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 […]
Category: Languages
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 […]
The “Secret” to Learning Any Language
Man, that’s an ambitious title, right? Well, I’m about to give it to you, the secret to learning any language. It doesn’t matter which language, what your language aptitude is, how much money you have, where you live. You can learn any language if you apply this secret. But first, send me four easy payments […]
Should you study words individually or in chunks?
If you’re trying to learn vocabulary, should you study individual words or chunks of words? What I do: Study both! (By the way, some people say you shouldn’t make an effort to learn vocabulary words at all–that you should pick up words naturally during communication. But I firmly believe that at least a little dedicated […]
Language Learning Quick Start Guide
Thinking about signing up for a class or plopping down a couple hundred dollars on an expensive piece of software? That’s cool–those are effective tools for any language learner. But before you do, take a few minutes to read this article so that you can use those tools to the fullest. The goal here is […]
Five Ways to Learn Adjectives
Adjectives modify a sentence’s meaning, sometimes significantly. Take the sentence “My husband put a sock in the dishwasher,” for example. If you say, “My funny husband put a sock in the dishwasher,” the meaning changes a little. If you say, “My estranged husband put a sock in the dishwasher,” the meaning changes a lot. Here are five […]