Universal grammar
Linguists doubt exception to universal grammar by Robin H. Ray MIT-Controversies in the field of linguistics seldom make headlines, which is why the current imbroglio over an alleged counterexample to Universal Grammar (UG), made famous in the 1960s by Noam Chomsky, MIT professor of linguistics, is so unusual.
On one side is Daniel L. Everett, […]
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French TV
Learn French by watching tv? All you have to do is watch TV and the French goes into your brain. Not exactly. I knew one person who tried learning a language this way, and it did not work. Why? She did not have the critical number of words to break through to a comprehension […]
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Tags: french tv, Learn French
How to learn vocabulary
With right lessons, non-native kindergarteners learn vocabulary faster than native English-speakers fromThe University of Chicago Press-An important study from The Elementary School Journal explores vocabulary development at the kindergarten level among English-only students (EOs) and English-language-learning students (ELLs) who speak another language at home. Analyzing rates of target word acquisition and overall […]
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Language exposure
What you need to learn a language is exposure to the language. You need to hear words and phrases over and over again. If you do not hear these words over and over again. How can your brain ever form the right connections? Think about a brain cell, it must make countless complex connections […]
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Less gym more learning
Learning languages ‘boosts brain’ from the BBC
Learning languages enhances the brain, scientists believe learning a second language “boosts” brain-power, scientists believe. Researchers from University College London studied the brains of 105 people - 80 of whom were bilingual.
They found learning other languages altered grey matter - the area of the brain which […]
Continue Reading If I had spent more time learning a language than in the gym
Games help you ‘learn and play’ from the BBC - A Sim could help you dip a toe in a foreign tongue ‘God games’ in which players must control virtual people and societies could be educational, says research. A US researcher has suggested that games such as The Sims could be a good way to […]
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Language construction
Every language learner, including myself wants to get back to their own language’s grammatical structure. But what if their target language is put together in a totally different way than their native language. For example cases. Almost unknown in modern English but is the main grammatical aspect in Slavic languages, such as Polish, Ukrainian […]
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Sleep and language learning
To Understand The Big Picture, Give It Time – And Sleep from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Memorizing a series of facts is one thing, understanding the big picture is quite another. Now a new study demonstrates that relational memory – the ability to make logical “big picture” inferences from disparate pieces […]
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Tags: learn a language, memory, sleep
What is the hardest language to learn?
Extremely Hard: The hardest language to learn is: Polish-Seven Cases, Seven Genders and very difficult pronunciation. Average English speaker is fluent at about the age 12; the average Polish speaker is fluent in their language not until age 16. .
Very Hard: Finnish, Hungarian, and Estonian-These languages are hard […]
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Humility and learning
To speak a language you have to have a shift in your consciousness from your native language to your target language. This takes a lot of humility. If you are a prideful person you will not be able to do it. Why? Because you are so smart in your native language and to […]
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