For people who love languages, or would but were discouraged.
- Believe in yourself and have the right attitude
- Put in an hour a day
- Use a system that works... like LingQ
Free25Feb
25 Feb 2020
Constant Improvement in Language Learning
I have talked in the past about some of the major technical advances that have improved language learning, for example, mp3 technology. Fifty years ago I would listen to an open reel tape recorder in my room in Hong Kong when I was learning Mandarin Chinese and now my telephone has become a super […]
Read more Constant Improvement in Language Learning18Feb
18 Feb 2020
The Best Way to Learn a New Language
Good language learners notice what is happening in a language. They notice the sounds of the language, and the structure and the vocabulary. They notice as they listen and read. They notice when they use the language. How can we train ourselves in the ability to notice, in order to become good language learners?
Read more The Best Way to Learn a New Language11Feb
11 Feb 2020
Learning Cantonese: How I Went About It
I lived in Hong Kong from ’68 to ’70, two and a half years, but my main task for the first year there was to learn Mandarin. Thereafter I worked at the Canadian High Commission, mostly in English, or in Mandarin on my visits to China for the twice annual Canton Trade Fair. Also, although […]
Read more Learning Cantonese: How I Went About It04Feb
4 Feb 2020
Tips for Learning Russian
I wanted give some important tips for learning Russian. First I'll explain about the writing system, then some interesting things to remember about Russian verbs of motion, aspects of verbs and cases.
Read more Tips for Learning Russian28Jan
28 Jan 2020
Reading May Be the Secret of My Success in Language Learning
Breaking News –Special Report: A new way of recording and transmitting information has been discovered, even more convenient than mp3 technology. It’s called reading, yes, writing things down for others to read! Someone commented on one of my recent YouTube videos where I said, in Japanese, that Japanese people who are learning English might […]
Read more Reading May Be the Secret of My Success in Language Learning21Jan
21 Jan 2020
How Long Does It Take to Learn Spanish?
How long does it take to learn Spanish? How long does it take to learn any language? I hear these questions quite often. There is no simple answer. It is really up to you. The US Foreign Service Language institute published some numbers about how many hours required to learn different languages. For Spanish the […]
Read more How Long Does It Take to Learn Spanish?14Jan
14 Jan 2020
The Swedish Language: How I Went About Learning It
I was born in Sweden. I lived there until I was five. I imagine that I only spoke the Swedish language for that period. I have no recollection of transitioning from Swedish into English after we moved to Canada. My parents decided we would speak English in the house. My parents were actually from Czechoslovakia, […]
Read more The Swedish Language: How I Went About Learning It07Jan
7 Jan 2020
How to Learn Chinese: My Top 6 Tips
I studied Mandarin Chinese 50 years ago. It took me nine months to reach a level where I could translate newspaper editorials from English to Chinese and from Chinese to English, read novels and interpret for people, I did this in the age of the open-reel tape recorder, long before the age of the Internet, […]
Read more How to Learn Chinese: My Top 6 Tips31Dec
31 Dec 2019
Can We Sound Like a Native?
Today, I’m going to talk about speaking like a native, sounding like a native, because it’s a discussion that showed up sort of in response to my latest video, which I did in Japanese. Sometimes I study on LingQ using the computer. Mostly, however, I use my iPad because it’s more comfortable […]
Read more Can We Sound Like a Native?24Dec
24 Dec 2019
How To Learn Portuguese
Many of us are watching the Olympics in Brazil. Despite all of the bad reports that we always get in the lead up to any Olympic Games – some British newspaper called the 2010 Vancouver Winter games the worst Olympics in the world ever, then there were all the problems with toilets in Sochi and now pollution in Rio – it looks like actually things are proceeding swimmingly, so to [...]
Read more How To Learn Portuguese