… only about 16 percent of what it takes to learn a foreign language is attributable to intelligence – at least as defined by IQ tests.

My first encounter with learning a foreign language was when I moved to Taiwan. With my parents’ Chinese background, they of course wanted me to learn how to speak Mandarin, and the 1998 riots in Indonesia targeting the Chinese minority, prompted my parents to send me over to Taiwan to learn the language. Back in Indonesia I had been having some private Chinese lessons every week for a while. However when I got to Taiwan none of this seemed to help. I could barely communicate whatsoever. During my first year there I had to do intensive language classes which started at 8 am and lasted till 9 pm, 5 days a week. These classes were taught by locals who speak only Mandarin and only a few of them spoke English well. Even though there were hundreds of Indonesian students there and we often spoke Indonesian outside of class, after living in Taiwan for three years, I was quite fluent in the language both written and verbally. I even started to think and to dream in Mandarin!

After I graduated the Taiwan high school, my parents decided to move me again. This time it was to Australia. I was therefore faced with a similar experience of being in a foreign place with a foreign language. Although I had spent years of learning English at school, it didn’t help me when I needed to use it in real life in Australia. This time I didn’t have the luxury of doing a year of language school, instead I only did a month of intensive English course before I had to start the second last year of the Australian senior high school system (year 11) in which most students are 16-17 years old. I still remember how tough it was in those first two years. I had to find a private tutor to help me out with the subjects. Although English has a similar alphabet with Indonesian, the grammar and vocabularies are completely different. Again, having been thrown in the deep whereby literally everyone spoke nothing but English, I managed to pick up the language.

So how do my experiences above compare with what Paul Pimsleur says about the best way of learning a language?

First of all, my learning goals when I was in Indonesia were different than when I was in Taiwan or Australia. In Indonesia, I took the lessons to please my parents and to fulfil the school requirement. However, when I was in Taiwan or Australia I had no choice but to learn the language in order to communicate with others and to survive. Understanding your language learning goals helps to determine how quick you will learn and progress.

Secondly, in Indonesia I learnt Mandarin and English from Indonesians who were educated in the language vs. when I was in Taiwan and Australia I learnt the language from locals and therefore learnt the local way of speaking. This makes a big difference for learning any language because when you are learning from locals you are training your ears to pick up their accents and their way of speaking.

Thirdly, the language classes I took in Indonesia focused a lot on the grammar in a very structured way. However, when in Taiwan and Australia, I learnt how to converse with others and use common local phrases. I was exposed to the language through repetition and by using my ears. This increased the rate of learning. Once you know about 80% of the vocabulary, you could pretty much read a book in the language and decipher the meaning or story of the book.

To summarise, here are some important things for learning a language:

• Understand your language learning goals

• Learn a language by listening to locals speaking (rather than learning structured grammar)

• Learn phrases rather than words

• Expose yourself to repetition

• Learn the hardest thing first, this will make the rest of the learning seem easier.

• Think about sounds and not letters to get good pronunciation

This book is definitely a must read for anyone who wants to learn a foreign language. The few hours to read this book will save you months or years of learning the language compared to the traditional learning methods you may be familiar with and which are still commonly taught in schools and other courses!

… the best answer to “Why learn a foreign language?” is that it may make one’s life richer. Not only after one knows it, but even during the learning.