How often have you thought about learning a new language? Being able to communicate in more than one language can open many doors to opportunities for work, travel, or interpersonal relationships. A useful and practical tool, becoming multilingual can have a very positive impact on your life.

Learning a language is a commitment. There are classes to attend, vocabulary lists to memorize, verb conjugation rules to internalize, and all manner of tests to be passed. If you fail the class, you have to retake it before you can advance to a new level, and all these classes are held at the convenience of the teacher and educational institute. But, of course, there are night classes that can be taken to work around your day job -- taking valuable leisure and rest time away from you. At least, that's how it used to be. Nowadays, however, there are more and more ways to get quality language instruction from home without the time consuming inflexibility of a class schedule and without sacrificing effectiveness of language acquisition.

When you learn at home, you can work at your own pace. Your workload and speed are dictated by yourself alone, so when important matters come up you don't have to feel pressured to spend time completing assignments or studying for tests. After all, important matters like work or your health should come first as they will affect your effectiveness in all other areas of your life. Also, working at your own pace can keep you motivated and interested in your target language. We can all relate to feeling bored or like you're wasting your time when the teacher spends too much time explaining ideas already understood. Conversely, it can feel rather overwhelming when an instructor merely skims some parts that are not completely clear. If you're stuck on a certain area, with home-based language learning more time can be spent attaining competence in that area while less time can be spent on those areas you find most easy, allowing a more effective, streamlined approach to your learning while also opening up more free time outside of your studies to do what you want to do -- it's a win-win situation.

The fastest approach to learning a language is through the method of immersion. When taking language classes, especially at the beginner levels, the explanations of grammar and sentence structure are translated from the target language. Also, vocabulary lists have words in both the language of instruction and the target language. This approach to learning a language is very unnatural. The connections made in the mind will be from target language to the language of instruction and finally to the actual meaning of the word or concept. By viewing the target language through the lens of the language of instruction, the true connotations of the target language will be altered. Furthermore, it's more difficult to remember two connections than it is to remember one, so if you take out the middle man (the language of instruction) and connect words directly to their meaning, it will make it easier to remember the word and therefore faster to learn the language. This is the method of immersion, as practiced by all children when learning their first language. Many home language learning programs are based on this method.

The new ways to learn a language have far surpassed the old-fashioned method. In the fast-paced world we live in today, having an adaptable, flexible schedule is key to keeping ahead of the curve. The greater levels of personalization afforded by home-based language learning are essential to retaining effective language acquisition without interfering with your already hectic schedule. Coupled with drive and motivation, home-based language learning can bring the results as long as you bring the effort.