I am an American who has traveled around the world and found that knowing even a little
bit of a local language opens many doors.
My father and grandfather spoke Mandarin along with several other languages. I began learning other languages as a small child. I still remember the thrill of realizing that when my parents spoke of zmrzlina, that was their secret code word for "ice cream." Later I learned that it was in Czech.
I have recently lived for four years in Mexico… I knew some Spanish when my husband and I bought a house there, but frankly my pronunciation is not great and my grammar has its flaws! So as I explored how best to learn another language, I created a website called Learnspanishrapidly.com. It has become quite popular, and since much of what I learned about how to learn Spanish also applies to how to learn French, Chinese, or any language, I decided to create this site you are reading.
I'm a former public-library librarian, and so I have a lot of experience in evaluating books, programs, and other sources of information, for their effectiveness. For this site, I've also done research on how adults learn languages.
I hope it helps you to acquire a new language. Of course, that takes work, but it is well worth it!
Along with my Spanish, I speak and read French, and I used to know some Mandarin. I am beginning to pick that up again... not that I will ever be proficient, but frankly it is fun!
