Assorted combinations of letters and characters make up what humans call language. In terms of mastering one besides your native tongue, there are a number of ways to do so.

Jeffrey Allen, a French language professor at N.C. State, discussed learning languages and what he thinks the best ways to obtain fluency are.

According to Allen, the best way to learn a language depends on the motivation for learning that language. He grouped the motivations into two sections: travel and other. 

“For travel, make sure to cover the essentials such as greetings, numbers, simple questions,” Allen said. “I have recently finished and endorsed a conversational course in Dutch called ‘The Primsleur Approach’, this method focuses largely on oral comprehension and production with four short reading lessons and provides you with those aforementioned fundamentals.”

 Allen explained that he put the other reasons for learning a language into “other” due to the “sheer number of possibilities.” Allen offered a simple tip for those learning a language for “other” reasons.

“Immerse yourself in the target language, most often one will hear, ‘You just have to go where the language is spoken,’” said Allen. 

Allen continued and said that fluency entails so much more than what a traditional classroom can offer.

“While this [the classroom] is a great place to start, many resources are available with the advent of the Internet and other technological avenues; I would suggest aligning current interests with the pursuit of language acquisition,” Allen said. “One can follow the news, read magazines, read familiar literature such as The Hunger Games in the target language and watch familiar movies. The previous knowledge about the content will help grasp the literature or film in the target language.”

Allen said that he was a huge advocate of listening to music in the target language, to practice, and recommends searching within a genre one likes to find a few artists.

“Research the lyrics and define any words or expressions you may not know, and load your newfound music onto whichever device you use and take it with you,” Allen said. “If you really like what you’re listening to, the foreign words and expressions become automatized in your vocabulary the more you listen.”

According to Allen, it is harder for some people to learn languages than others because we all have natural inclinations to excel where others cannot. He offered a personal example to explain:

“I am an atrocious math student,” Allen said. “That said, I understand and respect the utility of the field and often prefer to delegate any sort of math-related question to others. By no means does this imply that learning a language is an impossible task, a lot of the motivation to learn lies within the necessity to do so.” 

Allen said that effort is key in learning a language.

“Another notion to keep in mind is the musicality of language, some language learners are discouraged because they cannot reproduce the foreign sounds and as a result, give up,” Allen said. “The sooner one accepts that this may not be possible, the sooner one can move past this potential road-block. What matters in the end is the effort one makes.” 

Learning a language also takes dedication and determination, according to Allen.

“Personally, I think the most formidable challenge is to simply let go of feeling self-conscious, the sooner you are willing to throw all caution to the wind and try out a new word or phrase, the sooner you will feel comfortable in your language ability,” Allen said. “Sure, you might make a mistake, but this way, there is instant affirmation or comical negation.”

Allen said that the idea of fluency is an interesting one, as it could mean conversational, completely bilingual or something in between.

“At the age of 17, I had completed three 4.0 GPA years of French and attended a 3-week immersion academy where I successfully and without much effort completed requirements to graduate from the Virginia Governor’s French Academy,” Allen said. “Subsequent to that immersion experience, I embarked on a trip to live with a family in Lille, France and I was far from prepared.”

It took more than schooling to become fluent in French, according to Allen. It took immersing himself in the French culture.

“I had never had a little brother or sister – in French. Needless to say, when pleading my case as to who was stealing Carambars, kind of like a Tootsie Roll, or who gouged a large hole in the drywall, my language skills sky-rocketed,” Allen said. “Since then, a stint working in France and assuming more education, I have developed my ability to juggle linguistic nuances and consider myself a near-native speaker.”

 Allen said that the biggest tip he could offer is to avoid giving up, and added that coffee instantly tastes better when ordering it in another language.