06Jun
6 Jun 2022
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...
Read more Monolingual or Bilingual Dictionaries for Language Learners?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”, […]
Read more How Many Words Do We Need to Speak a Foreign Language?06Jun
6 Jun 2019
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 my channel, please subscribe. I try to put out a video at least once a week on tips or experience that I have […]
Read more Patience In Language Learning21May
21 May 2019
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 words. It’s a subject that comes up all the time, how many words do we need to know? I guess I have two […]
Read more How Many Words Do We Need to Know?01Nov
1 Nov 2018
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 son and his family from the UK, my brother from Toronto. I was kicked out of my office, so I’m doing it from […]
Read more Why I Don’t Worry About Common Core Vocabulary25Oct
25 Oct 2018
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.
Read more How Not To Forget Foreign Languages11Oct
11 Oct 2018
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 Day29May
29 May 2018
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 ignore it. Other people say that you have to first learn the basics, as if that is possible to do. I am somewhere […]
Read more The Importance of Grammar Rules17Apr
17 Apr 2018
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 language to them, drilling them and correcting them. Successful language learners don’t need anyone to explain the language to them, correct them, nor […]
Read more Why We Need Language Teachers03Apr
3 Apr 2017
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 is an example of such content; a wonderful form of storytelling for language learners. The TPRS Method Over the past few weeks, […]
Read more Learning New Languages Through Mini-Stories: A Multi-Language “Wiki” Project