Language Goals and Frustrations
I had lunch earlier this week with a college professor who is head of the Asian language department in a large university here in Vancouver. He told me that a majority of…
How to Improve Your Listening Skills
Listening comprehension is the base skill, in my view. We have to understand in order to be able to have conversations with people. If we have good listening skills, speaking skills are…
Effective Language Learning: Listening and Reading
I want to cover the issue of input-based learning that I have spoken about in two past YouTube videos in Chinese and Japanese. It goes by different names but basically amounts to spending most of your time on listening, reading, working on your vocabulary and becoming familiar with the language rather than on output-activities or grammar-focused activities.
Montreal Language Festival (LangFest) 2017
This summer, from August 25-27, language enthusiasts from all over North America, and even some from Europe, gathered at Concordia University in Montreal for the second annual Montreal LangFest. What is…
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…
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,…
Who Should Correct Our Language Errors?
When we speak in a foreign language, there is a very high probability that we will make mistakes. We make more mistakes when we first start using the language, and gradually the…
Learning a Language Means Acquiring Words
People often say to me, “Steve, you’ve obviously got a talent for languages, that’s why you’ve learned so many. Good for you, but I could never do it.”
To which I say, to myself at least, why don’t you try doing it the way I do it? Maybe, rather than a question of talent, it’s a matter of the method that I use. What is my method? It’s really quite simple. It’s the relentless pursuit of words – words that I glean through content that is of interest to me. That’s basically what it boils down to.
Input, Output, and Language Hacking Techniques
In my view, there are three divergent approaches, in terms of their emphasis or principal focus, to language learning. This is true whether we learn in the classroom, online or on the street. One approach focuses on input, another on output, and a third on what I would call shortcuts and some people call language hacking techniques. These language hacking techniques include grammar study, studying vocabulary lists and phrase books, heavy use of Flash Cards, ”deconstructing the language”, memory techniques and so forth.
Understanding Russia to help you learn Russian
Russian is fascinating. It’s a beautiful language. If you plan to learn Russian, in my experience it helps to understand Russia and Russian culture.
