Focus Language School: Chicago & Phoenix

If you have read some of the posts I wrote about improving your comprehension through listening intensively, you are ready for the next step.  To do nothing.  That’s correct.  Nothing at all.  You actually need to listen to recordings daily for a while until your internal language machine takes over.  Have you ever used voice recognition software?  (Dragon Speaking Naturally, for example).  You actually have to train the software to recognize your own unique voice.  Until it does, it cannot type out what you speak.
This is exactly what you are doing here.  You need to hear  French or Chinese… Continue reading

What is a good study focus?  There are several possibilities, based on your specific language goals and personality.
The Personality component
As a student, are you  systematic? intuitive/spontaneous? casual? driven? solitary? social? Realize that you need to adjust any scheduling suggestions to your way of learning and doing things.
Language Goals
1.  Developing a deep and thorough knowledge of the language.
You want to master the language.  You are committed for the duration.  To achieve this goal, you need to develop your capacity in the 5 areas of language learning systematically.  Assuming a 5-day study schedule, you want to work… Continue reading

When you are serious about learning a language, there are many things you can do to insure that you progress efficiently.  This post outlines the most important ones.
1. Clearly understand what you need to learn to progress fast. You need an accurate “map” of the language you will be exploring.  This is a clear outline of the skills, content and time elements involved in learning a particular language.
2.  Learn how to learn most efficiently. There are specific  principles and techniques which facilitate this.  You take the various elements of your map and you learn how to master each… Continue reading

Learning a Language can be hard work.  Persistence gives great results.  Discipline does too.  But there is an element seldom spoken of these days: fun.  Everyone extols the virtues of “learning a language the way children do”. Children, above all, want to play and have fun; and they integrate this in any task they undertake. This is what makes them language sponges: they don’t know they’re supposed to suffer.

Enjoyment and fun make learning so much easier, and enjoying yourself is the most effective technique you can use.  It will increase the value of everything else you do.  Conversely… Continue reading

Learning Facets
If you want to break through the fluency language barrier, you need to understand the interplay of the basic learning elements.  There are 5 main ones and 2 supplementary ones.

Main Aspects
Pronunciation
Vocabulary
Grammar
Speaking
Comprehension

Secondary Aspects
Reading
Writing

The main aspects are absolutely vital – all of them.  You want to work on each one of them: continuously and systematically.  As each one develops, it automatically interacts with all the others and reinforces them.  For example, improving your pronunciation will allow you to speak more fluently, memorize vocabulary faster and actually hear… Continue reading

Developing your ability to speak

Developing your ability to speak is easier, because it is more under your control.  Increasing your comprehension automatically increases your ability to speak.  You will hear the language inside your mind much more clearly.  Words will come to you as you need them.  But what steps can you actively take to speed up the speaking process?

1.  Get yourself ready before you speak.  Listen to recordings.  Listen to a recording and try to repeat as much as you can without stopping it.  Read a text you’re familiar with outloud. All these activities get… Continue reading