14Dec
How Should Languages Be Taught in School?
14 Dec 2021

How Should Languages Be Taught in School?

Education
It's not a good idea, in my opinion, to demand grammatical accuracy from language learners in school, because so few of them end up speaking the language. What does it matter whether they are able to nail niceties of grammar at the age of 12? To me, it doesn't matter. If there's some way of making them enjoy the process of language learning so that they expose themselves to the language, they [...]
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07Dec
The Definition of a Polyglot
7 Dec 2021

The Definition of a Polyglot

Motivation
As people who speak multiple languages, polyglots like to use those languages; we like to see how we do. But there is an element of performance. Are you better than me? Am I better than you? For some people that’s fine. I think a lot of us are very happy, in fact, when we hear somebody speak better than we do.
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02Dec
2 Dec 2021

Common Language Learning Problems

Motivation
What are the main problems that I see amongst language learners? First of all, most people don't realize how long it takes to learn a language. So people get frustrated. They get particularly frustrated when they get to that first level where all of a sudden they know a bunch of words and they realize just how little they know of the whole language.
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17Nov
17 Nov 2021

The Importance of Reading

Techniques
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.
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10Nov
10 Nov 2021

Introverts Vs Extroverts in Language Learning

Motivation
The myth is that there exists a battle in language learning: introverts vs. extroverts, and that extroverts are the better language learners. I do not believe at all that you need to be an extrovert to learn a language. Language learning comes down to the three keys: number one, attitude. You have to be interested in the language. You have to like the language. You have to believe you’re [...]
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27Oct
27 Oct 2021

スペイン語の学習に必要なヒントやコツ

日本語
  何度も言ってきたことですが、言語の学習で重要なのはやる気です。何度も繰り返し言い続けているのは、言語の習得は才能でもなく、クラスや教師や勉強の仕方でもなく、主にやる気が関係しているからです。タスクに費やす時間、そして気づくこと。その言語がどうなっているのかに気づくことです。優秀な言語学習者は気づくのが上手になっていくと思うんです。言語に何が起きているのかをより意識し、それにより敏感な学習者が上達も速いですね。     私個人の意見ですが、 [...]
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20Oct
20 Oct 2021

How to Become a Polyglot

Techniques
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, [...]
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