Many people learning a language understandably want to speak well, correctly, without “mistakes”. And that’s a great goal to have. A great lifelong goal to have. The problem is, it can often be a pretty paralyzing goal too. You won’t get there very quickly, and it discourages speaking soon. Languages are huge beasts that are …
Read more “Don’t Speak “Perfectly” – Make the Right Mistakes”
Something really magical happens when you train your ears to truly hear the sounds of a language; Then, listen very carefully to all the ways those sounds combine in native speech; And finally, open up your mouth to start imitating all those sounds you’re hearing. When you’ve spent enough time grinding, really putting in the …
I recently spent an evening with a group of mostly native Spanish speakers. I knew most of them, but there were a few new faces. Often with this group of friends, we default to English – they live in the US, their English is great, and I can be lazy and express myself perfectly. But this …
Read more “Getting Through the Grind: Smiling When You Don’t Understand”
When I decided to learn Portuguese, I was lucky enough to have a Brazilian mentor with two young daughters. I wasn’t asking her to teach me the language, just to guide me on my journey. And when I asked her for materials, she gave me two Disney books in Portuguese. But remember: Before you start …
Read more “Learn Language Like Children for Maximum Efficacy”
^ This is exactly what I googled back in 2013 when I was desperately trying to learn German as a exchange student. I was extremely disappointed that my ten years of German classes hadn’t prepared me for actually speaking. And with this frustrated google search, I found a blog called Fluent in 3 Months that …
One of the first things people usually do when learning a language is to study traditional grammar rules. But counterintuitively, this actually can make it a lot harder for you to speak and understand a language with ease. I say this because I’ve seen that learning rules like this is often overwhelming, irrelevant, and confusing. …
One of the least effective ways to learn new words is on their own, from a list of the 1000 most common words for example. Words never exist in isolation. Whenever anyone says a word, it’s always surrounded by context. Even when people interject with just one word, there’s always the context of the situation, …
Read more “Don’t Study Vocab Lists – Learn Words in Context from People”
When most people start learning a new language as adults, one of the first things they do is look at written words. I’m here to tell you that this is actually a big mistake, and will only make it harder for you to develop a great accent and understand native speakers when they talk fast. …
Read more “Reading a New Language Too Soon Ruins Your Accent”
As human beings, most of us want to avoid getting laughed at at all costs. It can feel embarrassing, awkward, shameful, etc etc. But I want to argue that in language learning, this is actually a very powerful tool that you want to embrace instead of avoiding! Think about it: You learn best when you’re …
This is something super important that I’ve come to realize over ten years of language learning. True, deep, long-term learning can only happen when you experience strong positive emotions associated with it. If learning a language feels like studying, homework, a chore, then honestly you’re wasting your time. This is a huge reason why most …
Read more “If You’re Not Having Fun, You’re Not Really Learning “
