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alwaysabeautifullife · 4 years

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How did you learn so many languages. Do you have any tips?

Yes!!!! Yes I do!!!

Everything I wish I could tell myself before starting my language “journey” lol:

🦩Dont be intimidated

Don’t be intimidated, specifically by doing listening or speaking practice. I know in the US (or for most English speakers), when we hear someone that speaks perfect English but merely has an accent we think “they don’t speak English”, but from experience this mentality is not shared with other languages. When you know even a little bit of a language or can’t speak it very well, natives speakers are really really encouraging. I think since we view not being 100% fluent without so much as an accent, as “not knowing any of a language” we are hard on ourselves and give up pretty easily.

🦩Listening practice is as important as studying vocabulary and grammar

When you listen to native speakers talk, you are training your ear even though you don’t understand it. Listen and listen, eventually your brain stops picking out English words that aren’t even there, but rather, starts to catch patterns in the language (for example, the same words sticks out to you over and over).

🦩Set realistic and doable goals or you’ll get discouraged and quit

If you are a busy person, make small goals to fit language study in. Don’t tell yourself that you need to master _____ within a week. Instead give yourself 15 mins of reading in the evening, and 25 mins of language listening in the morning. It’s also easier to add the language into stuff you do on a daily basis anyway. For example if you are religious, find your prayers you pray daily in the language you are learning.

🦩learn to read the language first (obviously this tip might not be applicable for character based languages like Chinese)

I know everyone says “immersion is the best and most important part of language” but honestly, a lot of our native speaking knowledge comes from our literacy education. When we are taught how to read, it’s through reading we can discover new words through context. It’s also easy to pick up new language reading since it’s available anywhere, where immersion is only available when you are surrounded by native speakers. The first thing I do is learn how to read and write the language, then the entire language becomes accessible to me.

🦩Spend time perfecting the sounds of the language that are most difficult for you

The vocal sounds of a language is the foundation of a language. I know we are all impatient and want to simply learn as many phrases as possible as fast as possible, but if you get down the unfamiliar sounds of a language that don’t exist in English, you’ll have a better foundation of the language and your speaking and listening will be better from the very beginning. So take the time to practice those weird sounds by looking into the position of the tongue and where the sound comes from, from the chest to the lips. Look into how tense the mouth is, how much air comes from the lips, what the sound is like next to other sounds. When you master this speaking becomes more instinctual and it’s easier to pick up the language.

🦩Search YouTube, google, Instagram IN THE LANGUAGE YOU ARE STUDYING.

Don’t search “korean music” or “korean kids tv” or even “korean vegetables” in google. Just translate how to say them in a translator app, then copy and paste them into the search bar. This way native korean information, videos, posts will come up. For example, if you’re in the mood for some horror comics, and want to read/watch them in the language you are learning, go to the translator app, and figure out how to say them, then search it. It works way better, even if the translation isn’t correct or more natural, you’ll still get the information, posts, and videos you want to see.

🦩Find ways to practice speaking the language (I use HiNative) and don’t be discouraged by corrections.

Getting corrected does not mean you’re wrong, corrections are the most useful part of learning a language. If you are the type of person who is sensitive to criticism, you need to remind yourself corrections are NOT criticism. They are NOT a reflection of your progress, they are NOT you failing! You will always be corrected as a language learner and the sooner you are gentle with yourself in learning the sooner you will learn more. Get those first corrections out of the way, allow yourself to butcher pronunciation, get corrected for the first 10 times, let it sting a little and move on. Eventually you will be begging native speakers to tell you every little detail in where you went wrong!

🦩Tv and Books seems to be more useful for immersion and listening practice then music does

So far in my experience music is its very weird and abstract, and the things said in music aren’t really useful in speaking? It’s good for gathering vocab, but if you want music listening practice that’s music based try searching for rap in that language, although obviously you’ll be picking up a lot of informal language in music/rap. Tv shows however are typically how people really do talk, so turn off English subs and just listen! Books are really useful for learning new vocabulary, but sometimes written language is different than spoken (often), although when you speak it the way you’ve learned from a book the worst you’ll sound is “formal and poetic”.

🦩Look up “insert language you are learning phrases and words that aren’t useful or correct”

There so many programs and books that teach you phrases you’ll never use or that are only appropriate in very specific situations. I don’t know why language programs do this, but learning which ones are weird or only in specific settings before you start learning really helps. Chinese Especially does this...like I learned so many phrases and words that natives will never use and have no purpose???

🦩Know the different subjects of learning a language and which apps to use for that

Everyone uses Duolingo, but this app alone won’t make you speak a language. Duolingo and Memrise are great for memorizing vocab, but, is it vocab that in the context of your reading and listening practice? Are you learning words you are hearing and reading all the time? Duolingo is a lot of fun but I feel like the vocab is so broad and it doesn’t go deep enough into the language. Feel free to use it at first to get used to the sounds of the language, but try using flash card apps like quizlet or Anki instead where you can write down and study words you are hearing constantly. Memrise does have actually study sets for many language books and lessons! So you can study words you are hearing in specific programs and books which is pretty useful in regards to vocab.

There obviously is more than just learning vocab. What about grammar, listening practice, speaking practice and reading? If you are wanting to use primarily apps find out which apps are available for your language. Here is an example of the apps I use for each subject. Be aware some languages are not available on them.

Vocab: quizlet, anki

Grammar: books (printed or kindle), YouTube grammar lessons, websites

Reading: books (printed or kindle), beelinguapp, instagram (posts that have text), Netflix/YouTube with both subtitles in the language you are learning and spoken in language you are learning, epic app

Writing: just use paper and pencil/pen

Listening: audio books (beelinguapp/epic/kindle/YouTube), tv and movies (Netflix/YouTube etc with no English subs), conversations on YouTube (search in language you are studying, don’t search “Spanish conversations” or “Japanese conversations”)

Speaking: HiNative (pretty much all I use since it’s all languages, quick, and you get immediately answered and corrected by native speakers), get friends in language you are learning through lots of apps

Translator: it’s really hard to find a good one, most of them are really weird so only use them for words and the most basic or simple phrases and sentences, otherwise use HiNative to ask native speakers directly, or ask people on the apps that connect you to native speakers

🌱I should note that for talking to native speakers I only like HiNative, since it’s built to NOT be a form of social networking at all. It’s not personal in anyway, and there’s no way to private message or speak to other users outside a asking questions publicly. The people on there are only about learning or teaching a language, not usually making friends. I’ve found the sites that are built to make native speaking friends aren’t useful to me personally, as most of the native speakers are either dudes looking for a woman to date or people wanting to only practice English with you, so they wasted a lot of my study time. People who are willing to help you learn are there, but it takes time to filter everything else out. If you would find it helpful to make friends by all means use them but I don’t really use it myself.🌱

You don’t want to really study EVERY SUBJECT every single day (unless you have the time). It can get really overwhelming, and you don’t really absorb information that if you are just cramming. While I would say it’s good to read and listen daily, spread subjects out over the week. Grammar on Monday and Friday, vocab on Tuesday and Thursday. Take one day to review all of what you’ve learned all week. Pick a day you have the largest block of free time. Bi-weekly works fine too.

I have an old post on how I organize my study time for multiple languages: https://alwaysabeautifullife.tumblr.com/post/182817883372/what-do-you-use-to-learn-your-languages-im

🦩Write sentences daily of everything you’ve learned (no THIS I RECOMMEND DAILY)

Write as many as you can. Use all the grammar you’ve learned, the words you’ve learned, everything! Write them in your notes and submit them to be corrected in HiNative. The sentences they correct, put them in flash cards!

🦩It’s ok to abandon languages you aren’t passionate in

So you’ve learned to read the language, and you know basic phrases, and now you just don’t want to do it anymore. If you can’t think of any reason to maintain it and don’t know why you are studying it, learning some of the language is good! Fluency does NOT need to be everyone’s goal. You can hold a conversation, and that’s good enough for you. Feel free to try out various languages, there will be one or some that really are your passion, it’s fine to have the goal of fluency in those and conversational in others.

Don’t abandon languages however because you feel discouraged. Discouragement is just a bump to get over, when you train your brain to maintain study habits through the days you feel discouraged, you make it habitual. Habits are harder to break and abandon! Evaluate your reasonings for wanting to speak a language, and your reasons for abandoning them if you want. Don’t let difficulty, disorganized, discouragement, or poor time management get in your way!!

🦩With all that said it’s ok to take breaks

It’s ok to get overwhelmed and take breaks from language learning. If you can still maintain what you’ve learned by listening to music in your language or staying connected in some way that’s good, but the “you’ll loose a language” isn’t entirely true. I’ve taken year long breaks and refreshing what I learned previously is pretty easy! Your brain really does go “oh yeah I do remember this!” when you’re studying information you studied years ago.

🦩Be gentle with yourself

Be gentle with yourself. People that claim to be fluent in 6 months are selling something or want to be an influencer. Don’t compare yourself to them. Language learning even for natives is a lifetime education. It’s not something you do for 6 months then stop. It’s continual and that looks different for everyone (yes native speakers included). Don’t bother watching YouTube videos on how to learn in 10 mins or 3 months, you’ll only get discouraged about your own amazing progress and all the work you’ve done.

🦩Plan your “can you say something in it” phrase now

This one is just for fun but after hearing you are learning a language the first thing you’ll get asked is “oh cool you speak (insert target language here)? Can you say something in (insert target language here)?” It does not matter what level of fluency you are at, you will absolutely forget the entire language and your own native language when you are asked this because it sends your brain to another dimension. So think of some funny phrases to say to people who ask, master them, then when they ask what they mean you can have a laugh. Other wise you will say something stupid of jumbled words (my go to was ‘we women are fruit’ for some reason thanks brain you’re incredible) you’ve learned that don’t belong in a sentence, or even worse you’ll run a blank and you’ll just look at them like:

🍳👄🍳

So think of inside jokes to tell your friends, funny phrases, even goofy insults! Memorize them and tell them at your friends and family to torture them because they can’t escape sound waves! It’s a good way to memorize the language but also to become confortable speaking it!

Please excuse any errors I don’t wanna go over my mistakes so pretend u can’t see them 🙈

#langblr #learning languages #korean #spanish #italian #portuguese #lang resources #lang apps #lang

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thewritershelpers · 4 years

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Improving Your Writing when English Isn’t Your First Language (mega-ask)

As you can see above, we've gotten more than one question about writing, improving your writing, and even publishing in English when it's not your native language. First off: that's awesome. To anyone writing or even consuming in a language that's not your first, kudos to you.

You can google any variation of this question and get different articles with a ton of the same advice, and some with conflicting advice. Not only have I compiled the most commonly repeated information, but I've also reached out to people on our Discord server and others for their personal experiences.

I'll start off by listing concise versions of the advice and then expound on them further on in the article. Remember that we are not experts on your writing and that everyone learns in different ways and at different paces. These are in no particular order.

-be patient

-practice

-get feedback from native sources

-don't undermine yourself to your audience

-Grammarly

-research

-don't get discouraged

Be patient

That's first because, well, duh. Patience is so important for both yourself and your writing. Writing is hard enough of a passion without the added difficulty of doing it in a language that doesn't come naturally. In the world of literature, writing/publishing in your non-native language isn't just a matter of translating words. It requires translating of ideas, concepts, and even cultural norms, which is why just slapping it into Google translate won't work.

Part of the reason for the advice of having patience, too, is that writing in your native language needs to take time. It doesn't really matter how fast you can whip out 20 pages of a first draft--it'll still be a simple first draft. Writing is a craft that requires not just love and passion but time. So what if you need a little bit of extra time--or a lot of extra time--because you're accomplishing a feat most don't even think about attempting?

Next is to practice.

That goes hand in hand with what I said about being patient. Again, writing in and of itself is all about practice and doing it daily (not that I'm an expert on getting that done, but you know). But when it comes to practice another language, there are different ways you can do that. You can reach out to native speakers (for English, there are going to be so many people willing to help, even just in our community! you just need to ask) and practice having conversations or ask them to look over your work. Practice by turning on your favorite movie or TV show in English with subtitles in your native language. Watch videos on YouTube, find a Spotify playlist/podcast, in your target language. There's also plenty of people who have done what you're trying to do who have shared their experiences and what helped them on those same platforms.

Get feedback from native speakers

This is a bit of an expansion on what I mentioned in the previous paragraph. In my experience, and from what others have shared, writing in a non-native language can be pretty clinical. Writing with figurative language or in metaphors won't be as easy or come as naturally as it does in your own language. Things like idioms and even pop cultures reference aren't always going to translate even if you have the exact words. That's where native speakers come into play. If they're willing to look over your work, whether as a friend or in an editorial position, they can give you advice about whether the wording in one spot sounds clunky or if a phrase doesn't make sense or if there're synonyms for what you already used to help convey your message even stronger.

Don't undermine yourself

This is something that I personally am saying. It's not mentioned on any of the linked sites, and no one I talked to said it. But as someone who is a native English speaker (and even has a degree in it) I think this is super important. This point goes towards native English speakers/writers, too. Don't undersell yourself and undermine your work to the audience before they have even picked it up. Disclaimers are different, and it all comes down to the words you use and how you use them. Let your readers know, whether it's people on AO3 or a literary agent, that English isn't your first language. Let them know concisely that they may find some basic errors--but stop there. Don't grovel. You have nothing to apologize for, especially once you've given that warning (those is it really a warning? what's so dangerous or scary about a few mistakes?). You're writing is not going to be any less of an accomplishment for a few grammatical errors, or mistranslated phrases, or even typos. I've seen so many mistakes in published works that it's kind of ridiculous. But if you put something out there for someone to read and in the same breath say "I don't know that this is worth reading" I'm going to need extra convincing to pick it up. *kicks soapbox away*

Grammarly

*NOT sponsored*

Grammarly is a wonderful tool that you can use, for FREE. It not only (with the free version) helps correct spelling and grammar, but can also help point out the tone you're writing with. For example, right now, Grammarly is telling me that this writing sounds mostly informative--which it's meant to be--and a little appreciative and friendly. When sending emails I've had it tell me that it sounds formal (which I was going for), and I've also had it not say anything because the text was a different kind of writing (like when I'm proof-reading something being posting it on AO3...). I honestly don't know what else it helps with once you've paid because I've been happily using the free version for about 3 years now.

Research

Don't be afraid to pick up a book, or head to the library, or pull up Google. Research is paramount to writing anyway, let alone once you're doing it in another language. Your research options are limitless and can include your mutuals on social media as well as those dictionaries that translate from one language into another. Research can also include (in my humble opinion) binge-watching/reading your favorite things...in English. In four years of university, one of the most frequently said things was to improve your writing 1) write every day and 2) read every day. You're never going to learn from worrying or overthinking, and you're also never going to learn from just doing DuoLingo (that's more conversational than literary anyway).

Something a member of Discord specifically said in relation to research was to look at morphology, at the roots of words (and root words). Morphology is, in linguistics, looking at how words are formed. For example, let's look at "biology". There are parts to this word that each has a different meaning, that formed together created a new/elevated meaning. "ology" means the study of something, and bio means life. So biology is, simply, the study of life. Once you've got those basics of things like "ology" under your belt it'll become easier to not just translate words but the concepts (if this works with your learning style).

Last but not least, don't get discouraged.

Writers of all kinds get discouraged when writing in their native language. Even those of us who speak English as our first language make mistakes worth discouragement (you will never know how many typos were corrected by Grammarly as I wrote this all out the first time). English is not an easy language. It's not the hardest, but it's far from easy (learning another language isn't easy regardless of what languages are involved). This is a post from someone who is a non-native English speaker but you would never know unless they told us.

While researching for this, I found some articles/blog posts that said mostly the same thing, and are where I got some of the information

This one is from a native English speaker giving advice

This one is for writing for non-native English readers, but still has good advice

And finally this one is a blog post (I think) from someone who is a non-native English speaker!

In specific response to some of the asks:

English, like any other language, changes. It's a very dynamic language, actually, and from region to region, there will not only be different accents but different frames of reference. 1950 isn't so far back in time for the English to be drastically different from what is spoken today, but I'm in the USA and you're asking about Oxford. English in England has very different nuances, even more so than you would get between California and Texas and New York. This is a link to the Oxford English Dictionary list of words that became more common in the 50s. However, this is a generalized list, not specific to any English-speaking country let alone region or city. If you're wanting to look at how to convey the accent of people from/in Oxford, there are videos on YouTube of people speaking in different accents so that you can have an idea, a comparison, at least in your own mind. With the 50s it's going to be more just thinking really of what words and lifestyles and things weren't around yet; cell phones didn't exist yet. Here's another link to some stock images of Oxford in the 50s. Remember, this time was very close to WWII so there'll be lingering effects of that, especially in England.

About fight scenes and curses, there's a ton of resources on that. If you just search "fight" on our page, you'll get a ton of posts answering that question. Also, here's a link to a superb and excellent source on writing fight scenes. When it comes to curses...just watch Rage Quit on YouTube, or spend a while on TikTok. If you want to dive right in just Google "English curses" and there'll be YouTube videos, entries on Urban Dictionary, you name it.

When it comes to publishing, once you've gotten your manuscript is a perfect time to have a native-speaking friend look it over. Whether editing is their thing or not, they'll be able to help with the things that are really obvious. I don't have any experience publishing in a different language, though, so there might be other resources along the different stages to help you. Some general publishing advice I've gotten: when wanting to publish fiction, literature, start small. Start with short stories in literary journals, online and in print. You really can't make much headway with large publishing houses without a literary agent and it'll be easier to attract one if you have evidence that you can write, and write well enough people want to read it. When it comes to poetry, just start submitting. Get familiar with the process, and educate yourself on things like simultaneous submissions and a good rejection. Publishing is an ever-changing game that isn't cut and dry in any language or country. We can't tell you what's best, but my advice is to go with your gut and try your best. Don't be afraid to try again, too.

Everyone overthinks their writing. Or at least, everyone I know who writes does. Honestly, in my opinion, if you're not overthinking at least a little bit, you're not worried enough. You will never be able to fully know whether you've explained or described enough. A good chunk of the experience is up to the readers, so you have to leave them some wiggle room for imagination. But that doesn't mean you have to cheapen your story or short-change your characters. You mention specifically that you're POC, which I'm gonna guess also means that your characters will be POC. It's never too much to specify the race/ethnicity of your characters, even in a fantasy work. How you go about writing those descriptions might need to change but it's kind of like chocolate chips, in my mind: you decide those things with your soul.

So, there you have it. A ridiculously long way to say: you're awesome, you do you, practice, love yourself and your writing, and don't be afraid to put yourself out there (in any way).

(images read:

Anonymous said: Im writing a book based in Oxford in 1950s. how was the language different from now. I am not from an English speaking country at all. Never been outside my country either. And Im going to write a book based in England in English

Anonymous said: Hi there, I’m a writer for almost 3 years now but since English isn’t my first language I get discouraged easily if things I write come off strange to myself. Do you maybe have any advice for me, on how to motivate myself and not comparing myself with native English speakers? Thank you in advance!

Anonymous said: Hello! I starting to work on this shortfic but it’s been really hard. It’s like I’m trying to building a house alone and with my bare hands. Even though I’m already used to write in mother tongue. Any advice for non-english speaker trying to write their first story in English?

Yaelburstine said: Hi. Do you have any tips about how to write a good fight scene and curses that people speak English get cus’ it’s not my first language

gyger said: I am not a native english speaker, but most of the books I read are in english and I generally prefer writing in english as well. However, I am worried about making mistakes that I can’t recognize myself. I have no idea how good my english is to a native english speaker, plus some things are easier to write in my native tongue (such as dialogue). I’m also worried about publishing, since that definitely would be easier in my country than abroad. How do I decide what language to choose?

Anonymous said: As a POC writer and English as their second language, I overthink all the writing I do. I feel like I don’t describe my ideas thoroughly or my character descriptions are vague or not good enough. I’m currently working on a YA novel but I plan on writing a YA fantasy novel but I feel like my lack of vocabulary and grammar structure makes me give up on finishing my book. Is this normal for native English speaking authors or is this considered a language barrier thing? Thanks! Love your blog!

Thank you for your questions, and for your patience as we do our best to answer them.

-S

#TWH Respond #ESL #writing in a second language #mega ask #improving English #resources

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cinnamon-medical · 3 years

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Studyblr Introduction March 2021

Hello!

I would like to introduce myself a bit, so the studyblr community can get to know me :)

Basics

- my name is Ruth (she/her)

- 20 years old

- biotechnology / medicine

- sagittarius

- ravenclaw (sometimes I feel like I do not fit in this house :D)

- GMT+1

Something more about me

- As I mentioned, I currently study biotechnology, but I applied to medical school and I am actively preparing for entrance exams. I plan to explain more in other post.

- My natural hair isn’t ginger. (#exbrunette)

- I secretly love Kpop. Officially, I love Kodaline, Conan Gray and Lana Del Rey.

- I used to take German classes, but after I graduated, I stopped using the language actively and forgot big part of it, soooo it’s time to come back to Duolingo :D (I am open to chat with anyone german-speaking :D)

- Occasional postcrosser

-Kitty and Doggo owner <3

The reason why I start a studyblr

I believe having a studying blog can make you enjoy studying and actually look forward to it. I want to give it a try :) I was a little bit discouraged, because I do not own fancy stationery, my handwriting looks messy and my notes are far from neat, but everyone starts somewhere, right?

I hope you will like seeing my posts, (I hope I’ll be as active as possible) and do not be shy to send a message if you want to :)

I really look forward to be part of this supportive community full of inspiring people <3

#studyblr #studyspo #studying #productivity #introduction #student #biotechnology #medicine #notes #bulletjournal #bujo #gingerstudent #college #university #first year #mine #original

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taylorlearnsjapanese · 5 years

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How did/do I learn vocabulary?

This is a question I’m asked quite often and I usually have a different answer each time. The reason is because I have no set way I learn vocabulary. This post will focus entirely on my experience and journey with vocabulary. Grammar will be a topic for another day. ;)

In my opinion, there is no set way to learn vocabulary. I can’t stare at lists and lists of words and suddenly they’re memorized, but I have! I can’t use flash cards because they take too much time, but I have! Kind of see where I’m going with this? I’m the perfect example of an informal or unstructured learner/studier.

I am a lazy learner. THE LAZIEST. I’m all for fast and easy ways to learn without so much as lifting a finger. Insane, right? Totally. Extremely insane for a beginner like I was. Butttttt, I did it though. Was it smart? Probably not. Did it work? Well… kinda?

I also want to point out that I’ve never studied Japanese in a classroom setting nor have I had tutors to teach me.

Okay, what I did:

I started learning Japanese on June 11, 2018. I’m going to list the resources I’ve done roughly up to this point in time that this is posted.

Please don’t take my views on the apps and resources listed as final say. Everyone learns differently and I suggest you try all of these resources out! Things that don’t work for me, may work for you and vice versa.

DuoLingo. It was the only app I really knew of that was credible. I drilled the crap out of that app! That’s how I got my foundations in kana, my first words, and first kanji!

DuoLingo is good in some ways, but bad in others. It’s perfect for repetition and getting you to think about those words over and over. But that’s also why it’s bad. Each step makes you go through like, what?, four or five tiers or whatever they’re called? By the time you reach that fourth of fifth tier, it’s just annoying to do that pattern over and over again before you can move on. This is just my opinion though, some people thrive off of that. Don’t knock it till you try it, ‘kay? I’ve heard the app has changed some since summer of 2018, so I’ll have to check it out again.

LingoDeer. Gosh, I love LingoDeer. I really need to use it more. It is the best app ever to introduce you to grammar when you have no idea where to start.

Workbooks. I got my first workbooks (not textbooks) at the end of June 2018 (I had been learning for roughly 3 weeks by that time). It was Learning Japanese Hiragana and Katakana and Learning Japanese Kanji Volumes 1 and 2, all published by Tuttle. As I worked through the kana book I managed to learn many vocabulary terms from the exercises in the back with the writing exercises (all spelled in hiragana and katakana, there is no kanji in that workbook). I tried and dabbled lightly in the Kanji Vol 1 book, but I wasn’t ready for that just yet back then.

I ONLY used those resources until the end of August 2018 and added Memrise too my list of apps during that time. I gained A LOT of vocabulary knowledge (and some basic grammar but that’s a post for another day) just from using three apps and a kana workbook over two and a half months.

It was nothing fancy like some people tend to think? I didn’t somehow learn all these words over night.

Textbooks. Genki 1 and it’s workbook was my first ever textbook. This is one of the most widely known textbooks out there for learning Japanese from scratch. Most people know how vocabulary works for that resource. Each chapter introduces vocab and you learn it as you study the grammar and do the exercises.

Um, so, I’m gonna be honest for a second. I HATE TEXTBOOKS. I hate them with a fiery passion. *clenches fist* I stopped using Genki after completing half of the book because I felt like I learned nothing. It just wasn’t the resource for me.

At this point you’re staring hard at your phone, tablet, or computer like WHAT? Yeah… I didn’t hate them at first!! But because of my laziness and informal learning style, I grew to haaaate them. Textbooks are too “cookie cutter” in my opinion. But Taylor, don’t you use one right now? Yes, and let me explainnnnnn. I find that textbooks don’t give you freedom to expand!

Remember when I asked on Instagram what were some things you’d like me to discuss or talk more about? One user messaged me and wrote,

“How [do] you apply grammar and vocabulary? Because I try to come up with sentences on my own then look up examples of its usage but I continuously use the same type of examples. But when I look at other example there is so much vocab and other grammar structures that go into play that I don’t understand, so it’s hard for me to find a balance that will make me push myself but also know that I can decently understand…”

That’s EXACTLY what I struggled with, with Genki! Textbooks only provide examples for that lesson and the grammar it teaches at that point. So you only know those words (and grammar) in those contexts only. You try to make your own sentences but you end up only using those words and those grammar points over and over.

There’s simply no opportunity to expand.

Then when you look up other examples you see other new words (and grammar) and it freaks you out because suddenly you don’t feel like you’ve learned anything! This is the e x a c t reason I hate textbooks.

My answer? For me, I don’t depend on textbooks anymore for vocabulary. They’re amazing for referencing vocabulary and pulling grammar structures, but textbooks only give a limited amount of vocabulary and if that’s all your rely on when learning grammar, it’s going to be rough. It stagnated my learning when I did that.

When I make my own sentences now, I pull vocab I've been learning from apps, social media, reading, etc. I could go on and on about this, but that’s not the point of this post. I’ll discuss my more of my hatred for textbooks later. Same with grammar and how I make my examples and such. I’ve already gone off on a tangent long enough, hehe. (I hope that answered the above question though! If not, I hope future posts will! Or just message me, lol.)

Other textbooks I have used after Genki for vocabulary gain is Basic Japanese by Tuttle and the にほんご90日 series.

YouTube. Japanese Ammo with Misa is my love. I love her videos and her personality. Her teaching style is relaxed, but she gets the job done. She has a wide variety of grammar videos along with lots of other videos related to Japanese and Japan.

After my downfall with Genki 1 and some discouragement that led to a nearly three months hiatus of studying, I started using her videos to get the grammar knowledge I needed in January 2019 (I have been learning (counting the hiatus) for about 6 months at this point).

It’s the perfect things for a lazy learner like me, hehe. I could sit down at my desk and watch one of her videos (they can be anywhere from 8 to 40 minutes long) and watch, pause, and rewind as much as I wanted to write notes with ease. I was learning the grammar I needed to know and learned SO MUCH VOCABULARY.

She uses common words you find in textbooks, but she also throws in culturally relevant words. She references Pokemon, manga, TV/anime, music, etc, vocabulary all the time! She even teaches the informal/casual variations of words along with formal/polite variations and that’s where I gain so, so, so much vocab! I still use and reference those videos to this day!

PRESENT DAY:

Okay, I just explained what I did to start learning vocabulary from the beginning to about ~5 months ago. I rambled a lot, I know… But did you kind of see the point I was hoping to make? I did not stick to one resource for learning vocabulary (and kanji).

I didn’t not, nor do I still, learn vocabulary in a “traditional” way. There is no one way to learn everything you need to know. Over that course of time I learn about ~35-40% of my current vocabulary knowledge. Wait… Taylor… You learned ~35-40% of your vocabulary over the course of 10 months, but you’ve learned the other ~60-65% in less than 5 months? Yes, and I’ll explain below~~~

What I mainly use now, app wise, to gain vocabulary knowledge is Memrise, Quizlet (rarely though), Kanji Tree, and LingoDeer. I even use Instagram to learn new vocab too! I follow users who teach vocabulary (and grammar) with their posts. Yes, you will see lots of repeated terms but that’s exposure and review!

Here are some profiles I really like for introducing vocabulary (new or review): boxofmanga, japanesepod101 (Instagram infographics only), japanese_language_mlc, j_aipon, blue_aoi, and _urabanashi_.

I also suggest you find native Japanese Instagram users. Not just celebrities or idols. I mean average natives who use Instagram the same way we use our private accounts. I follow larger profiles (500+ followers) for the fact that I don’t want to be a creep and follow someone who only has like 100 or 200 followers. So, I follow some “mommy blog” Instagram's because they tend to use simpler vocabulary when referring to their kids. I also follow some book reviewers, writers, and one guy who loves camping! You get to see lots of natural Japanese this way and it shows common words that are used. I don’t understand a lot of it, but I’m being exposed to the language!

And by now you’re asking, “Okay, but how do you learn vocabulary NOW?” I’m going into N4 if you’re going to look at this from a JLPT stand point, but I don’t only learn strictly N5, N4, N3, etc level material. (That’ll be another post too, lol. Pssst… it’s another “cookie cutter” issue with me.)

Well, those apps mentioned above, obviously, but those only make up about ~30% of my vocabulary gain now. I use my textbook にほんご９０日 Vol 1 as a reference and gain some vocabulary there and I have a couple JLPT related vocab/kanji lists I use too, so that’s like another ~5% of where I get my vocab.

I get the other ~65% from reading. Yup. Reading. Literally that’s it. I read all the time. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to learn Japanese!

I have a short story digital bundle I read often from TheJapanShop.com and it’s aimed at beginners and becomes “harder” as you move to the next book and so on. I read through them and when my brain sees a word I know I’m like, “Cool.” But when I don’t know a word I see, I either look it up quick and write it in the margin or I continue on. I learn a lot through context clues.

Here’s an example sentence from Story Two in Book One of the Japanese Reader Collection offered from TheJapanShop.com.

「この傘は、雨が降るといつのまにか傘が開き、晴れると傘が閉じている…」

Roughly translated to “This umbrella opened unnoticed when it began raining and upon it becoming sunny the umbrella closed…”

When I read that sentence, I knew all the vocabulary except いつのまにか. The stories have lovely vocabulary guides, so when I looked it up, it said that it meant “before one knows; while unaware” and I took what I knew from the rest of the sentence and managed to learn that new word as a result! This is the best way I could explain how I use reading to expand my vocabulary… ^_^” Just taking what you know and expanding on it over time. I use this same method for grammar, but that’s saved for another post, lol.

I also use NHK New Web Easy to read articles about current events in Japan. It’s set up for native elementary and middle school students so they can read within the kanji and vocabulary they’ve learned so far in life. Guess what? That’s PERFECT for a language learner who has an okay-ish foundation with vocabulary. I learn so much everyday vocabulary that way.

Lastly, I read books and manga. Yup, manga. I don’t use these resources much right now because they’re bigger and more intimidating. I haven’t “officially” started a book but I’ve opened and read passages quite often to sort of test myself. Manga is simpler since there are fewer words than a novel, but they’re bigger than a short story or a news article. You’ve seen on Instagram that I’ve begun reading よつばと！ and so far I’m having a blast! I’ll talk about specific things I’m reading later.

Sooooo…. That’s basically it.

Most of my vocabulary gain now is through exposure to Japanese through social media (bless the internet), reading, and some usage of apps like Memrise and LingoDeer. I use no formal education or study plans or any structure at all.

My word retention grew to be nearly double these last ~5 months because I built on what I knew and it grew easier and easier for me to learn and retain those words over these last few months. I never believed it, but there is definitely a language hump. Once you crawl over that, things simply become easier. It just takes A LOT of time and effort (and tears) to get over that hump. But, I believe anyone can do it, you just have to be determined and eager enough.

One tip I like to give is to learn through context. Don’t just learn lists of words and kanji. What’s the point? You can recite them, but can you USE them?

Oh, quick thing, I want to point out about how I personally learn vocabulary. I failed to realize this right away when I started learning Japanese, but quickly caught on and now hold onto this belief firmly.

I learn vocabulary and kanji together.

I do not separate the two. I do not have a separate notebooks for vocabulary and kanji. I don’t even have a notebook at all actually for them, lol. When I post on Instagram that I’m focusing on kanji today, it means I’m just learning vocabulary or reviewing it. The 1026字の正しい書き方 book I use that teaches “kanji” is mainly for vocabulary expansion and how to write those kanji (stroke order). I don’t study the individual meanings of the kanji character, I study the example words it lists. That’s one way on how I’ve been expanding my vocabulary so rapidly.

Kanji is vocabulary.

Kanji should be treated the exact same way that hiragana and katakana are treated in my opinion. Jokingly, kanji is just fancy kana. ;)

If you “fear” kanji, you’ll have a bad time. I joke and say now when I see an insane kanji or a difficult one, “Damn, that’s some angry squiggles right there.” and it makes learning it that much more enjoyable. :)

For example, 食 means “eat, food.” Okay, cool that kanji has a food related meaning. But I’m not going to do that for thousands of kanji especially since each kanji has multiple readings depending on how it’s used. It’s simply impossible! I found I personally learn better when I learn the kanji in it’s “true” form, aka, in WORDS.

食べる - to eat / 食べ物 - food / 食事 - meal / 朝食 - breakfast / etc.

Holy crap, not only did I learn the kanji 食 effectively, I learned four words and THREE other kanji! (I’m over dramatic, I know, lol.)

Vocabulary is all interconnected. You can’t learn one thing without stumbling and learning other things by accident. Learning through exposure is the best in my opinion. It’ll be tough to begin with when you don’t know much and it will cause you to doubt yourself and your ability to learn this language. But, just be patient. Learning five, three, or even one word a day is progress.

Small progress eventually builds up to big progress as Yuta says. ;)

Words are meant to be strung together and form sentences for you to read, enjoy, and react to. That’s why books exist. You read those words and sentences and they make you feel warm and fuzzy or cry or laugh. Don’t keep them at an arm's length and treat it like it’s some delicate flower. Language is a not just lists of words, kanji, and grammar points. It’s a culture and way of life for people. Treat it like an old friend and play with it (or go get a beer with it, ya know, whatever gets this point across, lol)!

I tend to treat language learning like I’m a curious five year old. I’m constantly asking questions and discovering new things and it just sparks that fire that makes you want to explore more and more.

I don’t take it seriously (from an academic view) and that’s why I find some stuff so easy. It only becomes difficult if you make it difficult. Everyone learns differently. There is no one way to learn Japanese and there is no one way to learn specific parts of Japanese. Also, don’t compare yourself! It only ends in self doubt and discouragement.

Explore and try out all sorts of things. Try out the free apps, read articles online, watch YouTube videos, just do SOMETHING. Don’t look for the “perfect” resource or routine. Just. STUDY. You’ll find in time what works for you and what doesn’t.

Language learning is no race. There is no ribbon or trophy at the end for becoming fluent overnight. Take your time and enjoy the process, you’ll be learning your whole life, ‘kay?

I’ll talk further on how I review it in another post. :)

#studyblr #studygram #japanese #langblr #langblog #vocabulary #taylor talks

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donnerpartyofone · 5 years

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21 Questions

Tagged by @getoutofmyhouse who had oddly similar answers to mine

Nickname: only the one I use here, that I gave myself--Claire Donner, which has to do with my famous love of cannibalism. Claire is my real first name, though.

Zodiac: I am so very cuspy. I was born at about a quarter to midnight on April 20, so I tend to relate to, and feel insulted by, the suppositions about Aries and Taurus equally. I’m one of those jerks who will tell you astrology is a bunch of hoo ha...and then drone on with my Many Esoteric Ideas about it, so I’ll just stop myself right here.

Height: 5’ nuthin is what I prefer to say...because saying I’m 5 and 3/4′ sounds a little like saying I’m 10 and a half years old.

Amount of sleep: It’s all fucked up. Until I got into my 30s I could, and would prefer to, sleep endlessly. Now I go to bed around 10 (depression), get up around 5 or 6 (being old), and for extra fun, I’ve developed this insomnia that often keeps me up from about 2am-5am. I try make the most of it by getting up, getting high, watching a movie or two, writing...basically just having a secret private day by myself. I’d really rather go back to just sleeping constantly though.

Last movie I saw: I saw GRETA in theaters tonight, which was ok. I guess I thought any Neil Jordan film would be headier than this, but watching Isabel Huppert just running around acting like an absolute maniac is a rare treat! My last video experience was RAW, which I put on to bother my husband right when we got home from the theater. (I think he liked it more than I originally did, to my surprise)

Last thing I googled: The correct spelling of Sylvia Likens’ last name. I’m obsessed with this type of crime where a group of people (usually a family and/or some of their friends and neighbors) fall into some kind of shared hysteria where they protractedly torture to death an acquaintance for no particular reason. Some times there’s an element of mystery as to why the victim didn’t leave while they were still able to, which suggests to me that the murdered person was just as much a victim of the groupthink as the perpetrators. Other example victims include Suzanne Capper, Vera Jo Reigle, and I think to some degree Sophie Lionnet, James Bulger, and Junko Furuta. (Also a crime they briefly discuss in the book Lords of Chaos, where several people murder a friend in their trailer, but I can’t remember it specifically enough to look up the names--the other last thing i tried to google) I keep thinking there should be a psychiatric and/or legal term for this kind of crime, but I’ve never heard one, so let me know if you got one!

Favorite musician: I have trouble with questions that involve ranking anything, so I’ll just say that right now I’m listening to a lot of old White Zombie. I didn’t know anything about their origins as an East Village noise band, and I’m fascinated by the stories about how apocalyptically miserable it was to be in that group. I’m increasingly obsessed with people who work their asses off doing something they barely even enjoy, for what must be borderline spiritual reasons.

Song stuck in my head: Nothing right this second, for which I am very grateful. There’s something awful in my brain that causes me to wake up with some maddening, babyish tune stuck in my head more often than not. It is most frequently the Ten Little Indians nursery rhyme. This is literally killing me.

Other blogs: @anhed-nia, which started as a dumping ground for long posts about mental illness, and turned into almost only movie writing. at some point there was just so much movie shit that i started to feel awkward about posting anything personal there again. i also got @getoffyrass which is a group blog, and a repository for images that make great drawing references. everyone is encouraged to post their drawings, too, although it is seldom used. i still like having it around, for when i have time to draw. my “real” drawing blog is @neveratendermoment but i don’t draw often enough anymore...

Do I get asks: i used to get tons! i really enjoy them, even the trolls to some degree. i must have seemed like more of a regular tumblr geek girl back in the day. also tumblr has just changed a lot since then. my blog was definitely a casualty of Best Stuff First, i think my follower count stopped dead forever right when that happened, and now that practically every single fucking thing on this entire site is either fandom shit or *discourse*, i really have nothing to offer tumblr anymore, anyway.

Blogs following: 1,057.

Lucky numbers: 2! Also 5.

What I’m wearing: black wool long john pants from Chrome, and a white v neck teeshirt with the words BLACK MAYONNAISE on it in black Rocky Horror font. i live near the notoriously toxic Gowanus Canal, and “black mayonnaise” is the actual term used to describe what’s on the bottom of it, by the scientists who are trying to figure out what to do with it.

Dream trip: i am really excited by travel, it’s hard to pick. i’m hopefully making a dream trip soon though: my father’s mysterious finno-swedish family is from the åland islands, and my husband and i will be planning part of our honeymoon there, whenever that happens.

Dream Job: i think about this a lot, because the older i get, the more i object to the entire concept of having to work to live. i’m into the whole universal basic income thing. i’m at this point where i can barely stand to think about capitalism in any way--like i think about how the need for money is so mortally serious that there’s a lot of physical stuff in the world that only exists because someone was scared of starving, tons of useless products and packaging and factory byproducts and all kinds of fucking straight up garbage that was only invented due to the lethality of poorness. i would rather be left totally alone forever if possible. however, if i HAD to do something and i COULD do anything, it would probably be film criticism. this fantasy takes place in a world where people care so much about what i have to say that i can make a career, not only out of movie writing, but out of only writing about the specific movies i want to write about, referring to nothing other than my personal reactions.

Favorite food: i wish the answer weren’t just “cheese”, but it probably is. also mushrooms. anything cinnamon. i’m a pretty adventurous eater though. the most important thing for me is a variety of flavors and textures.

Languages: english. i took several years of italian in junior high-high school, and did nothing with it. i taught myself to read french pretty fluently, but i would fold right up if someone tried to speak to me. i learned a bunch of swedish on duolingo, shoulda kept it up. i’ll get back to it! i really regret never learning spanish though, so i’m easily torn on what to do with my time.

Play any instruments: clarinet in junior high/high school, also alto sax which i did not enjoy at all, a little guitar. i bought a used electric bass last year that i have really been enjoying, but i feel a lot of guilt around not playing enough. so much of it is just strength training. that’s probably what i like about it, though. also i got a lot of electronic music software and midi controllers and stuff...and then i realized that it could take me months to sort through the thousands of samples i have to program this stuff, and i only got so far into it before i started to get discouraged. i need to get back to it, it’s ridiculous to let that stuff lie around. this is a rare example of me wishing i knew someone local to play with, who could speed me along on how everything works.

Favorite songs: another one of these impossible questions! anybody who is even reading this can probably guess the answers from the handful of music posts i reblog over and over and over. the other night i got all hyperactive and forced my husband to drop everything and listen to “buffalo stance” by nene cherry, which i never ever get sick of. real top contenders for favorite song might be “Stand By the Jamms” by the klf, and this recording, which has gotten me through many difficult hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8k1HsF3EvY

https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/sunray-sonic-boom-music-for-the-dreamachine-cd/STRAWB.003CD.html

Random fact: i’m sure i’m missing out on something really funny and cool, but for now it’s just the well-known fact that i read palms.

Describe yourself as aesthetic thing: man, how do i answer this without being totally pretentious? maybe nobody can! i’m coming up with something really hard to describe but it will be worth it. the other day i watched this insane, completely unnecessary movie about lorca and salvador dali (played by robert pattinson) as gay lovers. there’s a scene in it where lorca does that “pick a hand” thing to dali, and dali picks an empty hand. of course, they’re both poor students who couldn’t be buying any gifts, so they do this obnoxious pantomime where dali pretends lorca actually gave him something--but then it turns out that lorca really DOES have something. he opens his other hand and gives dali...SOMETHING. i don’t know what! they make such a big deal out of it, but what the hell? you see it for a second in this closeup, but it’s shot from like, behind and slightly underneath, and it is just unrecognizable. it’s sort of an orange blob? it’s probably meant to be a sculpture. but, i love the idea of doing the “pick a hand” thing to somebody, and the other person is just like...hey wait a minute, what the fuck even IS this??

it reminded me of one of the most amazing things anyone ever did at my school, bard college. this genius art student who I WISH I COULD NAME TO CREDIT HER did her senior project as this like...made up product. i saw them at the senior show, hanging off a spinner rack, like you’d see next to the register in the drug store. they were called Toilet Buddies. they were these plastic, brightly colored objects that looked like toys, but they didn’t have a familiar earthly shape, and because of the title, it was IMPOSSIBLE to imagine what to do with them. so, she gets the lipstick cam from the film department, and shoots this video of herself sneaking some Toilet Buddies into Walmart. then she takes them to the register and BUYS THEM--the baffled cashier looks for them for a while, and eventually just rings them up as a general grocery or something. then in part 2, the artist TAKES THEM BACK TO THE STORE WITH THE RECEIPT AND GETS A REFUND.

so anyway, i see myself as like a fake product--something that looks just familiar enough to exit, and that appears to have a designated purpose, but it’s just kind of cheap and foreign and it becomes nightmarish to try to imagine what to do with it.

I don’t know if anyone i know will want to do this, but i tag @negativepleasure @moviesludge @former-contender @dimestoreman @thefuzzydave @darkarfs @theoddsideofme @blueruins ...um, i don’t really know who would enjoy this. the ultimate would be @garbagenacht

#long post

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su-eop · 7 years

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A Review of Lingodeer

I’m really excited to bring you guys another app review today!

Lingodeer is a brand new app that is designed by actual language teachers/native speakers for specifically learning the three main East Asian languages: Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. And it’s totally free! If you haven’t heard of them before, you can check them out here: https://www.lingodeer.com/

I’ve actually been wanting to review this app for a while, but the iOS version wasn’t available until just the other day (and I only own Apple devices!).

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this review, the (iOS version) app is currently build 1.0, so any of the following may or may not change going forward as updates are applied.

Unlike for my review of the Duolingo Korean course, I did not complete the entire available skill tree that Lingodeer’s app offers. I found going through the lessons that there wasn’t any need to complete the tree in the vain hopes that the course might magically get better. Lingodeer is very good right out of the gate.

Your first stop on the app is the “alphabet” section, as it should be. Like Duolingo, Lingodeer unfortunately uses a form of romanization to teach the letters (see my Duolingo review for an explanation about why that’s bad) but that’s where the similarities stop. Lingodeer presents the Hangul letters in an order that actually makes sense, and in a way where learners can understand they are actually using letters to build sounds and eventually, words. Also, stroke order! That was a delightful and welcome surprise, which will come in handy for users actually wanting to learn to write the letters properly.

Heading into the first set of lessons (the “Nationality” section of the above screenshot) the user is greeted with a list of the lessons contained in the section, and to the left side, a menu labeled “Learning Tips”. When I selected the first lesson, I was initially disappointed to see that the romanization followed me but I quickly found that there is a setting the user can toggle to switch between Hangul and romanization, Hangul only, and romanization only.

Jumping right into the lesson, the user begins learning words and grammar that are pertinent for beginners to know, which is again, something Duolingo fails at. Additionally, all the audio is voiced by a native Korean speaker, and the quality is very clear and easy to understand.

The exercises in the lessons are fairly standard for apps of this nature (match a picture to a word/sound, unscramble sentences, listen to a bit of audio and enter the answer, choose the word/grammar bit that doesn’t belong, etc) and are on the whole unremarkable. However there was a conspicuous lack of explanations about why the grammar works the way it does, why the lesson kept trying to drill -은/는 into my brain with no indication about why it was important... Until I accidentally brushed part of the screen with one of my fingers on my way to the “next” button and a small window popped up to explain the word and grammar I had unintentionally poked at! There is no indication on any of the exercises or lesson screens that the user can press the words or grammar points for tips, instead of just blindly clicking through the lesson and guessing.

Upon completing the first two lessons, I decided to check out the “Learning Tips” menu from the lesson selection screen, and found the in depth answers for all my previous questions and more were contained there. I feel like the app and users would benefit from somehow marking very clearly that this is the location to find all that information, instead of hiding it behind an ambiguous “tips” label, especially when the tips in the lessons themselves exist (invisible though they are). In my opinion this section should be required reading, especially as this app is directed towards total beginners, however even something like “grammar explanations” would be a big step up from “tips”. Putting an indicator somewhere on the lesson screen to draw attention to the fact tips are available there too would be a good idea as well.

The app also contains a review section, where the user can practice and review both vocabulary and grammar that they have covered in completed lessons, which negates the need for a separate SRS app at the very beginning stages of learning (though I do recommend it at higher levels).

And a bonus that does not pertain to the Korean section of the app itself: I encountered a bug while using the app and sent off a support email. I received a very prompt and polite response regarding it, and assurances they were working on fixing the issue. :) Lovely people over there at Lingodeer.

That all said, there are a couple things I don’t like about the app and it’s claims. First and foremost, there is no option to test out of skills or individual lessons. The app is designed for absolute beginners with no prior knowledge, yes, but being unable to test out of parts of the skill tree is discouraging for not-exactly-absolute-beginner users. Instead of having to spend the time to complete a whole bunch of lessons to get to one or two they might need, not-quite-newbies are better off just looking up the information online for a quicker answer.

Second, the listing on the app store claims that by using the app you will be at the “intermediate” level of knowledge, and the official website claims that if you complete all the lessons you will speak your target language. I find both of these claims laughable--the contents of the lessons will get the user to a mid-high beginner at best (late A2 on the CEFR scale) and the app doesn’t have any speaking exercises at all. Speaking recall can be very difficult if the learner is not actively practicing it. Remember: No one app, book series, website, or lesson set will be enough to get you anywhere near fluency alone.

But ultimately, the Lingodeer app is a very, very big step in the right direction and is everything Duolingo should have been but wasn’t. I would definitely recommend using Lingodeer along side a good set of grammar textbooks or when taking a class.

Check out the official Lingodeer site for links to the app/play store to give it a download! https://www.lingodeer.com/

Do you have another app or Korean learning source you want me to review? Send me an ask!

#korean #learn korean #korean language #korean grammar #study korean #langblr #studyblr #Korean langblr #korean studyblr #한국어 #한국어 공부 #한국어 배우기 #한국어배우기 #lingodeer #Soo reviews

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weirdpolis · 7 years

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shewhodoesnotexist said post: Sometimes I wonder how the heck I managed to learn...

I can sympathise with that, I had a few aporoaches to other languages and all failed, and nowadays it’s exactly my proficiency in English that discourages me… But, a month ago I started learning Spanish on Duolingo, and it’s been great! Good luck with your Norse language! (Is your father’s language Silesian?)

Spanish is a great choice, hope it keeps going well for you :)

I had french classes in highschool, and some “cestina” during my anthropology studies, but both were cursed with terrible schedule placement - I always ended up trying to catch up on reading under the table - for the next class, where we had tests or questionings every time. All I can say now is je ne comprands pas and ne mluvim cestinu.

I figured I’ll change that - hopefully, starting with one of the languages I’m genuinely interested in will get me into swing. I mean, the library has also courses in danish, japanese, french, german... and it feels really great to actually do something you always wanted, but never had time?opportunites?guts??? to do

And yes, I meant silesian when I spoked about my father’s tongue. He stopped using it after being bullied (by the teachers! ugh), and now I only know some bits and phrases - and I weep over contributing to the dying out of this regional treasure.

#this is my life

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savetopnow · 6 years

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2018-03-15 21 TECH now

TECH

Ars Techica

US buys Afghanistan “Eliminator” attack planes—Cessnas with Hellfires

Bay Area: Join us 3/21 to explore the future of video game design

Research hints at tipping point in the Atlantic’s currents

Samsung is offering same-day repairs for busted Galaxy phones across the US

SEC charges Theranos with “massive fraud,” CEO Holmes stripped of control

Buzzfeed Tech

The Seven Biggest Lies Theranos Told

The Future Is Faster Bitcoin, Say Guys Who Made Faster Bitcoin

Twitter Is Experimenting With A Way To Show You Even More Breaking News Tweets

Google Will Ban All Cryptocurrency-Related Ads Starting June 2018

YouTube Said It Will Link To Wikipedia Excerpts On Conspiracy Videos — But It Didn't Tell Wikipedia

CNet

Star Trek's Klingon language comes to Duolingo - CNET

Huawei Honor View 10 review - CNET

Watching March Madness in a crowded bar? You need this app - CNET

Nest's smart home just keeps on growing - CNET

Seven years in, Nest is finally hitting its smart home stride - CNET

Clean Technica

New Material Made From Wood Is Biodegradable Super Insulation

Variety With Electric Car Propulsion Design Offers Safety & So Much More Than Conventional Cars, Part I

Biggest Koch Whore In Congress Is New US Secretary Of State

I Know We Can Make It: Clinging To Conservation Progress In Hard Times

Blue Planet Energy Supplies Energy Storage & Training In Puerto Rico

Hacker News

Blue Vision, which builds collaborative AR, leave stealth with $14.5M led by GV

Portacle – A Portable Common Lisp Development Environment

Site with future Vulkan tutorials for beginners

VR still a novelty, but Google light-field technology could make it serious art

EU wants to require platforms to filter uploaded content (including code)

Mashable

Elon Musk drops epic Falcon Heavy launch trailers made by 'Westworld' co-creator

Zoos are rating animals online and it's too good

'The New York Times' profiled the most selfish person in America

Twitter reportedly suspended users that steal memes and force viral tweets

Why did ABC shelve this 'Black-ish' episode?

Motherboard

'#WarGames,' the Interactive Reimagining of the Iconic Nuclear Thriller, Is Mostly a Gimmick

Drake Played 'Fortnite' on Twitch, Smashing Viewership Records

Reddit Has Been Quietly Banning Cryptocurrency Ads Since 2016

Can Wikipedia Solve YouTube's Conspiracy Theory Problem?

Everything You Need to Know About the Congressional Cryptocurrency Hearing

New York Times Technology

Ex-Leader of Baltimore County Schools, a Tech Booster, Pleads Guilty to Perjury

The One Thing That Protects a Laptop After It’s Been Stolen

A Cyberattack in Saudi Arabia Had a Deadly Goal. Experts Fear Another Try.

Lyft to Bring Driverless Car Tech to Broader Auto Industry

Broadcom Drops Bid for Qualcomm After Trump’s Intervention

Recode

‘Get Out’ producer Jason Blum talks about Netflix, low-budget movies and the Oscars

Giving patients control of their health information will help give patients control of their health

Here’s what needs to happen for digital health care information-sharing to actually become a successful reality

March Madness 2018: How to stream the NCAA tournament live

Twitter stock is up on a bunch of news we already knew about

Reddit Technology

Can we fix it? The repair cafes waging war on throwaway culture. When fixing items is actively discouraged by manufacturers, recycling becomes a political act, say Repair Cafe volunteers

Linus Torvalds slams CTS Labs over AMD vulnerability report

Bill Gates to meet with President Trump at the White House on Thursday.

The new Firefox lets you stop websites from asking to send you notifications

Tesla files permit for ‘restaurant and Supercharger station’ in Santa Monica

Reuters Technology

What is 5G and who are the major players?

Uber to share its London data in latest charm offensive

EU antitrust regulators to decide on Apple, Shazam deal by April 23

Walmart patents hint at future where its drones tend the farms

Exclusive: Amazon's internal numbers on Prime Video, revealed

Slashdot

Scientists Create a Way For People With Amputations To Feel Their Prosthetics

How Amazon Became Corporate America's Nightmare

New Bill In Congress Would Bypass the Fourth Amendment, Hand Your Data To Police

Microsoft Removes Antivirus Registry Key Check for Windows 10 Users

Jewelry Site Leaks Personal Details, Plaintext Passwords of 1.3 Million Users

TechCrunch

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance land $640 million in Air Force launches

Airtable raises $52M to give non-coders tools to build complex software

Five Seasons Ventures is a new €60M European early-stage fund investing in food and agriculture tech

Blue Vision Labs, which builds ‘collaborative’ AR, emerges from stealth with $14.5M led by GV

Startup Battlefield Europe deadline extended one week

The Next Web

Uber Movement launches in UK to help city planners make better decisions

Digg Reader is shutting down this month – here are 3 great free alternatives

This Chrome extension enables two-factor authentication logins by watching you type

Two worlds meet and thrive: The unification of video games and blockchain

Google open-sources AI for improving Portrait Mode in camera apps

The Verge

Uber is bringing its urban planning tool Uber Movement to London

Huawei’s P20 Lite makes video leak debut

Apple launches new Families page that puts all its parental tools in one place

Logitech expands its gaming lineup with new LED-equipped speakers

When a filmmaker discovered a mountain lion in his backyard, he made a documentary

WSJ Tech

Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Charged With Fraud

Tesla's Make-Or-Break Moment Is Fast Approaching

Dropbox Pitches Investors on Scale, Growth and Collaboration

Pricier Than Apple? Xiaomi's Hot Again, and Investors Could Get Burned

Japan Antitrust Watchdog Probes Amazon---Again

Wired

Don’t Do Drugs and Watch ‘Annihilation’

‘Dr. Strangelove’ Is Basically a Documentary

Total Clips

Aliens Would Probably Like It If You Gave them Flowers

All About HomePod

#tech

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ld-pandamao · 4 years

Text

Daily Report 8—11:55 PM, Friday, March 27th, 2020

Every day, without fail, somehow, the blog posts get dragged out to the last hour. I do not like this. I get worried that one of these days, I am not going to meet the schedule and will post something after twelve.

Anyway, as evident from the above comment and previous posts, I am unqualified to maintain a decent blog. Many of my posts are random and badly linked to each other and my grammar is barely passing. I have thought about giving up quite a few times. I am, as previously mentioned multiple times, fearful of judgement from strangers, and even more so from the people I know. Now, I am reconsidering my username and blog name. After all, some people know my preference for this name, and I do not want them to trace this blog back to me, as sparse as it is. However, nobody has seen this yet, or at least, I can tell that to myself.

Simultaneously, I do not want to give up. Rather, I cannot give up. If I fail to write a mere 1000 words every day on random thoughts with no structure due to a few insecurities, what else would I be able to accomplish? I will start small and build habits, using this blog as my medium to track and encourage myself. To mark all my failures, but also my successes.

...I am getting weird again. It might be because my attention is split right now, and I am rushing to try and finish this entry. I do not want to fail right after the first month.

Another part of me is worried that if I stop if I fail once, I will not be able to start again, or I will embark on an ever-dwindling and tardy set of posts.

That is the kind of person I am, sometimes. All the time, maybe. I am weak, insecure, easily discouraged, and quite secretive, I suppose.

I am adding so much fluff right now. My high school English teachers would be so disappointed in me.

Careful. A distracted mindset facilitates mistakes and regrets.

...Perhaps drunk people's minds are not slowed, but instead hyperactive, like ADD or ADHD, but they can't focus enough to prevent themselves from making mistakes or regrets. That is probably not true. I think I read somewhere that their reaction speed was slowed—I researched that once for a club on the discussion of driving—and their speech must be slurred for a reason.

Onto the report!

I did not exercise today, not specifically, at least, but I tried to do five push-ups every hour. I was not consistent though. Also, five push-ups do not seem like a lot, but it adds up, and the reduced quantity allows me to focus on form and quality. I also tested out of the first six parts of Duolingo. I could not get the seventh test to open, though I am not sure if there is one. I made it! Such low quality...

#Journal #DailyRecord #Bad

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monsterquill · 6 years

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สวัสดี (sawadee pronounced) that means hello in Thai :) Sorry that I didn't answered you earlier, but sometimes it takes a lot energy to write responses. In the last message (4/4) I answered that I'm jobless and asked if you're in college or working, but you said there's work so I guess you've finished college. If you want to tell, what are you working? (1/6)

Socializing can be scarry, so thank you for your understanding. It makes me also happy to read your responses, and it's reassuring to know that you're happy to get my messages. Haha, the world has gotten even smaller! I'm from Baden in Aargau and btw my name is Sam. If Duolingo would add Thai someday would be great, but with my luck that will happen when I can speak it already. (2/6)

No problem! I will always encourage others if they want to do something that they like/love bc I heard enough discouraging things in my live. And hey, how to get better at something if people tell you it's not worth it and you stop trying?! Like you've mentioned; with practice in college you've improved a lot and you will get better if you really want. (3/6)

And wow you've got a lot going on, great respect that you manage all those things. If I remember that correct, you posted vids playing the Mononoke theme and something from Star Wars... that was really beautiful! How long do you play the piano? And I should start exercise again too but I lack motivation these days. Mostly I draw my OC's for my story I develop since 5 years, and sometimes kinda abstract/psychedelic things. And what do you like to draw? (4/6)

Wow, that's a lot of meaning. I think that's really cool and powerful! I know a bit about Norse mythology and I love Tom Hiddleston for giving us such a great portrayal of Loki. I wondered why he has wings/what it means to you, but now everything is clear. And wasn't the bowl held by Sigyn to protect Loki from the serpent's poison that would have dripped otherwise in his face, causing him such pain, that it made the ground shaking? I don't have tattoos and don't plan to get one. (5/6)

Ooooh no, what a rough start! I'm sorry that Zeus's sibling didn't made it. But he's a tough fighter and your sister did a great job! I'm happy that he's alive to be that cute little punk he is today! And thank you, she really was a lovely friend. At the moment I don't have the intetion to get a cat, but you'll never know. If I'd find a cat in need, I definitely would take them in and give them a new home. (6/6)

สวัสดี Sam :) no problem, it took me a while too to respond because I’ve been working. I’m an editor. I contract with companies that send me manuscripts, which I copyedit or line edit. I also do dog walking and dog sitting. The nice thing about these jobs is that I can make my own schedule and work from home. The bad part is they can be unpredictable.

wow that’s a cool coincidence that you’re from the same canton! It’s funny how these things work out. And yes, I did post those videos, I’m glad you liked them! I’ve been playing since I was about 5 or 6. I took lessons until I was sixteen or seventeen, when I stopped because I was so busy. The amount I played fluctuated after that, but now I play every day. For Christmas I got a book of Studio Ghibli songs and I’ve been learning them :) Your art sounds cool! What’s your story about, if you want to say? I like to draw faces and trees and also abstract stuff, but I’m trying to get better at drawing all kinds of things.

Thanks for saying that’s powerful! I love my tattoos. Yep, that’s right, Sigyn held the bowl over him. I’ve been wanting to read the directly translated stories recently; I’ll probably do that soon.

Yeah, it was sad about Zeus’s sibling. But at least he was loved and taken care of until the end. I’m really happy Zeus made it too. He’s a pain sometimes, but he’s also a delight. He likes to cuddle a lot at night, and he’s so inquisitive and engaged.

What else is going on in your life? Do you have plans?

#correspondence #creature mic #Anonymous

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secundastudies · 7 years

Note

HOW DO YOU HAVE SUCH NEAT HANDWRITING TAKING NOTES OMG!! do you write this way during class??? whenever i write notes i go so quick it ends up so sloppy and ends up being super hard to read later.. tips...?

AHHH thank you! Seeing this really made my day :) I totally meant to answer this earlier but I got really busy with mock trial stuff, sorry! Anyway, to answer your question(s):

I’ve taken all of my notes I’ve posted on my blog so far in class, except for my chemistry notes because we’re assigned to start those for homework and our teacher gives us additional stuff to fill in during the lecture.

My AP Human Geography notes are probably the best example of notes that are taken during a standard lecture, since I take them as our teacher is talking to us and showing a powerpoint. My History and Music notes are more of a journal-type thing, where our teacher writes vocab on the board every day for us to copy down and asks us to write our thoughts on music she plays, so we have more time to write things down in her class than most classes do. So you can definitely see a small difference in how messy my handwriting is and how much wite-out I use between the two classes!

As for tips for improving your handwriting, there isn’t really any way to get better handwriting other than practice. If you practice more efficiently, of course, you can achieve better results in a shorter time than if you inefficiently practice. Over this past summer I practiced by writing down vocabulary I learned off Duolingo in a notebook and trying to make the letters as neat as I could. This was extremely time-consuming, though, which is why I never do handwriting/penmanship practice on its own during the school year. Instead, I indirectly practice trying to have good penmanship while doing day-to-day things like homework or taking notes. This helps me get the most out of my time!

However, I would warn against spending too much time on practicing handwriting vs actually learning content and doing schoolwork. Remember that good handwriting alone isn’t going to help you get the grades you want, and that you’re at school to learn first!

If you do have time for penmanship/handwriting practice, I would recommend taking a look at your own handwriting and finding what you want to change before starting serious practice so that you can practice more efficiently. Once you’ve done that, find a font to copy, a writing utensil you like, and start writing! There’s a lot of resources online to help, too, if you’re looking for some, @emmastudies has a great post on how she improved her handwriting, and if you look for them online there’s lots of handwriting printables.

Some more personal tips from me: your fast handwriting and your slow handwriting probably won’t have the same degree of neatness, especially at the beginning. Don’t let this discourage you! This is perfectly normal and if you want to keep practicing your handwriting, you shouldn’t let a perceived lack of progress stop you. I promise that your handwriting really is getting better when you practice, whether you feel it or not. If you don’t believe me, take a picture of your handwriting now and compare it to your handwriting in a couple of weeks or months.

This got way longer than I meant it to but I hope it helped! Good luck with your handwriting and happy studies :)

#looking-glass letters #anon #vivian speaks #handwriting #advice #studying advice

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learnspanishfans · 7 years

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16 Free Online Portuguese Language Classes

Are you learning Portuguese, and you want to find the best free online Portuguese language lessons? You’ve come to the right place! I’ve searched far and wide to find a variety of quality, fun, and free resources to boost your Portuguese skills. Learning European Portuguese? Overwhelmed by the number of Brazilian Portuguese resources out there? I didn’t forget you. I’ve collected free resources for both dialects. Whichever dialect you’re studying, don’t be afraid to try out other dialects. It’s always OK to experiment with different accents. So let’s get to it! Here are the best free Portuguese learning materials for all levels:

Portuguese Language Lessons for Beginners

A lot of beginners think you need to learn vocabulary and grammar before you start speaking Portuguese, and listening to other people speak Portuguese. In my view, it’s actually better to speak and listen to Portuguese from the first day you start learning. I recommend that you use self-study methods like flash cards and structured audio lessons to build your vocabulary, plus kids’ TV shows to get exposure to natural spoken Portuguese. I’d also recommend that you practise talking to native Portuguese speakers! Try the following resources whether you’re just starting out, or have reached an advanced level.

Beginner Resources for European Portuguese

Memrise is one of my first stops when I’m just starting out in a language. It has tons of free courses for European Portuguese (and Brazilian, too). It’s a great way to get introduced to common phrases and vocabulary in the language.

RTP Zigzag. RTP is Portugal’s public broadcasting network, and Zigzag is its section devoted to kids’ videos. Most are educational, covering geography, history, and general fun facts. Each video is short enough to watch in a few minutes during a coffee break.

italki is where you find native Portuguese speakers to talk with, and it is a must, right from the first day you start learning Portuguese. It’s NEVER too early to start talking with native Portuguese speakers. When I say you should speak from day one, I mean that literally. So get onto italki and find some Portuguese speakers to chat with. They can be language exchange partners, community tutors or professional teachers. Professional lessons cost money but the prices are very reasonable. Finding a conversation exchange partner is free. You can search for Portuguese speakers based on home country, so search for people from Portugal to practise your European Portuguese.

Learn Portuguese with Rafa. Rafa’s website is focused on European Portuguese for beginners, but it also explains some key differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. Here, you’ll find detailed info on nearly every feature of European Portuguese grammar, including verb moods, conjunctions, general everyday phrases and even swear words.

Beginner Resources for Brazilian Portuguese

PortuguesePod101. I recommend Innovative Language’s courses to all language learners, and PortuguesePod101 is one of the best places to start your Brazilian Portuguese journey. It has lessons for absolute beginners right through to advanced learners. Each episode comes with a PDF summary of the dialogue for you to follow along with while you listen. A second PDF with complete lesson notes is available to premium members. You can access many of the lessons with a free account, but you do need a paid membership to access every lesson.

BrazilianPodClass. For extra structure in your lessons, try out this in-depth podcast that covers all of the major grammar points and tons of vocabulary in Portuguese. It’s not one of those repeat-after-me audio learning methods, but it shows you how to use what you learn in each lesson to make new phrases in Portuguese.

Semantica is a video course formatted like a TV show. Each episode contains one scene of a story. You’ll keep coming back to learn more because you want to know what happens next in the story.

Duolingo is an alternative to flash cards for building your Portuguese vocabulary and learning grammar. It’s perfect for beginners, and is completely free.

italki. I already mentioned italki for European Portuguese, but of course, it’s just as important to speak with native speakers if you’re learning Brazilian Portuguese. It’s not always easy to get on Skype and chat with a native speaker when you’re new to a language, but you can bet you’ll learn a lot more this way than you ever will from self-study.

Intermediate Portuguese Podcasts, Videos and Other Resources

These intermediate Portuguese learning resources (including podcasts and videos) will take your Portuguese skills beyond the basics. I made sure to choose material that’s designed to be engaging. You’re more likely to study when you find learning fun. When listening to spoken Portuguese with the resources below, don’t be discouraged if you don’t understand everything you hear. The more you listen, the better you’ll get at picking out the words you know. You’ll also get pretty good at catching the gist of a story without knowing every single word.

Podcasts, Videos and Other Resources to Learn Intermediate European Portuguese

Practice Portuguese is geared toward Portuguese learners who have an intermediate level of reading comprehension, but still have trouble with listening comprehension. The speaker’s voice is slow and clear, which is perfect for listeners who are still getting used to spoken Portuguese. Also, if you’ve been studying Brazilian Portuguese and want to get an introduction to the European dialect, this is a great place to start.

Portuguêses no Mundo. This captivating free podcast is about a topic that many language learners love: world travel. In each episode, the host interviews a Portuguese person who’s living in another country. Hear their stories about what it’s like to move away from Portugal and start a new life overseas, from Japan to Oman to Angola and beyond. This podcast is useful for Portuguese learners because each episode follows the same structure. The host asks the same questions to each guest (“Why did you move to that country?”, “What surprised you the most about living there?”, “What do you miss most about Portugal?”, etc.). However, the responses of the guests are very diverse, keeping this podcast fascinating.

Visiokids: Ciência para Crianças (Science for Kids). Learn fun science facts from this interesting children’s program while practising your Portuguese listening comprehension.

Camões Instituto da Cooperação e da Lingua Portugal. Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, this website is an incredible treasure trove of material for learning all facets of the language. Under “A Ler” (“reading”) there’s an assortment of books including story books (with accompanying audio!), mini biographies (with accompanying quizzes!) and a reference guide for everyday situations. Check out “A Falar” (“speaking”) for videos about spoken Portuguese, “A Ouvir” (“listening”) for a variety of audio exercises, and “A Brincar” (“playing”) for some games. The site is entirely in Portuguese, but some sections contain translations into English and French. Some of the links may seem broken, but don’t worry, the pages are still there. Do a Google search for the section you’re looking for and it should be the first hit, and will take you to the right page.

Podcasts, Videos and Other Resources to Learn Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese

NHK World Radio Japão - When you’re still ramping up your Portuguese listening comprehension, it’s a good idea to listen to native speakers who are talking clearly at full speed. News programmes are really useful for this. NHK World News broadcasts a daily news program from Tokyo in dozens of languages, including Brazilian Portuguese. Get your morning news digest from this programme, then go online and read the news in your native language and check how well you understood the stories.

Cinem(ação). Everyone likes watching films, right? Cinem(ação) is one of the most popular film-related podcasts in Brazil. It airs weekly, with lively and funny hosts chatting about one or more films released that week.

Recontando. This fun Brazilian news site was made especially for children. The news stories are simplified in terms of language (it uses vocab that kids know) and content (it avoids concepts that kids are too young to understand). There are even videos of child news reporters interviewing Brazilian celebrities! Unfortunately the content has not been kept up-to-date, but there’s enough material on there that you won’t run out of stories to read and videos to watch for a long time.

Advanced Portuguese Language Lessons

Once you’ve reached an advanced stage of learning Portuguese, you’re ready to start engaging with the same media that native speakers use. You’re also able to find resources yourself, and I recommend finding those you like. Here are a couple of my favourites to get you started.

Advanced European Portuguese

Conta-me Tudo (Tell Me Everything). This podcast is dedicated to amazing, funny and incredible stories. Each episode features a different speaker telling his or her fascinating tale to an audience. Topics are varied and include narrow escapes from death, odd ways to begin a career, and a terrible idea for a birthday present. The speakers all speak quickly, so the stories are perfect for advanced learners.

Advanced Brazilian Portuguese

CBTV Canal Brasil for iOS, Android and Roku is a completely free, live TV channel geared toward Brazilians living in the United States. It broadcasts from Florida and includes news, sports, history, health, and even pets! Because it’s intended for native Brasileiros, the content is pretty advanced.

Over to You

What are your favourite free online Portuguese courses and resources? Let me know in the comments.

The post 16 Free Online Portuguese Language Classes appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Shared by learntospeakspanishquickly.com: http://ift.tt/2sbwvBK from Blogger http://ift.tt/2sc53nK

#learn spanish tips #Bloggers

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careeralley · 7 years

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CareerAlley 5 Tips for Kick-Starting Your Bilingual Career http://careeralley.com/5-tips-kick-starting-bilingual-career/

http://careeralley.com/5-tips-kick-starting-bilingual-career/

5 Tips for Kick-Starting Your Bilingual Career

Deciding on a career path is never an easy choice. When you’re a student, and you have a world of possibilities in front of you, it’s hard to determine what fits you best. On the other hand, even if you’ve been on the job market for some while now, you might realize one day that you need to make a career shift because the current one doesn’t fit your needs anymore.

Regardless of the reasons, acquiring new language skills is never a bad idea, especially since there’s currently a shortage of bilingual professionals in a variety of industries, such as teaching and health care.

Learning a new language takes time, that’s for sure. If you’re already working, you might feel that you don’t have the time and energy needed to invest in developing a new skill.

Don’t let yourself discouraged! It’s vital you act quickly and make the time to improve your language skills.

Here are five tips to help you kick-start your bilingual career.

Follow a Strict Study Schedule

In spite of what you might think, learning a new language doesn’t have to take a lot of time. You don’t have to study more than an hour a day to become proficient in any language.

To make things easy, study first thing in the morning and last thing at night. In the morning, your mind is well rested and can absorb information faster than during the day. Thus, a 30-minute study will be more than enough.

Make sure to devote 30 minutes to studying before you go to sleep. That way, you can consolidate the information acquired during the day.

Use Any Free Moment to Study

As we’ve mentioned above, more and more companies are looking to hire bilingual speakers, so you need to take advantage of these opportunities and use any spare moment you have to improve your language skills.

Listen to audio lessons on your commute to work or during your lunch break. Instead of spending 20 minutes scrolling through Facebook mindlessly, take tests, read a new chapter, or watch a video in the language you’re studying.

Use Technology to Your Advantage

Technology can come to your help when time is of the essence. Mobile applications such as Duolingo or audio recordings can make the process of studying a foreign language easier than ever before. You don’t have to take special classes anymore. You have everything you need right at your fingertips.

Listen to Music and Watch Foreign Language Films

You probably already listen to music and watch movies on your free time. These are enjoyable activities, so why not make them useful too? That way, you won’t feel like you’re sacrificing your spare time to learn (which you might feel reluctant to do since you don’t have as much free time as you would like.)

Practice, Practice, Practice

You can’t acquire new language skills without practicing what you learn. So, take any opportunity you get to talk to native speakers. Use chat rooms and go to places where you know you might find native speakers, such as certain restaurants or marketplaces.

No matter how you choose to learn a new language, one thing is certain: it is worth your time because it will bring along many advantages. Not only that it will open new career opportunities, but it can also help you earn more money that people who only speak English.

So, stop wasting time. Get to work and kick-start your bilingual career!

We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content.

Good luck in your search, Joey

Google+

[email protected]

Visit CareerAlley Job Search

#Bilingual Careers

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