All of us, children or adults, learn anything better when we are having fun doing it. If you have ever seen anyone who does a task or sport really well, you will invariably hear from him “Well, I have fun doing it.” We do well what we enjoy doing. The converse is also true, that when we struggle and plod through something, we rarely get good results. This universal truth can be applied to learning languages. How do we make learning a language fun?

Most of us enjoy talking. Actually, most of us enjoy hearing ourselves talk! It is a natural phenomenon, almost a validation of our being and expressiveness. (Even shy people who do not appear to enjoy talking will relish an opportunity to hear themselves on a tape.) So, one of the best ways to learn a language is to hear ourselves in the other language. Get a language tape that you can listen to and also get a tape recorder. As you listen to the language tape, repeat the phrases on the tape recorder. Replay the phrases on the language tape and compare them to your imitations of these phrases. You will feel challenged to bring your pronunciation closer and closer to the pronunciation on the tape. This kind of challenge or game will encourage you to do it more and more and become more proficient.

We naturally picture things better than we hear or read them. Why do we all enjoy watching television so much? It is simply more fun (and easier) to see people and situations than to visualize them using images and memory. Use pictures you already have to attach your vocabulary to them, or make up pictures you can use to improve your vocabulary. But, make it fun. Put “crazy Aunt Elma” in the language you are learning on a picture of her. Just don’t let it get into her hands. You can be sure you will always remember the words for crazy and for aunt. You can cutout cartoons or download clipart and attach relevant captions. Again, “fat man drinking beer” will permanently brand “fat”, “drink” and “beer” in your memory.

Nothing is more fun than fooling around. The study of languages can be a serious academic pursuit, but if you are interested learning a language to converse with some newfound foreign friends, learn enough to get around on vacation, or stimulate your mind with a great mental challenge (studying languages has been shown to keep the aging mind agile), make sure you get a little silly and lose yourself in the pursuit. Pronounce your French with an exaggerated Inspector Clouseau, á la Peter Sellers, accent; trump up your Russian with an extremely robust Boris Badinoff imitation or add spice to your Spanish with a Mexican accent. You’d be surprised that these imitated sounds can improve the pronunciation while they also help you lose inhibitions about speaking a foreign language.

Just get into it. This is true of any sport or activity. Give yourself up to the language, find any outlet you can to expose yourself to it, and just generally look for ways to make it a part of your life. If you can find T.V. shows in that language, great. Spanish is the most common, but you can also find French, Italian, Polish and German shows in some areas. Read the news in your new language. Since you are already reading the news in your own language, the similarity of the stories will make it easier to understand. If you can’t get a paper, you can read plenty online. Listen to music, try to find children’s books-the simple words and illustrations will be great lessons, look for every opportunity to be in the language in a fun way.

The last and most relevant advice about making learning a language fun is also the simplest. Have fun! Relax, enjoy it, don’t stress over it, and don’t get crazy if you make mistakes. Unlike some sports, like skiing or mountain climbing, you are not going to break any bones if you make a mistake. So just go with the flow and enjoy it.

Mary Holihan loves language learning. You can find more of her articles at www.linguaguide.com