Dear College Freshmen,

Congratulations on being accepted to the university of your choice and making it through your first semester! I’m sure it feels great being out on your own, and that you’ve already made tons of great friends and had many exciting experiences. I’m writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I’d known when I was in your position; four short years ago. These are things I learned, regrettably late, that make me wish I could redo college. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes.

Find what you really love

It might not seem like it, but the choices you make now affect the rest of your life. We’ll all be working for a long time; having a job you love is essential to happiness. Think about it, people spend more time at work than anywhere else. Do you want to spend your life bored and indifferent, counting the minutes until the end of the day? Right now is the best time to find your passion. You have the free time and resources at your disposal.

Waiting too long to find mine was a huge mistake. I chose an easy employable major. I thought I’d be happy doing anything that paid well. Trust me, this doesn’t work. Unless you fit into a predefined category, you have to investigate many different options to find the right fit. Start looking now and you’ll be much better off. I set myself back a couple years by wasting this opportunity. Now I’m busting my ass to catch up.

Follow your whims. Talk with students and professors who share your interests. You’ll meet a thousand dead ends, but finding the right path is priceless. Don’t expect it to find you and don’t think that it doesn’t matter.

Don’t Sweat the social circles

It might seem like getting into the right frat/sorority and hanging out with the “cool people” is a huge deal, but realize that none of this will matter at all in four short years. The people that are concerned with social circles are insecure. They feel a need to validate themselves with an outside authority. Have the confidence to validate yourself and people will love you for it.

At the end of college those circles evaporate and what remains are the lasting friendships you’ve made. Don’t chase coolness at the expense of real relationships. I wasted a couple years being frustrated by my social position when I should have had confidence in myself.

Neither studying, nor partying, is everything

Don’t be one dimensional; it is important to find balance and avoid extremes. There is a lot more to success than having the best grades and there is a lot more to having a great time than partying nonstop. Don’t let an obsession with either keep you from getting the most out of college.

By being one dimensional, you cut yourself off from meeting people who think differently than you. If you obsess over grades, you won’t realize that there are a lot of really smart people who don’t get good grades. Success is built on more than following the professor’s instructions.

If all you do is party, at the end of college when the party ends, you’ll see that many of your “friends” were only there for the good times, and that without stimulants you have few lasting relationships. It took me a long time to learn that partying nonstop is just as dull and monotonous as studying nonstop. Don’t miss a great opportunity to meet interesting people and discover what really makes you happy.

Conclusion

I hope this letter inspires you to make the most of your college experience and avoid the mistakes that I made. You have a great opportunity to position yourself on a path to happiness and success. By being smart now, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and hardship later. Best of luck in all your future endeavors!

For anyone who doesn’t understand why learning a foreign language is a good idea, read 5 Great Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language. Everyone else, let’s get started.

Note: I don’t claim that following these instructions will make you fluent. Fluency requires time and immersion. What this post will help you do is become conversant. You will be able to have a simple conversation, ask for directions, order at a restaurant, make small talk, etc. You will also be able to read fairly well with the use of a dictionary. Following these steps will give you a great base in a new language.

Course Materials

The first step is acquiring the materials you will use to teach yourself. The first thing you need is an audio language course. This is essential for developing your basic vocabulary and, more importantly, your pronunciation. I can personally recommend the Pimsleur Language Programs (aff) because that is what I use and I’ve had a great experience with them. Pimsleur uses memorization techniques and question and answer prompts to keep you involved in the lesson and help you retain what you learn. The lessons are about 30 minutes long. A great place to do them is during your commute. This saves you time, makes the drive go faster, and is surprisingly fun. If you don’t want to go with Pimsleur there are plenty of alternatives, but from what I’ve read they are not as engaging.

The next thing you’ll need is a basic grammar guide and a dictionary for the language you want to study. This will help you understand the basic mechanics of the language and the differences and similarities with English. You will use this continuously as a reference.

You should also get some interesting books in the language. For me this is a huge motivator because reading something interesting is much more rewarding than reading a text book. The way to go in the beginning is dual language books (aff). These have the original language on the left side and a literal English translation on the right. This allows you to start reading great books without having to reach for a dictionary every other word. It is also great for learning idioms, expressions, and verb tenses.

Getting Started

Once you have your materials you are ready to learn. Start off by doing the first lesson of your audio language course. Continue doing a lesson a day. You can do these on your commute or while you exercise to save time. For a while I did lessons while walking up and down the stairs of my apartment building. (No, I don’t care if people think I’m weird.)

In conjunction with this you should read your introductory grammar guide. This will give you a foundation in the language and help you learn the different parts of speech and their English equivalents. Don’t worry about memorizing every single rule. It simply isn’t possible. The idea is to get a general understanding first. This is the most boring part of the process, but don’t give up because it’s well worth it.

Making Progress

When you finish the grammar guide you will also have completed several days of audio lessons. At this point you will feel much better about your learning ability. You will know the important basic phrases and speak much more naturally. This method of learning is much more effective than traditional school teaching because you are actively engaged the entire time. The audio lessons force you to listen and speak more than I ever did in school.

Now it’s time to start reading those dual language books. Digging into some interesting material will build your vocabulary. Whenever possible always read aloud. This helps your speech, memorization, and makes you start thinking in the new language. I’ve found reading and doing the audio lessons concurrently enhances both experiences. During the lessons, being able to visualize words makes them easier to understand. Likewise, while reading, the pronunciation experience improves your internal monologue.

Don’t be in a rush. Read slowly and reread until you understand. Don’t hesitate to look up verb conjugations in your grammar guide. The same goes for the audio lessons. If you have trouble with a lesson, repeat it the next day. As the lessons get more complicated, I start doing them twice. The second time is actually more enjoyable. Hitting each phrase right on the money is a huge confidence booster.

be consistent

It is extremely important to study for a short time every day. Daily repetition makes the language second nature. It is much better to read for a short time every day than to put in several hours once or twice a week. When you get a spare minute, try finding new things to read online. You will be surprised how good your comprehension is.

After a few months of consistent practice you will really start to see progress. Beautiful foreign phrases with be stuck in your head, your pronunciation will be damn near decent, and you will be able to read and understand whole paragraphs. Once you make it this far, you’ll have some serious momentum going. You will understand more than you ever did in school and you won’t want to stop.

Taking off the Training Wheels

Eventually you will complete all the audio lessons and a couple dual language books. You’ll be able to read well with a dictionary and carry on simple conversations. You are now ready to spread your wings and fly. Start reading the greatest books in your language and use a dictionary when you need to. Find someone who speaks your new language and talk to them. Go to online forums for your new language and make an email buddy. If you can, plan a trip to a country that speaks your language and experience the local culture. If you are curious about another language, then start learning that too!

Regardless of how you use your new language skills, you will have become a more educated interesting person. More importantly, you will have proven to yourself that you are much smarter than you thought.

Action is the foundational key to all success.

-Pablo Picasso

Often times we know what we want to do in a general sense, but we aren’t quite sure where to start. We sit around waiting for the right opportunity but it never comes. When you find yourself in this position DO SOMETHING. DO ANYTHING. You will probably make mistakes and have to start over, but by acting you build a foundation of knowledge, gain experience, and make contacts. One venture leads to another, and before you know it, that opportunity you’re dreaming of presents itself. If you sit around and wait, you will always be waiting. If you really want something get in the game and start making moves.

1. Improve your English - I know this might not make sense at first but hear me out. As a person who speaks only one language you have no basis for comparison; all you know is English. In different languages the same idea is often expressed in different ways. Knowing another language gives you a great measuring stick. It will help you better understand tenses, prepositions, and all the other parts of speech we normally take for granted. You will find yourself speaking and writing more precise creative sentences. There is a reason most great writers and poets are students of many languages.

2. Enhance your travel experiences - Traveling is one of the great joys of life and also one of the most expensive. Why not get the most out of your experience? As a person who doesn’t know the native tongue you are completely excluded from the culture. The locals shun you and you are relegated to sightseeing and taking cheesy photos. Knowing even a few phrases of the language will make a huge difference. You will meet many more people and find it much easier to get around. People are much more receptive if you make an effort to speak their language. This can turn a frustrating experience into the trip of a lifetime.

3. Languages are beautiful - Language is what makes us human. It is the medium we use to share our thoughts with the world. Could you imagine thought without language? Great language also has a wonderful musical quality. Learning a new language is like learning a new way to think and a new way to sing. I am often struck by new phrases that are profoundly meaningful and melodic. At those moments I feel grateful to be alive. Don’t sell yourself short by stubbornly ignoring every language but one.

4. Join the global community - Believe it or not, the majority of the world does not speak English. We are so isolated that we hardly realize this. The truth is new thoughts and ideas are happening everywhere and they are not being immediately translated. The world is getting smaller and we are coming into contact with more non-English speakers all the time. Gain an advantage for yourself in business and personal relationships by being able to communicate with people in their language. This will set you apart and gain you immediate respect and credibility.

Last, but not least:

5. It’s just plain sexy - I’m not saying you should learn a few corny Italian pickup lines and go saying them to everyone you meet, but knowing a foreign tongue and applying it tastefully is undeniably attractive. It implies education, good taste, and refinement, and it will certainly make you standout against the competition. Imagine saying a beautiful phrase with perfect pronunciation to a lovely coed. You will immediately have her attention; she will be dying to know what it means. I know this from experience.

Now that you are dying to improve your mind by learning a foreign language you are probably wondering how to go about doing it. The task appears daunting at first, but have no fear, in my next post I will detail how to teach yourself a foreign language in less than an hour a day. I’ve developed this method through personal trial and error, and trust me, it works much much better than the way your were taught in school. And best of all, it’s tons of fun. Once you start making progress you won’t want to stop.