It turns out that one has but to learn a relatively small number of words to make practical use of a given language. Alex Lightman (author of Brave New Unwired World [the first book on 4G] and Reconciliation: 78 Reasons to End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba), in a talk at BIL2009, had this to say: "If you learn a thousand words of a language, you can typically understand a newspaper and most TV shows." Certainly an attainable goal, and with it, a world of new opportunities.
...So then, let's dive in!
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
- A web browser directed to http://www.youtube.com/
- An Android phone or tablet
- The Google Translate app for Android (available here)
Okay, we have everything we need - now to choose a language. For the purposes of this guide, it will have to be a language that supports voice input in the Google Translate app.
Currently, this includes:
- Afrikaans
- Chinese
- Czech
- Dutch
- English
- French
- German
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Latin
- Malay
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
- Turkish
I've always found Japanese culture fascinating, so for me, it was an easy choice. Now that we've chosen our language, let the learning begin!
First, open another tab in your browser and head on over to http://www.youtube.com/. From here, we'll do a search for instructional videos on the language of your choice. An example search term might be "Learn to speak Japanese".
From those results, the video entitled "Learn to speak Japanese: No.1" sounds like it might be useful.
Indeed, a very helpful video, but really not much different from the way people have traditionally learned to speak a new language (other than the fact that the information is now much more easily accessible). So, here's the twist...
Grab your Android device and load up the Google Translate app. In the first drop down box, choose the language you want to learn (in this case, Japanese). In the second box, choose your native language.
Now, go to the video you've selected on Youtube and watch until the first word is taught (in the example above, hajimemashite, a polite greeting used when meeting someone for the first time). At this point, pause the video and return to the Google Translate app on your Android device.Click the microphone icon next to the text input box. Now, attempt to say the word you just learned from the video.
If said correctly, you should be greeted with a screen showing the English translation. Be sure this translation matches that given in the video. Also note that Google Translate gives the spelling of the word using Japanese characters. This can be very helpful in cases where, as in the example video above, the words are only shown spelled phonetically in English.
Regardless of whether or not you got the word correct on your first attempt, it's a good idea to repeat this process several times for each word. Do this until you can pronounce the word well enough to get the proper translation result every time. This repetition will also aide in memorization. When you feel comfortable with the first word, move on to the next and repeat.Obviously, learning basic word translations is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mastering a new language. But, hey - it's a start - and thanks to Google, getting started just got a whole lot easier!
Leave a comment below with your tips for learning a second language.
Photo Credits: Language by Troutfactory
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