Learning another language easier than many think | Learning ...

Sheila Drummond, head of reference services at the Medicine Hat Public Library, demonstrates Mango, a program available at the Library to assist people in learning a second language.?NEWS PHOTO CHARLES LEFEBVRE

PEGGY REVELL
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Learning a new language may be hard but it?s not something people should be discouraged over, said Felipe Morales who teaches Spanish language courses with the Medicine Hat College.
The college?s Continuing Education programs offer lessons in languages such as French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
And many of those who sign up for Spanish language classes at MHC are older, Morales noted.
?They?re hoping to achieve something for them to feel good, or also for travelling,? he said, noting that many will be heading to Mexico, Costa Rico or even many states within the U.S. where Spanish is a prevalent language.
?Spanish is actually a very commercial language, because it?s spoken in more than 23 countries in the world as an official language,? he said.
Travel and learning were Hatter Jana Joujan?s motivations for taking one of Morales? classes and continuing to learn and improve her Spanish.
?What surprised me is, it?s not hard to learn new words,? she said. ?You learn new words in English constantly. What?s difficult is the syntax, the way the words are put together.?
Learning a new language isn?t hard she?s found, it?s more the way you attack it.
One of the ways she?s learned the best has been through travelling and having to rely on speaking the language.
And for those wanting to learn a new language, find a native speaker and ?beg and plead? for them to speak that language to them as much as possible, she advised.
Cards holders with the Shortgrass Library System don?t even have to leave their home to start learning a new language.
The online language program ?Mango? can help teach more than 45 different languages and also offers ESL lessons.
?Technologically, they have made it as simple as can be,? said Sheila Drummond with the Medicine Hat Public Library. Computer speakers are needed, while microphones can be used to practice pronunciation.
At the Medicine Hat Library?s website, the link to Mango is just on the left side. People can sign into the program using their library card number and pin number, Drummond explained. If a person doesn?t know their pin number they can drop by the library?s info desk.
Those using Mango have the option of working on either basic or complete courses depending on what they want to learn. They can also create a profile that tracks their progress through all the lessons.
?One of the nice things about it is you can listen to it in the privacy of your own home,? said Drummond. ?It?s entirely at your own pace.?
The library will also be hosting a workshop to help people get started with Mango on Sept. 19 from 7-8 p.m., and also has numerous language resources such as dictionaries and CDs people can also sign out.

Article source: http://www.medicinehatnews.com/local-news/learning-another-language-easier-than-many-think-09072012.html

Tags: learn languages

Source: http://howtolearnlanguage.73shelves.com/2012/09/08/learning-another-language-easier-than-many-think/

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