7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 3
Hi everybody,
I hope your study of your language(s?) is still going strong!
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.
Let's dive right in!
One video: How I learn languages without native speakers nearby | Tips for practicing languages alone - Lindie Botes
In this video, Lindie talks about different methods she's using to practice her many languages alone at home. She talks about many resources I've mentioned in the past but I especially liked her use of Siri to practice her languages. When at the beginner level, it helps avoid feeling like an idiot in front of others. When at a higher level, you can practice some more complicated vocabulary by asking harder questions.
One article I read: Why Learning a Foreign Language Is the Ultimate Brain Workout - Markham Heid
In this incredible and well-documented piece, Markham discusses the advantages of learning a language for the brain. If you're having doubts about whether to continue learning or not, or if you haven't started yet, take a look and your motivation will be renewed. I loved this particular quote in the article “Learning a foreign language is one of the non-pharmacological cognitive interventions that can boost cognition in young and older adults”. All the more reason to keep learning!
One article I wrote: 7 Awful Tips About Language Learning You Should Never Follow
As I've learned languages for more than a decade, I've seen hundreds of tips about how to learn languages. Unfortunately, many are wrong. This article is a list of the 7 worst I've seen. And unfortunately, many are too often followed. Have a read and become aware of those so you never fall into these traps.
One podcast episode: 5 Fun Ideas To Help You Get More Speaking Practice in Another Language - The Fluent Show
This podcast episode had a similar topic to Lindie's video but goes more in detail for some very original methods. I loved the idea of taking a drop-in class not only because it can help combine the language to another hobby you have, but also because it's a good way to make the language come to life.
One tool to try: Readlang
Readlang has been around for some time and isn't well-known enough in my opinion. This incredible tool can help you improve your reading comprehension by transforming any text into practice. Add a text on the website or turn on the browser extension and you can start clicking on terms or strings of words to get an instant translation right above. I love this tool. And the best is that it's free! (I don't think the paid version is worth it.) If you wonder how to use it, I wrote a complete guide here.
One quote: "You don't know a language, you live it. You don't learn a language, you get used to it." - Khatzumoto
One challenge for the week ahead: Watch a movie and find 10 sentences you want to remember
I'm a big fan of watching movies to learn a language. After all, that's how I became fluent in English 15 years ago. This week, find a movie in a language you learn and watch it with subtitles (if it's on Netflix, use this extension to get subtitles in two languages). Enjoy the movie but make sure you find at least 10 sentences you could use. It could even be a sentence you don't plan on using directly but whose format you enjoy. For example, I usually love sentences following a pattern like "You can't possibly ..." or "Not only you ..., but you even ...!" Find what you'll need in the future in movies, in context, and write those down.
For last week's challenge, writing a short text and get feedback, I wrote a short text in German and that helped me notice my main mistake is figuring out when the verb shouldn't directly follow the subject (or be inversed with it). And all it took was a few lines and 15 minutes of my time.
Let me know how the last challenge went for you and send me a mail at barra.mathias(at)gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading!
– Mathias Barra
For more of my articles, you can find them here.