It’s an age-old story.  You studied Spanish or French or German in high school, perhaps even did fairly well at it, and now you would like to re-learn that language. The problem is, now you have forgotten every word. Or at least you think you did. The human brain is a fascinating apparatus. There is so much knowledge lurking in there, we only need to find the way to tap it when we need to.

But it is able to be tapped.  We’ve all experienced this in other areas of our lives. We will rack our brains for a random fact or piece of information to no avail, and then, days later, it will just pop into our heads.  It has obviously been there all the while. The verb forms, vocabulary and grammar rules from you high school language class are also in there, somewhere. How do we access it?

-Get out your old textbooks, if you have them.  Have you ever noticed how, if you hear a certain sound, or smell a certain fragrance, you are mentally transported to the place you associate with that sound or fragrance?  The brain uses association as one of its primary engines for many of its functions, most especially emotions and memory.  You will be surprised how opening up that old book and thumbing through its contents will set you on the road to re-building that old knowledge.  If you did not keep it, try to obtain it, either from the school or online.

-Get review books. You may not need to start in a class that has primarily newcomers to the language in it. You may even become bored, since the beginning lessons such as greetings and pronunciation will seem like a waste of time and may discourage you from returning to the class.  There are many small guides that will help you to review and revive the language you learned in high school, even after years of dormancy.   

-Try to find an intermediate class to attend, instead of the standard “French for Travelers” or “Beginner’s German”.  You will be more challenged, of course, but after a brief re-orientation, much of what you learned will come back to you and you will catch up quickly. This is especially true if you studied the language for a number of years in high school.

-Join an association. Alliance Française is a perfect example of an organization where you can practice and revive a dormant language, without being completely left out in the dark.  Many parts of the meeting are conducted in English and members are very understanding of lapses back into English (and do so many times themselves).  Similar organizations exist for other languages.

-Design you own immersion.  Find simple things you can read (children’s books and plays are good places to start), read the press in the foreign language, listen to music, T.V. shows and go to concerts, exhibits and restaurants where you will be exposed to the language.

 You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to revive language skills you already acquired, albeit years ago. You probably have to just put some air in the tires by reacquainting and re-exciting yourself with this old language vehicle.