Chances are you will have a very good language teacher. And the chances are that this teacher will be very skilled at teaching you French, Spanish, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Burmese, or whatever language you happen to be learning.
This book is designed to pave the way for your teacher—and, of course, for you. In the pages to come you will learn what foreign languages are, how they work, why they are different from English, and in what ways. Most of all, you will learn how to think about a foreign language, how to be prepared for what's coming, and how to approach it, using the techniques that have worked best for me over the years.
Keep in mind that this book is not supposed to teach you Spanish, Russian, Japanese, or any other specific language. I leave that to the experts whose classes you'll be sitting in. They know what they're doing and will do it well. This book will prepare you for the extraordinary experience of learning a foreign language so that your actual classes won't come as too much of a surprise to you and so you can start right off knowing what to expect and how to study.
To use this book effectively, first read it through from beginning to end. Don't take notes, and don't worry about memorizing anything at all. Your objective is merely to get the feel of what it takes to learn any foreign language—of what sorts of skills are involved and of what sorts of study techniques work best. When you've finished reading this book, you will be ready to begin learning whatever foreign language you've chosen to study.
Remember—this is a handbook. So keep it handy and refer back to it often as you begin learning your chosen language. Use this book to supplement whatever you learn in class, and to remind yourself of the best techniques for practicing the specific language skills—pronunciation, vocabulary, conversation, grammar, and so forth—that your instructor will be teaching in class. By reading this book now, and then referring back to it as you go, you'll find it easier to get started and, then, easier to make progress.
Think of this as a book about how to go on a safari. After all, I'm not going to take you on the safari—your real guide awaits you in your class. But I can tell you what it's like to go on a safari and how to prepare for it in the best way possible.
Now you are about to embark on a remarkable experience—a safari into the mind and culture of a new people—in a way that you have never done before. Bon voyage! Gute Reise! Shchastlivogo puti! Yi lu ping an! Rihla sa'ida! Yolunuz açik olsun!
In other words—Have a good trip!