Learn Body Language

Do you know any sites that could help me learn a new language faster?

I just got promoted and I need to handle local staff who cant speak english. Im not so good with hand signal and body language.Please help..

Public Comments

1. Conversando...........Speaking.
2. Hello! Welcome to management in a culturally diverse environment! There are some websites that offer online lessons of varying degrees of quality, but it depends on what languages you need to learn. For the moment, however, you might want to use http://world.altavista.com to translate common words and phrases in different languages so that you can at least speak and give direction, even if you can't understand your staff's responses. Better yet, make it a team project to teach and to learn each others language. Consider asking your staff to teach you basic words and phrases in their language and you can teach them English. Is a member of your staff bilingual enough to coach you in the language and culture? If you have staff meetings, create a standing 15-20 minute agenda item on teaching and learning new words--and keep it fun! Be creative! Do use hand and body language, draw pictures. That's how people get along in a foreign country...it works! And you don't have to be good at it, but your staff will appreciate the effort you make to learn their language. If you can, get a "teach yourself" language book or take a class to learn basic grammar and words. Ultimately, the best way to learn a foreign language is to try to speak it--that's the "organic" way to learn it. As you work to learn each other's languages, you'll find that you'll establish working relationships with your staff, which is key to good management. And you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll learn to communicate! Good luck!