BlogPosts Tagged "fluency"
22Sep
A Guide to French Pronunciation
French was the first language where I was able to transform myself into a fluent speaker of another language, other than English. I love listening to French when it is spoken well. I think acquiring good French pronunciation is one of the challenges that French learners face, and so I would like to offer a […]
Read more A Guide to French Pronunciation06Jun
Patience In Language Learning
Patience In Language Learning was uploaded onto Steve’s YouTube channel on August 10, 2015 Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here. As you know, I like to talk about language learning. If you enjoy my channel, please subscribe. I try to put out a video at least once a week on tips or experience that I have […]
Read more Patience In Language Learning04Dec
Stop Worrying About Language Perfection
Stop Worrying About Language Perfection has been transcribed from Steve’s YouTube channel. You can download the audio and study the transcript as a lesson at LingQ. Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here. I just came back from my 10-day trip to France. I was there selling cedar shakes and shingles. These are consumed in France primarily in the […]
Read more Stop Worrying About Language Perfection23Oct
Why is Motivation Important When it Comes to Languages?
Why is Motivation Important When it Comes to Learning Languages? has been transcribed from Steve’s YouTube channel. You can download the audio and study the transcript as a lesson at LingQ. Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here. Today I want to talk about a subject that comes up all the time — motivation. I think motivation is the […]
Read more Why is Motivation Important When it Comes to Languages?10Jul
How to Avoid Language Attrition
Many people, even if they’ve only learned one foreign language, may only visit the country where the language is spoken once a year or once every few years, so it can be hard to maintain or improve those language skills. Not being able to maintain a language can lead to something many multilingual people fear: language attrition, or the weakening or loss of a language. In my case, I claim to [...]
Read more How to Avoid Language Attrition03Apr
Language Acquisition: Do Children Learn Faster Than Adults?
I think that children learn faster than adults. There is ample evidence of this, for example amongst immigrants to Canada. Rare is the immigrant family where the children don’t speak English, or French, much better than their parents. Can Adults Learn More Like Children? I also think, however, that adults can learn how to learn […]
Read more Language Acquisition: Do Children Learn Faster Than Adults?13Feb
Meaningful Language Learning Goals
The goal of fluency in a foreign language can often seem vague and elusive. It is not always clear what fluency means. Those who have not experienced the feeling of achieving fluency in another language doubt they can get there, and doubt they would know if they did. Learners often feel they are not making […]
Read more Meaningful Language Learning Goals10Apr
Use TPRS to Accelerate Your Language Learning
Storytelling is a powerful engine of language acquisition. Apparently Blaine Ray, the originator of TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling), was also the first person to create these circling stories that are at the core of the three-part mini-stories that we are now developing both for LingQ and the language learning community in general. […]
Read more Use TPRS to Accelerate Your Language Learning24Mar
Reading Stories: The Gateway to Authentic Content
A few weeks ago I started learning Greek. Greek will be my seventeenth language, and the eighth one I have started since the age of 60. Greek has relatively few words, far fewer than I expected, that I can recognize from languages that I already know, at least so far. The Greek alphabet is related […]
Read more Reading Stories: The Gateway to Authentic Content10Mar
Language and Memory
I am starting to believe that memory is not that important when it comes to language learning. I have recently started learning Greek. Most of the words are completely unfamiliar to me, and not related to languages that I already know. As I start to get a toehold in this world of new and strange […]
Read more Language and Memory