Techniques for language learning

Translation method to learn
The translation method, about a hundred years ago, was the method of language learning in vogue which died out with the introduction of the direct method for teaching languages. Arrogant language experts sub the translation method as an artifact from the last paradigm shift. But the reality is a modified translation […]

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Tags: How to learn a language, learn a language, Techniques for language learning, translation, translation method

How long does it take to be conversational in a language
It takes from 3 months to 3 years to be conversational in a language.  I teach and learn languages and you need about 3000 words to get by and about 5000 words to be conversational, even with no grammar.  You have to calculate how long […]

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Tags: conversation, conversational, conversational in a language, language, Techniques for language learning

Learn French the French way
I remember when I was learning French in junior high, my French teacher was telling us about a new method for learning French I thought was interesting. It was the humiliation method. They were doing it in Paris and some people said it was very effective. It involved doing things like […]

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Tags: French, language, learn, Learn French, Techniques for language learning

Havana Blues for learning Spanish
Last night I went to ‘Havana Blues’ at the movies. I watched it in Spanish with Polish subtitles. The film was about two musicians in Havana.  A large part of the movie was music and singing in Spanish.  By the end of the movie I was able to learn a few […]

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Tags: havana-blues, learn, Learn Spanish, music, Spanish, Techniques for language learning

Gregorian chants
Gregorian chants are in my opinion the most soothing and flowing music there is.  But I grew up listing to Gregorian chants, so perhaps I am partial. Regardless they have a real affect on your brain and can be used to help you learn languages.
Gregorian chants an brainwaves
Many studies have been done on music […]

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Tags: baroque, brain, brainwaves, Gregorian-chants, language, learn, learning, music, Techniques for language learning

Origin of the word idiom ’son of a gun’
I love the origin of words, they help me learn new words in a foreign language by adding richness to the word I am trying to learn.  Here is an English word origin that is interesting.   In English we say ’son of a gun’.  The origin […]

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Tags: orgin-of-words, song-or-a-gun, Techniques for language learning, word-origin

Improve your memory
Memory improvement technique
One way to improve your memory is to every night before you go to bed,  review your day in reverse, in your imagination.  That is,  see what you did just before you got into bed, then just before that, and before that, until you have your whole day like a movie […]

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Learn a language by selling in a market
I am an American living in Poland.   And for fun sometimes I go to Ukraine and buy things cheap and sell them in the Polish open air market.  I make some money but more important selling things in a stand all day I learn a lot of Polish.  […]

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Tags: Chinese, foreign, language, learn, market, Polish, Techniques for language learning

The language of Art
Want to read and think better, to create art.
Improving students’ literacy levels using works of art may sound far-fetched.
But research by New York’s Guggenheim Museum suggests students who view, discuss and create works of art have an improved ability to think critically and read than their peers who have less exposure to […]

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Tags: Art, language, learn, learning, Techniques for language learning