Customer Reviews

Speak Like A Native: Professional Secrets for Mastering Foreign Languages

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This one of three books I have read about learning foreign languages, and by far this book is the best for the cost. The book contains practical and useful information for anyone interested in learning a foreign language. There is little fluff contained in this book, and the author stays on topic with personal experiences interspersed into the text. His experiences tend to drive home a point.

The author starts with how and why establishing goals for your target language is essential, and progresses to 50 tips used by language learners. The author used many of the tips to learn two languages -- Chinese-Mandarin, and Vietnamese.

This book makes no guarantees, and points out that learning a foreign language takes work. The author ensures the fledging language learner understands the fact that learning a language will require effort.

This book contains quality information for learning a foreign language, and the book is easy to read. Overall a quality buy for learning quality tips and tricks on improving your odds at effectively learning a foreign language. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to learn a foreign language!

I have been studying languages (other than my native tongue) for about the last 10 years. I have never (until now) taken any structured classes, doing the studies all on my own. However, this is not recommended as I feel that a lot of what progress I have made could have been amplified by using a book like Janich's in order to structure my learning, and to focus my learning. There is no other book out there that I'm aware of that does such a good job of making SPECIFIC recommendations on how to get the most out of study time, setting priorities for yourself, and developing a course of study that will be efficient and show results.

If you're serious about learning ANY language, this book is a must.

I bought this book based on several positive reviews. I teach Spanish and am also a student of languages. I am always searching for more help to improve my learning and that of my students. This book started out fine but then the suggestions changed to ways to "get by" in a foreign language rather than actually working to improve mastery. While "getting by" is often necessary especially in a language one does not know well or does not want to master, I was looking for "tips" for moving toward fluency.

I found this book to be outstanding. It is divided into a series of topics that are subdivided into 1-2 page pointers on various aspects of language. The main utility is the author's clarity of thought that rubs off on the reader. I came up with many useful ideas that I'm not sure I would have come up with on my own, including purchasing a tape recorder to record your conversations with natives so that you can replay it later and think of better responses you could have made, or to practice translating conversations you were exposed to but didn't pick up everything the first time. His suggestion to create your own course of study because you will not find a perfect course anywhere was also spot on.

He covers beginning steps in a language to organization of your study materials to advanced techniques, and I found most of the information applicable to the language I am studying. Some of the advice only makes sense for particular languages, but it is still interesting to see the techniques. I definitely think the book will improve your language learning ability and I recommend it wholeheartedly. This book is really how to think about language, instead of actually on a language itself.

Becoming proficient in a new language is hard work; for Westerners wanting to learn Chinese, Tibetan or other languages not based on a romanized alphabet, even harder. Janich's strategies and tips are good reading for anyone hoping for more than parroting a phrasebook, will be especially useful for the second group.

The book is divided into three sections: ten rules for organizing your study, twelve steps for developing and working a study plan and fifty strategies for optimizing study. He offers both commonsense suggestions - surround yourself with language - and with some surprising ideas, like learning the gestural language that goes with the words. What I appreciate most? Janich cuts to the chase, sticks to the practical, and doesn't assume that the language you want to learn will look anything like the language(s) you already know. His focus on practicality is quite refreshing.

This book, though out of print, is worth searching out. It is the only "how to study language" book that I always pack around with my Tibetan study materials.

Speak Like A Native: Professional Secrets For Mastering Foreign Languages by linquistic expert Michael D. Janich (who worked as a POW/MIA Investigation Team Lader and served as interpreter for official negotiations between American and Vietnamese delegations) is packed with tips, tricks, and techniques for language mastery as used by professionals. Part one covers how to get organized, including ten rules to follow such as "learn your own language well before you attempt to learn someone else's", "success is determined by the goals you set", and "there is no substitute for quality study materials". Part two offers twelve steps for developing a customized study plan tailored for one's goals. Part three offers a wide wealth of strategies and tips for optimizing one's language study, and making the most productive and efficient use of one's time. Black-and-white photographs illustrate this absolute "must-have" reference for not only foreign language students in schools and colleges, but also business travelers, diplomats, and others who need to assimilate new languages quickly and efficiently, or who are striving to reinforce and improve their command of a second language. Recommended!

This is James from James Spanish (the learning Spanish blog). The author of this book, Michael D. Janich, is highly qualified to write about language learning techniques, having become fluent enough in both Chinese-Mandarin and Vietnamese to serve as a political analyst, translator and government interpreter. In Speak Like a Native: Professional Secrets for Mastering Foreign Languages he outlines his recommendations for not only gaining fluency in a language but also for keeping up moral while learning. The book pulls together some of the best ideas, methods and tips from Janich as well as many other language professionals.

The book takes a highly pragmatic approach to language learning, and is laid out in the same clear and organized manner that is recommended for study. Ten rules are laid out to help you to create goals and measurable steps in your learning process. Creating these milestones can help you to measure your progress and gain a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction as you complete each stage. Having an organized study routine can also help to keep you focused and driven to succeed. Twelve steps to designing and working to a study plan are also provided to help with this element of learning, and will give all students a more structured framework that is unique to their own goals, rather than simply following along with a prescribed lesson plan. These twelve steps are also designed to make your learning more efficient, thus helping to improve your grasp of the language more quickly. Finally, there are fifty tips and tricks that have been gathered from many successful language teachers.

While some of the advice may be common sense, there are bound to be ideas there for even the most organized of students, and applying some of these techniques to your study habits will fast track your learning experience. The author stresses from the start that learning a language to the point of fluency takes time and effort, and his advice is aimed at those who wish to really immerse themselves in the experience in order to gain a genuine mastery of the language. If you are only looking to learn Spanish for ordering meals or taxis on holiday, you may not need this book, but if you are passionate about becoming fluent this book will help you on your way.

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.

I purchased this book a few years back after communicating with the author via email about his experiences at the DLI and as an intel officer. As others have pointed out, Mr. Janich brings together a whole slew of "wish I had thought of that" ideas and concepts regarding learning a language. I found the information helpful in prepping for college level language exams. All to often when we set out to learn a language, we end up merely memorizing some vocab words and basic grammar rules. I found the tips and tricks Mr. Janich presented in this book very helpful in not just learning the vocabulary, but *thinking* in the target language. It's a short read, and very reasonably priced for the content.

I love language but sometimes I need a little infusion of enthusiasm to keep me going. I really enjoyed Barry Farber's How To Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own and was hoping this book would be just as inspiring. I found that i enjoyed it immensely.

The author, Michael Janich, worked as a translator of Vietnamese for the US military. He speaks Mandarin and Spanish as well. The fact that his expertise are in two non-European language gives him great insight into helping language learners who are not trying to learn the "classic" language choices like French or Italian.

The book basically explains a way to study foreign language. Janich emphasizes setting goals, keeping them reasonable, studying up on the target language and making use of the library. He suggests buying children's book in the target language (since a newcomer to the language really is pretty much a very bright child) and watching movies subtitles in the language with the sound off. Some of his tips are basic common sense (try to mimic the native pronunciation) while others are unique and fun.

Some have taken exception to some of his tricks, including using helper verbs to avoid learning complex conjugation. I think this tip is very useful. It goes down to the old adage, fake it till you make it. By faking your way past conjugation, you are able to communicate while you are still memorizing the present imperfect tense of "to drive" Certainly, you want those conjugations to be fluent but to be understood while you are studying, why not use this helpful trick?

My one fault with this book is the brief, occasional adult subject matter. Without it, I would have recommended it to young language learners without reservation. I suggest parents look over the book before offering it to students. I wish to emphasize again that these passages are brief and may pose no problem but I feel that I should give a heads up.

All in all, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it did exactly what I purchased it for: to give me a little extra oomph in my language study.

While I have enjoyed reading 'Speak Like a Native' and recommend you buy it, I am somewhat disappointed that the focus seems to be more on faking it rather than actually learning real strategies to assist one in becoming fluent in a new language.
I highly recommend you read Mark Frobose's Think and Grow Fluent (Secrets of Language Success) and Automatic Fluency - Nine Steps to Speaking Languages and Finishing Fluent (Secrets of Language Success Series) to compensate for this deficiency.
Both should be of great help when used in conjunction with 'Speak Like a Native'.