You are unlikely to learn to speak a new language perfectly, but perfection should not be your goal. Your main goal should be effective communication. I am not perfect in any of the languages that I speak, but I can communicate. And whenever I communicate in another language I'm satisfied. I also know from experience that my ability to speak and to pronounce well will only improve with time, as long as I remain alert to what I hear and read, and how I use the language. The post How To Improve Your Speaking Skills appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

Words, acquiring words, that is the core task in language learning. Over the years, I’ve seen all kinds of theories on mastering new words, because learning words is such a big deal... The post Don’t Try to Memorize Vocabulary in a New Language appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

  Justin Sung  offers interesting advice about learning in general on his YouTube channel, particularly regarding the importance of relevance, curiosity and repeated retrieval in learning activity. However, his recent video on... The post Unpacking Justin Sung’s Language Learning Advice: A Critical Analysis appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

Reading is the ‘killer app’ for education, communication, and language acquisition in my opinion. It bridges gaps between cultures, connects us with history, and enhances our linguistic abilities. In this post I share six crucial tips to enhance your reading skills, for language learning and in general.   My 6 Reading Strategies 1. Read A […] The post 6 Brain-Friendly Strategies for Reading in Any Language appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

The most popularly spoken Slavic languages are Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian in the east, Polish, Czech and Slovakian in the west and then the the languages of the former Yugoslavia in the south. The post Similarities & Differences Between the Slavic Languages appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

You have all heard me stress the importance of input. You have to get the language in you, meaning you have to acquire words, and you have to let your brain get used to the language. I spend most of my time practicing different forms of input, however, the ability to effectively speak is the […] The post How To Become Good at Speaking a New Language appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

When I was 16, we had the option to do our first year of university instead of grade 12 in high school. I decided to move on to McGill University in Montréal as I found high school to be a bit boring. Not knowing what to study, I chose a number of courses in French and English literature. My professor at university named Maurice Rabotin was great! The post How I learned French appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

Accumulating words is the fundamental task in language learning, in other words it is very important to acquire new words. Many learners are under the impression that this is done through memorization. This is not, however, the most effective way to grow your vocabulary. I’ve never been able to learn new words by deliberately trying to memorize them. The more effective way to learn new words is simply through exposure to the language. The post How to Expand Your Vocabulary Without Memorization appeared first on The Linguist ..read more

My third language learning goal is listening. It's the third goal in the hierarchy, but in many ways it's the most important because it's the major activity that I do when it comes to language learning, simply because it's so easy to do. So I can get up in the morning and listen, I can listen while doing the dishes, I listen while I exercise. I listen while in the car, the train or wherever I am. I can always listen. I can listen 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there and before you know it, I have an hour of language learning done. The post Listening: Language Learning Goal 3 appeared first on The ..read more

Reading is easier than listening. I can work my way through a text at LingQ, look up every word. Let's say I'm in sentence mode, it's a brand new language and if there's seven words in that sentence, I can look up each word and I can kind of figure out what the sentence means. Fuzzy, maybe not totally clear, but I have a sense of what that sentence means. I have a sense of which words correspond to the verb, to the noun and so forth. So the reading is easy. If I just heard those words, I wouldn't be able to do that. So reading is a sort of a step towards being able to understand what you hear ..read more