7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 36
Hi everybody,
I hope your week was marvelous!
As I mentioned last week, I've been feeling excited and full of energy. Luckily, this didn't dissipate during the week. I completed my 1 Month 1 Secret Language (#1M1SLC) and I was learning Greek. I posted a tiny text on Twitter and that made me feel like a happy kid again. This month, I plan on picking back up Burmese and find some audio content to listen to.
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: How to Master Consistency to Achieve Your Goals — By The Art of Improvement
I freaking love this channel. It's filled with insightful videos based on amazing articles (one of which is based on one of mine!) This one is about staying consistent to achieve more in the long run without having to spend intense study sessions once in a while. A useful method not just for language learning but any learning endeavor!
One article I read: 5 Mindsets for Learning a New Language Backed By a Polyglot — By Antonello Zanini
Antonello explains in this piece that methods vary for everybody but mindsets don't. On his journey, he noticed 5 criteria most polyglots share. These helped him become one too. Hopefully they can help you too!
One article I wrote: The Best Way to Learn a Language Is to Create an Emotional Bond
In this article, I talked about an underlying factor most polyglots share. They have a bond with the languages they learn for years. There's no precise method to get an emotional bond but I tried to give a few ways that could get you on the path. Hope that helps!
One podcast episode: Is Immersion Really That Important? (& How to do it) ― By Polyglot Insight Podcast
In this short episode, Marjolein talks about the three reasons why immersion (even self-induced, at home) helps learning a language. As she explains, there's no wrong way to do it. "More is more." I couldn't agree more!
One tool to try: Speechling (iOS, Android, and Website)
I haven't used this one on my phone for a while but I've been playing around with the free learning tools on their website for the past two weeks. I especially love the dictation and listening comprehension tests. You can even record yourself to improve your pronunciation through practice (and pay a tutor if you want to dig further).
One quote to ponder: “A foreign language is like a frail, delicate muscle. If you do not use it, it weakens.” ― Jhumpa Lahiri
One biweekly challenge: Find 35 sentences per week in videos
I love that languages can be learned passively by watching videos. It's important, however, not to always be passive. This challenge is about finding at least 35 sentences per week you'd like to remember later (5 per day or more in fewer days). You can then write them down by hand to remember them better and add them in Anki or your favorite SRS. Bonus points if you even add the audio clip of the sentence!
1st-week sum-up of challenge:
I spent half the week watching videos without caring for finding specific sentences I wanted to remember until one really excited and got me to start. After that, I couldn't stop and found tons of sentences I'd love to be able to say or understand on the spot. I added all of them to Anki so, hopefully, that'll become reality!
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 to send me a message if you have any questions!
For more of my articles, you can find them here.