Category: Languages

How To Turn FaceBook Into The Language Learning Machine

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If you had asked me a few months ago how I feel about Facebook, I would have said that it’s probably the biggest time-eater in the world. However, within the last few weeks, I changed my mind quite drastically.

Believe it or not, but know I think it’s one of the best language learning tools in the world. Make yourself comfortable my friend – you’re in for the story.

Facebook, or There and Back Again

 

There
So  About 4 years ago I was a full-blown Facebook junkie. I had to get my fix at least a few times a day. My hands would shake if I couldn’t. “I need more cat picture! I need more updates from friends! I need more of everything. Gimme! Arghhh!” So yeah, it was bad.

After some pondering and a lot of hesitation, I finally deleted it. The last straw for me was seeing a picture of my friend’s dinner with the following comment – “Yum, yum”.

I was a broken man. Rehab was excruciatingly hard for first 3 weeks. But soon thereafter my world became more peaceful. I felt less anxious and overwhelmed. The sun was shining brighter. And so on.

And back again
But I CAME BACK. I felt dirty. As if I was treading on everything I value. At least this time, I knew my time was under control because of the software I use to block the time-sucking websites.

Being a relative optimist, I decided to look at the bright side of my Facebook presence. I started participating in the language groups. I also refreshed contacts with some of the old friends.

Again In The Comfort Zone

 

At about the same time I was bothered by the fact that I don’t read enough. In other languages that is. I tallied up that per average I read between 300-1000 pages per week.

Sadly, over 95% of all the things I read is in English. What a wasted opportunity! I could be learning so many other languages if only I started reading in them. I knew that it had to change.

So I started with the question.

Why am I reading so much in English?

The answer came right away – because it’s convenient. Because it’s so damn convenient. I’ve subscribed to newsletters of over 15 websites. All in English. They come straight to my e-mail box. No effort whatsoever is required from my side.

What’s more, I read English books because

  • a) there are more of them than in any other language I know
  • b) because I got stuck in my comfort zone

Does it ring a bell? Do you find yourself consuming most of the media in just one language?
Then read on!

I knew that the first thing I had to do was to minimize the required amount of energy to take action.

Minimizing The Energy Required To Take Action

 

Minimize The Energy

Let’s say that you want to take up running.

You promise yourself that you’ll do it 3-4 times per week for at least 20 minutes (a great example of a SMART goal!

Noble thought, my friend! However, it seems that no matter what you do, you can’t seem to get a grip on yourself. Every morning you have to look at yourself in the mirror with disappointment in your eyes.

You really do want to do it. It’s no lie. But you’re tired. Or it’s too cold. Or can’t find your shoes. Or don’t know where you’d like to run. There are too many decisions you have to make before you go out for a run. That’s why it’s so hard to get off your butt.

Now imagine a different situation. This time, you’ve planned all the details beforehand.

What’s more, you go to bed with your track-suit on and leave your sneakers by the bed.
That’s a commitment! As a result, the initial energy required to take action is drastically minimized.

Why Use Facebook For Language Learning?

 

  • 936 million daily active users on average (for March 2015)

It means that most of us use it almost every day.
That, in its turn, means that you have already developed a habit of using it.
For many of us, it’s almost like an addiction.

  • over 30 million companies with active pages

Posts and news in hundreds of languages are at your fingertips!

  • it’s convenient

Timeline provides you with a stream of never-ending pictures and posts.
The only thing you have to do is scroll down.

All these things make FB a perfect tool for language learning!

Now, the question is – how to do it?

Unfollow Most Of Your Contacts On FB

 

“Give me a break, do I really have to?!”

Of course, you don’t have to. I haven’t unfollowed ALL my friends. But I was merciless in weeding out people who appear on my Timeline. I didn’t do it randomly. It was a process aided by the following questions:

  • Am I interested in a life of this person?
  • Do I believe this person has something interesting to say?

I unfollowed every person who didn’t fit the criteria.
In fact, I unfollowed about 98% of people who are among my friends.

Tough Decisions

It was hard – believe me. There is always this treacherous voice at the back of my head.
“Come on! Don’t you wanna know what’s going on in X’s life?!” Yes, the voice of the ever convincing Fear Of Missing Out.

“Maybe it’s right. Maybe I’ll miss something important? What if the Ebola Zombies invade Europe and I won’t know it!”

What if …x?! What if …Y?

That’s a risk you and I have to take. The truth is that you are behind the life’s wheel and you’re choosing the direction. Do you really want to let all that fluff and bullcrap into your life?
How many cat pictures can you watch?

Do you really care how somebody’s baby looks like if you haven’t even called this person in a few years?

Be brutally honest with yourself and get down to work.

What If I Can’t Do It?

 

Ok, maybe you’re not ready yet. I don’t blame you. I know it was damn hard for me.

Luckily, there is the option no 2.

Register a new FaceBook account and use it exclusively for language learning. Although, it’s better to use your main FB account. You might be asking yourself now – why all the effort?

What’s the next step”?

Start Liking And Following Pages!

 

By now your Timeline should look, more or less, like a wasteland.
From now on, all the pages you like will start appearing on your main FB page!

Here are some ideas of the pages you might want to follow if nothing comes to your mind at the moment.

  • Newspapers

All the biggest newspapers have their FB pages. Choose the ones you’re interested in and follow them! They update their pages many times per day.

They will provide your Timeline with an ongoing flood of news.

  • Most popular FB pages in …

I like this method since usually, the biggest pages are also the ones which care deeply about the quality of posts they share. Google “most popular FB pages in x (e.g. Russia, Turkey)” to find them.

  • Random pages of interest

Use the FB search field and try to type in words like “jokes”, “productivity”. Of course in your target language!

This way your Timeline will be full of posts of all kinds.

This way, you’ll make sure that the language you take in is diversified enough to guarantee you continuous growth!

Here is a small snippet of my 2nd FB account which I use for reading French and Russian news.

 

Language learning machine

The Final Touch

 

You have come the long way, congratulations! There is just one more thing you can do to get the most out of using FB.

Change the default language settings to any language you’re learning. It’ll only be weird for a couple of days. After that, all the writings and words become normal, or even boring.

What’s more, you’ll see them many times per week.
Thanks to this, you’ll learn them in no time!

Now, I have a question for you – have you ever tried to change the default language settings of programmes and/or devices you use to learn a new language?

Let me know in the comments or via e-mail!

Fail Fast and Fail Epicly – The Best Way Of Learning Languages

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Fail Fast and Fail Epicly - The Best Way Of Learning Languages

Do you know what all the people who fail in language learning have in common? They don't think. They are dull and unoriginal. Actually, being "creatively challenged" is probably the main reason of failure in about anything you do.

Take a hard, good look at yourself. Are you one of them?

I know I was. For way too many years. I used to buy almost every memory book I could find. I was looking for the ultimate method to remember everything. To my disappointment, almost every book was the same. It took me a lot of time to come to realize that all the solutions are in my head. I just haven't discovered them yet!

Fail Fast and Fail Epicly - How To Do It Step By Step


Usually, there are three steps most people go through.

1) The First Stage - The Sleeping Giant


How can you tell if that's you? It's extremely easy to diagnose yourself. I've prepared a checklist for you. Or rather The Loser's Credo. If you tick more than one field, I have bad news for you...

  • you don't like to ask questions
  • you don't like to think about problems
  • you think that the old way is the only way
  • you are happy where you are currently at
  • you can't take criticism
  • people who are better than you in any way are either lying or born special
  • you don't see anything funny in this joke: "Dad what's ignorance?", "I don't know and I don't care"
  • you never question authority (The Big Lebowski anyone?)
  • you like to wait for the inspiration to act
  • you think that calling somebody "weird" is offensive
  • you try once, fail and never get back up

Frankly, I don't believe that any of you fall into this category. At least, not when it comes to learning.

But we're all there when it comes to other areas of life - relationships, the way we work, etc.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

But what if you know anyone who falls into this category? How can you help him? Well, you can suggest it as subtly as you can. After all, understanding the problem is half of the solution.

What's the next step? There is none. I'm sorry.

"We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation" - Jim Rohn

I changed my approach to learning due to desperation.

Many moons ago I was attending a German course at one of the local language schools. I felt very proud. It was my second language and after three years, the school classified my level as B1.

It was an amazing feeling. WAS.

After the first conversation with a native speaker The Evil Bubble of Hubris burst. I didn't understand much. I started stuttering madly. Much like a retarded version of Mr. Snuffalufagus.

So yeah. I was desperate. This soul-crushing experience helped me advance to the second category.

2) The Second Stage - The Awakened Mind


You read. Maybe a lot. Maybe a little. But definitely enough to know that there are many strategies to achieve your goal(s). So you read and read. And then read some more. But the moment comes when you get stuck. And you're desperately looking for people who might give you the answer.

But why would most people give you their best ideas. They spent years trying to come up with them!

Haven't you heard of the rule?


Fail Fast and Fail Epicly - The Best Way Of Learning Languages

 

I hit this stage about 17 months ago. I can't recall any specific situation which led to it. I simply knew that I had to change the way I approach learning. And then I found myself in the third stage.

3) Third stage - The Creative Behemoth


There are three characteristic qualities of all the people in this category:

  • you question most of the things until proved otherwise
  • you start coming up with dozens of potential solutions to your problems
  • you never feel fully satisfied with your ideas

It's like the mental hunger you can't satisfy. You can only alleviate it with new ideas and concepts. Once I started coming up with new hypotheses on how to memorize faster, it took me less than half a year to achieve such results. And I'm not done yet.

The beauty of this stage is that you can question almost anything.

For example - why do we shave with foam or gel? Hell, I started to do it with a mix of shampoo and soap. And believe me - it's much more effective way to shave (try it and thank me later).

Fail Fast and Fail Epicly - How To Do It


Fail Fast and Fail Epicly


There are two steps in this strategy.

1) Create the hypothesis


The planning process looks more less like this:

  • Define what the problem is

This is the question you have to start with. Let your brain know that there is some obstacle to overcome.
From that moment on, you'll start cracking it both consciously and subconsciously.

  • Learn the essentials of the subject you're trying to master

It's very important step. If you skip it, you might find yourself reinventing a wheel.
No need to waste your time like this.

Start with mastering the rules. Find out how others approach solving your problem.

  • Train your ability to observe

Start paying close attention to things which might contribute to the solution of the problem.

  • Create a hypothesis based on your observations

It doesn't always have to be very logical. Go with your gut feeling.

For example. It's generally proven that intensive emotions help us to remember better.

Start shouting out loud 4 random words every day with your best furious voice. Or go to the graveyard and check if the general sadness of this place contributes to better learning.

2) Perform an experiment to test those predictions


The Best Way Of Learning Languages


Give yourself one week to test your hypothesis. Then measure the results (here are examples of the things you can measure in language learning).

"There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery." - Enrico Fermi

In our case, a discovery simply means that the hypothesis wasn't very good. It's also great news.

Simply move to the next hypothesis.

If the results are better than the ones you got before, it's even better news.
You can start using YOUR new strategy right away. You don't need the old one anymore.

Final Thoughts


As you can see, the essentials of my method can be encapsulated in three points:

  1. 1
    come up with hypotheses as quickly as possible
  2. 2
    set yourself a suitable deadline to test the idea (for me it's almost always one week, but feel free to experiment with it as well)
  3. 3
    test it
  4. 4
    measure the results at the end of the experiment
  5. 5
    draw conclusions
  6. 6
    rinse and repeat


The faster you fail, the faster you can move to another potential solution.

Of course, there is one more thing to bear in mind. Before you start experimenting, measure your current pace of learning words or whatever else you're trying to do.

I failed more times than I succeeded. But the moments of victory brought me unbelievable results. And believe me - once you experience the thrill of discovering, you will never stop experimenting.

I see it that way:
If you want to be mediocre - stick with one method.
If you want to be effective language learner - try at least few methods.
If you want to be exceptional - try A LOT of them.

Fail fast and fail epicly.

Now, I want you to come up with your own method of learning and test it within next 10 days.

And as always, let me know how it goes.

Done reading? Time to learn!

 

Reading articles online is a great way to expand your knowledge. However, the sad thing is that after barely 1 day, we tend to forget most of the things we have read. 

I am on the mission to change it. I have created over 10 flashcards that you can download to truly learn information from this article. It’s enough to download ANKI, and you’re good to go. This way, you will be able to speed up your learning in a more impactful way.


How To Learn Communicative Czech In 1 month – Results Of My Czech Mission

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How To Learn Communicative Czech

Finally, after some delay (due to my laziness in writing!) I’m proud to present the results and final thoughts concerning my language mission. If you haven’t been following my struggles, you can find all the details below.

The purpose of the mission

 

My mission had a dual purpose.

First of all, I wanted to demonstrate that it is perfectly possible to learn REALLY FAST. assuming of course that you

  • use some mnemonics
  • disregard almost all the advice you’ve ever heard in your life regarding (language) learning, but more about that later

Secondly, I wanted to ENCOURAGE YOU to think more seriously about your learning; to be BETTER. To question what you know. My learning philosophy is simple – experiment to see what does and what doesn’t work.

To put it brutally – if a horse is sick, you don’t pretend that everything is fine, try to ride or show it to your friends and say “it needs a little bit more time to get better, that’s all”. No. It won’t get better. You take a shotgun, lead a horse behind a barn and put it out of its misery. It’s that simple.

It’s simple. But it’s not easy. If you’ve been using the same ol’ methods for years, it’s hard to kiss them goodbye. I know.

Time Restrictions

 

Start date: 1st February 2015

End date: 2nd March 2015

Total time: 30 days

Main Goals of The Mission

 

  • Memorize 100 words per day for 30 days in the row
  • Get to at least a B1 level
  • Assess my language skills

My Learning Materials

 

Money Spent

About 3$. That’s the cost of my pocket dictionary.

Disclosure

It’s my duty to mention that I had following pre-exisitng advantages before the start of my mission:

I could already speak 8 languages

Including 2 Slavic languages; one of them is my mother tongue – Polish. It simply means that I could understand, right away, all the grammar constructions I stumbled across.

Also, the vocabulary between these languages is quite similar.

And finally, due to the language similarities, my listening skills were at quite a high level from the very beginning.

I had a profound knowledge of mnemonics

I’ve been experimenting with my own mnemonics systems for years and I’ve created the ones which work great for me.

Update 2017: A couple of months after this mission ended, I had to relearn all the words. Read more about severe limitations of mnemonics.

The Difficulty of Czech

 

You can read more about it right here.

The Time Spent On The Mission

 

Altogether I spent about 140 hours during the duration of my mission. What was frustrating is that I had to spend about half of that time preparing the vocabulary lists!

Results

 

  • Results of the first test: level C1.1

Here are some more details:

  • The test consists of three parts.
  • There is a time limit of 30 minutes for each part.
  • The second and third parts can be entered only if you reach a minimum score.
  • The minimum score for entering part 2 is 40 points.
  • The minimum score for entering part 3 is 70 points (score in part 1 + part 2).

I managed to complete the test in 33 minutes and went through all 3 parts of it.

How To Learn Communicative Czech

  • Results of the second test: level B2

Here are some more details:

  • Make sure you do not spend more than 40 minutes on doing the test.
  • You should not use any dictionary or any other help so that the result accurately reflects your knowledge.
  • Stop filling in and submit the test as soon as the questions are too difficult for you (Do not guess the answers).
  • If you are a complete beginner, there is no need to do the test.

 

How To Learn Communicative Czech

Both tests concentrated only on the grammar use and reading comprehension. If you don’t know what these silly letters mean – don’t worry. Simply read Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

The Weaknesses of The Self-Assessment

 

Generally, the overall performance is calculated by averaging the scores you achieve in Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking and Grammar.

I had a chance to test all of them (except writing skills). However, some language competences had to be assessed by myself, not by a qualified teacher. It leaves definitely a lot of room for personal bias but it was impossible to avoid considering the nature of such an undertaking.

On a side note, I’ve been working as a language assessor for some time now, so I can only hope that my judgment is precise enough.

Did I Succeed?

 

Yep, I feel that I accomplished all the main goals of my mission:

Number of words

Altogether I’ve memorized about 3100 words. About 2860 of them are the words from my ANKI list, the rest of them are noted separately on a few pieces of paper.

Including my knowledge of the rules of word formation, my total vocabulary size should amount to about 4,5 – 6,5k words.

Level

Considering the results of official and unofficial language assessment, I would assess my level as B1.2. In other words – somewhere between B1 and B2 level.

Articles Related To The Mission

 

If you haven’t had a chance to do it already, here are some articles (more to come!) describing my approach to learning Czech (or should I say – learning in general).

 

How to Learn Grammar Fast – How to Learn a Language on Your Own (Part 4)

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Learn grammar fast

Can you feel it? We're going on an adventure! By now, you should have everything we need to start learning. 

If you've read the first part of this guide you should have some grammars book. Internet sources are also acceptable but book is always more reliable.

But before we start, just a small disclaimer.

THE SMALL DISCLAIMER


The process which I'm about to present work like a charm for me. But we're all different, so remember that your approach might vary from mine. That's why you should consider tweaking them a little bit so they're more tailored for your needs.

This part of the guide will seriously get you started but of course, it's not possible to cover all complexities of particular languages. I'm selective.

I don't give a damn about being 100% correct at the beginning because nobody cares. You know what is really tiring? Stuttering with perfect grammar every second word.

Sure, you'll make mistakes but it rarely happens that they are serious.

- "I really do love rapes officer!"
- "Pardon me? You are a sick and twisted person! Oh, wait! Did you mean grapes?"
 - "Oh yeah, me thanks and love you long time!"

You see? At least you're politely making a conversation.

TWO MAIN BRICKS OF YOUR LEARNING FOUNDATION


There are two things which you should know before learning anything - your baseline and general outline of the subject you're about to learn.

So what's baseline?


This is the manner in which you can refer what you already know to the material you want to acquire.
It's possible most of the time. However, sometimes you have to be really creative!

When you learn a new language, you can, of course,  compare it to the ones you already know.

General outline


You should know more or less what the given language consists of. Why? Very important part of learning is knowing what you don't know.

Skimming through a grammar book can give you a pretty good picture of the language. You can learn how many tenses there are or conjugations.

Now the real art is to pick grammar constructions which are the most useful to us and will enable speaking as quickly as possible while maintaining a relatively high level of grammatical correctness.

I'll stress just for clarity's sake - you need a general outline of a language. You're not learning at this stage.

WHAT'S THE MAIN GOAL?


How to Learn Grammar Fast


I'll try to describe in as many details as it's only possible how I usually approach learning languages.
Once again - my goal is to start speaking as soon as possible.

If yours is only to read or write - it's still the approach I would choose as it helps you to build a grammatical scaffolding where you can later set vocabulary.

Grammatical correctness usually follows quickly once you start speaking. To depict the said process, I'll use Esperanto as an example.

It's much easier than most languages and that's precisely why it is perfect. Just like scientists who use simple organisms to understand more complex ones. I'll use an easy language as an example so you can later transfer this knowledge to more complex ones.

HOW TO USE THIS PART OF THE GUIDE?


I suggest the following - go through it (more or less) step by step. It'll set you on the right path.

But the most important advice which I can give you is - ignore ALL the other things from further steps until you cover the ones you're actually trying to learn. It takes the burden of overthinking off of you.

When should you move to the next step?

Once you can use the structures from the current one with confidence.
Of course, feel free to change the order of these steps and adjust them to you if you feel it suits you better.

FIRST BABY STEP- Personal Pronouns


The first question which we have to ask ourselves is: what elements of language are the most important? The answer is - the ones which you can't substitute with anything else.

That's why I always start with personal pronouns (subject pronouns). For the sake of brevity, I'll limit my examples to a singular form.

mi
I
vi
you
li
he
ŝi
she


Step 2 - PRESENT TENSE


Once we get a grasp of subject pronouns we can move to present tense. This choice begs the same question as before.

Why present and not past or future tense? Assuming that we have really little time at our disposal, we can always say something like:

"I eat dinner yesterday"
"she goes there in 3 days"

Sounds terrible - I'm pretty sure we all agree here BUT It helps you to get your message across! If there are more than 1 present tense in your target language, it's better to choose the one which's used for general events

Step 3 - CONJUGATION


Esperanto makes everything simple. All verbs in present tense have endings -AS.

Obviously, in a language of your choice, you'll face more conjugations. And the great thing is that you know how many because you learned beforehand what the grammar outline of your target language looks like. (You READ it, right?)

Now we have to learn how to construct:

  • affirmative sentence
  • negative sentence
  • questions

Questions are least important as you can always ask one using an affirmative sentence and changing your tone of voice.

AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE (in present tense)


POSSIBLE TRAPS: In many languages the order of the sentence is fixed - e.g. The conjugated verb is always the second sentence element in German.

Be aware of it.

Let's select some verbs, so we can start creating sentences.

Short list of the most useful verbs:

an = povi
must / have to = devi
should = devi
might / may = povi
have = havi
be = esti
get = ricevi
give = doni
take = preni
want - voli
need = bezoni
buy = aĉeti
sell = vendi
go = iri
come = veni

and 3 nouns

money = mono
time = tempo
book = libro

Now the best part - building sentences:

mi prenas libro = I take a book
ŝi vendas mono = she sells money
vi havas tempo = you have time

Please note that these sentences are incorrect (we should add -n to nouns in this case) - I'm trying to show the process of grammar acquisition as precisely as it is only possible.

As for now, we know nothing about declension. Nevertheless, such sentences can be understood without any problem.

NEGATIVE SENTENCE


Typically, we can negate either a verb or a noun. The most important for us is how to negate verbs. In English, we use the adverb "not" to do so. In Esperanto, we can do it using "ne" before verbs.

Examples:

Mi ne havas mono = I don't have money
 ŝi ne vendas mono = she doesn't sell money
vi ne havas tempo = you don't have time

QUESTIONS


Close-ended questions


Some most popular ways to form a yes-no (i.e. close-ended) question in many languages is to use intonation, inversion (present in English), inflection, auxiliary verbs (do, have, etc. in English) or a grammatical particle.

The latter is true in, among others, Polish, Esperanto and French.
In Esperanto, we use the particle "ĉu".

Examples:

love = ami
Do you love money? = ĉu vi amas mono ?
Do you have a book? = ĉu vi havas libro?

Open-ended questions


If we want to learn some more details, it's great to know the most popular interrogative words:

List of interrogative words

which
what
whose
who
whom
where
when
how (much, many, often)
why

Examples:

Who = kiu, what = kio
Who do you love? = Kiu vi amas?
What does he want? = Kio li volas?

Step 4 - OTHER USEFUL PRONOUNS


The final step to make our sentences clearer and fancier is to learn some more personal pronouns

POSSIBLE TRAPS: You have to be aware that in some languages you can encounter many categories of pronouns depending on the case.

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS


my - mia
your - via
his - lia
her - ŝia

Examples:

Let's add two adjectives to spruce things up a bit:

big - granda*
cheap - malmultekosta*

* All adjectives in Esperanto end with -A

My book isn't big - Mia libro ne estas granda
His time isn't cheap - Lia tempo estas malmultekosta


OBJECT PRONOUNS


me - min
you - vin
him - lin
her - ŝin

She loves you (yeah, yeah, yeah) - ŝi amas vin
Do I need her? - ĉu mi bezonas ŝin?

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS


Why are they so great?

Because you can simply learn them, point at some object and grunt:

"This!"
"Not this, that!"

Lovely, right?

this - (ĉi) tiu
that - tiu
these - (ĉi) tiuj
those - tiuj

This person is stupid - Tiu persono estas stulta
He gives that money - Li donas tiu mono*

* I still make mistakes on purpose. It should read "li donas tiun monon".

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS


List of indefinite pronouns:

enough
little
less
much
more
most
several 
few
fewer
many
more
most
no one
nobody
neither
none
everybody
everyone
all
both
someone
something
some
anyone
anything
either
any

Examples:

Someone = iu, everything = ĉio
She knows everything = ŝi scias ĉio
Someone wants you = iu volas vin

I've decided to skip reflexive pronouns. But feel free to read about them.

Step 5 - CONJUNCTIONS


Long and (almost) complete list of conjunctions:

after
although 
as 
as far as 
as if 
as long as 
as soon as 
as though
because 
before
even if 
even though 
every time 
if 
in order that 
since 
so 
so that 
than 
though 
unless 
until 
when 
whenever 
where 
whereas 
wherever 
while 
and 
nor 
but 
or 
yet 
otherwise 
so 
either...or 
not only...but (also) 
neither...nor 
both...and 

whether...or 


just as...so

The ones that are the most important to me at the beginning are:
because, and, but, or, after, before, that, that's why, to, although, if, until, since, although, otherwise

Conjunctions give us this nice feeling of confidence when we speak. They combine two or more sentences and add a great touch of logic and cohesion to them.

Examples:

because = ĉar
I love you because you're pretty = Mi amas vin ĉar vi estas bela

understand = kompreni
I understand that's why I sell = Mi komprenas tial mi vendas

That's it when it comes to grammar basics. More to come!

REMEMBER:


You can create your own context and the world within a language. You'll have time to adjust the accuracy later.

As long as use logic and try to avoid any idiomatic expressions you should be understood.

CONCLUSION

  • Know the general outline of grammar before you start
  • Learn grammar step by step, once you feel quite comfortable within some grammar structure - move on
  • If you want to start speaking as fast as possible, learn the thing which can't be substituted with anything else first
  • Your brain craves sense and meaning - create your own context, have fun, start saying some silly stuff!
  • Embrace imperfection, we all have to start somewhere

Master Pronunciation Of A Foreign Language – How To Learn A Language On Your Own (Part 3)

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Master Pronunciation Of A Foreign Language

Why even bother with studying pronunciation?

Well, as always, there are no easy answers. Some say it's important to master the pronunciation of a foreign language. Some say it's a waste of time

The question is - why should beginners and semi-advanced learners care?

There are some obvious benefits - the better your pronunciation, the bigger a chance that native speakers will understand you. It means that there is always some minimal amount of work that has to be done in order to talk with native speakers.

Otherwise, each person will soon get discouraged from talking to you and leave or get black-out drunk to match your level of mumbling.

But what comes next after you reach the level, where native speakers have no problems understanding you? Does it make sense to reach for the Holy Grail of learning languages - speaking with no accent?

Considering the amount of time needed, I dare to say no. It's better to spend this time mastering grammar and vocabulary. I have never seen any point in pronouncing everything perfectly while still mixing up words and butchering grammar.

Many people claim to have achieved the level where there is no difference between them and native speakers. I believe that very often this is simply an exaggeration.

Typically, the longer someone talks to a native speaker, the bigger the chance that "the truth gets revealed".

Ultimately, I'll leave that for you to ponder. So what should you do to achieve good pronunciation as quickly as possible?

And to avoid such mistakes:

0. Brief (And Not So Boring) Theoretical Intro


It won't take long, I promise. If you're interested in practical tips, move to point 1.

To speak clearly, we must first understand what the (highly simplified) building blocks of pronunciation are:

  • Phonology - can be seen as "abstract, grammatical characterization of systems of sounds or signs". Which means - what is the difference between sounds. What makes French language French and English English (and Hodor, Hodor, Hodor)
  • Phonetics - deals with "physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neurophysiological status" of sounds. Basically, how to produce sounds.
  • Prosody - is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Well, this is kind of self-explanatory.

As you can see, mastering pronunciation requires learning the aforementioned elements of a language of your choice.

Now, how to do it practically...

1. Identify Alien Sounds


As children, we have the ability to distinguish different sounds and "assemble" them into words (in other words, we combine phonemes into morphemes/words).

The sad part about learning new languages is that we mostly lose this ability when we grow up.
It means, that without preparation very often we won't even know that we pronounce something incorrectly.

That's why the first step to get familiar with pronunciation is to identify the sounds which you might even be not aware of.

How to do it

Look it up in a dictionary


Pronunciation Of A Foreign Language


Every good dictionary has a description of sounds typical of the given language. What's more - as I've written before, always try to choose a dictionary which includes phonetic transcription of words.

Google it


" Language x (e.g. Swedish) phonology" will usually deliver best results.

Visit mylanguages.org


It covers 80+ languages. Choose the one you want and click "alphabet".

Now, after using any of these methods, you'll end up looking confused at the strange set of characters. They are part of the International Phonetic Alphabet. They look scary but are not so difficult to learn.

To become even more aware of the differences between your native and target language, you should learn the sounds of English language.

Here you can find an interactive phonetic chart for English.

2. Train Your Mouth To Pronounce Sound


Congratulations, by now you should know more or less, what sounds you should pay attention to. To imitate them as precisely as it's only possible, you need (ideally) combination of a couple of methods.

Learn how to produce sounds mechanically


It's a great starting point - grab a dictionary or some textbook and read a description of how you should pronounce given sounds. If the description is accompanied by a picture - even better.

Usually, the biggest problem is how to pronounce vowels. Since your tongue moves up and down, forward or backward, you have plenty of positions to experiment with.

Once (it seems that) you nail the target sound, try to memorize what the position of your tongue and lips was. And don't be too quick thinking that it is over. You have to check it first. (see feedback)

Start small


Choose only one or two sounds to begin with. Let's say that you have no idea how to pronounce /æ/.

You check how to produce this sound on Wiki. Then you pick up a word or two and try to pronounce this sound as closely as possible. Say, this word is "tab".

 

Master Pronunciation Of A Foreign Language

 

Once you are sure that the sound is pronounced decently, you can move on to other words.
Sounds like a lot of work but I assure you it's not.

When I was a child I suffered from a really bad speech impediment and couldn't pronounce a truckload of sounds in my native tongue.

Can you imagine how I talked to my parents or friends?
- "mc wohn sdno"
- "Yes honey, of course, we love you"

I used this method to learn how to express myself like a normal human being.

Record yourself


Find some interesting text, grab a microphone or use your mobile and start reading aloud using the aforementioned rules.

How can you tell if you produce new sounds effectively?

It won't be difficult - assuming that you did everything right, your mouth will hurt.
It means that you use muscles which haven't been used before.

Of course, If you're learning a language with a different alphabet, you should learn how to read it first.

3. Learn How To Hear The Sounds


How To Learn A Language On Your Own


Now, you can start practicing your hearing. You've successfully identified the sounds which are new to you. It's time you started noticing them in sentences!

Such knowledge gives you immediate head-start when it comes to listening to and communicating with foreigners.

Remember, however, that grammar rules concerning your target language might alter your understanding of speech. Some sounds blend, others are silent or reduced.

For example, in French "à" followed by "le" combine to form "au."

4. Be Aware Of Mistakes


It's always safe to assume that you pronounce sounds at least partially incorrectly until you receive some kind of feedback. Such assumption can save you hours and hours of tears and frustration.

5. Feedback


You need final confirmation of how awesome your pronunciation is. And who's better to do it than native speakers?

If you have a tutor or friends who can help you - then great. Ask them all the questions you have and to correct you if there's something wrong.

If you are on your own, try www.rhinospike.com
You can ask native speakers there to record some text for you and then you can use it to compare it with how you speak.

You can also use Google Translate or http://www.forvo.com/ to compare pronunciation of single words. But how will you know that you sound good enough?

You will sound in unison with the recording. Simple as that!

FINAL WORDS


As you can see, learning how to pronounce sounds can be turned into a relatively easy to execute the process. However, as always when it comes to mastering such complex task, the better you try to be, the more time-consuming it is.

And don't beat yourself down, if it doesn't work right away. Good things take time.

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it with your friends and join our community!

Done reading? Time to learn!

 

Reading articles online is a great way to expand your knowledge. However, the sad thing is that after barely 1 day, we tend to forget most of the things we have read. 

I am on the mission to change it. I have created over 10 flashcards that you can download to truly learn information from this article. It’s enough to download ANKI, and you’re good to go. This way, you will be able to speed up your learning in a more impactful way.

Do’s and Dont’s of Learning Languages – How to Learn a Language on Your Own (Part 2)

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Dos and donts of learning languages

By now you should know clearly why you want to learn a language. Don't you ever forget about the source of your motivation! Let it be your guiding light and fuel for what's about to come. Now it's time to get familiar with do's and dont's of language learning

Do's and Dont's of Language Learning

1. Get Ready

Describing what it means to be ready is always quite tricky. The reason is simple - there won't be many situations in your life when you feel really ready and the conditions are conducive. However, in the perfect sugar-coated world your readiness should involve three elements:

Being ready physically

Comfort is important. Before you start learning, make sure that you're not hungry, tired or sick.Get some snack or a nap if you have to. Otherwise a few minutes deep into the learning you will start having dirty fantasies about rubbing a chocolate on your chest while being wrapped up in sheets.

Being ready mentally

"Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair." - Edmund Burke

Do your best to clear your head before you get down to learning. Stress is probably the worst enemy of effective studying. It dumbs you down drastically. Meditate, take a walk - do what it takes to unwind.
Anything is better than suddenly realizing that instead of being focused on learning you catch yourself plotting against your boss.

And come to terms with the fact that you'll probably never be able to speak a language like a native speaker. Let go of the ideal you nurture. I know it all too well. I combat my anxieties and fears on a daily basis.

Being ready emotionally

Incite emotions and get excited. Think about all the things you'll be able to do with your newly acquired language! Imagine the world of possibilities! Make it vivid, so vivid that you almost feel that it's real. Get yourself pumped.

Watch some motivational videos (like this one - Rise and Shine) or read an inspiring article.Or maybe create a set list which gets you in the mood. Survivor's "Eye of the tiger" seems like a natural choice here!

2. Create a Supportive Environment

How to Learn a Language on Your Own


Each one of us should have a safe haven. A place which immediately can be associated with learning.
The place which immediately triggers the willingness to learn in you.

But it's hard. It's hard to draw a distinct line between your working and play space and the one for learning.
Still, try to find yourself a nook you can call your own. Go to café or library if you can't find it under your roof.

Once you have it, get rid of all the potential distractions. Turn off the music*, put aside anything that may distract you.
And don't get too comfy. If you sink into an armchair it will smell your weakness and lure you into the oppressive clutches of sleep!

A supportive environment means also one more thing. Tell your beloved ones to give you some space and keep everything relatively down.

3. Focus And Have a Reminder


Now you have a place where you can learn! Congratulations! There shouldn't be many things left which may distract you.

Next thing on the checklist - stop multitasking. Decrease your cognitive load. Regardless of what you've heard - that's another thing which dumbs you down. If you do two things at once, divide your attention and intelligence by two. It basically makes you equivalent of a retarded shrimp. And I can tell you they're not very good at learning languages.

Get yourself a reminder of why you want to learn. It can be a piece of jewelry given to you by your ancestors/wife/husband. A picture of your dream house. Anything which gets you going is just fine.

If you're single, hang a picture of some person who inspires you.


Dos and donts of learning languages


Whenever you find yourself distracted let your reminder work its magic.

4. Be Regular


The chance is that if you've ever stuck to some routine I don't have to convince you why it's so extremely important to be regular.

If not, let me tell you what has been told thousands of time - it's better to learn 10 minutes per day than to do it once per week for 2 hours.
But why? The numbers don't add up. Well, math is a cruel mistress.

There are dozens of rules which govern learning. One which is (probably) the most important for you is:

Spacing effect - you remember things better if they are distributed over a long time span and the bigger the number of repetitions

If learning each day is not a habit for you, you should do all in your power to develop it.
Set some time aside every day for learning - e.g. 25 min at 19:00.

5. Learn In Small Doses

Do’s and Dont’s of Learning Languages


You might have heard this saying before - learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Truer words have never been said. But ...

When it comes to regular learning, try to slice your learning time into pieces if you plan to learn for more than 1 hour.

We're only human. Our attention span is anything between 20 -40 min. After that time your thoughts start wandering into unknown directions. That's perfectly ok. Just be aware of this fact and prepare beforehand.

Take a 10-minute break every 30 minutes. This is, of course, a mere suggestion.
You have to experiment a bit to see what works for you.

Also, don't forget about the Serial Position Effect. We tend to remember the most items from the beginning and from the end of our studying It means that the more breaks you have the better you take advantage of this phenomenon.

6. Create Systems (and why they beat goals)


I believe that goals are a great starting point. But it's only a first station in your journey.
They won't carry you very far. However, as great as they are, they have their limitations.

Let's assume that your initial goal was to learn 10 words per day or 15 min per day. If you fail to stick to this goal, you'll start feeling bad. "I can't even do this one thing right". Every time you fail, the chance that you'll return to your learning schedule decreases. After some time, caught in despair, you stop learning.

What if you manage to actually follow through? You might be so content with yourself that you'll stop there.

And this is a gist of problems with goals. They limit you in one way or another.

So why are systems better?

A good system is characterized by two things. It facilitates wanted behavior and makes it difficult to yield to unwanted one. Who needs strong will when you have systems?!

Example

I know that I have a very strong inclination to browse various websites after a few minutes of working on my computer. That's why I downloaded the app which blocked these websites for better part of the day (here you can find other blocking apps):

Thus, I increased my chance to stay focused while learning. What's more, the only objects which I keep on my desk are books and dictionaries. It considerably decreases the risk of getting distracted.

So go ahead. Think about how you can create the system to facilitate your learning.

7. (Learn How To) Love The Grind


"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." - Stephen King

Discover an appreciation for what you have to do. Anybody could learn in perfect conditions. But as I said, it rarely happens. Grit is born out of pain. Every time you force yourself to learn you build your habit. Brick by brick.

And don't compare yourself to others and their progress. Everyone has his own fight to do.
And we all start with different gear and skills.

Just show up. Day by day. That's the secret.

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward." ― Martin Luther King Jr.

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