The boring nature of most learner content is a real problem in language learning. Going after interesting content is often too difficult because there are too many new words and phrases. What can we do? While some learners like dictionaries, I do …
SC asks how long it took me to be able to understand TV dramas. The answer is a long time. I still do not fully follow them after 9 years of living in Japan and using Japanese for over 30 years for business. Why? Because I rarely watch them, and I…
Cliff Kwok, in a comment to my blog, asks about my experience in learning Japanese. Cliff has read my book in Chinese and would like to know more about how I learned Japanese in 6 months. I learned Japanese in Japan. I had a very preliminary expos…
I was driving home the other day and listened to an interview on the radio with a certain Jean-Paul Nerriere, who has written a book and “invented” a language called Globish. It appears that Globish refers to a simplified form of English which use…
I often see people working their way through newspaper articles and writing long lists of words into an exercise book. It is painstaking and time consuming. Usually the learner does not choose the article for study. The teacher chooses it. The wor…
Language learning is a long road, but it can (or must ) be an enjoyable one. At times the progress seems slow, as Autumnsky points out in a comment to this blog. It is important to enjoy all the wonderful moments when we are communicating in anoth…
Attitude is key in language learning. I say it accounts for 70% of a person’s success in learning a new language. I discuss the many different aspects of a successful language learner’s attitude in my book, The Linguist, available form our website…
First of all thanks to the blog reader who pointed out an error in one of my posts. Running a blog is a new experience for me. In a way it is a lonely experience. There is very little interaction with the readers. I do not know what kind of posts …
We have been enjoying some warm spring weather in Vancouver and it sure picks up everyone’s spirits. The temperature does not vary dramatically from season to season in Vancouver . Winter temperatures rarely go below zero centigrade. Sometimes, ev…
I think a key concept in language learning efficiency is simplicity. The greatest damage has been done to language learning by the complicated theories of the academic linguists. Once we get into terms like interlanguage, sociolinguists, phonemes,…
