7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 59

Hey language lovers

I hope you all had a lovely week!

Updates

Mine was almost perfect!

I settled in Chiang Mai last Friday and since started to catch up on all the things I had pushed back. I’m almost back on top of every message I needed to answer.

I started running in the morning to visit the neighborhood and get my health back on a better track too.

Chiang Mai University is quite close so I also get to hear students talk as they pass by me in the street. It’s still way too difficult for me but at least it’s not cryptic sounds anymore!

I already found a restaurant I enjoy where the owner is nice enough to exchange a bit with me. It’s not much but I was happy to understand when she asked me if the food was spicy.

I felt extremely proud to reply Nit Noi (นิดหน่อย =“a little bit”)!

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

Let’s Talk Learning in Context… — By ABC Chinese

I loved this short but clear video about how pointless learning from a list of words is. I’ve seen too many people say you should learn boring “most-used words” lists. If the list they proposed was 20 words, I’d say go for it. But 500 or 1,000? Hell no.

Learning a word in a new language isn’t enough to know how to use it. You have to learn how to it fits in a sentence. You have to learn it in context.

As said in the video, the “most used words” may not be the most useful for you. There’s no point in learning the word for “taxi” if you want to read about the country’s history in the year 1274 AD.

I doubt they had taxi back then.

📚 One article I read

Do you consider yourself a good language learner? — By Lindie Botes

What an amazing piece Lindie wrote here. She shares her thoughts on the topic after she was asked this question last year and brings us along.

Her thought process is inspiring but it’s the conclusion that makes it shine even more: a good language learner is one that enjoys it.

Whether you prefer following a strict plan or just letting it sink in, if you enjoy the process, you’re a good learner.

Speaking the language will eventually come with time.

✍🏽 One article I wrote

Your Language Learning Routine Is Lacking These 5 Crucial Habits

I hate seeing people give up learning languages altogether. And, trust me, I’ve seen way too many do it. It’s disheartening.

In this piece, I reflected upon what I think are 5 common reasons people stop improving and give up.

Now, here’s the kicker I didn’t mention in the article.

The 5 habits I mentioned are important but if you’re going to do only one, choose the first—to write by hand. Handwriting is the best way to cement things into your brain.

But, hey, if you can do all five, why wouldn’t you?

🎧 One podcast episode

Andrew Hamerlinck on What Sports Coaches Can Teach Language Learners— By Language Hacking Podcast

I’d have to write a whole paper if I were to list every good tip found in this gem of an episode! Instead, I’ll give you one and highly encourage you to listen to the whole conversation.

My favorite tip was about fitting language learning into your life. We often either go all-in or do nothing. Andrew explains you should play with what he calls “dials.”

If your perfect version of studying means 1 hour of a few specific activities, that’s a 10/10. Not studying is a 0 or a 1/10. What would a 7 be then?

Evaluate what you could do for each dial and accept you can’t always be at a 10.

That’ll make the journey more pleasant and will help you stay consistent!

🌎 One cultural aspect to discover

Overtime at work differences

The two cultures I’ve lived in the longest are the French and the Japanese cultures. And their perception of overtime highly varies.

In Japan, you have to say “Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu” (お先に失礼します) if you leave before the others—even if you’re leaving on time. Shitsurei means “rude.” You’re apologizing for leaving on time.

The unwritten rule is to stay until your boss has left, which can be a lot later than your original end-of-day hour. Korea has a similar rule.

In France, overtime is accepted but not expected. There are rules in place to prevent too much overtime.

You can have some overtime included in your contract but the total overtime per year cannot go above 220 hours. If they do, you must be compensated in equivalent rest hours. Most French people aren’t careful about their rights though.

In Mexico, overtime may not exceed 3 hours per day nor 3 times a week and payment must be 100% above the regular agreed hourly rate.

That brings us to a different topic. Payment of overtime.

Each country will have its own rules.

In France, you can be paid in money or equivalent rest. In Germany, overtime is forbidden unless it’s mentioned in the contract. There aren’t rules about higher remuneration. In Thailand, overtime on a normal day is paid at 1.5 times the rate but if you work overtime on a holiday, the remuneration is 3 times the regular pay!

If you’re curious about rules on overtime in more countries, you can have a look at this website!

No matter which country you’re in, try not to work overtime too often!

📜 One quote to ponder

“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” — Mark Twain

💪 One monthly challenge

Record yourself for a month

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

Like last week, nothing much to mention here. I missed a few more days. I improved my accent a bit but not much.

I’ve also started to practice shadowing with more varied content so I can learn different sentences.

It’s all great to know how to say well “I want to learn Thai before I go back to France,” but if I can’t say anything else, what’s the point? 😅

How is the challenge going for you?

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As always, thanks for reading!
Mathias Barra