouldn't be off the mark. The first sixty pages are complete with Barry gushing about the number of languages he says he knows. My only question - does Barry know just enough of each language to introduce himself, ask simple directions, and attempt to order a meal in an authentic restaurant, or is Barry fluent enough in over twenty languages to sit as First Chair Translator in the United Nations? At one point, Barry states his Chinese was so good, he flabbergasted a Chinese waitress so badly she screwed up the order for the entire table. I believe a more approximate assessment would be Barry's choice of vocabulary, diction and accent was so bad, she couldn't help but make major errors in their meal orders. The language examples he provides in a language he speaks about sounds like something that can be found in any basic starter language book or audio course. The Appendix material starting at page 140 to the end are useless. Between page 60 to the Appendix are Barry's methods. While I didn't really learn anything new that I am not already doing (learning Japanese) I applaud Barry's methods. A solid grammar course booklet, a good dictionary containing the target language and your own native language, the use of audio (tapes, CD's, MP3 players in today's lifestyle) flashcards, and other various printed materials and sources. Yes, the book needs to be updated, but anyone serious about their target language can fill in the updated blanks. Barry makes a few good points. Set a game plan and stick with it. Don't give up. Be consistent in your studies. Use different sources. His use of memory aids. While some of Barry's ideas of using wasted time to study are a little off the mark (while brushing your teeth, or the one that made me laugh - while you are grunting inaudible 'yes, no, uh-uh, really?' responses to your friend blathering on the phone, pretending you are hanging on their every word) there are better down times that can be used, and will retain what you are learning. Commmuting to and from work. Lunch time. Mindless TV viewing. (How many times can you watch the same hour of ESPN reruns before you decide you had enough?) If you have no clue as how to self teach yourself a language, then purchase the book. Otherwise, if it can be found in a bookstore, read pages 60 to 140, take notes and save your money. Or read the other posted reviews that pretty much explain his methods in a few sentences and save yourself the time and expense.

I learned English and French about the same time. Living in France made that very easy as a child. Now I am taking Spanish and it is a struggle. It is a struggle because, like many, I do not follow the advice in this great book. This book gives a good review of how, even if you are not in the native country, to surround your self with a book, newspaper, (videos, television, internet today) to learn a language quickly. It helps to shake someone out of the nonsense that learning a foreign language takes some special skill. It is a learned skill and this book is a common sense way to do it. I am going back to my Spanish lesson now......

This book gives some good tips on remembering things and helps encourage the reader to learn languages. It suggests not picking a random language to learn as your second language, but rather something highly useful so that it will be helpful even if you don't carry your studies very far. I don't think it is a magic formula, but more of a language guy's story and what he did to help become successful. If he really speaks as many languages as he says he does then he's a genius and probably doesn't understand what we mere mortals go through to learn, for example, Korean.