Here we go for a whirlwind tour though one of the neglected aspects of martial leaning - that of being able to speak another language.  While not a necessity for most, if you are intent upon traveling abroad or with getting inside the culture that surrounds your art then learning another language is something you must seriously consider.

For example, one my students took a job teaching English in China and it was his ability to converse freely in Chinese (to the point of being able to tell jokes and so on) combined with his great desire to find real Kung Fu that allowed him to eventually become a student in a private class.

Had he been limited in his linguistic ability it just never could have been a possibility.  This was not a teacher with a school or who was easy to find, but my student's persistence and good nature combined with his ability to speak fluent Chinese found him a Sifu who taught him a number of sets including the rare two-handed Bagua Dao (8 Diagram Saber).

So, the point is if you have that kind of dream in the martial arts then you are going to need to learn the language of the art!  And that's where these two books from Paladin Press will come in very handy.  I'm reviewing the books together because while there is overlap with some of the material, both books provide unique aspects to the presentation and so compliment one another.

For example, Hawke's "Quick & Dirty Guide To Learning Languages Fast" has a 7-day quick start plan for learning a new language.  Over that week you'll fill in day-by-day worksheets to help you quickly get the key words and phrases down.  This week-long plan alone makes this book worth buying!

Hawke's military background as a Green Beret, fluent in 7 languages comes through in the direct approach to learning the language.  Just like shooting or any other skill, language learning is a reproducible process and that's what he gives you here.  This is BOOT-CAMP for language!

Now, what some people will perceive as the down side of that is out of 167 pages there's probably 100 pages of "fill in the blank".  Now, is that a problem?  NO, not if you plan to USE the book as it is intended!  In that case it's just what you need.

(Personally, I copied these onto notebook paper rather than mark up my book.)

This is where Janich's "Speak Like A Native" comes in most helpful.  If Hawke's book is a bit of a dry do-the-drills workbook, Janich's is almost like a guided tour of the the whole overseas experience.  Janich has spent many years in remote lands working as a military translator and here he shares many experiences of daily life in these places with the reader by way of explaining how and what to be learning.

In addition to it's more personal "there I was" flavor, Janich's book is the helpful companion to Hawke's because of all the study tips he gives you.  Ranging from listening to music in the foreign language to putting sticky-notes on everything in your house with the foreign word for the item you will get tons of ideas here!

Between Janich's insight on how to study the language and culture presented and Hawke's learning plan giving you what to do each day, you'll have a one-two punch as far as sped learning foreign languages goes.  I would also recommend these as refresher books for anyone who learned a language in the past and wants to regain their ability to speak it and improve.

Both Books Available From Paladin Press

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