Learning English or a Foreign Language: 6 Effective Ways to Use the Internet

There are many ways to learn a new language
There are many ways to learn a new language: you can go live in a country where the language is spoken, attend a formal language class, get a private language tutor or use books and written materials. Other ways to learn a foreign language are to listen to CDs or audiocassette tapes, watch TV, movies and video programs, memorize phrase books, use the Internet or employ a combination of all the above.

Photo: Student in a language-learning computer room at the Santiago de Cali University in Cali, Colombia

Can’t Go to Live in a Foreign Country?
But not everyone can arrange to live in a foreign country. Native speakers of the language may not be available. Written or recorded commercial materials may not be available in the language you’re interested in (Cochimi, Cibemba or Kukapa, anyone?). True, many major languages like Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and English broadcast TV programs via cable. Even Korean, Catalan, Arabic and Japanese have venues available in cosmopolitan areas worldwide; but the vast majority of the world’s thousands of spoken tongues are simply not at large outside of their local areas. So what’s a prospective polyglot to do?

Use a Search Engine
One answer of course, is the internet. Plug “foreign language courses” into an internet search engine like Google or Yahoo and more than 7 million six hundred thousand hits instantly come up. From Afrikaans to Punjabi, and Hebrew to Zulu, thousands of listings lay before you only a mouse click away. How exactly then, can the internet be used to tackle learning a foreign language?

Start off effectively by using these six ways:

1. Do an initial evaluation
The first thing you may want to know is where you are in the scheme of learning the language. An initial language skills evaluation is in order; are you a raw beginner? False beginner? Intermediate level? Higher? Let’s take English as a second or foreign language as an example.

English proficiency diagnostics tests are free online at:

• General English Test with instant results http://nll.co.uk/test/english.shtml
• Parlo http://parlo.com/ (diagnostic tests in English, Spanish, and French)
• Upper Intermediate Test
http://www.wordskills.com/level/caeform.html

If you score above 80% in this test, you should take the next one and also show your teacher or tutor a copy of the results.

2. Become familiar with language learning strategies
How do YOU learn? Knowing this can make the daunting task of foreign language learning less like study and more like play. Are you a Visual – Spatial learner who likes pictures, drawings, graphics and extensive use of color? A Musical – Rhythmic type that would benefit from having your lessons and materials set to music, rhythm or rhyme? Perhaps you’re the athletic type who’d derive more success with learning by motion, movement, mime or even dance? Playing the works of Mozart in the background while studying has been shown to enhance learning in a number of areas.

To find out more about your manner of learning visit these sites for starters:

• Learning Styles Explanation http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm

• Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/ilsweb.html

• The Success Types Learning Style Indicator http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/Success/LSTIntro.htm

3. Practice reading skills
Literacy is one of the 21st century’s most innately valuable compound skills. After all, you’re reading THIS now, aren’t you? Few would wish to be illiterate in their new foreign language so practice of reading skills is paramount. Online newspapers, magazines, newsletters and blogs can provide the needed practice and learning materials.

Check out these reading comprehension skills sites:

• How to Read Your Textbook More Efficiently http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/lrnres/handouts/1422.html

• Self-study reading lessons http://www.english-to-go.com/

• Read the article in the following address: http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/read1a.html

In the address that follows, take the quiz to verify your understanding of the reading passage: http://www.pacificnet.net/~sperling/quiz/read1

To Be Continued …

In part two of this multi-segmented article post, we’ll continue to examine ways of using the internet to learn English or a foreign language by means of the internet.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 80 countries. Get your FREE E-books,"If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

How to Read Your Way to Better English or Foreign Language Proficiency

First stop, the Library

So, we’re improving our English or learning a foreign language are we? Then our first stop is the library. You’ll need to track down a decent grammar book in the target language and a variety of relatively short-length reading material in the target language too. Both of these resources may be readily on hand at the local library, and at little or no cost, as well. The grammar book will be a useful guide through those rough spots you’ll hit when the target language grammar differs substantially from English or your native tongue. But make no mistake, it’s not “the bible” and you shouldn’t overburden yourself with grammar rules and regulations. Your grammar book is a handy guide for occasional reference. Use it accordingly.

The Structured Type
“I’m an very structured type of person so I definitely needed to have a grammar book to help me with the structure of Dutch and then German which are very strict in their application grammar rules”, adds American ex-pat Kayleigh Garman now living and teaching English in Istanbul, Turkey. “That also let me go on to learn Danish using many of the same methods I’d picked up from studying and using my other foreign languages.” Kayleigh speaks seven languages now. He must be doing something right.

Cochimi or Kukapa, Anyone?
A copious variety of entertaining magazines exists in most major languages and unless you’re learning Cochimi or Kukapa, you should eventually be able to find something. Short, newsflash type articles are best at first. A newspaper, general interest magazine, the Bible, brochures, flyers, and even – oh yeah, comics can help you along the path to fluency in your new tongue.

Though you might be able to wade through one or more of these publications in a matter of a few minutes, your personal satisfaction at having done that will be priceless. Copies of foreign language magazines are available from newsstands, libraries, airline offices, consulates and embassies, bookstores, universities, language institutes, ethnic stores, shops, travel agencies and restaurants, by subscription and online.


For some of my greatest tips, tricks and techniques for quickly and easily learning virtually any of the world's 6912 living languages just go to:
http://www.escapeartist.com/e_Books/Learn_a_Foreign_Language/Learn_a_Foreign_Language.html

Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on the lucrative, fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign Language, get your copy of his no-cost, full multi-media, hypertext-linked pdf ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” by sending an e-mail to lynchlarrym@gmail.com with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. Need professional, original content and photos or images for your blog, newsletter, e-zine or website? Want more information, have a comment or special request? Contact the author by e-mail for a prompt response.

How the Guinness Book of Records Can Help YOU to Learn any Foreign Language

Meet Jorge Fernandez Gates

At only 18 years of age, Jorge Fernandez Gates can speak, read and write in 11 foreign languages. They are not all related languages either. Some already under his belt include Mandarin Chinese, Catalan, Galician, English, French, German, Swedish, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch.

Not only that, but Jorge only started learning foreign languages a little over 5 years ago, which means he’s been “picking up” a foreign lingo at the rate of two foreign languages per year. His goal is to get into the Guinness Book of Records by mastering at least 25 foreign languages.

Already recognized as the “youngest polyglot in Peru”, in several interviews given primarily in his native Spanish, he discusses some techniques he (and you) can use to develop fluency in whatever foreign language you’re striving to acquire.

He says, “For me, foreign language learning is a hobby, I can’t control it, at any moment I could open a dictionary to look up a new word for my vocabulary.”

His principal ally in the quest to master enough foreign languages to make the Guinness Book of Records is the internet which he credits with up to 70% of his foreign language learning success.

He cites in particular Radio Bucharest online at: (http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio.html) that features both live and pre-recorded radio programming in 38 European and Asian languages as well as 18 African continental languages, and online language courses as aids in helping him to familiarize himself with foreign languages.

Other tactics he has frequently employed include:

- Talking with the staff in ethnic restaurants
- Watching television programs in or about target languages
- Using the radio as a key listening and comprehension development resource “to help accustom your ear to the pronunciation of the language”
- Using the internet to listen and study foreign languages

A major concern he has had was that “one day his brain would explode” from the constant linguistic input or that he would linguistically get “his wires crossed” and become totally confused. A neurologist he consulted assured him that “there are no limits” to the brain’s capacity to take in and store knowledge.

Jorge Fernandez gives these “keys” as essential to his linguistic accomplishments:

- Learn the foreign language grammar “forwards and backwards”
- Acquire a basis vocabulary of high-frequency words and phrases
- Never stop augmenting new vocabulary in your new language – He tries to learn at least two new words each day
- Practice your new language with friends, language teachers or whomever you can regularly

And just what started it all?

“I’m not a good student and as punishment my Mother decided to take away my cell phone and prohibited me from chatting online. I couldn’t go out, so to keep from spending the entire day sleeping I enrolled in a French course.” Then things began to change for him. “I liked it and decided to take Italian too.” He later discovered a course in Romanian on the internet and “loved it”.

To “prove” his language abilities, family members have gone with him to Chinese restaurants to have him converse with the cook and contacted TV programs and foreign language professors to verify his linguistic skills in other languages.

So began the linguistic journey of Jorge Fernandez Gates. So as not to create a “Babel” in his brain, he restricts himself to “calmly learning only two languages” at a time per year. You can listen to journalist Rosa Maria Palacios do a 26 minute video interview with him (in Spanish) on his language-learning adventures at: http://www.youtube.com/

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

A Speaker of Seven Foreign Languages Gives Some Useful Tips

In this blog posting, I invited a native English speaker now living and working abroad; to share his best tips and experiences in picking up a foreign lingo once you’ve been relocated onto foreign soil. As mentioned before, when it comes to foreign language learning, be it English or any one of the other 6912 spoken languages in the world, we could all use any help we can get. Here are some segments from his extensive comments excerpted from my e-book, “You CAN Learn a Foreign Language: Tested Techniques Anyone Can Use to Learn ANY Foreign Language”.

Meet Kayleigh Garman

Kayleigh “Kees” Garman, Director of Language Studies at a large language institute in Europe, offers the following additional comments during an interview on foreign language learning. He speaks English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, and Turkish and is now working on his Hungarian.

Learning a new language can be challenging for anyone As a learner of multiple languages, admittedly some better than others, there are indeed some tricks I have used to make the process easier for me personally which hopefully will benefit those who might be intimidated by the idea of trying to master (whatever that means actually) a new language. Some are rather obvious tips, but others are possibly things not much considered before.

Never fear

“One of the biggest and most obvious ways people hold themselves back in developing a new language is by being afraid to make mistakes.”

“Strive for meaning above accuracy, especially at the beginning!”

What do you mean Kees?

Are you saying that it’s okay not to have perfect grammar and language skills at the outset, even on simple structures? Are you suggesting that foreign language teachers and foreign language learners shouldn’t correct all their mistakes to keep from becoming “fossilized” in some mistakes?

“Yes and yes!”

Learn to laugh

On top of not fearing your mistakes, a very healthy dose of laughter can really take the sting out of those dreadful and “inevitable” mistakes.

“I’ll never forget some years ago being in a kitchen meeting at the dormitory in Denmark where I was living for a year and the horrible blunder I made. After waiting my turn to say that we needed to clear out the freezer of old bread and vegetables from days gone by, I made the following embarrassing mistake: Instead of saying “I’m very unhappy with the freezer situation” (fryseren), I said to my 23 friends at the table that I was “immensely unhappy about my hairdresser” (frisøren). It wouldn’t have been so bad, except that I was practically banging my fist about it – you can imagine the querying looks I got from my friends. You can also imagine the good laughs we had about in the days to come.”

But as they say; “It’s better to laugh than to cry!”

Get your pronunciation right

The mistake above was due to stress and intonation. Obviously you’re going to get it wrong sometimes, but why people (and often teachers as well) are seemingly rather lazy or uninterested in addressing pronunciation will forever be beyond me. Naturally, no one expects a learner of a new language to step off the plane sounding like a native-speaker, but let me say very clearly that …

… “The earlier one deals with getting pronunciation as close to natural as possible, the better off everyone is in the long run.”

Your speech doesn’t need to be the “Queen’s English”, in most settings one sounds quite silly speaking in such a way, but your language needs to understandable and acceptable to the community you’re in.

No matter which foreign language you might wish to tackle, these “from the trenches” tips can be useful tools in your English or other foreign language learning arsenal.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

A Truly Romantic Tip on Learning a Foreign Language

Meet Nick Morley

Foreign language learning veteran Nick Morley from the UK, now lives and teaches English in Bangkok, Thailand after a several-year stint in South Vietnam. With degrees of fluency in Vietnamese, English and now Thai, he briefly comments,

“What has worked for me is meeting a girl who doesn't speak much English and seeing a lot of her, which of course means I have to pick up some language to keep things going.”

That sounds like a winning strategy that worked successfully for me too.

Key Point: Talking on a personal level with the locals, especially those with limited or no English language speaking skills, is an excellent way to ramp your new foreign language skills up to the next levels.

This way you can have dozens, scores, yea – even hundreds of “foreign language teachers” of your new language all ready, willing, able and even eager in their own way, to help you with and teach you, their mother tongue. So nearly everyone you meet can become your foreign language “teacher”.

And actually, it’s not too far off from the way you learned your first language.
No matter which foreign language you might wish to tackle, these “front line trenches” tips can be useful tools in your English or other foreign language learning arsenal.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

A Fearless Fellow Polyglot Ex-pat Gives Tips on Learning a Foreign Language

When it comes to foreign language learning, be it English or any one of the other 6912 spoken languages in the world, we could all use any help we can get. I invited several native English speakers now living and working abroad; to share their tips and experiences in picking up a foreign lingo once you’ve been planted on foreign soil. Here are some segments from their extensive comments excerpted from my e-book, “You CAN Learn a Foreign Language: Tested Techniques Anyone Can Use to Learn ANY Foreign Language”.

Meet Lindsay Clanfield

Canadian Lindsay Clanfield now residing in the south of Spain says, “I speak English, French, Spanish and now a little German.”

“When I was learning Spanish, one of the most useful things that helped me gain fluency was learning "little" words that helped fill pauses or give me time to think while sounding more Spanish. In Mexico, these were words like "este" and "pues" which could conveniently be stretched out too ("pueeeeesss"). In Spain I've used "bueno" quite a lot."

"I've since learned that these words are called discourse markers.”


He clarifies the term discourse markers by adding, “In English, I suppose the most useful discourse marker is "OK", but things like "right" and "well" can also perform a similar function.”

Lindsay also believes that “…one of the successes of learning a foreign language is patience and letting go of perfectionism. My advances in language have been largely due to practice without panicking if everything I was saying was 100% correct or not.”

He notes that “correction, delivered in the right way and at the right time”, is definitely helpful, but cautions, “I don't think I would have progressed as much as I have if I made a point of not communicating unless I thought it was perfect.”

Key Point: Don’t worry about being “perfect”, improvement comes with practice not perfectionism.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Why You Should Learn to Speak a Foreign Language

There are a multitude of reasons for wanting to speak the lingua franca of another people; travel, business, education, matrimony, retirement, personal pleasure, even family or friends among many others.

Indeed it’s no small feat to habla Español, parlez Francaise, or sprechenze Deutcsh, but the prestige, financial gains, personal satisfaction and even peer envy that can accompany this easily-nurtured skill, can be supremely rewarding. If you’re not already an ex-pat, don’t start packing your bags just yet though, you’ve got a little “work” to do first.

If you’re already an ex-pat, then learning or improving your communicative skills in a foreign language may be a moot point. There you are, one of the millions of “escapees” from the USA, UK or other country, now surrounded by new horizons, vistas, culture, everyday life and a foreign language you need to master as quickly and adeptly as possible out of necessity.

Perhaps you’d like to study abroad; Fashion Design or the Culinary Arts in Paris with French as the medium of communication. Learning Renaissance Art in Milan or Rome would certainly be enriched by your fluency in Italian. Delving into Architecture or beer-brewing in Germany will be far more rewarding if you integrate into their society using your best German.

If you want to immerse yourself into Anthropology or Mayan Culture in the Yucatan, Mayan or Nahuatl would serve you even better than Spanish might. You could also simply double up and learn both languages. (Yes, you most certainly can!)

Exploring the mysteries of Oriental Antiquities, culture or martial arts in the Yellow River Valley of China requires at least some communicative skills in one of the dialects of Chinese, don’t you think?

Acquiring knowledge of ancient and modern agricultural techniques or perhaps the secrets of Yoga in the vast stretches of exotic India will be far more enriching with one of the local dialects of the country flowing like honey from your tongue.

Would you like to learn Karate, Judo or the art of making Sushi in Japan? Do you think knowing how to speak Japanese might make things easier?

You might be thinking of honing your Tango dancing skills in Buenos Aires, or improving your Salsa steps in Cuba or Colombia, then Spanish could pave the way to your progress. The list could go on and on, but just think how the “right” foreign language could not only make it all very possible, but expand and deepen your quest as well.

But, you’re thinking, how can you, with limited time, resources and perhaps even more limited patience, make any decent headway in a reasonably short time? You may well ask, “Can I indeed, at my age, really develop good communicative skills in a new tongue?”

Yes, you can and you will if you’ll use some of my “quick tricks” for heightening your language–learning experience and incorporating your prospective new language into your present everyday life.



Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an English language teaching and learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. Now YOU too can live your dreams in paradise, find romance, high adventure and get paid while travelling for free. For more information on entering or advancing in the fascinating field of teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language send for his no-cost pdf Ebook, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know”, by sending an e-mail with "free ELT Ebook" in the subject line. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com