Reading blogs in a foreign language for slang and idioms
Reading blogs in a foreign language for slang and idioms
One of the problems with learning a language from a book or a class is you do not get a lot of slang and current idioms in your target foreign language. Idioms that are used are sometimes 10 years old. If you want the latest and greatest idioms and slang in a foreign language, if you want to know what people, usually young people are talking about, that is the current buzz in your target foreign language, blogging in the way to go to learn a language’s slang,idioms and more.
My initial skepticism about blogging reversed by idioms and slang
I had always thought that blogs were for 15 year olds. However, once I started to read blogs and write on them I found that what is on a blog is the current language in use. Nothing else compares. You could never read a book as current as a blog for modern language usage. Some grammarians and teachers I know do not like this idea as it is not proper language to learn for language learners. But a language is - what people use - not what is on some formal exam. If you want to increase your ability to understand native speakers in a your target foreign language, read and even write on blogs.
Tags: blogs, foreign language books, How to learn a language
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August 26, 2008at 2:58 pm
This is actually a great concept that you suggest here. Anybody who has learned a language at home/class and then tried to go out and speak to locals has probably noticed that there is quite a difference between the two. Only learning “Text book” language throughout high school and college led me to believe I would have no problem when I first arrived in Spain. However, the “street”, or slang/ idioms (mixed with the accent) proved me wrong. To enhance my language level I talked to the locals, and read magazines, as they were speaking the raw language, and this is what I wanted to learn. Now that I am home, I use msn messenger to also practice my Spanish-I never thought to write on Spanish blogs! That’s definitely along the same lines of taking the language you are getting to know, and finding a way to make it sound natural.