7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 48
Hey everybody,
I hope your week was marvelous!
Updates
I had a tiny slump on one day but my week was great overall!
There’s a new event in Genshin Impact so I followed the dialogues in Korean and then again in Chinese. Since I understand Korean a lot better, that helped me know the context the second time around and guess many words I didn’t know! Loved it.
I’ve also gone forward with the Thai script and found even more aspects I found messed up. Just when I thought I had learned all the tone rules, they threw in a curveball with 4 signs that overrule the normal rule. I was like “Nooo, you gotta be kidding me…”
Thinking about processing it all on the go in sentences, I became overwhelmed for a moment. Luckily I was able to catch myself and remember I’m learning these rules so I can recognize get used to spotting them as quickly as possible.
I should be done with the alphabet by Wednesday so it’ll be time to start diving into some basic sentences and grammar patterns. Until then, I’ll continue listening to Thai songs like this one to get used to the sound of the language.
On a separate note, I’m preparing some exciting things to share with you all in the incoming weeks or around the New Year, so stay tuned for those!
Alrighty then. Let's dive in!
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: How to have successful language lessons and choose the right tutor 📝 7 italki tips — By Lindie Botes
I haven’t used tutors much in the past but am currently considering starting to make that a part of my study habits from January onwards (when I’ll have more flexibility in my schedule). Well, this video is one I’ll rewatch without a doubt before I choose a tutor. It’s filled with great tips. As expected of Lindie!
One article I read: Understanding culture is key to language learning — By Hope Wilson (Duolingo Blog)
You might know how much I dislike Duolingo but I should recognize when they do things right. Well, this blog post is exactly that. It touches on an important aspect of learning any language. Not making culture faux-pas. I’ve done countless faux-pas in the past so I’m happy to see them cover this topic. Bonus point: it’s told through a nice personal story!
One article I wrote: How To Get Recordings or Transcriptions for Free in Any Language
I didn’t post any new language-related article this week so here’s an oldie but a goodie. This piece is a complete how-to guide to use Rhinospike. A website to get free audio samples of texts or transcriptions of audio files. With more than 73,000 records in 86 languages, there's already plenty you can use on the platform, but you can also create your own requests. If that’s not a treasure grove, I don’t know what is!
One podcast episode: Minimum Effective Dose And Language Learning — By Real Fast Spanish
I had never heard of “MED” but loved this idea. As long as you keep learning a word a day, you’ll always be improving. You could spend years not doing anything more and still maintain a language at the minimum. This could be a great habit to add to your language journey too!
One tool to try: LibriVox
I had completely forgotten about this one until I found it in my bookmarked pages from years ago. That’s so many years of listening practice lost! Librivox is the audio version of Project Gutenberg. It’s audiobooks recorded by volunteers in dozens of languages, all available for free because the books are in the public domain! I spent half the week listening to German books —like this one—sometimes reading along on Project Gutenberg.
One quote to ponder: “Ambition without implementation is a ridiculous delusion.” — Robin Sharma
Current biweekly challenge: Make a tiny presentation to yourself
How about challenging both your writing and speaking abilities? For these two weeks, spend some time each day preparing a short presentation in your target language so you can record it by the end of the two weeks. You can also make a shorter one each week, of course!
Sum-up of the 1st week of the challenge:
I’m loving reading Will Smith’s autobiography, Will, so I decided to make a small presentation in Korean about his life and what I think about it. I’ve written a bit but haven’t gotten corrections on it yet and want to make it longer so I’ll keep writing it this incoming week.
If I’ve got time, I’ll also add a short presentation in Thai as I planned but it’d probably be a tiny one!
Let me know how it went for you by replying to this mail or commenting!
As always, thanks for reading!
Mathias Barra
For more of my articles, you can find them here.