Thus, using a verb book and a dictionary, I was able to begin writing letters to my penpal after just a few times, having received letters from her in her native tongue.

The best way is to live in the country whose language you want to learn. It is essential to avoid being with people who speak your native tongue, in order to stimulate that part of your brain that is necessary to learn the language. Even if you have to struggle in the beginning. Always carry a little notebook to jot down new vocabulary.

One can learn the Cyrillic or Greek alphabets in just a few hours. You may not know what the words mean in the beginning, but using your own sounds, should be able to read words in those languages. Arabic, Persian, Mandarin, Hindi, etc., using different characters, would probably take somewhat longer.

Sometimes memorizing helped me. I memorized verb endings, so, in the beginning, when I wanted to use that verb, I would run through the endings mentally until I came to the appropriate verb!

People who want to see only the language rants on my blog (the parts that Olga likes) should just click “language” in the tag cloud in the right column. I do considerable ranting about political organizing, aimed at my local associates. It probably has limited appeal to any broader readership.

http://bilinguepergioco.com/blogging-carnival-on-bilingualism/