Step 1 - Decide how you're going to learn the language
When starting out in a language, the first thing that you need to do if decide how you want to learn the language. You need to choose a style that fits your personality and your life. Things to keep in mind when deciding on how you should learn a language are; your schedule/time you can devote to learning a language, the resources you have available for learning the language, and also the amount of money you are willing to spend, or if you even want to invest any money into it at all.
Step 2 - Choose the level of understanding you want to achieve
Not quite a step, but definitely something you need to decide for yourself is to what level of understanding you want to achieve in your target language. For example, many people can speak and understand a language, but they cannot read or write in the language.
Step 3 - The first step to learning the language
Once you know how you are going to learn a language, the first step in actually learning the language is to learn the alphabet or script used by that language's native speakers. For example, and English speaker learning French, would not have to learn a completely new alphabet, with the exception of a few different letters and diacritical marks. Although, if an English speaker were to start learning a language such as Russian, you would first have to learn the Cyrillic Alphabet, which the the current alphabet used by the Russian language. Also, on the topic of learning Russian, another thing you should learn when starting out in a language, is how native speakers of the language actually write and use the language. For example, in Russia, the normal Cyrillic(Russian) alphabet is only used on things such as signs, buildings, books, etc., but the cursive Cyrillic script is used almost always when writing in Russian. Therefore, it would be imperative for someone learning Russian to not only learn a completely new alphabet, but also the cursive form of that alphabet as well.
Note: Learning a new alphabet consists of not simply knowing each letter, but their correct pronunciation and tones as well. This is imperative as it will allow you to correctly pronounce new words as you're learning them. Learning a word with the correct pronunciation the very first time can significantly help you to retain the correct pronunciation without the need of repetition.
Step 4 - Beginning learning in the language
Once you have learned the alphabet used in the language, the best way to start learning words and forming sentences, is to do them both at the same time by learning interrogative statements. Many times, instructional courses will start a language course by having you memorize long lists of vocabulary words, or complicated grammar lessons. Although this method works for some, it is arguably one of the least effective styles of learning. To start out in a language, you need to learn question words and sentences along with their correct answers. Here are the first things you should learn to say in the language:
Interrogatives:
- What // When // Where // How // Why
- Who are you? // Who are they ?
- What is it? // What is that? // What does it mean? // What are they doing?
- How do you say? // How are you? //
- Where are we? // When is it? // Where is it?
- Which kind? // What kind? // Which one?
- When is it? // When is that?
- Why? // Why do you___? // Why do we_____? // Why do you say_____?
- How do I do that? // How do you do that?
- Can I have it? // Can I have one?
- Do you speak ______? // Can you speak______?
- Are you ____? // Can you____? // Will you____?
- How much? // How much is that? // How much is this?
Non-interrogatives (declaratives, imperatives, etc.):
- Yes // No // Maybe // Perhaps // Because // Because of // and // or // if
- Your // My // Mine // His // Her // Their
- Here // There // Anywhere // Nowhere // Nothing
- Anyone // Anywhere // Anything
- Something // Someone // Somewhere
- This one // That one
- I don't know.
- I speak___. // I can speak____. / We can speak___.
- it is____. // It is my___. / It is your____.
- This is____. // This is my____. // That is a ___.
- I am ____. // My name is ____. // Your name is____. // His name is ___. // Her name is ____.
This is a brief list of interrogative and non-interrogative words and phrases that you should learn when learning a language from scratch. These are the best words to know in a language when you're just beginning to learn. This list doesn't contain all of the combination possible with these phrases that you need to know. So to fully use this list, take each instance of "you" or "I" or "they" , etc., and replace it with all of the following pronouns:
- I
- you
- he / she
- him / her
- them / they
- we / us
- one
For example, for the phrase "Where are we", you would not only learn how to say "where are we" but also...
- Where are you?
- Where am I?
- Where is he/she?
- Where are they?
You would do this for each of the words and phrases from the list above of interrogatives and non-interrogatives. Notices how I used the pronouns from the list above and replaced them with "we" from the original phrase "Where are we?". Also note that not all of the pronouns work with every sentence or phrase. For example, you wouldn't say "Where are them?".
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