Nowadays, in many industries, knowing and speaking one language is not enough. English is a must, but other world languages are the key to success. English native speakers have an advantage, because they only need to learn at least one more, but others shall do at least two more languages apart from their mother tongue.

The world’s most spoken languages by number of native speakers(1) are Mandarin (about 873,000,000 speakers), English (508,350,000 speakers), Hindi (497,000,000 speakers),  Spanish (438,300,000 speaker) and Portuguese (335,500,000 speakers). There are also disputes that Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages.

On the other hand, English is clearly spoken as a second language by majority of the Earth’s population. Given the economic situation, most practical languages to learn (tip no. 1) are English, Mandarin, Hindi, Russian and Spanish. French is well recommended for cultural and diplomatic reasons and France is very well known for it’s Days of Francophonie.

Now when we know what to learn, we shall talk about when to learn it (tip no. 2). The best age to learn a language is early childhood. As a child learns to speak his mother tongue, he can easily learn any other language. When we grow older, we need more logic and learning becomes more difficult. It is said that learning a language before 30 years is easy, then it becomes hurdle. But still, people can learn to ski at the age of 60, so why shall we not start to learn a Portuguese at 42?

Of course, the way different age groups are though a languages is not the same. But one thing is usually common for all of them. It’s called motivation (tip no. 3). Learning new things is not easy, however when you set yourself a goal you will learn more easily. How would you feel if your girlfriend has to order pancakes every time you are in Paris? Going step by step, chapter by chapter, allows you to see your progress and as you advance, you are able to use the language in more situations.

Always have a reliable sparing partner (tip no. 4). You know how you feel when you have to go to a gym on your own. It’s almost the same with language course. You can help each other, support each other and always have a drink afterwards. There are things you can be looking forward to. But select well, you don’t want your friend to demotivate you but to motivate and support you.

How to start (tip no. 5)? There are basically two ways. The easy way and the hard way. Let’s start with the hard way, which means you go on your own to foreign country and you try to survive. The easier, more practical and more expensive, option is to sign up to a language course abroad, to stay there and absorb the culture. The slower and easier way is to attend a language school at your home country. Still, you shall choose a good teacher (native speaker is always recommended, classes at least twice a week as well; tip no. 6). Another way, which helps to understand the language and the culture is to go once a year to the foreign country for a couple of days and speak as much as you can.

What is the most important thing then? SPEAKING!!! (tip no. 7 – 10). Do not worry about the grammar, about the pronunciation or the vocabulary. Just try to communicate as much as you can. Talk to local people (native speakers), talk to other students, think in the language, chat, write, ask directions, listen to music, watch movies, taste typical dishes. This way, the language will get in all your senses under your skin. You will live it, you will enjoy it and you will learn it.

Remember: you are not studying the language, you are learning it. So don’t worry, people will understand and just speak, speak and sing

Source of numbers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_spoken_languages_of_the_world