Customer Reviews

Learning Foreign Languages: Everything You Need To Know

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This book starts by giving a very helpful brush-up on English grammar- something we can all use from time to time. The purpose for the brush-up is to build your new language on the tools you already know from English.
The author covers the look and correct pronunciation of letters of the International Phonetic Alphabet. He answers common questions about learning a new language and offers tips for retention and use. Also included is a helpful list of over 400 of the most useful words and phrases you will need to know in the language you are learning. The book also offers a list of modern day language-learning resources like YouTube and MySpace.

Brandon Simpson has one of the most user-friendly approaches to learning additional languages that with this book now available there is little excuse for more people not to become multilingual. The refreshing aspect about the technique he presents in LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES (2nd edition) is the nod he gives to the essentials of English grammar. In this brief, wise and remedial 35 page course Simpson recaps the essentials of how English is taught and learned - a portion of the book that alone would serve students of all levels of entry as a solid foundation.

And once Simpson has 'reminded' the reader of the essetials of grammar, he encourages embracing other languages - from Spanish to French to Chinese to Finnish, etc - by first setting goals for approaching new languages, goals that encourage commitment, learning tricks such as engaging in speaking with those whose mother language is the goal of the learner, and making lists of frequently asked questions, familiar phrases and words. Recognizing that the Internet is now a primary tool for learning any subject, Simpson closes his book with a listing of resources available online for guiding the new student through the pleasures of having a second (or third...) language. Simpson's writing is smart, succinct, and extremely helpful. The reader comes away from this book with the feeling that Simpson truly cares about the joys learning and of the field of linguistics! Grady Harp, September 08

"Learning Foreign Languages" by Brandon Simpson is a handy book that points you in the right direction as you make the effort to learn a foreign language. Make no mistake, it's not easy -- this is something that requires two or three hours of work per week, as Simpson says. And once you learn it, you must use your new language regularly, otherwise you'll simply forget it.

This volume begins with a review of English grammar, then proceeds with an examination of verbs, motivational materials, the international phonetic alphabet, and many more details. There's a valuable and surprisingly detailed listing of online resources at many Web sites you might never have considered.

This book assumes you've already chosen a new language to learn and have the commitment to get started. The material here does a good job of guiding you along your journey of absorbing that language and using it.

Author Simpson provides a useful list of things to learn at the end of this book--a section you can fill in to make your own phrase book. I'd say, copy out these pages into a notebook, a little spiral-bound one, and when you travel, learn these quick phrases by asking and repeating, then using them.

Language consists of two functions--vocabulary and grammar. Seems they are controlled by different parts of the brain and you might be the type to pick up words but not sentence structure, both of which you need to learn a new language (Man bites dog....)

This book won't really help you learn grammar, but it does point out some interesting observations at random about some grammars (Portuguese uses old forms of grammar dropped by the Spanish and has a widely-varied pronunciation.) The actual way to learn a foreign language is by repetition and imitation, like a baby, and methods like the Pimsleur and Rasselas really do work, but aren't really included in this book.

I'd say, use this book as a sort of guide for your own learning notebook--the fill-pages in the back are probably worth the entire book.

One more hint that Brandon Simpson points out is very very true: online translators are fraught with problems. Uh, garbage in, grabage out. That is so true--you can tell what reporter used one to translate a news article into English from a foreign language. I just saw one today that translated the German "Arche Noahs" as "Arche Noahs." I'll just bet that with a single glance, you and your kids can pretty much do a better job than that.

Overall a helpful little book with the basic premise of trying to learn a foreign language from scratch. I liked the examples near the beginning that concerned parts of speech. Could have used a few more though. Really liked the word and phrase book concept at the end too.

though i have taught myself a little spanish, a little czech and a passable amount of italian over the years, i grew tired of being a hunt-and-peck speaker. i bought simpson's book hoping to learn new ways to develop written and spoken fluency. unfortunately, when i opened "learning foreign languages" i was disappointed to find only six pages on the topic suggested by the title.

what's the rest of the book? 15 pages of introduction. 35 pages on english grammar. 14 pages on the international phonetic alphabet (yes, the international phonetic alphabet). the remainder is a FAQ section of questions like, "I took a semester of Spanish in college. Why can't I speak it well?" and a list of mostly spanish and french language-oriented websites. even counting the section on grammar - a suspect inclusion - less than forty percent of the book actually focuses on learning. take the grammar section out and less than five percent of the book contains topic-oriented information.

and the six pages that are actually about learning a foreign language? a simple web search on "tips on studying a foreign language" will give you as much or more. see www.english-zone.com/study/langs.html for one example.

there are better books out there. there are also better websites out there. i don't recommend this book, even for folks making their first foray into foreign language study.

The first 49 pages of this 110 page book are devoted to English verb tenses and than the next chapter starts with this piece of profound advice " Commit yourself". If this book took more than one week to write , I would be extremely surprised. A much better but more academic book is "Becoming Bilingual by Donald Larson and William Smalley. A less academic book but better than this book is " How to be a more successful language learner" by Joan Rubin and Irene Thompson" but Larson's book is the best".

I found the comparison of the different languages very interesting. I've never looked at the similarities and differences between various languages before so reading this book gave me a new perspective. There are some very practical pages that can be copied and used for quick reference. I don't think anyone could master a language based on this book alone but it is a good starting point for figuring out how to apply what you already know about your own language to learning other languages.

In a classroom environment, the teacher is responsible for showing you what you need to learn to master the language. After teaching a language for many years, a teacher has a sixth sense about what needs to be taught, in what order, and how to best present and reinforce the material.

This means that a person who learns a language by himself is at an extreme disadvantage. The question becomes: How do I learn? How do I know what to learn? Where do I start? What are things I can do to help me learn that I'm missing from the classroom experience?

This book addresses those kinds of issues. The book is applicable to all language across the board, and is a great companion book to whatever language textbooks you might be using.

As with all of Mr. Simpson's books, it's on the short side, but all this means is that there's very little "fluff". Imagine all the books you've started and never finished. Most people will never get through a 300 page treatise on their own. I know that I don't. What Mr. Simpson does is remove the fluff and what's left is very solid, very practical, very useful information. This is the strength of the author's writing style, and this book is no different.

I *highly* recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn a language on his own.

Moreover, if you *are* taking a course, this book is still extremely useful to get a richer, more full experience from your class, especially if you're taking the class because you really want to learn the language and not simply trying to satisfy a language requirement.

This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). One thing that many students overlook when they start to learn a foreign language is their grasp of English grammar. Without a strong understanding of how your own native language works, it is difficult to follow the principles of a foreign language as there is nothing to relate to. The first section of this book addresses this issue with an overview of of the basic English grammar rules, and makes sure that you are aware of how the element of a sentence work together. Verb conjugations are covered, giving you a full understanding of this tricky issue in your native language before moving on to tackle them in Spanish.

Another section of the book deals with the phonetic alphabet. For many learners, getting pronunciation correct can be one of the trickiest elements of learning Spanish. There are many sounds that do not exist in English that are vital to sounding more like a native speaker in Spanish, and this section helps you to practice the various elements of speech that may be unfamiliar. This section is also a help for learning how new words you learn from a text will sound when spoken.

There is a lot of useful advice in this book about the best way to go about learning a language, including good study habits and tips and tricks for remembering and retaining what you are learning. The advice looks at learning a new language as a long term goal, so sets out some ideas on how you can constantly build on and improve your ability. The author also answers many of the most frequently asked questions by language students which lets you realize that if there is a particular issue that you are struggling with, you are not alone.

A word list of over 400 of the most common words that you need in conversation is a handy quick-start plan to get you reaching for your dictionary and start building the most essential vocabulary.

A final section brings together a comprehensive list of website and online resources that offer help and inspiration to anyone learning a second language. These websites vary from places to find information about a language to communities where you can share your language learning experiences with other students.

In closing my review of this product, I'd like to share with you the three Amazon products that I have found most helpful in my pursuit to learn Spanish. If you are truly serious about achieving fluency, I'd recommend getting all 3 of them if you can afford it.

1. Lights, Camera, Spanish (Book + DVD): Learn Conversational Spanish by Watching a Romantic Adventure This is actually a 90 minute movie for Spanish-language learners. It gives the option to watch the movie with subtitles but I'd recommend not using them to improve your Spanish. This "movie" also includes a workbook so that you can reinforce the Spanish vocabulary words and phrases from the film. The workbook also has lots of exercises to keep you engaged in the film. But be prepared to hear Chilean accents. Although pleasant to the ear, the accents from Chile are very different from most Latin American accents.

2. Verbarrator Version 1.1 (Windows Version) This software replaces the traditional verb conjugation books and makes learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an interactive and fun activity. This should be a required resource for anyone who wants to improve their ability to conjugate Spanish verbs. Especially anyone who is challenged by the drudgery of learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and who is looking for a new way to make learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs an easy and fun activity

3. Diccionario esencial de la lengua espanola de la Real Academia Espanola (Spanish Edition) If you are really serious about speaking the language fluently, then at some point you will need to replace your Spanish-English dictionary and get a pure Spanish dictionary with both the vocabulary words and the definitions entirely in Spanish. I use this one mainly because it was highly-recommended by a friend from Spain who teaches Spanish. According to him, this is the "standard" among university level Spanish professors.