For people who love languages, or would but were discouraged.
- Believe in yourself and have the right attitude
- Put in an hour a day
- Use a system that works... like LingQ
Free11Aug
11 Aug 2021
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, [...]
Read more Why Many People Fail at Language Learning02Aug
2 Aug 2021
5 Tips to Help You Learn Japanese
If you are going to learn Japanese, you need to decide why you are learning the language. I learned Japanese because my work took me there in 1971. I lived there for nine years, mostly during the 1970s. I learned in Japan, surrounded by the language, on my own, largely by listening and reading and using […]
Read more 5 Tips to Help You Learn Japanese28Jul
28 Jul 2021
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.
Read more How To Improve Your Listening Skills14Jul
14 Jul 2021
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 [...]
Read more Do NOT Go to Language School07Jul
7 Jul 2021
All the Tricks and Tips You Need for Learning Spanish
I think Spanish is one of the most attractive languages to learn. We can all be motivated to learn a specific language like Mongolian or Finnish because we have a friend or a particular interest. Spanish is different: there are a number of real big advantages to learning Spanish.
Read more All the Tricks and Tips You Need for Learning Spanish30Jun
30 Jun 2021
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.
Read more How to Learn a Language the LAZY Way23Jun
23 Jun 2021
How To Learn Portuguese
Many of us are watching the Olympics in Brazil. Despite all of the bad reports that we always get in the lead up to any Olympic Games – some British newspaper called the 2010 Vancouver Winter games the worst Olympics in the world ever, then there were all the problems with toilets in Sochi and now pollution in Rio – it looks like actually things are proceeding swimmingly, so to [...]
Read more How To Learn Portuguese16Jun
16 Jun 2021
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?
Read more Do NOT Study Grammar09Jun
9 Jun 2021
Italki Review: Get the Most Out of the Language Learning Resource
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 the Internet, and specifically via Skype. We all take Skype for granted today, but the app was first launched in 2003, in Estonia. […]
Read more Italki Review: Get the Most Out of the Language Learning Resource02Jun
2 Jun 2021
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 sent to Hong Kong by the Canadian government to learn Mandarin Chinese. I spent a year learning Chinese and then the idea was […]
Read more How I Learned Japanese