• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wealth Pilgrim

No Money Worries. No Matter What.

Neal Frankle featured in
  • Home
  • Life Insurance
  • Investing
    • Build Strong Investment Building Blocks To Avoid Going Broke In Retirement
    • Systematic Mutual Fund and ETF Investing
    • Stock Market Investing Guide
    • Choosing the Right Investment Brokerage Guide
    • How Bonds Work Guide
    • How Banks Really Work Guide
    • Annuities – What You Need To Know Before You Invest
    • A Beginners Guide To Buying Individual Stocks
    • Create A Pool Of Great Mutual Funds and ETFs To Pick From To Secure Your Retirement
    • ETF and Index Fund Investment Guide
  • Earn More
  • Banking
  • Retirement Planning
    • Retirement Guide
  • Ask Neal a Question
  • Reviews
    • Upgrade Personal Loans Review
    • Lending Club Review
    • Prosper Review
    • Ally Invest TradeKing Review
    • CIT Bank Review
    • LegalZoom Review
    • Lexington Law Review
    • Airbnb Host Review
    • Should You Drive For Uber?
  • Tax
  • Courses
    • Raise Your Credit Score So You Can Buy a House – Free Video Course

How I Learned to Speak a Foreign Language Fast and Free

by Neal Frankle, CFP ®, The article represents the author's opinion. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info.

If you want to learn to speak a foreign language, I have good news. The best way to do it is also the least expensive method – it’s free.

My Experience

I went to Israel many years ago barely speaking a word of Hebrew. It wasn’t hard to exchange foreign currency, but besides that I was struggling. I immediately recognized that this was a problem since I was about to start a master’s degree program over there.

The Problem

I didn’t have any money and I needed to learn the language “chic chac” (which in Hebrew means “quickly”).

The Solution

I volunteered to work for an after-school program for Russian children who were recent immigrants to Israel. Those kids didn’t know a word of English, and since my “Roosky” was rusty I knew the only way we’d communicate would be in Hebrew. I was floored by the kids’ ability to pick up the language so quickly, and they inspired me. And you know what?

It worked! I spent less and less time with my gringo friends and more time with the Russian kids. Working with those kids turned out to be the best way to learn the language fast.

Within a few short months I was able to have a pretty thorough conversation in Hebrew. Granted, I had to go much further in order to be prepared for the master’s program. But the foundation I built by working with the kids was priceless. (Ultimately, I abandoned the master’s program, started my career and became the happy Pilgrim you see before you.)

How You Can Apply This:

If you are going to a foreign country for a few months, find a way to do volunteer work with kids. You want kids old enough to speak but young enough not to have learned English by watching the TV. You don’t need to make this your full-time gig. I suggest you volunteer three or four times a week, one or two hours at a time. That should do the trick.

If you don’t have the luxury of going to some exotic country for a long period of time, look for a heavy concentration of natives from that country in your own community. Find out what schools the kids from that community attend and try to volunteer (but make sure you teach anything other than English).

Have you learned a foreign language in an unusual way? How did you do it? Have you used this technique to learn something other than a language?

 

Tweet
Pin
Share

Reader Interactions

User Generated Content (UGC) Disclosure: Please note that the opinions of the commenters are not necessarily the opinions of this site.

Comments

  1. Evan says

    October 20, 2010 at 7:23 AM

    I WISH I could learn Greek, but I am just horrible at it lol.

    I did find this really cool site to learn (or attempt to learn it) for free: LiveMocha

    Reply
  2. Craig says

    October 20, 2010 at 3:58 AM

    Immersion really is the best way to learn, isn’t it? I’m taking Spanish in school but I just don’t speak it enough to say I understand it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Are You Human? * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.

Primary Sidebar

Who is Neal Frankle

Neal Frankle

I'm a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional with more than 25 years of experience. I feel very blessed and hope to share my personal financial experience and professional wisdom with readers of WealthPilgrim.
Read More »

Stay Connected

Facebook Twitter YouTube RSS

More Categories

Career Development
College Funding
Credit Cards
Credit Score Fixes
Money and Marriage
Debt Relief
Estate Protection
Property Investment Loans
Small Business Strategies
Spend Less Money

Disclaimer

Wealth Pilgrim is not responsible for and does not endorse any advertising, products or resource available from advertisements on this website. Wealth Pilgrim receives compensation from Google for advertising space on this website, but does not control the advertising selection or content. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers. The information contained in WealthPilgrim.com is for general information or entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice. Please contact an independent financial professional for advice regarding your specific situation. Wealth Pilgrim does not provide investment advisory services and is not a registered investment adviser. Neal may provide advisory services through Wealth Resources Group, a registered investment adviser. Wealth Pilgrim and Wealth Resources Group are affiliated companies. In accordance with FTC guidelines, we state that we have a financial relationship with some of the companies mentioned in this website. This may include receiving payments,access to free products and services for product and service reviews and giveaways. Any references to third party products, rates, or websites are subject to change without notice. We do our best to maintain current information, but due to the rapidly changing environment, some information may have changed since it was published. Please do the appropriate research before participating in any third party offers.


About · Contact · Disclaimer & Privacy policy

Copyright © Wealth Pilgrim 2022 All Rights Reserved