Good foreign language knowledge can help you greatly in your life. Learning a foreign language might seem difficult at first. In this article I will give you some tricks and strategies that can help you to speed up the whole process of learning a foreign language.

What good foreign language to choose? And why is it so important to learn a foreign language?

I would recommend learning English, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. Having learned these languages you would acquire a great benefit. These 4 languages I consider the more important nowadays.

Let me explain you why you should choose these languages.

According to Wiki, total speakers of the languages I mentioned is:

Chinese: approx. 1.176 billion
Arabic: approx. 280 million native speakers and 250 million non-native speakers
English: 1.8 billion
Russian: more than 278 million

The total number of people who speak these languages is 3.784 billion.
The total population of the world comprises today 6.73 billion humans.
This means that knowing only these 4 languages you would be able to communicate with more than half of the Earth’s population. To say exactly, with more than 56% of all people on Earth.

Knowledge of these foreign languages also gives you access to a huge bulk of knowledge from various world libraries.

All these four languages represent 4 different styles of letters. Russian language uses Cyrillic alphabet, English uses Latin alphabet, Chinese uses logograms and Arabic uses abjad.
If you get acquainted with these 4 types of writing the learning of other languages will become easier for you. Moreover, you will develop your brain and improve the processes of generation of new ideas.

Now here are a few words about the best and quickest ways to master any language:

1) Go to the country where people speak the language you are learning
2) Use Skype to communicate with a native speaker of the language
3) Study the language every day, regularly
4) Use 2-3 best audio books (book + CD)
5) Watch TV programs on this language
6) Learn 1000 the most used words and phrases
7) Use your imagination and visualize the things which names you are learning

And here I carefully selected some good books and courses I recommend you to get if you want to learn these languages:

Arabic

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Speak Arabic For BeginnersThe Michel Thomas Method (8-CD Beginner's Program)
Your First 100 Words Arabic w/Audio CD
Basic Arabic: Learn to Speak and Understand Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur)

Chinese

Your First 100 Words in Chinese w/CD Audio
Chinese Through Tone & Color (Chinese Edition)
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (Modern Grammars)
Chinese (Mandarin) I

Russian

Speak Russian For BeginnersThe Michel Thomas Method (8-CD Beginner's Program)
Teach Yourself Russian Conversation (3CDs + Guide) (Teach Yourself Conversation Packs)
Russian I, Third Edition (Comprehensive, 30 Lessons)

Other

The Quick and Dirty Guide to Learning Languages Fast
Pons Pictorial Dictionary: German-English-French-Spanish

To sum it up, learn a good foreign language and you will get more doors opened in front of you and many new opportunities will become available.