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
Free30Jul
Radio program
On Wednesday I will start a 13 week radio program in Mandarin on Fairchild Radio 96.1 FM in Vancouver. I will try to encourage the many Mandarin speakers in Vancouver who need to improve their English and in most cases do not work on it in a conce...
Read more Radio program24Jul
Travel to the interior
A person on the Chinese language Forum Westca www.westca.com asked about what to do around Salmon Arm and I gave the following answer which I though might be of wider interest. There are lots of places worth visiting. You may drive the Coquihalla ...
Read more Travel to the interior23Jul
Taoism and business
Cliff asks me about the influence of language learning on my business, as well as the influence of Taoism. I discovered the thought of Zhuangzi somewhat late in life. However, Toaism can help both. I believe it is important to follow your interest...
Read more Taoism and business20Jul
To Tariq Saeed
I really appreciate your kind words. I am happy that people are interested in languages, all languages. That brings the world closer together. I respect the fact that you are a teacher. I respect the fact that you are such a generous person that y...
Read more To Tariq Saeed13Jul
More on audio learning
This is from another Forum where a language learner talked about the overwhelming influence of her native language on her ability to remember what she had read in English. She recommended that the learners try to explain what they have just read i...
Read more More on audio learning11Jul
Audio learning
I am happy to see two comments, one from Mark and one from Leo. Mark has provided a source of info on the transliteration of foreign names into Chinese. Thanks to Mark for the information. I look forward to the day when, in Chinese texts, most for...
Read more Audio learning08Jul
Scenarios
The other day someone asked me if we had scenarios at The Linguist. He meant do we have scripted scenarios of dialogues at the bank, at the train station etc.. I said no. The scenario approach is like so much else in language training; a vain atte...
Read more Scenarios30Jun
Travel notes
I was in Europe for much of June, in Sweden, London and then attending a conference on Language Instruction and the Corporate Sector in Duesseldorf. I also attended a wedding in Le Havre. France and then took it easy in a 500 year old house in a s...
Read more Travel notes20Jun
In answer to Cliff; boring content
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 ...
Read more In answer to Cliff; boring content19Jun
Japanese TV Dramas
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...
Read more Japanese TV Dramas