11. Aim for the brain melt. You know how when you do a lot of intellectually-intensive work for hours and hours on end, at some point your brain just feels like a lump of gravy? Shoot for that moment when learning languages. Until you’ve reached brain-gravy stage, you probably aren’t maximizing your time or effort. In the beginning, you’ll hit mind-melt within an hour or two. Later on, it may take an entire night of hanging out with locals before it happens. But when it happens, it’s a very good thing.

12. “How do you say X?” is the most important sentence you can possibly learn. Learn it early and use it often.
13. One-on-one tutoring is the best and most efficient use of time. It’s also usually the most expensive use of time, depending on the language and country. But if you have the money, grabbing a solid tutor and sitting with him or her for a few hours every day is the fastest way to learn a new language I’ve ever found. A mere two hours a day for a few weeks with a tutor in Brazil got me to at least a respectable conversational level — i.e., I could go on a date with a girl who spoke no English and maintain conversation throughout the night without making too much of a fool of myself.
Speaking of which…
14. Date someone who speaks the target language and not your native language. Talk about investment and motivation. You’ll be fluent in a month. And best of all, if you make them mad or do something wrong, you can claim that it was lost in translation.
15. If you can’t find someone cute who will put up with you, find a language buddy online. There is a number of websites of foreigners who want to learn English who would be willing to trade practice time in their native language for practice in yours. Here is an overview of language exchange websites and apps. (The reviews are written by Bilingua, which is itself one of the apps reviewed, so take their bias into account.)
16. Facebook chat + Google Translate = Winning.
@tipsforlearning

12. “How do you say X?” is the most important sentence you can possibly learn. Learn it early and use it often.
13. One-on-one tutoring is the best and most efficient use of time. It’s also usually the most expensive use of time, depending on the language and country. But if you have the money, grabbing a solid tutor and sitting with him or her for a few hours every day is the fastest way to learn a new language I’ve ever found. A mere two hours a day for a few weeks with a tutor in Brazil got me to at least a respectable conversational level — i.e., I could go on a date with a girl who spoke no English and maintain conversation throughout the night without making too much of a fool of myself.
Speaking of which…
14. Date someone who speaks the target language and not your native language. Talk about investment and motivation. You’ll be fluent in a month. And best of all, if you make them mad or do something wrong, you can claim that it was lost in translation.
15. If you can’t find someone cute who will put up with you, find a language buddy online. There is a number of websites of foreigners who want to learn English who would be willing to trade practice time in their native language for practice in yours. Here is an overview of language exchange websites and apps. (The reviews are written by Bilingua, which is itself one of the apps reviewed, so take their bias into account.)
16. Facebook chat + Google Translate = Winning.
@tipsforlearning