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
Free13Mar
On learning many languages
The following is an exchange on The Linguist Forum. a question from your book Posted: Mar 12, 2005 12:22 PM Reply Hi,My name is Zhen-ting. I bought your book about six months ago and found your language-learning journey fascinating! I read your bo...
Read more On learning many languages12Mar
Why I am against teaching grammar
I am hoping to get some feedback on these views. I often hear learners say that they want to know why a certain structure or sentence is wrong. They are disappointed when a native speaker cannot tell them "why". There are all kinds of teachers who...
Read more Why I am against teaching grammar05Mar
Written and spoken contexts
In trying to copy from the Writing correction area of The Linguist web site I ran into problems with HTML text. The result looks a little messy. I am sorry. However, this text is interesting in that it deals with the issue of grammar based learnin...
Read more Written and spoken contexts03Mar
Trigger words
I want to try out this idea of trigger words as a key to learning a language. To learn a language, like English for example, you have to master the phrases. You have to be able to use phrases correctly. You have to use phrases almost instinctively...
Read more Trigger words27Feb
Testing
What is the best kind of language testing? For English learners. If the person being tested is going into an English language school or English language program I think it is unnecessary to test the learner. I believe that language programs should...
Read more Testing26Feb
What is coming next?
Over the next few posts I will talk a little bit about testing. How effective are the existing language tests for English? How do we know what our skill level is in another language? How can other people best judge our skill level? Is our own subj...
Read more What is coming next?24Feb
Obsessive compulsive disorder and language learning
In Jeffrey Schwartz's book The Mind and the Brain, he points out just how constantly adaptable the human brain is. Research has shown that this adaptability or plasticity continues throughout our lives. The brain is constantly retraining and rearr...
Read more Obsessive compulsive disorder and language learning22Feb
Improving Pronunciation
The following from our Linguist Forum may be of interest. One of our learners, Assad, sent an MP3 file of him reading a text. This enabled our tutors to pick out areas to work on and provide the following recommendation on improving pronunciation....
Read more Improving Pronunciation20Feb
More on vocabulary and learning
I read the following books on vocabulary, all published by Cambridge and purchased through Amazon: Vocabulary in Language Teaching by Jack Richards, Learning Vocabulary in Another Language, by Paul Nation, Vocabulary, Description, Acquisition and ...
Read more More on vocabulary and learning18Feb
Skiing and words
The last three days I have been skiing at Whistler. There was not a cloud in the sky for two days and today is a little overcast. The snow conditions are not ideal but not bad. A little ice in spots and some bare patches. You kind of have to pick ...
Read more Skiing and words