How To Improve Your Speaking Skills

How To Improve Your Speaking Skills

You are unlikely to learn to speak a new language perfectly, but perfection should not be your goal. Your main goal should be effective communication. I am not perfect in any of the languages that I speak, but I can communicate. And whenever I communicate in another language I'm satisfied. I also know from experience that my ability to speak and to pronounce well will only improve with time, [...]
Read more How To Improve Your Speaking Skills
Can Older Adult Learners Acquire New Languages?

Can Older Adult Learners Acquire New Languages?

I often hear this question from adult learners. Sometimes my followers on Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter bring this up. In fact, not so long ago I had the following request from one of my followers.“I want to do some research on the problems of older language learners and see what I can do to help them.”I replied by asking. “What do you consider to be an older language learner?” His answer [...]
Read more Can Older Adult Learners Acquire New Languages?
Stairs

Language Learning Process

Language Learning Progress has been transcribed from Steve’s YouTube channel.  The original video was published on August 13, 2013 Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here. Today I want to talk about how we can make progress. How do we progress in language learning? To me, the answer is very simple. Keep moving. Move forward, that’s what […]
Read more Language Learning Process
Learning Czech and Accumulating 100 Words a Day

Learning Czech and Accumulating 100 Words a Day

I studied Czech a few years ago so my statistics at LingQ for that language are not current. However, the statistics from my recent Polish challenge illustrate the fact that we can learn or add to our “known words” total well over 100 words a day. In fact in the case of Polish (since I know other Slavic languages) it is over 300 words a day. You can learn 100 words a day, if you are willing [...]
Read more Learning Czech and Accumulating 100 Words a Day
Effective Independent Lifelong Learning

Effective Independent Lifelong Learning

Independent learning is the most important issue in education today, and in many ways the most elusive or difficult issue to deal with.  More than class size, teacher accreditation, or the latest innovations in teaching methodology, developing independent learning habits, in other words, self-learning, in students, and teachers, should be the main preoccupation of educators, […]
Read more Effective Independent Lifelong Learning

How to Learn Any Language Effortlessly

When I wrote my book The Linguist: A Personal Guide to Language Learning, I began with what I called ‘The Parable of the Crooked Tree’. The author of the parable was Zhuangzi, an early exponent of Taoism, a school of Chinese philosophy from over 2,000 years ago. I referred to Taoism on a number of occasions in my book. Zhuangzi’s basic principle in life was to follow what was natural, what [...]
Read more How to Learn Any Language Effortlessly
memory and language learning

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