This page contains a general guide to help you choosing the foreign language you want to learn. The form is that of a definition list, and it was made to be used with the individual languages pages. However, the best way is to read it first, like a manual.

In the text I use the expression target language, which means the foreign language you want to learn. This comes from Barry Farber's book. By the way, as we are at copyrights, I don't mind your spreading copies of this page as long as (1) you tell me (2) you give my name and URL of this site on every page you take from here. I did this out of love for languages, not of profit, but this is still my work.

Contents of this page :

1. Introduction

   I. General remarks

   1. Usefulness of a language
   2. Beauty
   3. Chic factor

   II. What you can do with it

   1. Number of speakers
   2. Countries
   3. Regional variations
   4. Travel
   5. Books, songs, movie and culture
2. Difficulty to learn a language
   
   1. Phonemes
   2. Syntax
   3. Vocabulary
   4. Orthograph
   5. Overall difficulty level
   6. Time needed to learn
      
3. Learning material
   
   1. Books and tapes
   2. Drills and other exercises
   3. Schools and professors
   4. Things to avoid

- Choosing the language that you want to learn is, of course, very important. I think you should consider all the different aspects before beginning to study it, because it would be really disappointing to rush on, let's say, russian, only to learn after 2 months that it really is difficult and of scarce use to you. You'd better concentrate on all the important aspects - usefulness, difficulty level, possibility to practice it, inherent attractiveness, etc... before you begin. Then choose with great care the books, tapes and professor that you will use, because this is the key to your sucess. With a lot of work and a bad book, you will get nowhere, but with a good book and good tapes, it can be a very pleasurable work and you'll get excellent results.