Think back to your school days when you sat in the classroom and dutifully poured over your French, German or Spanish books, repeating sentences written on a blackboard and grappling with strange verb endings. How many years did you study? How much of that language do you actually remember now?

The chances are - very little. Yes, you may remember a few words or have a passive knowledge when reading signs, guidebooks etc, but the truth is unless you actually continue to use a language it disappears into the dark corners of our minds. With more and more people traveling or indeed living abroad, speaking a foreign language is increasingly important but not many of us do. So what went wrong?

I would wager that, like me, whilst at school you may not have had either the enthusiasm or the motivation to learn a language at that particular time. Also, perhaps you learned through a traditional method e.g. rote learning (repeat after me!) and the teacher spent more time talking about the language rather than talking in it. Or maybe the syllabus placed more emphasis on grammar and writing than on speaking and listening.

How best to learn a language

We shouldn't learn a language in order to communicate, first we should try to communicate, and in doing so that's how we learn. Think of how babies and children, or even our pets try to put their message across. When you go abroad I am sure you find you are able to pick up a few phrases and can actually make yourself understood. If you are interested in that country's culture you are inclined to be receptive to their language too. You are also more likely to learn quickly if you have a vested interest e.g. a foreign partner or boy/girlfriend.

We all learn languages in different ways, just as each one of us can be a different type of learner, but a common factor is that we need to hear it, see it and speak it if we want to communicate effectively. At school many of us may have concentrated on grammar, which has now perhaps caused us to be "grammar-phobic". Learning a language does not have to be about grammar. If first you learn how to communicate verbally by knowing some vocabulary and a few basic verbs and structures, the more complex grammar can come later, when we naturally pay more attention to its distinctive features.

The benefits of learning a few phrases before you go

Whilst this viewpoint may cause grammarians to throw their arms up in horror, what I am saying here is that for the typical traveler, the place to start is with hearing and speaking the language, rather than worrying about correct tenses and word order. There is a continuous debate amongst the English teaching profession as to which is more important, vocabulary or grammar? After teaching English to both students and teachers for 20 years (and having lived abroad for almost as many), I would have to say both - but each has their place. Firstly, in my opinion, we should try to learn vocabulary, key phrases and common verbs in order to get our message across. After that, we can perfect the grammar.

Making ourselves understood is surely our main aim when travelling. If you have learnt the relevant word for post office and the question word where, "excuse me, post office where?" may not be grammatically correct but the receiver will understand where you want to go. Also, "excuse me, where post office is?" is hardly going to cause a local to berate you for wrong word order! In other words, you have asked a perfectly comprehensible question.

Practice also makes perfect. The more you repeat language and hear it again and again, the more it becomes ingrained in our memory. Sadly some English language course books and teachers don't give students enough practice in one particular structure before moving on. Nor do they sufficiently reinforce previous learning. I have seen many a novice teacher skim through a chapter of a course book in the same time as I would spend "milking" and developing ideas from one single page.

If we are "engaged" in what we are learning we are more effective learners. If we are interested in a topic (and therefore motivated to learn) language learning becomes second nature. Sometimes we don't even realize that learning is taking place .Yet, we are "picking up" new language all the time simply by being exposed to it and trying to communicate with the bank of knowledge we already possess. Many teenagers who begin a language course have already acquired (unbeknown to them) a great deal of vocabulary, having spent hours listening to song lyrics and surfing the Internet.

Advice for the traveler

Try to learn a few practical phrases and some basic vocabulary before you travel. Not only does this make life so much easier when you get there (if you know how to bargain, find the toilet, order a meal, ask for directions etc) but you will usually find the locals will respond more positively towards you. The fact that you have actually tried to speak their language will endear you to your hosts and may even get you better discounts and preferential treatment. Don't worry about making mistakes, that's all part of the fun and essentially how we improve.

Whilst it is true that English is a "global language" we have no reason to expect everyone to speak it well. Personally, I have often found that many native English speakers are bad/reluctant language learners or communicators when traveling abroad. Many times I have seen tourists simply repeat and repeat what they are trying to say, getting louder and louder in the process. The poor shop assistant, waiter or hotel clerk then looks more and more befuddled. In these circumstances it would help to remember that this individual is not deaf; they simply don't understand what you are saying.

Instead of increasing the level of your voice, try and rephrase things in simpler terms, use visual aids and body language if possible and speak more clearly and slowly then you normally would. That extra bit of effort on your part could save time and trouble in the long run. In a restaurant, just the simple act of pointing to the dish you want from the menu will help a waiter take your order correctly. If he can read your order as well as hear it, it will also assist him in coping with an accent or pronunciation he is possibly unfamiliar with. Asking him to repeat the order will also clear up any potential misunderstandings.

So before setting off on your holiday or moving abroad, if you don't already speak the language, go to your local bookstore and buy a short language course with accompanying CD's, if nothing else it will give you something to do on the plane! Make sure the course concentrates on listening and speaking, with vocabulary and some basic grammar. You will also need to know how to make questions and negatives in addition to making positive statements. Remember, you will learn faster if you hear the language as well as see it.

Most people find that once they have a few key phrases under their belt they can start to experiment by making up their own. Having a bank of vocabulary and knowledge of a few common verbs e.g. be, do, go, have, want, like will allow you to make yourself understood in most everyday situations. This combined with a good phrasebook and dictionary should be enough to guarantee you a successful stay, as a few phrases for shopping, dining out, following directions and social niceties will go a long way.

Think also about taking a short course at your local language center. You may also meet other like minded people. Language schools are often successful where traditional classroom methods have failed. Their courses are usually based on a communicative approach, with emphasis on having fun and engaging students in a topic or situation which contains the (hidden) structure to be learned, rather than the dreaded "Today we are going to learn about the Present Perfect tense!"

And if you are asking yourself, how many languages does she speak? My answer is, none well and many badly. i.e. I can now ask "where is the toilet?" or "can you give me a discount?" in more languages than I care to count!

Gill Hart is an experienced language teacher and freelance writer. She has lived abroad for many years and has managed language schools in Europe and Asia. For the last few years she has been developing course materials and training new English teachers as well as writing articles and studying journalism.
http://www.thaitails.com