The combination of words “parental” and “leave” has always sounded absurd to me. When you’re on leave, you are essentially absent from work. However, anyone who has kids or has ever done any babysitting knows that it’s like working three full-time jobs. Being on call 24/7, with very little time left for yourself… Erika is a 36-year-old mom of four from Slovakia, who is managing to learn foreign languages even while on maternity leave and taking care of her small squad! In fact, she’s been on maternity leave non-stop for almost 10 years. And before she moved to the countryside, she used t ..read more

“I’m learning vocabulary over and over again but I only remember the words for a short period of time.” Does that sound familiar? Do you feel like you’re spending hours trying to memorize new words but they simply don’t stick? Or you can’t use them effortlessly during a conversation? Then you might be making one (or more) of the 7 most common mistakes when learning vocabulary. Keep reading to find out which mistakes are getting in the way of your learning and how to memorize new words effectively.  1. Learning new words without reviewing them This is hands down the big ..read more

Have you ever wondered whether you could learn a foreign language by listening to songs? Or are you learning with a set plan, but want to bring something fresh into the process? Whatever your reasons may be, in this article, we will try to give an answer to all those who are thinking whether songs are a suitable way of learning a foreign language. We’ll discuss their pros and cons and tell you what to watch out for when trying to learn a foreign language from songs. Is listening to songs an effective way of learning a foreign language? We don’t want to disappoint you ..read more

Even though language courses sometimes underestimate its importance and focus on other skills instead, listening is one of the most important activities because it can get you lots of contact with your foreign language. Not only will regular listening practice improve your pronunciation, it is also a great source of new vocabulary and a gateway to the language as it’s used by native speakers. Last but not least, it can be an incredibly relaxing and fun activity. When we say ‘listening’, we don’t mean those boring recordings from your old Spanish textbook, which usually followed after ..read more

(If you prefer reading to watching videos, you can find all the information from this video in the article below.) Přehráním videa souhlasíte se zásadami ochrany osobních údajů YouTube. Zjistit vícePovolit videoVždy povolit Youtube videa If you’ve been following us for some time, you definitely know that Language Mentoring is built on four pillars: fun, sufficient contact with the language, effective methods, system. All four of these pillars are important, but I believe that learners tend to struggle most with the system. Maybe it’s happened to you, too – you started learning a  ..read more

“I would love to read books in the language I’m learning but I’m not advanced enough. I have to wait until my vocabulary gets better.” Sound familiar? Maybe you’ve had an experience of opening a book in French or Spanish only to give up after 2 pages because there were so many words you didn’t understand. You’re not alone! But here’s the good news – you don’t have to wait any longer to start reading foreign books… … simply reach for a bilingual book. This will not only help you to improve your vocabulary and understanding, but it’s also way more fun than trying to get through a ..read more

Have you been trying to learn a language for years but still can’t use it effortlessly? Are you putting a lot of energy into it but still aren’t seeing real results? Do you feel like everyone else speaks a second language but you? You’re not alone! There are thousands of people around the world who struggle with languages and they’re convinced they simply don’t have the talent or the right genes…  I’m here to tell you that there’s nothing wrong with you! Whether you can learn a language has nothing to do with talent. But it has everything to do with the ..read more

(If you prefer reading to watching videos, you can find all the information from this video in the article below.) What are the methods of polyglots? (00:48) What is really crucial in the process of learning languages? (03:01) What are 3 more principles to achieve fluency in a foreign language? (5:45) Are polyglots just super talented? (08:33) I love learning foreign languages. In fact, I love it so much that I like to learn a new language every two years. And I’m currently working on my eighth one. When people find that out about me, they always ask me, “How do you ..read more

Do you want to build a house? You’ll need bricks. Do you want to speak a foreign language? You’ll need vocabulary! Without knowing lots of words, you won’t make it very far. In fact, you will neither understand people speaking the foreign language nor be able to say something in it yourself. Without bricks, your house would just be a pile of useless cement and without vocabulary, your knowledge of grammar, no matter how deep, would be good for next to nothing. But how to learn vocabulary without forgetting it? I’m sure you can still remember those years of dull memorization ..read more

Polyglots are normal people like you who happen to have mastered 5 or more foreign languages… without possessing any kind of magical talent for languages or struggling in a language school. How is that possible? I answered this question at the Polyglot Gathering 2017. If you’d like to discover the secrets that polyglots use to achieve success with languages and get super inspired, click below to watch the video. And if you want to read the summary with all the amazing tips, scroll down to the blog post. Přehráním videa souhlasíte se zásadami ochrany osobních údajů YouTube. Zjistit víceP ..read more