7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 19
Hi everybody,
I hope your study of your language(s?) is still going strong!
With lockdown restrictions getting lifted in France, I took the opportunity to go spend a week in the deep countryside. With the calm here, I've been able to enjoy nature and be much more concentrated when I sit down to study languages or write. I hope you're getting some fresh air as well!
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: "Useless Languages" - All the Reasons to Learn Them — By Austin Chan
I love such short videos that go straight to the point and don't try to convince you to learn a popular language. Austin learned Toki Pona and Esperanto, two constructed languages. He found the journey fulfilling and useful for learning "real" languages after.
One article I read: 5 *Other* Reasons Americans Should Learn Another Language — By Jessi Tobin
I've read countless articles about language learning and thought about it a lot but I never thought of how it impacted our autopilot mode. The whole article was interesting, but I have to admit that part kinda blew my mind.
One article I wrote: What Learning Languages For Over a Decade Taught Me About the Importance of Challenges
I would have never become a polyglot without the countless challenges I overcame or failed at. In this article, I shared why I think they're so important for your language-learning journey.
One podcast episode: 9 Actionable Steps For Better Language Learning — By The MezzoGuild Podcast
This podcast episode was pure gold. It was full of really great tips that actually work. I loved the idea of setting a "talk quota" to reach before ending your day. Let's make it this week's challenge then!
One tool to try: Open Textbook Library
This website is full of legally free textbooks for all kinds of languages, including some lesser-known ones such as Yakkha or Moloko. It's definitely worth a look even though the list isn't extremely large. I'm currently trying to use a quite interesting German textbook I found on this website.
One quote to ponder: “One must not be shy where language is concerned.” ― Ann Patchett
One challenge for the week ahead: Set a "Talk quota" and reach it every day
The idea of a talk quota is to not end your day before you've spoken for the amount of time set. Listening doesn't count here. It's being active that does. You can do it on your own by talking to yourself every day or you could chat with native speakers (or other learners) on apps like HelloTalk or Tandem. I'll start the week by setting a 20 minutes Chinese talk quota and will try to increase it to 40 minutes before the end of the challenge.
Last week's challenge was to listen to one short podcast episode 20 times. I listen to this one probably 30 times or more. I struggled to even understand the topic the first time, but I was able to follow bits of it in the end. The flow became much more natural and I could even say some parts along out loud. I'll probably transcribe it this week as a follow-up challenge.
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.