7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 57

Testing positive for the second time in a month and hand gestures to avoid

Hey language lovers,

I hope you all had a lovely week!

Updates

Mine was a complete mess!

I successfully left France and arrived in Bangkok but I test positive for Covid the first night! They told me it was most likely Omicron but I caught it less than a month ago and am triple vaccinated so I have no idea how that happened. Luckily, I feel completely fine.

Testing positive meant I had to change hotel and it took me a full day to finally know until when I’d be stuck in a room. Until the 15th!

Between that mess and the jetlag, I wasted my first two days doing nothing. I watched a Taiwanese drama on Netflix (Light The Night) and many YouTube videos.

I’ve been back at work since yesterday so I’m now ready to use the remaining week in my room practicing Thai like hell!

Alright, let’s dive right in!

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7 Bullet Points

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

8 Ways to Read More in a Foreign Language — By Olly Richards

I love to use reading as a way to improve my language skills. It’s hard but so damn efficient. In this video, Olly shares 8 great types of reading material worth giving a go.

I read dozens of books in Japanese and know these were the reason I improved so quickly so well. This year, I plan on improving my Korean through reading tons of books as well, starting from April or May. I never tried reading non-fiction books in Korean so this might be a good idea!

Once I’m out of quarantine, I’ll also try to find Thai graded readers!

📚 One article I read

20 Tips to Learn a Language from Scratch - By Linguistic Ally

I often think I’m tired of lists like this one but I still click, hoping to find good content anyway. And Ally nailed it here.

Ally gave really useful advice not just for anyone starting a language, but also for experienced learners! I loved the idea of reading texts multiple times while focusing on different aspects like vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation. I had never thought of actively separating my focus each time I read.

I also love that she advises creating your own sentences with newly learned grammar. I couldn’t agree more. It’s a much faster way of getting a good handle on the language.

✍🏽 One article I wrote

How to Improve Your Language With 6 Common Websites

Too many people think they have to use resources for language learners to improve in their target language. That’s completely wrong. Almost anything can be turned into a useful resource with the right tool and attitude.

In this piece, I showed how to turn websites you’ve used for years into useful material for learning your language. From YouTube to Medium, or even Twitter and Wikipedia.

🎧 One podcast episode

#83 Hugo Cotton on Learning Through Topics that Matter — By Language Hacking Podcast

I loved this interview because Hugo’s language learning journey is very interesting. Contrary to most people I’ve seen online, Hugo started his journey with a lesser-learned language: Polish.

He now teaches French with his podcast InnerFrench through monologues and conversations on interesting topics. His goal is to provide compelling comprehensible input for learners.

The tips he gave were interesting but I disagree with one idea: sticking to Duolingo for beginners.

There are now tons of compelling content in any language available on YouTube or in podcast form, even for beginners. It might be hard to find but it’s there.

For instance, for Thai, I’ve been enjoying the vlogs from GoWentGo even though it’s difficult because similar words keep popping up.

There is also a lot of “Easy X” series on the Easy Languages YouTube channel!

🌎 One cultural aspect to discover

Hand Gestures to avoid

Every country has its own common gestures. From the Ok sign to the Italians countless movements.

These can be rude in other countries though so it’s important to research what to avoid when traveling.

On my way to Thailand, I met someone who told me I shouldn’t point with my index in Thailand because it was rude. I wasn’t planning on doing it anyway because it’s rude in many places, but I was surprised to discover some other countries, like Russia use the middle finger to point!

While in most countries, you call people over with your palm face up and waiving towards you, Japan does the opposite. They beckon with the hand facing down. It’s a habit I’ve taken and never got rid of.

Even the Ok sign can be rude in countries like Brazil, Turkey, or Venezuela. In France, it’s not rude but it’s more often used to mean “zero,” and we use a thumbs up to say Ok.

There are many countries where which hand you use matters. In India and a lot of South-East Asian countries, you should never give anything with your left hand because it’s supposed to be the one used for cleaning yourself.

Finally, while touching someone on the head is considered a cute act in many countries, it’s rude in Thailand where it’s considered the cleanest part of the body.

Imagine the shock if you touched someone’s head with your left hand!

📜 One quote to ponder

“By removing every object of attention that's potentially more stimulating and attractive than what you intend to do, you give your brain no choice but to work on that task.” — Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus

💪 One monthly challenge

Record yourself for a month

That’s why in February, I challenge you to record yourself in your target language every single day. Do it from your phone if you’re on the move but try to keep the streak.

Pick one long sentence that you will include in your recording every day.

And if you miss one day, don’t give up and get back to it!

✅How the challenge is going for me

I completely forgot about the challenge for half the week while I prepare to leave France but have been steadily practicing and recording myself since last Saturday.

I am starting to struggle less at stringing words together but the flow of the sentence is still uneven.

In the next few days, I’ll ask native speakers to review my pronunciation on HiNative. That way, I’ll get advice and new recordings of the sentence when native speakers reply!

How is the challenge going for you?

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As always, thanks for reading!
Mathias Barra

For more of my articles, you can find them here.