Many language learners just want to talk. They think that if they just talk they will improve. In my experience just talking is not enough. Talking is like playing the game of language learning. In a way it is the reward. It is why we do the other...

The following is a recent exchange at The Linguist Forum on English. what are important phrases!! Posted: Feb 3, 2005 8:01 AM Reply Dear sir:I have read each and every article of the linguist site recently. I have also read free newsletters of the...

I am constantly amazed at the number of people who are surrounded by a language but do not learn it properly. Here in Vancouver there are countless people who live in English, work in English, and even watch TV and read the newpaper in English and...

People who come from a non-Western language background, have a much tougher time learning English. They do not have the Latin and Greek based vocabulary that is common to so many European languages.They have also not been exposed to the Western wa...

In strength exercises you need to work the same muscles repetitively in order to get stronger. Language learning is a little like that. Athletes in all sports do repetitive exercises to increase their strength. I have always found repeating effect...

I enjoy learning languages and I am sure one reason is because I have had success. I certainly enjoy learning languages more now than when I was a high school student learning French in Montreal in the 1950s. In those days I had no strong desire t...

More than most fields of learning, language learning is a matter of attitude. In a way it is an escape from reality. Reality is your native language. The new language is make believe, at least at first. You are pretending to be something you are n...

People always ask me how quickly they can "learn" a second language, like English for example. I always answer that it depends on your level, and whether the language you are learning shares a lot of vocabulary with a language you already know (It...

I just finished a wonderful week of skiing at Big White near Kelowna in the BC Interior. The climate is a little colder than the coastal range near Vancouver. The snow is light and plentiful. The runs were long and varied. There were steep bowls w...

I had a chat today with a lady who lives in Vancouver. She was complaining about how difficult it is for adults to learn English in Vancouver. But her problem is that her whole life is caught up with her own ethnic group. She has contacts with Eng...