7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 18
Hi everybody,
I hope your study of your language(s?) is still going strong!
This past week, I've been increasing my time studying Mandarin as I am considering going to live for a while in Taiwan. Since they use traditional characters over there, I'm learning to recognize patterns between the simplified and traditional characters of Chinese. I used to think knowing Japanese was enough but it turns out there are a lot more complicated traditional characters in Taiwanese Mandarin!
Alright, let's dive right in.
Each week, I share 7 things that could be useful to your learning odyssey. I hope they can help you improve your journey, tickle your curiosity, and inspire you to keep exploring.
One video: 3 MUST-HAVE habits to learn a language — By Accent's Way English with Hadar
This video is aimed at English learners but every piece of advice in it works even if you learn another language. I think Hadar's take on what she calls "Thinking habits" was particularly interesting and often overlooked while learning another language.
One article I read: An italki Review: Connect, Converse and Conquer a New Language — By Sophie Mc Donald and Brooke Bagley
In this in-depth review, Sophie and Brooke talk about pretty much everything italki-related. They explain what you can do on the platform and how to use it. Italki is a very well-known and used resource among polyglots and I couldn't recommend it enough. Even if you can afford to take a tutor, its free features are already worth a look.
One article I wrote: 3 Common Language-Learning Tips That Will Slow Down Your Improvement
In this article, I got deep into why 3 way-too-common tips can slow down your progress when learning a new language. There are still too many people who rely on these and give up because of them or, in the "best" case, stagnate at their level. If you're doing one of them, this article might make you realize why you should stop these methods.
One podcast episode: Luca Lampariello on Questioning Everything When Learning Languages — By The Language Hacking Podcast
I never get tired of listening to Luca's advice. His take on language learning is very interesting and he always lays it out in a simple way. In this interview, he explained why just listening isn't enough when trying to improve your own pronunciation and dove into the importance of questioning everything.
One tool to try: 1lib.fr
This website is full of PDFs or ePub files for books and articles. While I recommend buying resources instead of illegally downloading books or research papers, I think this is a great platform to download resources you hesitate to buy. You can have a closer look at the book's organization and content before buying it, which is how I came to buy the book Antifragile and one Korean textbook from Yonsei University.
One quote to ponder: “The most intimate temper of a people, its deepest soul, is above all in its language.” ― Jules Michelet
One challenge for the week ahead: Listen to one short Podcast episode 20 times
"Twenty times?!," you may ask. But yes, this week, let's listen to the same content a whole lot and see the improvement you make in understanding it and recognizing words. Listening to the same content will allow you to get a good feel of the flow and will cement certain phrases or patterns in your mind. Depending on your level, this might be extremely hard or very easy but try it either way. I'm sure you'll learn a lot.
Last week's challenge was to rewatch a movie or TV show you had already seen, but in your target language. I watched 3 episodes of How I Met Your Mother in German. Since it had been a while, I had to watch them first in English and then watched the German versions the next day. Despite barely understanding half, I was able to pick up quick a few words and noticed the constant use of "oder" that seems to replace "right?" in English. Quite a useful one!
Let me know how it went for you by sending me a mail at barra.mathias@gmail.com!
As always, thanks for reading!
Mathias Barra
For more of my articles, you can find them here.