Interview with Educator and Performer Paulino Brener
Paulino Brener is one of the few people I know who has managed to successfully blend all of his passions (foreign languages, teaching, crafts, social media, and performance arts) into one, and even get paid to do so! In our interview, he discusses creative ways to harness one's passions in foreign language learning, whether as teacher or learner.
read moreInterview with Jason West, Creator of English Out There
In my interview with Jason West, the creator of English Out There, we discuss the weaknesses of traditional English schools, methodologies, and materials, and how his approach aims to overcome them.
read moreThe Secret to Learning a Language in 10 Days
Check out this beautifully illustrated talk about how to learn foreign languages using the Pimsleur approach. I was reluctant to share the video on the site as they sneak in a sales pitch every 5 minutes of so, but they do an excellent job of summarizing what I believe to be the fundamentals of effective language learning, with pretty drawings to boot! Enjoy!
read moreHow to Conquer Kanji
Kanji: arguably the most enjoyable part of learning Japanese, but also the most intimidating for those just getting started in the language. Since beginning my Japanese journey over a decade ago, I have come across a lot of Nihongo teachers, textbooks, and courses that advise learners to hold off on kanji until they already speak the language fairly well. I think this is absolute rubbish, but let me first give some of the common arguments before I tear them to shreds...
read moreInterview with Arkady Zilberman, Creator of Language Bridge
Arkady Zilberman, creator of Language Bridge and a former simultaneous interpreter in Russia, addresses what is perhaps the greatest impediment to adult language learning success: cross-translation to and from one's native language. Few learners are probably aware this sub-concious process goes on at all, but Arkady's extensive experience learning languages, interpreting, and experimenting on learners, have proven that it does indeed occur. As he points out in our interview, even many seemingly successful foreign language learners still translate to and from their native language, but can just do so at such a rate that they can't perceive the process.
read moreReview of Brainscape’s Spanish! iPhone App
Spanish is one of my next target languages and I was quite excited when Amanda Moritz of Brainscape asked me to do a review of their new Spanish language learning app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. There's no better excuse to study a language and play on my iPod touch than doing a product review!
read moreLanguage as a Window into Human Nature
I'm a big fan of Harvard's Steven Pinker and RSA Animate makes his excellent talk about language and human nature even better. If you enjoy the talk, I highly suggest his influential book, The Language Instinct. Incidentally, it was the first book I was assigned in university linguistics, is one of the only assigned books from university that I still own, and is the only college text I actually reread regularly for fun...
read moreThe Polyglot Project
The Polyglot Project, a collection of language learning tips from polyglots and language enthusiasts across the globe (including yours truly), is now available as both a physical book on Amazon and as a free PDF download. This tome of language awesomeness contains over 500 pages of language learning advice, tips, and success stories, with contributions from 43 authors, including Moses McCormick, Steve Kaufmann, Benny Lewis, Stuart Jay Raj, and countless others language heroes.
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Learn Japanese Your Way
Let's face it: textbooks are boring, Japanese classes are less than convenient, those language courses sold in airports are ridiculously expensive, and not everyone can move to Japan.
The good news is that you don't need any of these things to learn Japanese. The modern language learner has access to everything they need to learn via the Internet (including materials, tools, and native speakers), but the hard part is knowing where to look, where to start, and how to stay the course. That's where Master Japanese comes in.
The 309-page, 75,000+ word guide provides:
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