Have you been studying a language for a few months, years, or even decades, but aren’t seeing any noticeable progress? If so, read on to see five likely reasons you’re not improving as quickly as you’d like…
33 years. 13 countries. 19 addresses. Here are 33 life lessons I’ve gleaned over the past 33 years living on the planet earth, especially the last decade living as a “stranger in a strange land” in Japan, Bangladesh, and Taiwan. I hope they offer you some vicarious expat wisdom, and more importantly, impetus to move abroad yourself.
Check out this nifty infographic from NeoMam Infographic Studios that shares 50 facts about languages, some interesting (Pinocchio is the book available in the most languages after The Bible), some funny (a man spoke to his baby for 3 years in Klingon), and some downright sad (e.g. one endangered language dies out every 2 weeks). Enjoy!
In this guest post by Jennifer Birch, she busts the all-too-common myth that “only children can learn a foreign language well”, along with four other frequent offenders that are likely holding you back from mastering a foreign tongue.
In this guest post, website developer, language tutor, and language enthusiast Teddy Nee shares how you can learn a foreign language better by immersing yourself via social media networks, plus some powerful little features that you might not know about.
I set out to simply fix some typos in the sixth edition of Master Japanese but ended up going much, much further. I am big believer in kaizen (改善・かいぜん, “constant improvement”), but one of these days I will need to learn how to take smaller bites. ; )
In this guest post, writer and editor Matthew Pink shares how language learners can acquire vocabulary, improve pronunciation, build confidence, and have an all around good time recording radio dramas.
Language ability obviously starts in the brain, so we should do everything we can to maximize this organ’s blood flow, plasticity, and functionality. Fortunately, there are three guaranteed ways to do just that…
If an adult fails to learn a foreign language (and most do), most of us assume they simply don’t study hard enough or just aren’t good at languages. It’s certainly true that some learners are lazy, and given the same methods, certain folks tend to pick up languages faster than others. But neither of these is the real issue; both are but symptoms of the underlying problem: 1) Crappy Methods, 2) Crappy Materials, and 3) Crappy Attitudes.
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.
Disregard everything I have written or said since beginning this blog and the Language Mastery podcast. Ignore every single one of the 150,000+ words in my Master Japanese guide. There is only ONE way to learn a language…
Benny Lewis, the Irish Polyglot, and Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, and The 4-Hour Chef, discuss language myths, and how to learn languages quickly using the 80/20 rule.
Skritter has been on my radar for quite some time, but the need to sit at a computer was less than ideal. With the release of their iOS apps, however, Skritter has finally been given the touch-based format it deserves.
Are you a parent seeking ways to improve your child’s future academic and professional prospects? Read on to see how being bilingual can give your children a leg up in today’s hyper-competitive world.
From surviving Nazi internment camps to teaching French to Hollywood stars, Michel Thomas was truly an amazing man. Read on to learn more about his life and his unique language learning approach.