Passion, in any area of our life, improves our performance and insures that our motivation remains high. Learning a language is not an instantaneous process. Many advertisers tell you you can learn Chinese or French in a month, 10 days or even 3 days. This is of course unrealistic (I mean absurd). It takes time and application to develop fluency in any language: ask any baby. It is possible to learn smatterings of shopping language or travel language in a few hours. And it… Continue reading
Posts Tagged ‘chicago language schools’
Learning a Language with Passion
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Learn a New Language with Focus Language: in Person or Online
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
Would you like to learn a Foreign Language? Focus Language makes it feasible and enjoyable.
Easy to learn:
Many people believe that learning a new language is a difficult and boring task. We make it doable and fun. We provide you with the right teachers, the right materials and the right programs. We have thirty years experience helping people learn.
Fast:
We understand how to structure our programs so you can learn efficiently and fast. All you need to do is apply and enjoy yourself… Continue reading
Learning Mandarin Chinese Part 7: Characters
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Do you want to learn Mandarin? Beyond ordering food and buying souvenirs? So you can actually communicate?
Learn the Characters. It may seem a daunting tasks to learn several thousand characters.( Why don’t they use an alphabet like us? )
But, if you want to progress in the language, you need to be able to read. End of story. Pinyin is a great tool to get you started and to teach you the pronunciation of new words. But the characters contain the… Continue reading
Back on the Road
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
How do you get back into language study after stopping for a while? Life can get in the way, and before you know it, months have elapsed without your doing any study. Shame, guilt, and grief set in. Discouragement: the great enemy! These emotions are obstacles to be dealt with.
So how do we resume study seamlessly?
The first part is mental. Remind yourself it is normal to take breaks. Even after years of not using a language, we can relearn what we had… Continue reading
The Magic of Comprehension.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
I often hear this complaint from students learning a language: “I can’t understand anything”! Yes, it can be frustrating when you have been studying hard. It can be discouraging and embarrassing. But do not worry: comprehension will come. Sometimes you need to hear something 12 times to hear and remember it!
I have a student from China who is learning English. She studied English for 10 years but initially could not understand much. She had just arrived from Sichuan and was quite… Continue reading
Focus Language School in Chicago
Friday, January 1st, 2010
Focus Language has come to Chicago, one of the great American cities. We are excited to be opening a school here. There are very active, well-developed cultural venues: one of the largest Chinatown in the US, a powerful East Indian community, and so many others. Learning a language involves immersing yourself in the culture, breathing it in, living and dreaming it. Chicago is a tremendous resource to our students both local and coming form out-of town. We are now offering online classes. It is a fantastic way to learn a language very conveniently. Short, frequent, inexpensive classes make it… Continue reading
Mother Nature to the Rescue
Friday, December 18th, 2009
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
Working with native Speakers
Friday, December 18th, 2009
If you can begin to practice your new language with native speakers, you will be able to progress faster – and have fun. The process can also be unnerving or frustrating. So what are the ways to make this practice time fruitful, while keeping your morale up.?
Understand that there are two kinds of natives: good natives and bad ones. Joking aside, only ever work with people who are helpful, patient and benevolent towards you. You must feel inspired and hopeful at the end of the session. Some people want to help, but they are not a good match for… Continue reading
Developing Comprehension: the Bouncing Ball
Friday, December 18th, 2009
What is the secret of developing your comprehension in a new language? Follow the bouncing ball! Yes the old musical movies and the Karaoke parlors revealed this secret decades ago.
First, let us make some preparations. You need to get the code first. If you do not understand the basic vocabulary, you will not be able to break through into understanding. So select several 10-20 minute-long recordings or podcasts of well-recorded natural native conversations. You must have a transcript of the text for best results, as well as a translation. (The Google translation tool is state of the art and… Continue reading
Developing a Good Study Focus
Friday, December 18th, 2009
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