7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 29
Hi everybody,
I hope your week was marvelous!
This past week really was mentally amazing but not much for my studies or writing. I traveled to the south of France to visit one last time an apartment I've gone to my entire life in a ski station (La Plagne). Since I've arrived, I've been hiking all around the station—reflecting on my goals and my past—and even struggled to find time to write. As a result, languages took a back seat this week. I'm leaving tomorrow and already psyched for some study!
Continuing last week, I'd like to invite you to fill in this survey so I can improve this newsletter and make it fit for as many of you as possible. For now, we're staying with this format though! Thank you to those who have already replied!
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: A Guide To Minimalism For Language Learners — By Robin MacPherson
I feel like I keep sharing his videos but I can't help it because they're so on-point. In this one, Robin talked about a mistake I've clearly made in the past (see this photo of Mandarin books I got in 2014): getting too many resources for a language. No need to say, I've learned that lesson the hard way.
One article I read: Not every week needs to look the same – learning languages naturally — By Lindie Botes
I fell upon Lindie's piece just at the right moment as I've been having a pretty bad week for my languages. In this well-presented article, she showed how her own schedule varies a lot from week to week. A nice reminder for all of us.
One article I wrote: 9 Common Struggles About Learning Foreign Languages
In this piece, I answered 9 common worries and struggles every language learner goes through at one point or another. I'd be lying if I said it's always easy. But it's also thanks to these struggles that we can be proud of ourselves when we overcome them.
One podcast episode: The Top 7 Lessons I've Learned from 50 of the World's Best Language Learners ― By The Language Mastery Show
That's an old episode but a goody. In this long episode, John picks apart his own interviews with many polyglots and shows the various ways each perceives language learning. I listened to it twice to be sure I didn't miss anything. I'd advise you do the same!
One tool to try: LyricsTraining (Website, iOs & Android Apps)
This one is a godsend for those learning one of the 14 languages offered. This platform proposes you to fill in missing lyrics in the songs available or sing along the lyrics as they get highlighted. When you choose the multiple-choice option, you can set the difficulty to change how many words to fill in. I've been having fun with Spanish this week!
One quote to ponder: “The lower the anxiety, the better the language acquisition. For language acquisition to succeed, anxiety has to be directed somewhere else, not at language.” ― Stephen Krashen
One biweekly challenge for the weeks ahead: Listen daily to a podcast in your language
For this new biweekly challenge, let's open our ears a little bit. Find a podcast in your language and listen to it 30 minutes a day at least. If you can already understand the language a bit, try finding something you're interested in. If not, type a random word in your language in your favorite podcast app. You could even type the name of your language (in the language itself) if you need to.
As for the last biweekly challenge (of recording ourselves every day), I have to admit I skipped most of the week. Having barely touched my computer even for writing, I completely lost track. I guess it happens but I sure felt quite awful for not even doing such a tiny task.
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.