First in the series of looking at study materials is going to be LingQ.
LingQ is the brainchild of Steve Kaufmann (who you can find on my Blogroll over there <—- …and down a bit). Steve speaks a number of languages very well and the site is very much a mirror of his own preferred learning style, by self-admission.
In short, if you can’t be bothered reading what I say about LingQ… visit, sign-up (it’s free), and try it out. It’s not going to be a waste of time… so enjoy the offerings in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese… and soon to come it looks like Korean. Click here to read more.. »
Speaking a language that isn’t your own requires a lot of confidence. Taking that first plunge into the proverbial deep end of conversation with a native of the language is something that can’t really be rushed in my opinion. Yes, there are arguments that output is critical to building this communicative confidence, but where do you get the language from to actually perform? Well.. that would be input. Even if you believe what you’re working on is output with conversation, the language of the so-called native speaker is acting as input for you, the learner.
But enough about output and input, an article on this will come shortly since it’s a current debate that won’t go away.. besides I’m pretty much on the fence, albeit almost falling over that fence to land on the input side of things… but anyway… gaining confidence. Click here to read more.. »
Something that is currently being debated in several circles is just how an additional language is added to one’s arsenal. There is of course the more traditional idea that we learn a language through dedication, study and hard work. And there is the fanciful idea that we simply acquire a language. Like many things in this world, I think it’s a little bit of both hidden away in that huge grey area. The idea that things are black or white is simply unrealistic in the real world.
The current trend among many learners that blog about their process is leaning toward the natural method and pure language acquisition that is on par with first language acquisition. Simply being exposed to the language and the fruits of the forest will follow. Fluency will leap into your lap like that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Click here to read more.. »
In the first Self-Study Materials overview we covered the big names of Assimil, Linguaphone, FSI, etc. This time we’ll go over a few of the other big names; the big names that many of our readers will be more familiar with – Teach Yourself, Colloquial, Hugo and Living Language. Click here to read more.. »
Nothing too technical here… this is just a short post about how to trick yourself into learning. I’m sure you’ve heard countless times before how you should learn in context… but it can be a little vague at times right? So… in laymans terms.. the mythical in context beast is one that pretty much means “try to live in your language”
By that I mean your target language should become part of your everyday life and routine. And what are some ways to do this? Watch tv, read a book, listen to the radio, go to the local market, etc.. One of my favourites though is cooking… and this is where the digesting part comes in. Click here to read more.. »
