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 ‘language school Phoenix’
Learning a Language with Passion
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Learning Mandarin Chinese Part 3: Sound
Monday, May 10th, 2010
MANDARIN AND SOUND
Language is sound. Arrgh! … Oops! … Wow! … Oh noooo! … Various combinations of sound communicate our meaning. As you approach Mandarin as your new language, get acquainted with its sounds. The better you hear, the easier it will be to understand natives. The better you sound when you speak, the easier your communication will be.
Falling in love
My advice is always to learn a language that you are attracted to. It is much easier to spend time with something… Continue reading
Grammar Practice in the Internet Age
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Intelligent grammar practice is still vitally important in language learning. It is still one of the most powerful tools at a student’s disposal. These days, there is a lot of material on language learning online. Many people are emphasizing the importance of intensive listening work. Numerous sites make great learning videos available. There are delightful podcasts, filled with humor, vocabulary and cultural knowledge. Some writers are actually saying that 90 percent of the work can be done simply by listening to a lot of recordings of natural language… Continue reading
New Tools for the Language Student
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
(A post about how to use the Google Translate Tool to practice a language.) I recently decided to brush up on my Chinese. I always roll with laughter when I see “Learn Chinese in 7 days” programs being advertised.
Whenever you learn a language, the great limitation is vocabulary – in speaking and also in understanding. Trying to increase my own fluency, I just created the following technique for practice.
I was listening to a guided meditation in English and was trying my best to translate what I… Continue reading
Meditation and Language Learning
Monday, March 1st, 2010
We think of meditation as a spiritual practice or as a tool for reducing stress. But what do they have to do with learning a new language? Actually, meditation is the ability to be fully focused on whatever activity we are engaged in in the present moment. An artist captivated by his work, or an athlete fully associated in the body and its every movement and nuance are meditating.
The antithesis of meditation is multi-tasking. I am riding my motorcycle while texting my friend, eating lunch… 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
THE EIGHT KEYS TO LANGUAGE LEARNING
Friday, December 18th, 2009
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