BlogArchive by Category "Techniques"
Techniques
19Apr
My 7 Goals of Language Learning
My hierarchy of goals is what I consider to be more important at what stage in my learning. There are seven of them and I'm going talk about the seven today, and then I've been giving some thought to doing one video on each of these seven goals. In other words, how do we achieve those goals? How do we use those goals to improve our ability in the language that we're learning?
Read more My 7 Goals of Language Learning24Mar
Language Learning Distractions
We live in an age where there are lots of distractions. The multiplicity of media has made it easy to be distracted from whatever task we are engaged with.
Read more Language Learning Distractions24Feb
You DO NOT Need to Be Perfect
Why do I want to talk about perfection? First of all, I am a dilettante learner. I also recognize that there are people who need the language for professional reasons because they want to get into a school so that they're not just dabbling in the language, exploring, having fun like I like to do, they actually need it. So how good do they need to be in the language?
Read more You DO NOT Need to Be Perfect27Jan
How to Learn Vocabulary
*** This post is a transcript of a video on my YouTube channel. Studying English? Here’s the transcript as a lesson to study on LingQ. I have said in the past that the best and simplest judge of where you are in the language, of what you have achieved, of your potential in that language is […]
Read more How to Learn Vocabulary07Jan
Google Translate Doesn’t Work? Google and Language Learning
I hear all the time that Google Translate doesn’t work. It’s not accurate. It’s this and that. I think Google Translate is a tremendous resource and not only for language learners. It’s not 100% and it’s better for some languages than others, but I find it extremely useful.
Read more Google Translate Doesn’t Work? Google and Language Learning17Nov
The Importance of Reading
Of course, we want to speak, we eventually want to speak a lot. Our goal is to speak. We want to speak well, but the emphasis should be on listening and reading because it's something we can do whenever we want, on our own and it really does help our brain become familiar with the language.
Read more The Importance of Reading20Oct
How to Become a Polyglot
Part of becoming a polyglot is accepting that you're going to be less than perfect. That means you're going to speak with mistakes. Your pronunciation may not be perfect, but you have this sense of achievement and the intellectual stimulus of discovering a new world, yet another new world with all of the people, and as you learn another language, then the people of that language come alive, [...]
Read more How to Become a Polyglot05Oct
Learning Languages with Netflix & YouTube
Language learning as we know is about motivation. That's the driver. That's the smart plug that triggers your interest, your curiosity. Content, which feeds that curiosity and those interests, is extremely important. Content that you like, content that has resonance for you.
Read more Learning Languages with Netflix & YouTube22Sep
Don’t Speak in Your Target Language
I think very often in the standard classroom there's a tremendous emphasis placed on producing the language, speaking the language, which is fine because that's what people want to do. But what I think is more important is what will I be able to do with the language in a year from now? And from that perspective, I'm not tremendously motivated to speak.
Read more Don’t Speak in Your Target Language25Aug
The Importance of Repetition in Language Learning
First of all, obviously when you start in a language, whatever you're listening to is not comprehensible. So you can't begin with comprehensible input. You'll begin with input, which is not comprehensible, but which gradually becomes more and more comprehensible. However, if you have access to the text, so you can look up words, then you have a chance. And if you can use LingQ for example, [...]
Read more The Importance of Repetition in Language Learning