7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 30
Hi everybody,
I hope your week was marvelous!
This was another unexpectedly deceiving week for me. Instead of diving back into my learning and writing, I had an awful trip back home (by night, during which I slept only 3 hours) that destroyed the little energy I had for the rest of the week. It happens though so I'm trying not to hit myself for letting myself down. I'm starting to feel better now so, hopefully, this week will be better!
For those who still haven't replied to the survey, it's not too late! Let me know how to improve this newsletter and make it fit for as many of you as possible. Again, thank you to those who have already replied and, rest assured, I'm noting your questions to give you all proper replies!
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: If you need language learning motivation, watch this! | Polyglot tips & challenges 🌏 — By Lindie Botes
This interview with Marc from Language Come Up was extremely interesting. I absolutely devoured it. In it, Lindie and Marc talked about Marc's language challenge (the 40H7dLC) and many other things. The one I felt was best expressed and most enjoyable was when Marc talked about the emotional bond we should have with the language we learn. I may not be a fan of the title, I can't deny I was very motivated by the end of the video!
One article I read: 10 Ways to Reduce Stress and Become a More Efficient Language Learner — By Trisha Dunbar
This article tackles an important aspect of the journey. How to stop stressing like hell and therefore reducing our ability to learn. The proposed solutions are simple but that's what we need. Simple techniques that work. If you're stressing yourself out, why not try some of them?
One article I wrote: How to Choose Which Words to Remember in a New Language
Learning the "right" words is important for anybody trying to learn a language. In this article, I discussed a few points to find to choose which words to learn and which to let go of. Remember though, even if the word is pointless, if you love it, go ahead and learn it!
One podcast episode: How to Deal With Feeling Overwhelmed ― By 7 Good Minutes Daily Self-Improvement Podcast
This short episode isn't about language learning but overwhelm is a common feeling when learning a language because of the number of words there are to learn. The speaker explains how to control this feeling by reducing it in time, what he calls "temporary limit." It helps him focus on what matters first.
One tool to try: Speekoo (iOs and Android)
This app won't revolutionize the world but it offers a bonus only few resources do: cultural information about the country whose language you're learning. I've been having fun with the German version and I love learning about new places in Germany. There aren't many languages but I'd advise giving it a go for those learning French, Italian, German, and Spanish! (They also have Chinese and Japanese but since they don't use the characters, I wouldn't advise using it.)
One quote to ponder: “Language learning is not an Olympics race competition.” ― Nneka 민호의 별이 (from Twitter)
One biweekly challenge for the weeks ahead: Listen daily to a podcast in your language
The current biweekly challenge is to listen to a podcast for 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.
Strangely enough, this is the only thing I've done consistently this week. I listened to tons of Chinese podcast episodes from 這我先想的 and a few Korean episodes of 책읽기좋은날. The past week I focused on passive listening but I'll try to spend at least 10-15 minutes actively focusing on the audio this week.
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.