Customer Reviews

How to Learn a Foreign Language

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fuller's book contains a wealth of personal anecdotes regarding his lifelong love affair with foreign languages. Thus, it should perhaps not surprise the reader that the most useful information in his "guide" is that, without motivation, all the flashcards, mnemonic tricks, and extroverted behaviors in the world won't help you to learn a language. Desire is the key element, but you can't catch that from handling his book anymore than you can lose weight by watching Oprah. "Motivational" ought not to be confused with "entertaining." This book falls into the latter category.

Fuller's book is, in its own way, entertaining once you get past the plethora of exclamation points (punctuation that, like little red sports cars, make me wonder what the driver is trying to compensate for) and the gung-ho attitude. As a fellow lifelong foreign language learner, I identified with some of his stories and language jokes, but I got tired of the jokey tone long before I got to the meat of the "techniques" he offers. My favorite part had nothing to do with techniques at all; it was the appendix in which, without either exclamation points or silly in-jokes, the author reviews the up-and-coming and/or more popular foreign languages for usefulness, "personality" quirks, and general level of difficulty.

As for Fuller's language learning techniques, they appear to be largely based upon what any foreigner immersed in a new language has to do anyway--try to figure out what the newspaper and other such materials are trying to communicate to the consumer and talking with native speakers whenever possible using whatever limited vocabulary you possess. The volume does include more specific hints and recommendations such as using flashcards whenever possible to remember new vocabulary, finding the best language tapes and memory techniques out there, and using those techniques religiously and consistently in order to get results. It also includes some recommendations regarding good support materials (those tapes and other books). But I find most of this coaching fairly obvious; I certainly didn't get any particular insights or more effective methods than sheer dilligence will provide.

Using your head as much as this book will get you the same results. Save your money toward an immersion class, preferrably one based in a country that speaks the language you desire to acquire. I give the book 3 stars because it only adequately accomplishes what it sets out to do.

I
have read the book and have a little to say about it from two
different perspectives. First of all, I think that everything Fuller
says about learning languages is true and can be effectively applied
by anyone learning a foreign language. Fuller talks about learning
methodology, word groupings, mnemonics and use of the tape recorder as
well as ways to increase vocabulary effectively. He uses actual
examples taken from languages such as Turkish and Russian. I think the
information contained here would be useful to someone who is serious
about learning a language for whatever reason and who is approaching
language learning for the first time. I think Fuller's presentation
style is concise and clear too. That is the mark of a
professional. However I think I should point out that if you have
already studies a language to degree level, let's say, then you will
already have figured out most of what Fuller is talking about already,
if not all of it! I am not taking away from the value of the book when
saying this because I think it is a good book for the inexperienced
wannabe language master. But for people who are linguists it will only
tell you what you already know.

I agree with the review by CJ that this is a good book for those just getting their feet wet in language study. It covers all the bases in an entertaining way. However, even for those who have been at it for a while, inspirational reading is a must! And this little book is a good one to go back to when the feeling of drudgery becomes overwhelming.

Instead of a handbook on language learning strategies, you might find that you have a primer on comparative linguistics. Here are some topics which are discussed:

--Romance and Germanic word origins in the English language
--differences in word order between languages
--differences in letter-to-sound correspondence between languages
--noun gender in European languages

If any of this applies to the language which you are studying, it will all be explained in your language textbook anyway.

I can say one thing in the author's favor: on pages 64-65, he stresses the importance of speaking aloud while studying. That is one bit of advice which one can follow without adding to the daily schedule.

He promises that following this advice will help dramatically. I shall try it.

After many years experience studying several different languages I can assure you that this is an excellent summary of techniques useful to learning a language from someone who has used the techniques himself. The author provides interesting insights into how languages work and, more importantly, it is very easy to understand. It is not too much, but just enough of what you need to settle in and learn the language of your choice.

Grahm Fuller likes languages and wants to share his enthusiasm for them. This, at least, he does well. However, the vast majority of his advice can be found elsewhere and with better presentation. If you're looking for a little motivation and a few tips for getting started on language learning, Fuller is fine. But if you're serious about language learning, you'd be better off with Barry Farber's How to Learn Any Language.

Learning a language on your own like me? and can't seem to progress? Get off your plateau with this little motivational book. Light on actual info, but it will get you back into your studies.