7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 32
Hi everybody,
I hope your week was marvelous!
Mine, for once, really was! I loved every bit of it. I only wished I had written more but, hey, I can't expect to live a perfect life, right? I think a big part of making this week great was taking part in the "1 Month 1 Secret Language" (#1M1SL) going on on Twitter. I'll keep it secret for now but it's a language with a different script and with a long history. I'm getting used to the script now and starting to understand how sentences are built. Still on the basics, but it's so damn fun! If you're up for trying something new, join in!
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: My language learning anxiety & what to do about it — By Crashed Culture
Gotta love those on-point, honest, heart-to-heart videos. I love languages but saying they've never stressed me would be a lie. I try to be honest as much as possible but it's often hard to put words to it (ironic, right?). Well, this video found them for me! I could relate to almost everything she said. If you worry you're alone feeling that way, this might prove you're not alone. And give good tips to deal with it!
One article I read: 10 Things I Always Do When I Start Learning a New Language — By Luca Lampariello
As mentioned above, I just started a new language for fun for #1M1SL. It's been so long I haven't started a language on a whim (I usually prepare in advance), that I felt a bit lost at first. This article brought me down to earth and reminder me starting a language doesn't have to be overwhelming.
One article I wrote: How to Use Dual Coding to Learn a Language Faster
I hate the concept of "learning styles" to my core. It's the reason there are millions of people telling themselves they aren't "good at learning" every day. Learning anything (and in particular a language) needs a variety of types of input. Dual coding is where it's at: combining sounds and the written word. In this piece, I talked about how to do it so I hope this can serve you!
One podcast episode: Dr. Matthew Walker: The Science & Practice of Perfecting Your Sleep ― By Huberman Lab
This one isn't about languages themselves but sleep is so important to learn well, I figure I'd share it. It's the longest podcast episode I've ever listened to but I absolutely loved every second of it. It's geeky but it's a goldmine of insights. If you don't want to listen to everything though, there are timestamps on the website.
One tool to try: EveryNoise.com (Website)
This website is a list of types of music by country. There are close to 200 countries listed with thousands of styles. Each style has at least a dozen different singers listed with a preview of one of their songs and a link to listen to it in full on Spotify. Music is amazing for learning languages so this can be perfect to find new styles or singers! Too bad they didn't have Gugak in the Korean styles list though.
One quote to ponder: “Never let formal education get in the way of your learning.” – Mark Twain
Current biweekly challenge: Write by hand 10 sentences a day
Writing is the best way to commit new vocabulary to our memories. That's why the goal is to write new sentences each day, using new vocabulary for each. 10 sentences don't seem much but they add up!
My first week went awesome and felt incredibly good. I didn't miss a day and discovered some amazing vocabulary in Korean. It took more time than I expected since I also entered each sentence in Anki, but the time was worth it. This second week, I'll try to divide it into 5 Korean sentences and 5 Chinese ones to balance my languages better.
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
PS: The majority of you chose to keep the same format for this newsletter 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!
For more of my articles, you can find them here.