All You Need to Truly Ace the TOEIC Test
TOEIC, the Test of English for International Communication, is probably the most widely taken test of English language proficiency in the world. TOEIC is taken by around seven million people every year,…
Why Many People Fail at Language Learning
Right now I’ve been at my Arabic for three years and my Persian for two, I can’t say that I speak either language particularly well. I really struggle. My Farsi is now better. I’ve had the opportunity to use it a bit here and there around Vancouver, North Vancouver, especially West Vancouver. I’m now exploring Egypt in Arabic with Mohammed, my tutor, and I do struggle in our conversations, there is no question. But am I failing in the language?
How To Improve Your Listening Skills
Reading helps you acquire more words, but listening gets your brain used to the language. And of course listening comprehension is a tremendously important skill because if you’re speaking to someone, and we all want to speak in the language, if you can’t understand what the other person is saying, then it’s very uncomfortable and you can’t have a very meaningful conversation.
Do NOT Go to Language School
What the language school provides is instruction in the language. In other words, explanations of how the language works. The language school provides the materials, the textbooks, the content from which we learn, the language schools can provide encouragement and motivation also. The language school provides a social context where you meet not only your teacher, but other students. The language school can keep you going. So it is possible that for many people a language school is an ideal learning environment. Why is that not the case for me?
How to Learn a Language the LAZY Way
What I would call being a lazy language learner doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t being a successful language learner, it just means that you’re being lazy the way I’m being lazy. And so there are seven habits I think that we need to acquire if we’re going to be effective, successful, lazy language learners.
Do NOT Study Grammar
Grammar basically describes usage. So since languages evolve over time, sounds in languages evolve over time, usage patterns evolve over time. Therefore the grammar which describes the usage will evolve over time. So how useful is it to attempt to teach people what the rules of usage are before the learner has had enough experience with the language?
Italki Review: How Does italki Work for Language Learners?
The last 15 years have brought revolutionary change to language learning. Amongst the most popular new opportunities is the possibility to connect with native speakers of the languages we are learning via…
How I Learned Japanese
*** 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. Back in 1968, I was…
How to Learn Vocabulary Faster and Let Words Stick
The most important task in language learning, in my opinion, is the acquisition of vocabulary. If we have enough words, we can make sense of what we’re reading or listening to and…
Learn a Language in a Month: Is It Possible?
*** 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. We regularly see blog…
