Linux.com

There is no such thing as a ready-made solution for learning a language. Yes, you could take a language course, and those help a lot. But schooling alone won't teach you a language, and other tools can help. It is very good to think creatively because trying a unique approach might be precisely what makes the difference (some times, the mere fact that you learnt a word in an unusual way is what makes it memorable). When I learnt English I carried a notebook with me where I wrote words whenever I felt like. Today I'm trying to learn German, and I'm struggling a lot with noun genders; so I wrote a Perl script to quiz me. Surprisingly, that has made a huge difference. I learn noun genders a lot better through a quiz than any other method I've tried. I've also found Audacity very useful. I get a German friend to say words that I want to learn more about and send them to be as Ogg. I also write many notes by hand. For some reason, I find that I remember language information better when i hand-write than when I type. Things like this can make a real difference.

Cheers,
Daniel.

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