Vocabulary Archives - The Linguist

22Jul

22 Jul 2020

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 to be the case. Of course we need to learn key words like “I”, “you”, “he” and “she” and the like, or “where”, […]

07Jan

7 Jan 2020

How to Learn Chinese: My Top 6 Tips

Learning Chinese

I studied Mandarin Chinese 50 years ago. It took me nine months to reach a level where I could translate newspaper editorials from English to Chinese and from Chinese to English, read novels and interpret for people, I did this in the age of the open-reel tape recorder, long before the age of the Internet, […]

06Jun

6 Jun 2019

Patience In Language Learning

Learning Languages, Learning Techniques

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 […]

21May

21 May 2019

How Many Words Do We Need to Know?

Recommended

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 words. It’s a subject that comes up all the time, how many words do we need to know? I guess I have two […]

17Jan

17 Jan 2019

Google Translate Doesn’t Work?

Learning Techniques

I hear all the time that Google Translate doesn’t work. It’s not accurate. It’s this and that. I think Google Translate is a tremendous resource and not only for language learners. It’s not 100% and it’s better for some languages than others, but I find it extremely useful.

01Nov

1 Nov 2018

Why I Don’t Worry About Common Core Vocabulary

Techniques

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 son and his family from the UK, my brother from Toronto. I was kicked out of my office, so I’m doing it from […]

25Oct

25 Oct 2018

How Not To Forget Foreign Languages

Learning 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.

11Oct

11 Oct 2018

Learning Czech and Accumulating 100 Words a Day

Motivation

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 [...]

29May

29 May 2018

The Importance of Grammar Rules

Learning Techniques

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 ignore it. Other people say that you have to first learn the basics, as if that is possible to do. I am somewhere […]

17Apr

17 Apr 2018

Why We Need Language Teachers

Learning Techniques, Traditional Instruction

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 language to them, drilling them and correcting them. Successful language learners don’t need anyone to explain the language to them, correct them, nor […]

I speak 20 languages