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Q&A for How to Become Fluent in a Language
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QuestionHow long does it take to become fluent in a language?Tian Zhou is a Language Specialist and the Founder of Sishu Mandarin, a Chinese Language School in the New York metropolitan area. Tian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) from Sun Yat-sen University and a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from New York University. Tian also holds a certification in Foreign Language (&ESL) - Mandarin (7-12) from New York State and certifications in Test for English Majors and Putonghua Proficiency Test from The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. He is the host of MandarinPod, an advanced Chinese language learning podcast.It really depends on how intensive your studies are and how often you're practicing. It also depends on how often you actually use that language in your everyday life. The more opportunities you get to use the language, the faster you'll become fluent!
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QuestionWhat techniques are useful for learning conversational language?Tian Zhou is a Language Specialist and the Founder of Sishu Mandarin, a Chinese Language School in the New York metropolitan area. Tian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) from Sun Yat-sen University and a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from New York University. Tian also holds a certification in Foreign Language (&ESL) - Mandarin (7-12) from New York State and certifications in Test for English Majors and Putonghua Proficiency Test from The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. He is the host of MandarinPod, an advanced Chinese language learning podcast.I like to recommend something I call the "language plank." It's a really simple technique. You choose an open-ended question and you try to answer it by talking for 1 minutes straight. If that's too hard, you can do 30 seconds, or 10 seconds. This way, you'll get used to talking for extended periods of time and responding to questions.
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QuestionWhere can I find an easy-to-use dictionary for Mandarin?Tian Zhou is a Language Specialist and the Founder of Sishu Mandarin, a Chinese Language School in the New York metropolitan area. Tian holds a Bachelor's Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) from Sun Yat-sen University and a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from New York University. Tian also holds a certification in Foreign Language (&ESL) - Mandarin (7-12) from New York State and certifications in Test for English Majors and Putonghua Proficiency Test from The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. He is the host of MandarinPod, an advanced Chinese language learning podcast.I'm quite fond of an app called Piko. It's the best Chinese dictionary out there in my opinion. I'm not sure if it's available everywhere, but it's essential if you want to learn the language on the go!
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QuestionHow do I improve pronunciation?L.BCommunity AnswerIt helps to listen to as much of the language as possible through media such as music, news, podcasts, and conversing with a native speaker.
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QuestionWhich European languages are derived from Latin and have similar alphabets?Community AnswerThe languages you are interested in are called the Romance Languages. French, Spanish, and Italian are probably the most easily recognizable ones. No Romance Language is a pure successor to Latin. For example, Germanic tribes settled in Italy, France, and Spain bringing Germanic elements unique to each tribe into local and later national languages like Italian, French, and Spanish.
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QuestionHow can I improve speaking correctly without knowing any native speakers?Community AnswerTry listening to an audio clip or a movie/video and imitate what the speaker is saying. Record yourself and compare how you speak.
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QuestionWhere can I obtain the literature necessary to become fluent in another language?Community AnswerGo to a library or bookstore and ask for the foreign language section. Also, find out what the Top Level Domain (TLD) is of the country of your target language and read the news on their news websites (ex. Google.com.br for Brazil). Find out the translation for "news" (ex. noticias) and put that into Google.
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QuestionHow could I improve my fluency when rendering a speech?Community AnswerYou will improve your fluency by getting confidence and being able to speak in front of different people, and you will also get to know different words of the language.
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QuestionI want to speak Japanese but I cannot afford a teacher. What should I do?Madame MadCommunity AnswerDuolingo is now teaching it, and you could always watch Japanese movies and try to figure out what they are saying.
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QuestionWhat if the book or internet resources are wrong?DonaganTop AnswererIf you know of specific errors, point them out to the author, publisher or website.
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QuestionWhere can I find books in the language I wish to study?Community AnswerLook online, there are many bookstores catering to your needs.
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QuestionAll of these tips were great for someone planning to speak a spoken language like German. What about ASL that I can't listen to or record?DonaganTop Answerer
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QuestionHow long does it take to become fluent in a language?VortexxCommunity AnswerThis depends on so many different factors. How similar is the language you want to learn to your native language? If you're a native speaker of Spanish, for instance, you could become fluent in Portuguese very quickly due to the similarities. Another factor to consider is your level of motivation. If you need to use a language for work, or to communicate better with family members or friends, you will likely learn quicker than if you only had a minor interest in the language. In my opinion, you should not expect to become fluent in another language in less than a year. It's not impossible, it's just not likely. 1-3 years is a good estimate.
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QuestionHow do you learn a language fast, if your family that speaks Russian is coming next week?VortexxCommunity AnswerThere is no way you can become fluent in a language in one week. The most you could possibly learn in one week would be some basic phrases. Practice as much as you can.
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