Maybe you took some French in High School, just to satisfy the language requirement. Or your grade school had a Spanish-learning component. Your family had a foreign exchange student, but you were too busy teaching him English to really learn any of his language.

These are typical scenarios for Americans. We don’t have to learn another language. We can travel anywhere in our huge country and always be understood speaking English. Regional accents aside, we can all understand each other (language-wise, anyway).

In the United States, speaking only English is pretty normal. It’s not, though, elsewhere. If you’ve done much traveling, you’ve seen that it is natural for people to speak two or three or more languages as a matter of course.

Take Alassane, for example. (If you don’t know who Alassane is, please take a look at our About Us page.) His first language is Wolof, the national language of Senegal. He went to school, and all education in Senegal is conducted in French. So, from the age of seven or so, he spoke French.

Alassane is a teacher and spent much of his career in the Casamance, the southern part of Senegal, where many people speak Wolof some, but mostly the languages of the region, such as Diola and Mandinka. So, he picked up Diola and Mandinka because he was around them. I have been told that he speaks Mandinka without accent.

He is familiar enough with several other languages to at least recognize the language and be able to greet people. But let’s say he was fluent in four languages: Wolof, French, Diola and Mandinka.

But then we met. I speak French and Diola and some Wolof, so our communication was great from the beginning. But then we got married and moved to the United States. With the exceptions of “How are you?” and, interestingly, “Time is money,” he didn’t speak any English at all.

Except for me and a couple of my French-speaking friends, he couldn’t communicate with anyone. Obviously, he needed to learn to speak English.

English is now Alassane’s fifth language and he speaks it very fluently.

Here are some of our best tips on how to learn another language:

If you are in a country or region where the language you want to learn is spoken:

• Immerse yourself

This is pretty easy, because you’re already there. But don’t go into an establishment and ask if anyone speaks English. Just go in and do your best to communicate. You will learn something with every conversation, no matter how short. And people are so appreciative when you make the effort to speak their language.

• Give up the idea of perfection

You don’t have to pronounce everything perfectly. You don’t have to use perfect grammar. You won’t at first, and maybe not ever. It doesn’t matter. Just speak it. Everywhere you go. Talk to people. Make mistakes. Then look back at the end of the day and amaze yourself with all you were able to do without English.

As encouragement: the Diola words for clothing, hair, and manure are very similar. Just imagine the hilarious mistakes I made when I first moved to my Diola-speaking village. Whatever you’re thinking, yes, I said that. Your language errors can’t possibly be any more embarrassing than mine.

• Watch TV

This was extremely helpful to Alassane when he first came to the U.S. Watch different shows. You will find that there are some characters that you can understand more easily than others. Watch those shows as regularly as you can. You won’t believe how quickly your ear will adjust and how much language you’ll pick up.

Radio is good too, but TV is better because it’s easier to understand the context, making comprehension that much easier.

• Read the online news in the language you’re learning. I know you can get the news in English if you want to. Read it in your new language first and see what you can understand. Better yet, buy a print newspaper so you won’t be tempted to cheat. Just try it.

• If you’re with another English speaker, spend as much time as possible with people who don’t speak English. It’s not natural to practice a foreign language with someone whose first language is the same as yours.

If you are at home trying to learn a foreign language:

This is trickier, but still doable. You probably will not gain the fluency that you could in an immersion situation. However, what you do learn will come back to you, even years later, when you finally do find yourself in a place where the new language is spoken.

• Take a class

You can do this in person or online. The in-person way will allow the most interaction and opportunity for speaking, but you can learn online too

• Watch shows for kids on foreign language TV stations

• There are plenty of YouTube videos for and in any language you want to study

• Put signs up in the house naming objects in the language you are learning

• Join an online group of people practicing the language

Alassane will soon be offering such a group for French and Wolof. If you’re interested in that one, download the free audio language file below as a way to get started and stay tuned for the announcement about a start date.

No matter the level of fluency that you achieve, learning another language is always a good use of your time.

• It’s a good brain workout
• It makes you more interesting
• You can’t help but open your eyes to other places in the world, even if you never get there
• When you do have the opportunity to travel, you’ll be able to stay out of the tourist areas and go where native speakers go. This is the best way to meet people and really learn about the culture