With languages, I definitely tend to use a lot of what I call “organic” learning methods. Actually using the language–reading, listening, speaking, and writing it–is vital in the language acquisition process. That doesn’t mean, though, that I never study. Almost every successful language learner I’ve ever met sits down and studies. Specifically, they study vocabulary […]
Author: morausky
Three Reasons to Fail Often During Language Learning
Well, it’s probably not the best thing in the short term. But if you “fail forward”–that is, improve from the experience–then it’s one of the best things you can do to succeed in the long term. My friend John from Leith Literary recently linked to a great article in the New York Times titled “Why […]
Seven Ways to Stay Motivated in Your Language Learning
Three weeks ago, I admitted I was losing steam with German. But instead of giving up and saying auf wiedersehen to German forever, I went on a 21-day project to find my lost motivation. No, this isn’t phoney baloney blog hype. I’m not just trying to tell you a good story. I was seriously getting […]
Languages and Their Effect On Your Personality
Everyone knows the massive benefits bilingualism has on brain function, making it easier to learn a third language and even staving off dementia. But what about a second language’s effect on personality? More and more studies are showing that second languages can affect a person’s perception, resulting in changed actions and personality than when speaking […]
Learn Mandarin Chinese Effectively: 3 Outstanding Tips from Students
Well, we talked with some people we know who are learning Mandarin in China, and they shared some great tips: 1. Try a second tier city. Living in a second tier city is becoming more popular with many students of Chinese. From interviews we undertook with foreigners living in Chongqing, they said that there was […]
4 Reasons to Forget About Your Language Aptitude
I hear this a lot: “I’m not good with languages.” I hate it when people say that, because most of the time, they’re using this as justification not to try. I’m not here to tell you what to do. If you don’t like languages, you don’t like them. If you’d rather be doing something else, […]
Why In-Country Language Classes Are Beneficial
The very first article I wrote here gave several reasons not to take a class. It set the tone for the website. I wanted to focus on strategies for people who study alone, like I do. I also wanted people not to think of a lack of a class as a hindrance, but rather as […]
How to Improve Your Foreign Language Pronunciation with Forvo
When you’re studying a foreign language, do you learn a lot of new words by reading? I do. Even though I’m a big proponent of a listening-based approach, I often rely on written texts and word lists to build my vocabulary. But there’s a problem with that. Two actually. First, I don’t know precisely how […]
Five Common Problems with Language Exchanges (And How to Fix Them)
A language exchange is a session–usually over Skype but sometimes in person–in which two people practice speaking each other’s language. It’s been popularized in recent years by the site iTalki. For example, consider a Spanish speaker learning English and an English speaker learning Spanish who meet up. In a common setup, the first half of […]
Create a Language Immersion Environment with Facebook
Yeah, Facebook is dying–at least that’s what the news keeps saying. But I spend a lot of time on there, and many of my friends do too. So I don’t really think it’s going anywhere for a while. And okay, admittedly, that headline is a little sensational. Yet I’m torn. On the one hand, I […]