With 11 languages under his belt, Steve Kaufmann is an extremely accomplished language learner. His extensive language learning wisdom in shared in his book titled The Way of the Linguist: A Language Learning Odyssey and his online language learning system called LingQ. In the interview, we discuss what Steve believes to be the 7 most common misconceptions about language learning, how to learn Mandarin effectively, and the role of a good teacher.

This is the complete version of a shorter presentation I entered in the "Fuze Tell a Story Contest." It expands much more on: 1) Why most learners fail to learn foreign languages depsite years of effort. 2) Tips on fostering the right attitude for successful language learning. 3) Advice on what materials to use for maximum efficacy and efficiency.

The first thing I’d like to say about mind mapping is how upset I am for not knowing about it sooner! Why wasn’t it taught to me in elementary school, junior high, high school, or even university? Why did I labor through so many classes, books and professional challenges without...

To do lists seem like a good idea in theory, but they have one major disadvantage: there is an infinite number of potential to do items. With this in mind, Timothy Ferriss, best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek (and a speaker of 6 languages), recommends "not to do lists" instead. Since they isolate a finite set of behaviors that are getting between you and your goals, they are far more effective than traditional to do lists. This tool applies perfectly to language learning, where most learners waste a lot of time on ineffective methods, bad materials, and counter-productive attitudes.

In this exclusive interview with Antonio Graceffo, he "pulls no punches" (pun intended) when sharing his views on how to learn a foreign language effectively. His language learning wisdom stems from formal training as an interpreter and translator at Germany's prestigious University of Mainz, coupled with over a decade of living, learning, and working in South and East Asia. Antonio speaks numerous languages (French, German, Italian, Khmer, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese), and has used his language skills to good ends. On top of a stunning trail of articles and books (see the list below), Antonio continues to fight the human rights atrocities in Burma.

In his thought provoking and entertaining TED Talk, Sir Ken Robinson (speaker, international advisor on education, and author of The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything) argues that schools stifle creativity by focusing too much on only a few of the human mind’s many...

The term “Multiple Intelligences” was first coined by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner. His theory is spelled out in the 1983 book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. In the book, Gardner posits that humans possess many varied types of intelligence, not just...

Michael Heim is a highly respected professor of Slavic languages at UCLA. He speaks 10 languages (though he explains that the number is hard to tie down due to the slippery political nature of language-dialect distinctions). Heim believes that effective language learning must begin (and progress) with a specific purpose in mind; he has never learned a language just for the heck of it. In a two-part interview posted on the UCLA Center for World Languages website, he explains why language experts produce poor textbooks, what he would do as "Langauge Czar" if such a position were to be created, and why Americans tend to do poorly in second language learning.

Pronounced like the word "link" (not "ling-kyu" as it is often mispronounced), LingQ is an an online and iOS app based language learning system created by Steve Kaufmann. The "freemium" site allows users to easily look up and save unknown words and phrases (what they call "LingQing", hence the name of the site)m with tools for 11 languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish (which happen to be the same 11 languages Steve speaks).