Language Learning Series #6: Cell phones and Laptops

This technique is out of the ordinary, yet it allows you to interact with your studied language on a frequent basis.  By adjusting the options of your cell phone or laptop, you can have the interface portrayed in a foreign language.  For example, on my cell phone (a flip phone by Motorola) I can configure the phone to portray text in either English or Spanish.  In the case of a laptop, my laptop, (a Windows Inspiron) allows its Windows Live Programs to be translated into a large selection of languages.  Furthermore, the keyboard interface and display options can be adjusted to Spanish. 

However, the audacity of this technique can easily become a problem.  If you are still a novice language student or require frequent access to your laptop, I do not recommend changing your interface until you have strong confidence in your ability.  Second, this technique will not work for the more exotic languages.  As I mentioned before, my cell phone only supports two languages, and I am limited in my display options on my laptop.  Therefore, this technique can only help students of particular languages.