Education / Foreign Language Learning

Foreign languages are the ideal subject area for the use of memory techniques. Learning vocabulary is often a matter of associating a meaningless collection of syllables with a word in your own language.

Traditionally people have associated these words by repetition - by saying the word in their own language and the foreign language time and time and time and time again. You can improve on this tedious way of learning by using a couple of good techniques:

1. Using Mnemonics to Link Words
This is a simple extension of the link method. Here you are using images to link a word in your own language with a word in a foreign language.

2. The Town Language Mnemonic
This depends on the fact that the basic vocabulary of a language relates to everyday things: things that you can usually find in a city, town or village. To use the technique, choose a town that you are very familiar with. Use objects within that place as the cues to recall the images that link to foreign words.

3. Spend the time!
By far the most important factor is how much time you are immersed in the language. The more time you spend with the language, the faster you will learn. This means listening, reading, writing, speaking, and studying words and phrases. This means spending time enjoyably connected to the language you are learning.

4) Listen and read every day!
Listen wherever you are on your MP3 player. Read what you are listening to. One hour of listening or reading is more effective than many hours of class time.

5) Focus on words and phrases!
Build up your vocabulary, you’ll need lots. Start to notice words and how they come together as phrases.

"Foreign language is crucial to our nation's economic competitiveness and national security. Multilingualism enhances cognitive and social growth, competitiveness in the global marketplace (four out of five new jobs in Canada are created from foreign trade), national security, and understanding of diverse people and cultures. As we approach a new century where global communication will be essential for survival, we cannot afford the luxury of international ignorance..."

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