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concepts, not to words in another language. In essence they attach meaning to language rather than trying to process it through a translator.

This is why obsessive studying of grammar is pointless. Language is in essence illogical. Most conversation is wrapped up in a limited number of non-nonsensical expressions that have no literal meaning. Take for example expressions such as:" what's up, I'm over the moon, The cat got your tongue and buck up camper." none of these make any sense in literal translation. When you learn a new language you have to find new expressions that convey the same spirit.

So to start what you need is to expose yourself to the language. Television is best. Find a show you can watch in the target language, preferably a soap and just watch it every day for at least five minutes. I guarantee you you won't be able to follow it the first year, but don't give up. Even if you don't think so your brain is hard at work trying to make sense of all that code.

Now to make it easier for your brain start cheating. Take a class, get a textbook start learning some words and maybe study the grammar a little. Soon you will be able to distinguish the individual words in a sentence. Next you'll start to recognize words. That's very good but don't get overly excited. You still have a long way to go.

At this point it is good to focus on pronunciation. Starting out pronouncing things right is easier than correcting bad pronunciation. Read and internalize the rules for pronunciation. This will earn you many compliments and people will probably overrate your language skills. Still it's worth it as it also allows you to connect what you hear to what you read with less effort.

Because listening to a language and reading a language is quite different you have to practice both. After you've listened to the language for a while you need to start reading it. The reason you need to listen first is that before you listened you had no idea about the way words in the language were pronounced and nothing to connect it to. Now that the sounds are somewhat familiar start reading voraciously.

Find a website on a subject that interest you and start reading. Because you know the subject you will find that many technical terms already sound familiar. In the beginning the reading will be slow, but you will nonetheless find that your progress reading will be much faster than listening. This is because textbooks are also written and therefore the word image and the meaning have a closer

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