How Many Words Do We Need to Speak a Foreign Language?
It is tempting to believe that we can just acquire a small number of very useful words and sort of get a jump start in a language. I have never found that…
Monolingual or Bilingual Dictionaries for Language Learners?
Which is better for language learners, monolingual or bilingual dictionaries? This question often comes up. A monolingual dictionary explains the meaning of a word in the language that you are learning. A bilingual dictionary provides a translation…
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…
How Many Words Do We Need to Know?
Learning Words – How Many Do We Need To Know? was uploaded onto Steve’s YouTube channel on October 25, 2014 Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here again. Today I want to talk about…
Why I Don’t Worry About Common Core Vocabulary
Why I Don’t Worry About Common Core Vocabulary has been transcribed from Steve’s YouTube channel. You can download the audio and study the transcript as a lesson at LingQ. I’ve had family visiting, my…
How Not To Forget Foreign Languages
The question, don’t you forget your languages or how do you maintain your languages? That’s a very common question.
How do you not forget languages? The simple answer here is I don’t forget languages. I have not forgotten a language and I think there are several reasons for this.
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 to put in the time.
The Importance of Grammar Rules
Grammar rules, their importance and how we should deal with them, are a constant debate in in language learning. Some people say grammar is a waste of time, that we can just…
Why We Need Language Teachers
Many people, at some time or another, say they want to learn another language. Few manage to get beyond a beginner level. Most of these unsuccessful learners have language teachers explaining the…
Learning New Languages Through Mini-Stories: A Multi-Language “Wiki” Project
Learning new languages is easier when we have meaningful content. Content we can listen to and read that is interesting and yet somewhat comprehensible, in other words not too difficult. The three part mini-story…
