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GadgetryBy now you probably know that you can get little doses of a language you’re studying through online services like Twitter. For example, as you saw in last month’s newsletter, Living Language does two Twitter feeds, Spanish and French, with more languages likely to follow.... More Tags: calendar, Google, language learning, newsletter, Twitter, Yahoo
Essential Greek PhrasesThis is the next installment of essential phrases from the newest additions to our Spoken World series. (Previously: Essential Dutch Phrases, Essential Irish Phrases, Essential Polish Phrases, Essential Croatian Phrases) Finally, let’s round out our essential phrases from the Spoken World series with some essential Greek. Click on the play button below to hear each essential Greek word or phrase.... More Tags: Greek, Spoken World
Essential Croatian PhrasesThis is the next installment of essential phrases from the newest additions to our Spoken World series. (Previously: Essential Dutch Phrases, Essential Irish Phrases, Essential Polish Phrases) Croatian belongs to the South Slavic family of Indo-European languages. It is related to other Slavic languages, such as Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Macedonian, Slovenian, or Bulgarian. With some notable dialectal variations, it is, linguistically, the same as the languages spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. Click on the play button below to hear each essential Croatian phrase.... More Tags: Croatian, Spoken World
Essential Polish PhrasesThis is the next installment of essential phrases from the newest additions to our Spoken World series. (Previously: Essential Dutch Phrases, Essential Thai Phrases, Essential Irish Phrases) Polish is the official language of Poland, and since the expansion of the European Union in 2004, also one of the official languages of the EU. It is spoken by more than 40 million people in Poland and neighboring countries, and is the 11th most-spoken language in the United States. Click on the play button below to hear each of the following essential Polish phrases spoken by a native speaker.... More Tags: Polish, Spoken World
Essential Irish PhrasesThis is the next installment of essential phrases from the newest additions to our Spoken World series. (Previously: Essential Dutch Phrases, Essential Thai Phrases) Irish is an Indo-European language, grouped with Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and Manx on the Celtic branch of the tree. There are many Irish dialects, and there are currently about 260,000 native, fluent speakers of Irish in the Republic of Ireland, with an additional 96,000 speakers living in Northern Ireland. Irish is spoken as the everyday native language of an area of Ireland called Gaeltacht, made up of the counties Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Cork, and Waterford. Click on the play button below to hear each of the following essential Irish phrases spoken by a native speaker.... More Tags: Irish, Spoken World
Essential Thai PhrasesThis is the next installment of essential phrases from the newest additions to our Spoken World series. (Previously: Essential Dutch Phrases) How about we start this week with a few essential Thai phrases? Click on the play button below to hear each phrase spoken by a native speaker.... More Tags: Spoken World, Thai
Essential Dutch PhrasesLet’s kick off our sneak peak at the Spoken World series with Dutch. A few weeks ago, we gave you a few phrases in Dutch that related to Queen’s Day. While it’s useful to be able to say Er is een mooi défilé op Koninginnedag (There’s a beautiful parade on Queen’s Day) once a year, we thought you might want some more basic Dutch phrases to add to your repertoire and use year-round.... More Tags: Dutch, Spoken World
Writing in HindiLearning a new language is difficult enough, and often it seems like a new or different script just complicates matters. However, writing in a beautiful script can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of learning a language. Hindi, for example, is written in an elegant and eye-catching script called Devanagari. This script is actually quite easy to learn, and once you learn it, you can pretty much pronounce any Hindi word you see. Aside from a few exceptions, Hindi is phonetic.... More Tags: Devanagari, Hindi, newsletter, writing system
Be patientYes, it’s true, learning a language does take time. But why does that have to be a bad thing? As is often said, most things that are really worthwhile take time and effort, and as a result are usually much more satisfying once completed. Plus, if you recognize that fact from the beginning, and are patient while you study, it is much more likely you will achieve your language learning goals.... More Tags: newsletter, pace of study, tips
Turn off the subtitlesI shouldn’t have to bother reading subtitles in French films. I studied French for many years, and understand it at a fairly high comprehension level. Still, whenever the subtitles are on, I can’t help but read them. Even if I try hard to focus on the film, my eyes wander to the bottom of the screen, where I catch the sometimes rapidly flashing script, if only to reassure myself that what I’m understanding is in fact what I’m supposed to be understanding.... More Tags: French films, newsletter, subtitles
French culinary words and phrasesThey can be used to make a menu sound fancy, or just because a restaurant is, in fact, a fancy French restaurant. Either way, you’re guaranteed to see French words on an English menu at least a few times in your dining life, if not many, many times. Here’s what some of those French terms actually mean:... More Tags: French food, menu, vocabulary
WikipediaWikipedia offers you a great way to push the boundaries of your comprehension-in-context skills. There are millions of articles in English; hundreds of thousands in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, and Dutch; and anywhere from a few hundred to over a hundred thousand articles in several other languages. ... More Tags: language learning, newsletter, translation, vocabulary, Wikipedia
Watch TV: the things you must do to learn a foreign language …If you have access to a foreign language TV station, take advantage of it! It’s an easy (and often cheap) way to experience the intricacies of a foreign culture and improve your foreign language abilities. Whatever your interest, there’s bound to be something out there in your chosen language.... More Tags: foreign language channel, newsletter, television
The g-word and finding patternsThe days of the so-called “grammar-translation method” for learning foreign languages are long gone. This method was mostly devised to teach classical, dead languages, like Latin and Ancient Greek, when they were still taught to many children in the course of elementary or secondary education. It consisted of memorizing grammatical rules, reciting paradigms ad nauseam, and painstakingly translating famous, and often boring, sentences and paragraphs.... More Tags: grammar-translation method, language learning methods, newsletter, patterns
Make mistakes!This probably sounds a bit counterintuitive coming from a language learning tip, but it’s actually a very important, and difficult, lesson to learn. One of the things that can prevent you from improving your language skills, particularly pronunciation and conversation skills, is the fear of looking silly, or being embarrassed by making a mistake in public.... More Tags: conversation, language learning, newsletter, pronunciation
Be a copycatRemember in school how the teacher always made you take notes in class? She could have given you a handout describing everything she was writing on the board, but she was teaching you a valuable process, one that could help you when learning a language: copying.... More Tags: copycats, journal, language learning, newsletter, taking notes, tips
My Travel Words and Phrases: French AirportsFrom the very beginning, it can be intimidating and endlessly frustrating just trying to get around in a foreign country. Sure, those signs are “self-evident” to residents, or perhaps anyone who speaks the language, but what if you’ve never been there before, and don’t know the language at all? And, to top it all off, this is an issue that you have to deal with immediately, as soon as you get off that plane. And then yet again when you leave.... More Tags: airport, language, Paris, travel
Dear diary …In many of our book/audio and online courses we encourage learners to keep a Language Journal, because this can really be a great tool, at any level. The best thing about a journal is that it allows you to do so many things at once.... More Tags: language journal, newsletter, tips
Finding language resources in your own neighborhoodYou may think that opportunities to practice your foreign language of choice are limited to spending hundreds of dollars, or more, on a plane ticket, or maybe renting an obscure foreign film at your local film rental place. However, depending on where you live, there could be plenty of free, or at least very inexpensive, practice opportunities in your own neighborhood.... More Tags: conversation exchange, foreign language practice, newsletter, tips
How many languages at once?I recently got an interesting e-mail inquiry from a customer who’s learning Japanese with our Ultimate Japanese course, as well as Spanish, with our Ultimate Spanish course. He’s now set his sights on Hindi, and wanted some information on our Hindi course. I loved this question for two reasons. First, because I love people who choose Living Language over and over again! But also because this guy is my kind of guy - a linguaphile who just wants to keep on learning languages.... More Tags: bilingual, Language learning, language tips, multiple languages
More on reading foreign literatureThe Catcher in the Rye was the first complete book I read in English, and I remember getting through it not knowing what rye was. It’s funny, because rye is actually similar (and possibly related) to the Croatian raž. My English was then of the advanced-high-school-knowledge kind, so I think I also missed the whole metaphor associated with the book’s title, as well as the relevant paragraphs in the book.... More Tags: bilingual books, foreign literature, newsletter
I want to learn a language, but…I don’t want to learn any grammar. If someone were to say to you, “I want to learn how to swim, but I don’t want to get wet,” what would you think? That’s exactly what I think when someone says “I want to learn a new language, but I don’t want to learn any grammar.” For a language learner, grammar is, to push the metaphor a bit, like water for a swimmer. It’s all around you, you can’t avoid it, sometimes you struggle through it, but it holds you up and makes it possible to swim in the first place. But while swimmers are universally grateful for water, grammar gets a bad rap from a lot of language learners.... More Tags: learning grammar
Similar wordsOne of the most frustrating things about learning a new language can be memorizing all that new vocabulary. After creating your 500th or so flashcard (and after your fifth run to the drugstore for index cards), it can be difficult to stay motivated. However, if you’re ever feeling frustrated, it might be helpful to take a break and think of this: similar words.... More Tags: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, language learning, newsletter, Portuguese, Spanish, tips
My Travel Words and Phrases: Paris and MoneyWith currencies the talk of the town lately (unfortunately so for many American travelers), what better French terms to discuss than those dealing with money? As a result, this installment of Paris Travel Words and Phrases covers some useful terms that will help you get by during those very frustrating times of unfavorable exchange rates.... More Tags: French, language, Paris, tips, travel, vocabulary
Reading foreign literatureOnce you’ve reached a basic level of fluency in your chosen language and feel the need to challenge your comprehension and/or translation skills further, it’s a good idea to start exploring foreign literature.... More Tags: bilingual books, foreign literature, language, newsletter
Having trouble memorizing vocabulary?You obviously need to learn new words in order to speak a language. Even though that may seem straightforward compared to learning how to actually put those words together in sentences, it’s really not as simple as it appears. Memorizing words is difficult, even just memorizing words in the short term. But long-term memorization takes a lot of practice and repetition. There are a few different ways to “lodge” a word in your memory, and some methods may work better for you than others. The best thing to do is to try a few until you find the one that works best for you. ... More Tags: flash cards, language learning, newsletter, tips, vocabulary
Pronouncing ArabicAs with most languages, one of the most challenging aspects of learning Arabic is sounding like a native speaker, or developing the skills to reproduce specific sounds. Everyone faces this issue, but it is even more difficult if you’re learning a language (like Arabic) that doesn’t have the same linguistic roots as your native language. For example, it is difficult for Arabic speakers to perfect the sound “p” in English, since the letter doesn’t exist in Arabic. Similarly, for native English speakers, the Arabic letter Haa is often very challenging since it has no English counterpart. (Pretending to clear your throat with an “ahem” would get you close to producing the sound.)... More Tags: Arabic, audio, newsletter, pronunciation
Pretend to pronounce…Are you frustrated by how difficult it is to pronounce a new language? Don’t be. There are easy things you can do to get better, and you’re never too old to improve your pronunciation if you really work on it.... More Tags: language, newsletter, pronunciation
Finally, an excuse to watch more movies!Foreign films are a great way to practice a new language. You can learn by watching them with or without subtitles, and pausing and rewinding to hear a sentence or two over again if you need to. Not to mention the very helpful fact of having audio with clear visual aides, language set in real life situations, and plenty of cultural information. The ease at which you can rent foreign films online or in stores these days makes them an ideal and, importantly, fun way to learn more about a language and the culture of places where it is spoken. For example, here are some great French staples that you can watch as a student of French. ... More Tags: French, language, movies, newsletter
Turn up your radio!Music is a language nearly everyone can understand, and you’d be surprised how great it can be for language learning. Find an online radio station, or scan the dial. ... More Tags: language, newsletter, radio
Go online!One of the greatest ways to explore a new language, at least without actually going to a place where people speak that language, is to explore the internet.... More Tags: newsletter, online course, tips
My Travel Words and Phrases: Paris (around town)Part III of Shaina’s essential words and phrases cover interesting tidbits on things to do in Paris, including some helpful advice about why (and when) not to ask for ice and butter in restaurants.... More
3 Essential Phrases in French, Latvian, and CroatianInspired by Wired’s 3 Essential Sentences Wiki, here’s our version of some essential phonetic travel phrases. Brought to you by the editorial team at Living Language, with their amazing skills in all kinds of cool languages. ... More
My Travel Words and Phrases: French FoodPart II in Shaina’s installment of essential French words and phrases covers the best part of traveling to Paris: food.... More
My Travel Words and Phrases: Parisian TransportationI am fortunate enough to have traveled to Paris a good amount over the years. I therefore like to think of myself as only semi-lost there and perhaps able to impart something like wisdom. And so, on that expert basis, I offer you semi-regular installments of French words and phrases that I think will come in handy in the one of the most visited cities in the world. ... More
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