BlogArchive by Category "Learning Techniques"
Learning Techniques
05Jan
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?
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15Dec
How to Memorize Vocabulary – Is It Even Necessary?
In my opinion, the best way to memorize vocabulary is NOT to memorize vocabulary. I have always found that trying to memorize vocabulary is an extremely low-efficiency activity. No matter how hard you try, some words are going to stick and some words will not stick until much, much later.
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01Dec
The Seven Secrets to Language Learning Success: Part 2
Last week I wrote about the first four secrets to language learning success: spend the time, do what you like to do, learn to notice and words over grammar. Today’s post reveals the last three secrets.
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24Nov
The Seven Secrets to Language Learning Success: Part 1
People often ask me how I learned 15 languages. I will tell you what works for me; you’ll have to decide if this can work for you. Here are the first four secrets to language learning success...
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10Nov
Listening Comprehension: An Important Language Skill
I believe that listening comprehension is an important skill in language learning. That is what you should drive for first of all. If you develop good listening comprehension, the other skills will come, the speaking will come, even your grammar, your accuracy.
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15Sep
Should You Try Learning Two Languages At Once?
I am asked this question regularly from my YouTube and blog viewers. if I would recommend learning two languages at the same time or not. Well, first of all, a person who is learning one language and wants to learn another language or even a third language is something that I fully understand and fully endorse.
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01Sep
How Long Should it Take to Learn a Language?
Language learning depends mostly on three factors, the attitude of the learner, the time available, and learner's attentiveness to the language. If we assume a positive attitude on the part of the learner, and a reasonable and growing attentivenes...
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18Aug
Experience Is The Best Teacher
At the age of 55, I decided to learn Cantonese. I had studied Mandarin and could read Chinese characters, but I needed to develop the ability to understand how Chinese characters were pronounced in Cantonese. I went through a period of six months of intensive listening. That was when I discovered the minidisk player. For […]
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22Jul
How Many Words Do We Need to Speak a Foreign Language?
It is tempting to believe that we can just acquire a small number of very useful words and sort of get a jump start in a language. I have never found that to be the case. Of course we need to learn key words like “I”, “you”, “he” and “she” and the like, or “where”, […]
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14Jul
Tips to Help You Learn Mandarin
I studied Chinese in 1968. At the time I was working for the Canadian Government, the Ministry of Trade and Commerce’s Trade Commissioner Service to be exact. Canada was preparing to recognize the People’s Republic of China and decided that they needed to train some officials in Mandarin. I was sent to Hong Kong to […]
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