7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 31
Hi everybody,
I hope your week was marvelous!
This week was almost perfect. Spending most of the week alone at home allowed me to get back on track and catch up on many tasks I had pushed away. I've still got a few things to catch up on but the energy I've gained by being proud of myself should carry to this new week. Now I just need to start writing again some more in my languages and it'll truly be perfect!
The majority of you chose to keep the same format so we'll stick to it for now but don't hesitate to keep answering the survey or sending me a message if you have any questions!
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: Polyglots speaking in 5 languages! | Honest multilingual chat between Lindie and Robin — By Lindie Botes
A chat between my two favorite polyglot YouTubers. What could go wrong? The answer? Nothing! In this magnificent video, they show you can make errors and still have an insightful conversation. I absolutely loved it. I challenge you not to feel inspired by these two!
One article I read: Here’s What It Takes to Write Fluently in a Foreign Language — By Alicia Sekhri
In this tiny article, Alicia talks about simple ways to improve how to write. Everything she mentions is simple yet many people overlook these important tasks. I particularly liked her idea of copying some pages from various books to develop your own style.
One article I wrote: Duolingo is the Most Dangerous App for Untrained Language Learners
I have a quite deeply-rooted hate for Duolingo because I've seen it be the cause of many language learners giving up. In this piece, I made my peace with it, talking about what's wrong with it and what's quite good, along with what could be better.
One podcast episode: A Talk with the Creator of the Polygloss App, Etiene Dalcol ― By The Language Learning Lounge
I often struggle to find a good language podcast episode to give you but it was extremely easy this week. Etiene's interview was incredibly interesting. I don't want to spoil it for you but just know that if you're struggling at the intermediate level, this episode might open your eyes to some opportunities!
One tool to try: Polygloss (Android and Beta for iOs)
Well, talking about the Polygloss app, I've been trying it out for the past few weeks and it's really fun! The concept is simple: you're paired with someone and guess which image they wrote about in your target language. Then, you describe an image and they guess. If you both are correct, you get points. It's great for practicing your creativity in the language without any external pressure. I'm lovin' it right now.
One quote to ponder: "There is always something to learn from experimentation.” ― Arabic quote (Original: التجارب ليست لها نهاية والمرء منها في زيادة)
One biweekly challenge for the weeks ahead: Write by hand 10 sentences a day
For the next two weeks, let's get some handwriting going. Writing is the best way to commit new vocabulary to our memories. That's why the goal this time is to write new sentences each day, using new vocabulary for each. 10 sentences don't seem to add up to much but you'll have 140 sentences after two weeks! Isn't that awesome?
For this second week of the last challenge, listening daily for 30 minutes to a podcast, I switched from podcasts to the radio. I spent most of my days listening to talk shows in Chinese and Korean in the background. I'd say I listened to them for at least 4 hours each day, sometimes stopping what I was doing because the topic interested me or a word picked my interest. I wanted to do more active study but this was perfect to get back on track.
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.