Benny Lewis's Blog, page 53

How I (Finally) Learned French after 10 Language Fails

How to fail at languages? Let me count the ways.

At one of our summer parties this year, I said three sentences in French and the crowd broke out into a unison song of “Ohhhhh. Ahhhhh!”

My monolingual friends are often amazed when they hear me speak a foreign language. It’s a reaction that I find hilarious. Partly because I didn’t realize speaking another language would turn out to be a popular party trick. And partly because I’m pretty amazed myself.

You see, I tried learning languages 10 times before finally finding success with French. Let’s recount each of my blunders… with the lessons I learned along the way.
Language Attempt 1: Learning Russian with my Mom
My mom migrated to the US from Belarus with her family just after World War II. She was eight years old and quickly became bilingual in Russian and English. I heard Russian spoken whenever my mom would talk with her sisters or her parents.

When I was as young as six years old, I remember begging my mom to teach me Russian. It felt otherworldly to me. My mom’s voice and facial expression would change when she spoke her mother tongue. My aunts’ laughter would be deeper, warmer, more intimate in Russian.

I desperately wanted to be a part of that world but she didn’t have the time. Working two jobs and raising a family with a monolingual husband didn’t offer her the space for teaching a second language to her youngest child. Also, she was taught early on that one must be proud to be an American.

Sigh. How does national pride equate to fewer languages? I’ll never understand that logic.
After a bit of pleading on my part, she attempted a lesson during a Thanksgiving dinner but it quickly fizzled out when she had to concentrate on carving the turkey and keeping the kids in order. It was my first bitter taste of a language learning fail.

Lesson Learned: Being exposed to your target language day in and day out will not magically make you fluent.
Language Attempt 2: Learning Spanish in Elementary School
My elementary school offered an elective class. Imagine my delight when I was shuffled off to my first Spanish class at age nine. I was practically wiggling out of my tiny seat when I was given my Spanish name, Isabella. Sadly, that’s all I remember as we moved a month later and I transferred to a new school with no language options.

I still want to learn Spanish!

Lesson Learned: Creating curiosity around a second language can ignite a flame of interest that will last a lifetime.
Language Attempt 3: Three Years of French in High School… And I Still Couldn’t Speak It!
I excelled at French classes in high school. Our teacher was enthusiastic. The sounds coming out of her mouth were divine. Even after three years of high grades, conversing was not an option. I didn’t even realize it was possible for a high school student to speak fluently.

Lesson Learned: Getting great grades in class doesn’t mean you’ll learn to speak confidently.
Language Attempt 4: Russian (Again!) at University
Realizing that language classes were easy for me, I decided to take Russian in college. Although I still wasn’t learning much, something important clicked. For the first time, I started seeing language as a simple code that I needed to learn. I felt a little like Russell Crowe’s character in the film “A Beautiful Mind” where all these patterns were popping out. Only I wasn’t losing my mind. I was merely seeing languages as a fascinating communication game.

My college didn’t offer a second course in Russian and I didn’t realize there might be other ways to acquire a second language. So, I stopped language learning until after graduation.

Lesson Learned: Language is a puzzle. Get enough pieces linked together and you’re well on your way to comprehending those strange, new sounds.
Language Attempt 5: Carpool Lane Spanish
My love of languages hibernated until age 26. I moved to a sleepy beach town in Southern California where my corporate job bored me to tears. So, I picked up language learning and guitar. I was able to stick to my guitar self-study because I had a book of chords and a lot of songs in my head. I wrote songs based on the chords I was learning.

Looking back, I see that I had accidentally found my motivation for getting up early to practice guitar for 30-60 minutes each day. I was expressing myself from day one. Sounds a lot like speaking from day one, doesn’t it? With the goal of writing and performing my own songs in Los Angeles, learning new chords didn’t seem like a chore. It was invigorating.

Unfortunately, the concept of expressing myself did not filter into my language learning. I bought a CD for learning Spanish and had one friend who was bilingual. Those were my tools. I would listen every day on my commute to and from the office.

I knew how to say, “Where do I put my luggage?” and other travel phrases. My Spanish speaking friend would giggle whenever I peeked over her cubicle wall to regurgitate my very shiny yet useless sentences. This attempt lasted two months before I threw in the towel.

Lesson Learned: Expressing yourself in a new language (in this case, guitar) with a visible goal (performing my songs publicly) can make the habit stick. Finding your motivation is key.
Language Attempt 6: Private French Lessons (Crèpes Included)
Fast-forward a few years and you’ll find me giddy in love with my then fiance, now husband, Chris. He loved France so much that he couldn’t wait to share it with me. Being slightly nauseous from all the clichés of Paris, I agreed to go so long as we didn’t visit the Eiffel Tower.

Side note: I’ve seen the Eiffel tower hundreds of times from our travels but never up close and personal. That’s right. Iconoclast is my middle name. Sort of like Jame Bond’s dorky American cousin.

My first visit to the city of lights knocked my socks off. We’d stroll from café to église (church) to bookstore and back to café. I had found my favorite European city.

Which meant, of course, I’d have to learn the language. Chris decided to join me in this language learning quest. And we hired a French teacher who lived in our town.

Once a week, we’d drive to her house. Notebooks in hand. Eyes bright. We were ready to learn. Except we didn’t. All that I can recall are a few grammar lessons and a lot of homemade crèpes.

Lesson Learned: Having a boatload of motivation while getting private face-to-face lessons is not a guarantee you’ll speak your target language.
Language Attempt 7: French Classes and Chocolate in San Francisco
Bellies full, we moved to San Francisco. What a town! We lived in the quiet neighborhood of Noe Valley which has the best chocolate store in the city.

The language bug hit us again.

This time, we were serious. No crèpe will distract us. No friendly chit-chat. We’re going to fuel up on decadent chocolate and head to school where they will shove French into our brains and we’ll walk out of the building fluent.

That lasted about three headachy classes. The teacher spoke entirely in French but there were ten students of differing levels. One student had been studying French for five years but felt shy. That’s right. Shy.

What was she doing in a beginner class?! She didn’t need another starter program. She needed Shannon’s Say Goodbye To Shy course. The teacher kept talking to Ms. Bashful while the rest of us became more and more lost.

Lesson Learned: A costly class with a native speaker as your teacher is not a one-size fits all.
Language Attempt 8: Picture Dictionary
My husband found a website for information swapping. Sometimes you teach. Other times you learn. There was a fella who was fluent in French and wanted to show others how to do it. BINGO!

We met him at a nearby cafe. Finally, a person who figured out how to learn languages on his own. This guy was our very first language hacker. Only he had just one hack.

Buy a picture dictionary and memorize all the words.

I know what you’re thinking. I was just a naive little language learner willing to buy any snake oil that comes my way. Well, you’re right.

Just last week, I finally gave away that *&^%ing picture dictionary. It survived moving house and several years on my bookshelf. Seriously, I could have sold it as “like new” on eBay. Looking at the picture dictionary every day for two weeks did not make me fluent.

Update: My friend returned the dictionary to me yesterday. Am I doomed to have it haunt my bookshelf forever?

Lesson Learned: While the journey of others can help, it’s important to get more than one opinion on how to learn a second language.
Language Attempt 9: Chinese in Graduate School
“It was in this 10-week graduate level course that I finally mastered language learning and now speak Chinese at a native level,” said no one ever.

To be fair, this was one of the most useful language classes I attended because I was taught things that I needed for my degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I still remember some of the colors we learned because they correlate to different types of actions in a medicinal herb.

Imagining the tones as miniature songs, I was able to get a handle on them rather easily. Once again, there was no Chinese II offered and I started to think dabbling in languages was as good as it would get for me.

Lesson Learned: Learning things that I can apply in my everyday life make words easier to memorize.
Language Attempt 10: Spanish (Again, Again)
During the years, Chris and I continued to travel abroad. I noticed that many of the waiters and hotel staff in tourist hotspots spoke excellent English when talking about things that concerned their profession. For example, one waiter had nearly no accent when he explained the chef’s technique for his housemade sauce. When we ventured into other areas of conversation, I would see their fluency crumble to bits.

I was fascinated.

They could speak a second language but only within their professional world. A light bulb went off. I could help myself and other acupuncturists learn Spanish within the confines of our medical practice. For example, we’d learn how to speak about symptoms and take a medical history.

Speaking only English, I organized an online Spanish class for acupuncturists. I created an acupuncture-specific script which was translated and recited by a bilingual colleague. We made two YouTube videos.

Inspired by this idea, I bought another CD/book combo for learning Spanish. This time would be different. I started speaking only Spanish to my bank tellers. They were obliging, but five minutes of greeting and bank talk didn’t do the trick.

Many “Thanks for the great Spanish course!” emails later, I stopped learning Spanish. I found that willpower alone was not cutting it. Another language learning hibernation occurred.

Lesson Learned: It’s possible, and even helpful, to study language islands such as restaurant conversation.
Language Attempt 11: Finally! Success in French!
Life continued to flow right along until a seemingly silly conversation and Julia Child’s autobiography brought on a sudden spring. I was visiting my absolutely favorite teen in San Francisco when she asked me a question that led me back to my language learning quest.

Teen: Have you ever seen the movie, “Groundhog Day”?
Me: The one where Bill Murray has to relive the same day over and over again?
Teen: Yeah, that one. If you were stuck in the same day over and over again for 10 years, what would you do?
Me: I’d pop down to the library and learn French. I’d also hire the same teacher each day to help me.

The answer came so easily to me. I would learn French! So why wasn’t I learning it now?

Thanks, Julia!

As I drove back to my home in Southern California (the introvert in me lives for long road trips and audiobooks), I grabbed Julia Child’s biography. I didn’t know a thing about her, but I love biographies and this was on top of the heap of CDs I borrowed from the library.

She describes her life in Paris where she learned to speak French while taking cooking lessons at Le Cordon Bleu, a famous school in Paris. Her descriptions of living in Paris while learning French in her late-30s gave me a burst of motivation. If she can do it, why can’t I?

Lesson Learned: Reading about someone who has what you want is a great source of inspiration.
Learning How to Learn a Language
A few days later, I sat in front of my laptop and googled, “Rosetta Stone review”. I knew a friend who said it was an expensive but useful tool. If I threw more money at it, I might finally be a success.

The first and only article I ever read about the costly Stone was a review by some young, sweatshirt-wearing guy named Benny Lewis. In the photo, he was throwing some serious stinkface at the product. Ok, he’s honest. One tick in his favor.

Here’s the sentence that kept me reading, “I guarantee that you can learn a language without ever sending me money...” I clicked on the link within that sentence and learned how to practice a foreign language for free without traveling.
And That’s How my Fluent in 3 Months Journey Began...
As it turned out, Benny was right. I learned how to speak French without ever giving him a dime. Although months into my success, I bought his Premium package as a way to support his efforts. The package turned out to be extremely helpful.

I learned French by speaking from day one. I recommend clicking on the links that interest you in each FI3M article and then putting at least one idea into practice for a month. For me, I started with Duolingo once a day and one italki lesson per week. 18 months and many tools later, I’m conversationally fluent in French.

Know this. This blog has everything you need to learn how to learn a second language.

Bear with me while I gush for just a moment. Being asked to write for the FI3M blog on a regular basis is a tremendous honor. Benny is the Oprah of language learning. Without FI3M, I might now be on my 25th unsuccessful attempt at learning my target language.



To this day, it still astonishes me when I say something in French to a stranger and we have a full-on conversation in my target language. After so many misfires, I cherish my ability to speak a second language.

Here’s the best news: If it happened for me, it can happen for you. What aha moments have you had in your language learning journey? Let me know!

The post How I (Finally) Learned French after 10 Language Fails appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

The Women in Language Conference: My Experience of This Online Language Event

This time last year, I was sick in bed. Too weak to move. Yet I was happy.

Why?

Because bed-bound, I would going to my favorite language learning conference.

The conference, Women in Language, is hosted online. So I could attend from the comfort of my bedroom.

While sipping hot water, I listened to the secrets of female polyglots from around the world. What I heard during four days of talks and discussion transformed the way I learn languages.

The Women in Language conference has a line-up of over 25 female polyglots sharing their experience and insight into language learning over a four-day event of online workshops.

I even made friends with a lovely group of attendees (male, non-binary, female - everyone’s invited!).

Now I’d like to share what I learned and why I recommend it.

Full disclosure: I’m actually speaking at this year’s Women in Language conference, so while I’m sharing my honest opinion and experience of the event, you should probably be aware that I am proudly biased!
What I Learned at Women in Language
Attending the Women in Language conference shifted my perspective on language learning.

I learned more useful stuff about language learning at this conference than in a full semester of my university Russian.I can honestly say that it changed the way I learn languages, forever.

Thanks to Women in Language, I picked up methods for language learning that I use daily. Here are three of the most important things I learned at the conference:
How to Use Social Media to Connect With Other Language Learners Online
Elfin Waters’ talk gave step-by-step instructions on how to construct a French Insta-World. I followed the process she outlined, and a whole new world of online language learners was opened up to me

Before I attended this talk, language learning felt pretty lonely. I wanted to connect to people through languages, and sometimes I did. But now I do it daily! I now have a tribe of cool, passionate friends that are learning right alongside of me.

These are friends who inspire me, support me, and pick me up when I need a little extra help.

I loved this talk so much that I wrote an article about my results.
How to Expand My Vocabulary by Reading Books I Enjoy
This was a wildcard choice for me. I’m not a fan of somber literature. And the title of the talk was “How to Kill it with Crime Fiction”.

Even so, I went along with an open mind and I’m glad I did. The discussion gave me takeaways about learning through reading what you love, that I still use to this day.

A few light bulbs turned on when the speaker, Dani Maizner, explained how she reads books in her target language by the same author. It helps her become familiar with that author’s voice.

As a result of her lecture, I am working my way through Marc Levy’s books, in French. His language is contemporary and I’m picking up conversational phrases with ease.

Many of my French friends have already read him. He’s a big deal in their culture which means BONUS! We have a common topic to discuss.
How to Be Kinder to Myself During My French Learning Marathon
The title of this talk by Irina Pravet, “The power of compassion and intuition in language learning”, tugged on my hippy heart strings.

It sounds soft and fuzzy but it’s actually an essential part of successful language learning.

Around three months after I started learning French, a bunch of my self-doubt demons woke up and got to work. “You’ll never learn a language. You’ve already failed 10 times. Stop embarrassing yourself.” I had to use every self-development tool I had gathered throughout my lifetime to keep them at bay. I’ve now been learning French for close to two years, and am at intermediate level.

Irina’s talk helped me realize that I am not alone in this struggle. She reminded me of the Buddhist principle of common humanity. Everyone suffers. You’re not alone in this.

That piece brought me back to my own inner strength. I have the ability and willingness to share my weaknesses with others as well as my workarounds. Irina’s talk revived that strength for me.

These are just three talks off the top of my head. I can’t wait to see what this year’s conference opens for me.

The list of captivating discussions goes on and on. You can see what talks they have in store here. If you scroll down, you’ll see a list of speakers and topics. If you continue to scroll down the list of lectures, you’ll even see me (Elizabeth Brucker) listed as a speaker!
What Exactly Is Women in Language?
Lindsay Williams, one of the Women in Language founders, puts it best in a blog post she wrote describing the very first event.

Women In Language is a unique online event designed to champion, celebrate, and amplify the voices of women in language learning.

...an inspiring all female lineup of over 25 speakers who are experts from all walks of language life: polyglots, industry veterans, full-time world travellers, teaching experts, academic professors, and innovators.

When and Where is Women in Language? Same Time Each Year. You Pick the Place.
Women in Language in language takes place each year around International Women’s Day which is celebrated on March 8th. And don’t worry about your work schedule or your sister-in-law’s baby shower conflicting with the event. All talks are recorded.

When you buy your ticket, you get lifetime access to the event. It’s your very own Netflix for language learning. How cool is that?! The only catch is that you must purchase before the event ends. Otherwise, you’ll miss your chance.

As an introvert that prefers quiet places, this online conference was perfect for my highly sensitive self. Say goodbye to uncomfortable chairs and headachy fluorescent lighting.

It is the coziest, most welcoming educational conference I’ve ever attended. Because you can choose where you sit while you’re attending.

Where is takes place is up to you. I’ve seen Instagram pics of people watching in their living rooms, at the office, in a coffeehouse. The sky's the limit. Just be careful if you go to the beach. Laptops do not like sand.
Who Runs the Women in Language Conference?
I will answer that with a riddle.

What speaks over 20 languages, has three heads, three bodies and three language blogs?

That would be the Women in Language trio aka (in my imagination) the three polyglotteers!



Kerstin Cable, Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams are powerhouse language learners as well as friends.

Kerstin is the charming host of The Fluent Show. She’s smart, funny and knows how to pick up her tired, weary listeners and pump them full of inspiration.

Shannon is a globe-trotting musician known for her captivating photography and varied linguistic adventures. As Add1 head coach, she helps people speak their target language in as little as 90 days. I’m doing the Add1 now and I find that her wisdom well runs deep.

Speaking of traveling, Lindsay finished up her yearlong trip to --get this-- 20+ countries! She created language documentaries based on many of her personal discoveries. I found her Language Stories video about the Hmong language to be an enthralling treat.

These three polyglots decided to put together an event highlighting female language learners. It started out as a one day event. But they had found too many amazing speakers for just one day. So, they expanded it to a four-day language learning extravaganza.


The Women in Language Chatroom
While the speaker discusses her topic, the chatroom bubbles over with ideas. It’s fascinating to learn tips and tools from both the speaker and the attendees. Some of my favorite moments were the live question and answer sessions at the end of each chat.

I’m still buddies with many passionate learners that I met in the conference chatroom. And the best part was I didn’t even need to brush down my gnarly bedhead. It was a worldwide language learning PJ party!
I’m Speaking at Women in Language This Year: See Me Live for One Hour Only!


If you buy a ticket to this year’s event, you can watch me live! You can also see me recorded but that’s not something you put in a subheading. Now, is it?

I’ll be giving a presentation on how to master the art of language exchange. It’s the first time I’ll be speaking about language learning. Usually it’s all things acupuncture.

Don’t worry. I promise to stick to the point. Ohhhh, bad dad/acupuncturist joke! Sorry about that. I couldn’t help myself.

Many of my language learning friends will be right there with me. Some of my Add1 buddies have already signed up. It really is more fun with friends. The great part though is that it’ll take about two minutes to make friends if you don’t know anyone.

So, come on in! The water’s fine.

The Women in Language conference has over 25 speakers this year. That’s over 25 different voices helping us navigate the sometimes bumpy, often beautiful road to fluency. That’s a whole lotta language loving going on.
Everyone is Welcome
Although all the speakers are women, the audience is varied. Everyone is welcome to join the event. Diversity in the chatroom gives the joint some flavor!
Giving Back
During each event , ten percent of the proceeds are donated to charity. If you go to Shannon’s instagram account, she posted a video about the Women in Language KIVA fund and all the countries that it’s touched. Your attendance is not only helps you. It helps others.
Get Your Tickets Now!
Click here to sign up for the Women in Language conference. Tickets are reasonably priced.

Why on earth are you still reading this? Go sign up. You can come back and thank me later in the comments. ;-)
Handing the Mic to You
It’s your turn. Have you been to Women in Language? How was it for you? Please share in the comments below.

The post The Women in Language Conference: My Experience of This Online Language Event appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

10 Ways to Say “How Are You?” in French (+ 10 Ways to Respond)

Comment allez-vous ? - “How are you?”

When it comes to greeting your fellow French speakers, there are many ways to ask how they’re doing.

In this article, I’ll teach you how to ask someone how they are in French. That way, the next time you greet your French friends, you’ll be equipped with plenty of options beyond comment ça va?

Plus, I’ll share several fun ways to respond to the question.
1. Comment allez-vous ? - “How are you?”
When you first crack open almost any French language learning resource, one of the first expressions you’ll learn is comment allez-vous?, literally “how are you going?” It is, by far, one of the most well-known French phrases for asking someone how they are.

The nice thing about comment allez-vous is that it's the most safe and polite of all greetings in French. You can use it in almost any situation. And in addition to it meaning “how are you?” in the formal sense, it can also be used when asking a group of people. It’s handy in more than one situation!

If you’d like to ask the informal version of this question, then you say comment vas-tu ?
2. Comment ça va ? - “How’s it going?”
This is slightly less formal than comment allez-vous, but it’s still a safe bet when you’re not sure about what level of formality you need to use. It literally means “how it goes?” but translates to “how’s it going?” or “how are you?”
3. Vous allez bien ? - “Are you well?”
When you see someone you know and you want to check up on them beyond the standard “how are you?”, you can use vous allez bien ? to ask them if they’re well. Word-for-word, it’s “you go well?” but what you’re really asking is “are you well?”

Again, note the formal vous rather than tu. If you’d like to ask this informally, it would be tu vas bien ?
4. Ça va ? - “How’s it going?”
With ça va? we’re beginning to step into more informal territory, but this particular expression can still be used in a fairly wide range of contexts. It’s not so informal that it should be reserved for friends and family, but it’s best to stick with either of the first two questions in explicitly formal situations. This expression still means “how are you?” even though it literally translates as “it goes?”

Note that in French, most of the expressions for asking how someone is use the verb aller (“to go”) and not être (“to be”).
5. Comment vous sentez-vous ? - “How are you feeling?”
If you know that someone has been feeling a little under the weather, this is a good way to ask how they’re feeling. This particular expression is used in formal situations or when asking more than one person.

If you’d like to ask just one friend or close acquaintance, then you say comment tu te sens ?
6. Quoi de neuf ? - “What’s new?”
This expression is one of the more casual ways to ask how someone is doing in French. It literally means “what’s new?”
7. Ça gaze ? - “What’s up?”
This expression is very informal and is best used with friends or those that you are close to. It’s a little outdated, but can still be a fun way to get the conversation rolling or to get your friends laughing because they’re amused you’ve picked this one up.
8. Quoi de beau ? - “What’s beautiful?”
The French like to use the word “beautiful* in a surprisingly large number of situations. You might hear it in “qu’est-ce que tu fais de beau dans la vie ?” for “what do you do for a living?” and “il fait beau” for “the weather is nice”. And, of course, it’s in this phrase for asking someone how they’re doing.
9. Ça roule ? - “It’s rolling?”
When you want to ask your friend how they are and perhaps, more specifically how a certain situation or task is going, you might ask “ça roule ?” Literally, it means “it’s rolling”, but it’s a fun way to check up on someone in a casual way.
10. Ça baigne ? - “It bathes?”
Similar to ça roule ? is ça baigne ? It translates to “it bathes?”, but is another informal way to ask how someone is doing.
Turn It Around
A quick hack for turning the question around in case the person you’re talking to gets to it first is by asking “and you?” In French, this is “et vous ?” for formal situations or when you’re talking to more than one person and “et tu ?” for informal situations and when there is just one other person.
How to Reply to “How are You?” in French
Now that you know how to ask how someone is doing, it’s time to prepare a response for when the question is turned back over to you. Here are 10 ways to reply to “how are you?” in French.
1. Bien, merci ! - “Good, thanks!”
The go-to response to “how are you?” in French is bien, merci ! (“good, thanks”). It’s polite and keeps the conversation rolling. You can even give it a little more oompf by adding très to the front to say très bien, merci or “very well, thanks.”
2. Ça va - “It goes”
This is another typical reply to “how are you?”, especially when the question was phrased as “comment ça va ?” or “ça va?”. It’s short, to the point, but still polite enough to be appropriate in most situations.
3. Ça roule - “It rolls”
Earlier you learned ça roule ? as a question, but if you change your intonation, you can say the same thing as an answer in more informal contexts.
4. Comme ci, comme ça - “Okay”
If you’re neither great, nor bad, in French you might be “like this, like that”. Comme ci, comme ça is a fun way to let the person you’re chatting with know that things are going okay.
5. Pas mal - “Not bad”
If you’d like to be a little vaguer in your response, or perhaps a little more down to earth, you can reply with pas mal. It literally translates to “not bad”.
6. Comme d’hab - “Same as always”
This reply is a shortened version of comme d’habitude or “like usual.” It can be used to mean “same as always.” It’s more on the informal side.
7. Tout va bien - “All good”
This expression literally means “all goes well” and can be used to say “all good” in either formal or informal situations.
8. Assez bien - “Well enough” or “quite well”
This reply can be used to share that you’re “well enough” or “quite well”. It’s still relatively positive and is a useful alternative to très bien or just bien.
9. Ça pourrait être pire - “it could be worse”
If you’d like to be a bit more realistic or even somewhat humorous in your reply, you could go with ça pourrait être pire (“it could be worse”). To make it even more colloquial, you can add a bof to the beginning to say bof, ça pourrait être pire meaning “meh, it could be worse.”
10. Je n’ai pas à me plaindre - “I’ve got nothing to complain about”
If you’re feeling pretty good about things, you could say “I’ve got nothing to complain about”. In French, this would be je n’ai pas à me plaindre.
How do You Like to Say “How are you?” in French?
I hope you find these phrases useful! Are there any ways to say “how are you?” in French that I've missed? Let me know!

The post 10 Ways to Say “How Are You?” in French (+ 10 Ways to Respond) appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

101 Core Japanese Words — The Most Commonly Used Words in Japanese

Ready to understand about half of all Japanese words?

Yes, you read that right. With only about 100 words under your belt, you can understand about 50% of all Japanese you hear or read -- if you choose the right words!

Starting off by learning the core Japanese words can be an incredible tool to reach fluency faster. Based on the analysis of either newspapers, novels, or even Wikipedia pages, the core 100 words in a language can make up between 50% and 60% of what you hear or read.

Think about that a moment. With only 100 words, you could understand 50% of written Japanese. With 1000 words, you understand about 70%, while 10,000 words equal about 92%. You have to learn 10 times the amount of words to increase your understanding by only 20%!

Why do these words show up so much? Some of these 100 words are constantly used. For example, は, が,を, に, etc., are in almost every sentence in Japanese, in the same way that “a,” “the,” or “and” are in most English sentences. These words are called particles, and while they’re good to know, they’re not the focus of this article. Japanese particles are the most popular Japanese words by frequency because they’re used to connect all other words. Without particles, a sentence would sound like Tarzan-style speech. Each particle tells the listener how the word before it relates to the word after it, so they’re crucial to know and understand.

The thing is, particles are not very helpful as “core words” because they’re more about grammar than the content of the sentence. That’s why I’ll stick to the other core words you should know for now. The rest of the core words are simple Japanese words that are easy to remember because you’ll see them so often, in different contexts.

I should point out this isn’t your general beginner’s word list. It’s a list of the most common words to start with if you’re studying by the word-frequency method. But you can also pair what you learn here with essential Japanese words and phrases for beginners, like greetings. Combining the two will help make sure you know all the words and phrases you’ll hear most often, and all the words you want to say to make basic sentences. You’ll be way ahead of the game!

With that in mind, these 101 core Japanese words are the words you should learn now, whether you’re a beginner or intermediate Japanese learner. They include pronouns, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and conjugations. Once you master these first 101, you can work on building up to 1,000 or even 10,000! 頑張ってね！(Ganbatte ne, "Good luck!")

One more tip: If you haven’t yet, learn how to read and understand Hiragana and Katakana. It will help you learn how to pronounce Japanese words properly and will make reading easier.
The 8 Core Japanese Pronouns
Japanese pronouns are important to know. But in all honesty, even though these are core words, in many situations you will only hear and use the top three on this list. That’s because in Japanese, pronouns are usually understood from context and not said unless they’re necessary for clarification.

You’ll also notice I didn’t put “you” (あなた, “anata”) on this list. That’s because it’s almost never used unless in a context where the person has no name (like in a song or a textbook example). Any time you would say “you” in English, you’ll use the person’s name followed by “-san” (-さん), such as “Tanaka-san” (田中さん).

これ / この (Kore / Kono) - “This” or “This _ (thing/person)”
それ / その (Sore / Sono) - “That / It” or “That _ (thing/person)”
あれ / あの (Are / Ano) - “That over there” or “That _ (thing/person) over there”
私 / 僕 (Watashi / Boku) - “I” (私 is gender neutral, while 僕 is masculine.)
彼 (Kare) - “He”
彼女 (Kanojo) - “She”
私たち (Watashitachi) - “We”
彼ら (Karera) - “They”

The 42 Core Japanese Nouns
Which nouns are most helpful to learn? Everyone has different words they say the most based on daily life. You should definitely take time to create your own script and list of words you often say, so you can memorize them. But, based on frequency lists, these are the words you’ll most likely hear or use. Of course, nouns for time, transportation, and general words for location and people top the list for usefulness in getting by.

One last thing. Most single kanji have multiple readings, especially when combined with other kanji. Their English word meaning stays the same, though. I’ve included the most common way or ways to read them in Romaji (English characters to spell Japanese words). Don’t worry about that for now, but just know there may be - and usually are - more ways, once you get farther in your studies.

年 (Toshi or Nen) - “Year”
月 (Getsu or Tsuki) - “Month” and “Moon”
日 (Nichi or Hi) - “Day” and “Sun”
週 (Shuu) - “Week”
今日 (Kyou) - “Today”
明日 (Ashita) - “Tomorrow”
昨日 (Kinou) - “Yesterday”
時間 (Jikan) - “Time” (As in, a time frame.)
分 (Fun or Bun) - “Minute”
時 (Ji or Toki) - “Hour” or “Time”
こと (Koto) - “About (this thing)”
日本 (Nihon) - “Japan”
ため (Tame) - “For” or “In regards to”
人 (Hito or Nin) - “Person”
物 (Mono) - “Thing”
国 (Kuni or Koku) - “Country”
大学 (Daigaku) - “College”
今 (Ima) - “Now”
前 (Mae) - “Before”
後 (Ato) - “After”
駅 (Eki) - “(Train) Station”
線 (Sen) - “Line”
電車 (Densha) - “Train”
車 (Kuruma) - “Car”
部屋 (Heya) - “Room”
名前 (Namae) - “Name”
所 / 場所 (Tokoro / Basho) - “Place”
地下鉄 (Chikatetsu) - “Subway”
中 (Naka or Chuu) - “Middle,” “Inside,” or “During”
外 (Soto or Gai) - “Outside”
学校 (Gakkou) - “School”
語 (Go) - “Language” (Combine it with other words like: 言語 (gengo, “language”), 単語 (tango, “words”), 日本語 (Nihongo, “Japanese”), 英語 (Eigo, “English”), スペイン語 (Supeingo, “Spanish”).)
水 (Mizu) - “Water”
映画 (Eiga) - “Movie”
テレビ (Terebi) - “TV”
家族 (Kazoku) - “Family”
町 (Machi) - “Town”
他の (Hoka no) - “Other”
出身 (Shusshin) - “Hometown”
トイレ / お手洗い (Toire / Otearai) - “Bathroom”
家 (Uchi or Ie) - “Home” or “House”
店 (Mise or Ya) - “Shop”

The 23 Core Japanese Verbs
You can get by saying a lot with a few verbs, especially the first one on this list: する (suru). This verb means “to do” on its own. But, it also combines with nouns to mean “to do __.” For example, you can combine する with nouns like 勉強 (benkyou, “study”) to create 勉強する (benkyou suru, “to study”). It’s a super helpful and versatile verb, even if it’s one of the two irregular verbs for conjugation. But isn’t that nice? Japanese only has 2 irregular verbs - する and 来る (kuru, “to come”).

する (Suru) - “To do”
です (Desu) - “To be” or “it is”
なる (Naru) - “To become”
ある (Aru) - “There is” for inanimate objects and plants.
いる (Iru) - “There is” for living things, like humans and animals.
言う (Iu) - “To say”
行く (Iku) - “To go”
出来る (Dekiru) - “To be able to do” or “can do”
見る (Miru) - “To see”
送る (Okuru) - “To send”
持つ (Motsu) - “To have” or “to hold”
待つ (Matsu) - “To wait”
会う (Au) - “To meet”
呼ぶ (Yobu) - “To call”
置く (Oku) - “To put”
受ける (Ukeru) - “To receive”
作る (Tsukuru) - “To make”
着く (Tsuku) - “To arrive”
使う (Tsukau) - “To use”
学ぶ (Manabu) - “To learn”
食べる (Taberu) - “To eat”
飲む (Nomu) - “To drink”
帰る (Kaeru) - “To return home”

The 20 Core Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs
Here are the most common Japanese adjectives and adverbs to add more description and color to your Japanese. Take note of すごい (sugoi) - “amazing.” It’s so commonly used, it means many things. “Cool,” “wow,” “that’s crazy,” etc. It’s a catch-all exclamation and is often used in reply to stories or when shown something (like yummy food, beautiful scenery, or a cool picture).

多い (Ooi) - “Many”
たくさん (Takusan) - “Lots of”
少し (Sukoshi) - “Few”
遠い (Tooi) - “Far”
近い (Chikai) - “Near”
小さい (Chiisai) - “Small”
大きい (Ookii) - “Big”
良い (Yoi) - “Good”
悪い (Warui) - “Bad”
きれいな (Kirei na) - “Clean” and “Pretty”
醜い (Minikui) - “Ugly”
難しい (Muzukashii) - “Difficult”
簡単な (Kantan na) - “Easy”
うまい (Umai) - “Nice”
美味しい (Oishii) - “Delicious”
まずい (Mazui) - “Disgusting”
大丈夫 (Daijoubu) - “All right”
すごい (Sugoi) - “Amazing”
楽しい (Tanoshii) - “Enjoyable” or “Pleasant”
とても (Totemo) - “Very”

The 8 Core Japanese Conjunctions and Connectors
It’s always helpful to know how to connect your sentences with conjunctions. As in English, there are tons of conjunctions and connectors to start a sentence, but these are most common. One to note: その時 (Sono toki). This means “at that time” in Japanese, but doesn’t really translate properly into English. It’s closer to saying “when that happened,” “while that was going on,” “and then,” or “meanwhile” in English while explaining what happens next in a story.

しかし (Shikashi) - “However”
また (Mata) - “Also”
その後 (Sono ato) - “After that”
その時 (Sono toki) - “At that time”
場合は (Baai wa) - “If you” or “If this happens”
例えば (Tatoeba) - “For example”
それから (Sorekara) - “Then”
だから (Dakara) - “So”

Strengthen Your Japanese Core with the Most Common Japanese Words
Now that you know the 101 core Japanese words to help you get started, you can start applying them with Japanese language exchange partners. Put them to use and master them! Or, you could try taking the Add1Challenge to level up your Japanese in 90 days.

You could even add more color to your speech by learning about Japanese onomatopoeia, and learn your Japanese numbers!

The directions you can take for learning Japanese are endless. But now that you’ve got your core words, you can figure out what’s best for you and start applying it. From here, start learning words that are most relevant to your own personal daily speech. If you’re looking for other resources to check out, head over to our Japanese resources page.

What words do you use most often in English, and do you know them in Japanese? What common Japanese words do you use? I’d love to know!

The post 101 Core Japanese Words — The Most Commonly Used Words in Japanese appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

49 Spanish Questions You Need To Know to Speak like a Native

Can you imagine having a conversation to get to know someone in español without being able to ask any questions?

Without knowing Spanish question words, how would you ask about someone's interests?

Besides that, how would you be able to keep the conversation flowing naturally? It would be quite difficult.

Not only are questions crucial for creating that back and forth conversation and getting to know one another, but they help you deflect in the beginning. If your Spanish vocabulary is limited, an easy way to keep talking is to ask simple questions.

Start by understanding the basic Spanish question words and then add in the vocabulary you need to know. I’ve included some example Spanish questions and answers at the end to help you get going.

¿Estás listo? ¡Vamos! ("Are you ready? Let's go!")
Spanish Question Words
Time to learn your “Who”, “What”, “When”, “Where”, “Why” and “How” in Spanish. These are the most common, basic Spanish question words you need to get the answers you want. A good thing to note is question words, when used as a question, all have an accent mark. When they’re used in a statement, you drop the the accent mark.
Who? - ¿Quién?
When asking about one person, you say ¿Quién? But when asking about more than one person, you have to change it to its plural form, which is ¿Quiénes? If you need to say “whose", you would use de quién.

¿Quién es? - “Who is it?”
¿Quiénes son? - “Who are they?”
¿De quién son estos libros? - “Whose books are these?”

What? / Which - ¿Qué? / ¿Cuál?
In Spanish, “what” has two different words: qué and cuál. This can get a little confusing, but an easy way to remember it is that qué has only one factual answer possible. You use cuál to ask about a personal opinion or a choice between options. Cuál is a bit closer to “which” in some cases. Here are some examples:

¿Qué haces ahora? - “What are you doing right now?”
¿Qué es esto? - “What’s that?”
¿Cuál es tu favorito? - “Which is your favourite?”
¿Cuál es tu película favorita? - “What is your favourite movie?”

If asking about something that's plural, cuál becomes cuáles. Like in the last example, if you instead asked “What are your favourite movies?” it would be ¿Cuáles son tus películas favoritas?
When? - ¿Cuándo?
To ask “when” is easy: you say cuándo. The only thing to note here is you can’t use cuándo when you’re asking for a specific time (in hours and/or minutes). For that, the question is a qué hora as in ¿A qué hora es la película?: “What time is the movie?”

Here are some examples with cuándo:

¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? - “When is your birthday?”
¿Cuándo vas a ir? - “When will you go?”

Where? - ¿Dónde?
Dónde means “where”, but it has two other forms based on the preposition you use with it. A dónde means “to where”, while de dónde means “from where”.

¿Dónde vives? - “Where do you live?”
¿A dónde vas? - “To where are you going?”
¿De dónde eres? - “Where are you from?”

Why? - ¿Por qué? / ¿Para qué?
Ah, the difficult por vs. para situation. It can be a bit difficult to know when to use which. It helps to think of para qué as “what for” or to understand the purpose of something. And think of por qué as “why”, or to understand the cause of something.

¿Por qué dices eso? - “Why do you say that?” (What caused you to say that?)
¿Para qué estás aprendiendo español? - “What are you learning Spanish for?” (For what reason or purpose?)

How? - ¿Cómo?
Cómo is fairly straightforward, asking “how”. How someone is, how they do something, etc. But it doesn’t apply to “how much” or “how many” (I’ll come to that next).

¿Cómo está usted? - “How are you?”
¿Cómo hiciste eso? - “How did you do that?”

How many? / How much? - ¿Cuántos? / ¿Cuánto? / ¿Cuántas? / ¿Cuánta?
Cuánto and cuántos are the masculine singular and plural forms, and they mean “how much” or “how many”. Cuánta and cuántas are the feminine singular and plural forms. They change based on the gender of the noun you’re counting.

¿Cuántas manzanas? - “How many apples?”
¿Cuántos aguacates? - “How many avocados?”
¿Cuánta agua? - “How much water?”
¿Cuánto té? - “How much tea?”

The Spanish Question Mark
As you can see above, in Spanish, there are two question marks: ¿ and ?

At the start of your question, you use the inverted question mark or upside-down question mark. This is called signo de apertura de interrogación (“question mark opening sign”) in Spanish and it’s used to “open the question”. It just lets the reader know you’re going to ask something. You then “close the question” with the standard question mark.

That part is easy, but there's one more thing to note. You only wrap the question marks around the question itself. So any connecting words, greetings, or other words that come before? Leave them outside the question marks.

So, for example, this looks like Bueno, ¿qué hay de la cena? (“Well, what’s for dinner?”) You do the same thing with exclamation marks as well.
How to Say "I Have a Question" in Spanish
When you need to ask a question, there are a few ways you can lead into it or ask permission.
The most straightforward way is Tengo una pregunta (“I have a question”). A few other options are:

¿Puedo hacerte una pregunta? - “Can I ask you a question?”
Tengo una pregunta para ti - “I have one question for you.” (You can replace una with the number word for how many questions you have, such as dos preguntas.)
¿Puedo preguntarte algo? - “May I ask you something?”

Basic Spanish Questions
Now let’s take a look at some example Spanish questions and answers. These are questions you can use any time, with or without the basic Spanish question words. You can, por supuesto, make questions without them just like in English.
Keep in mind that when you go to personalise these, you may need to change the form of the verb or objects. If you change a word from singular to plural, the whole sentence must match. And if you change the person performing the action of the verb, the conjugation has to change.
Introductions

Hola, ¿cómo te llamas? - “Hello, what’s your name?”
Soy Benny. - “I’m Benny.”
¿Que tal? - “How’re you?”
Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tu? - “I’m great, thanks. And you?”
¿Cuántos años tienes? - “How old are you?”
Tengo treinta años. - “I am 35 years old.”
¿A qué te dedicas? - “What do you do for a living?”
Soy escritor y orador. - “I am a writer and speaker.”

Getting to Know Someone

¿Donde trabajas? - “Where do you work?”
Trabajo en un restaurante. - “I work at a restaurant.”
¿Cuáles son tus aficiones? - “What are your hobbies?”
Me gusta leer libros y ver películas. - “I like to read books and watch movies.”
¿De donde eres? - “Where are you from?”
Soy de Irlanda. - “I’m from Ireland.”
¿Cuál es tu película favorita? - “What’s your favourite movie?”
Me encanta Star Wars. - “I love Star Wars.”
¿Desde cuándo aprendes español? - “How long have you been learning Spanish?”
Aprendo español desde hace tres meses. - “I’ve been learning Spanish for 3 months.”
¿Cuál es tu color favorito? - “What is your favourite colour?”
Me gusta el verde. - “I like green.”
¿Hablas otros idiomas? - “Do you speak other languages?”
Sí, hablo inglés y francés. - “Yes, I speak English and French.”

Discussing Family

¿Tienes hermanos? - “Do you have any siblings?
Sí, una hermana. - “Yes, one sister.”
¿Tienes hijos? - "Do you have any kids?"
No, no tengo hijos. - “No, I don’t have kids.”
¿Cuántos en tu familia? - “How many in your family?”
Tres. Yo, mi mujer y mi perrito. - “Me, my wife, and my puppy.”
¿Tienes alguna mascota? - “Do you have a pet?”
Sí, tengo un perro. - “Yes, I have a dog.”
¿Cuál es el nombre de tu hermano/hermana? - “What is your brother’s/sister’s name?”
*El nombre de mi hermano/hermana es…” - “My brother’s/sister’s name is…”
¿Qué hacen tus padres? - “What do your parents do?”
Mi padre es ingeniero y mi madre es enfermera. - “My dad is an engineer and my mom is a nurse.”
¿Dónde creciste? - “Where did you grow up?”
Yo crecí en… - "I grew up in…"

Everyday Helpful Questions

¿Que hora es? - “What time is it?”
Es la una. - “It’s 1 o’clock.”
¿Qué día es? - “What day is it?”
Es viernes. - “It’s Friday.”
¿A dónde vas? - “Where are you going?”
Me voy a trabajar. - “I’m going to work.”
¿Qué haces? - “What are you doing?”
Estoy estudiando español. - “I’m studying Spanish.”
¿Estás de acuerdo? - “Do you agree?”
*Pues... yo no sé.” - “Well… I don’t know.”
¿Qué piensas? - “What do you think?”
Creo que esta bien. - “I think it’s good.”
¿Qué has dicho? - “What did you say?”
Dije… - “I said…”
¿Dónde está el baño? - “Where’s the bathroom?”
Por ahí. - “Over there.”

Start Asking Questions
There’s plenty here to get you started asking questions and speaking naturally. Once you learn the basic Spanish phrases and answers, you can change out words to fit your own personal vocabulary. The more you learn and practise, the easier it gets! And you’ll notice some questions pop up quite often, while others you may use less. Focus on what you need the most in the beginning, so you can start having your first comfortable conversations.

What questions do you use in everyday life that I missed here? Let me hear them in the comments.

The post 49 Spanish Questions You Need To Know to Speak like a Native appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Japanese for Kids: 17 Helpful Online Resources

Are you trying to raise a bilingual (or maybe even multilingual!) baby? Teaching your child Japanese is a great choice!

There’s absolutely no age limit to learning languages, but why not give them a head start… especially if you’re learning too? Speaking with your kids in another language, no matter how imperfect, still improves both of your language skills. It gets them used to hearing the sounds of the language from an early age. Plus, it trains their brain to listen for both foreign and native words. If you’re using the words often, their brains will send a signal telling them it’s important to remember. As a bonus, you get to practice!

While trying to teach my own son Japanese, I’ve learned there are some unique difficulties. For instance, my son can’t really read too much yet, but he recognizes the alphabet. Reading Japanese children’s books is more difficult because he doesn’t yet understand the kana and kanji, but he recognizes the text is different. Not seeing familiar words seems to distract him from the book. Likewise, some books have cultural differences he doesn’t yet understand. So these are things I have to explain or tackle with him along the way.

But, trying to teach him Japanese has been incredibly rewarding. And I’ve learned a lot, too. I’ve learned Japanese onomatopoeia (because what kid doesn’t love animal sounds and effects?) and loads of vocabulary you would only pick up from a children’s book. So even if you’re new to it, don’t be shy about giving it your best and teaching your child what you know.

No matter their age or your skills, you can use these “Japanese for kids” resources to give your child a head start in Japanese.
Learn Japanese for Kids: Infants
Japanese Lullabies
Studies have shown that babies begin to process language even while they’re still in the womb, and music and baby-talk can help them learn faster. Lullabies can be soothing while teaching your child the cadence of Japanese.

There are Japanese lullabies on YouTube you can find by searching 子守唄 (komori uta, “lullaby”). You’ll find pretty songs like “Lullaby for the Beloved” or the classic ねんねんころり (Nennen Korori, “Go to Sleep”). You can also try searching 日本の子守唄ベスト (Nihon no komori besuto, “best Japanese lullabies”). All these will pull up examples of both soothing Japanese lullabies and English lullabies in Japanese.

Keep an eye out for the suggested videos, too. If you search in Japanese, you’ll get more related suggestions that are popular in Japan.
Japanese Nursery Rhymes and Music for Kids
There are loads of YouTube compilations of Japanese nursery rhymes, songs and videos for kids. If your child has found videos he or she likes in English, chances are they can watch and learn the same thing in Japanese.

My son loves nursery rhymes and songs, especially this video of 10 popular children’s songs from JapanesePod101. どんぐりころころ (Donguri Korokoro, “The Rolling Acorn”) is a favorite among Japanese children. Another popular video is ボウロのうた (Bouro no Uta, “Bolo’s Song”).

And if you haven’t gotten totally sick of it yet, you can even watch “Baby Shark” in Japanese, called チビザメ (Chibi-zame).

For my son, videos with songs work best because he can associate the pictures with the music to learn what the words mean. But Spotify also has Japanese songs for kids!
Learn Japanese for Kids: Toddlers Cartoons
Kids can pick up a lot from cartoons, especially ones that are in other languages. Plus, it’s nice if you’re a beginner to the language too because the vocabulary and grammar are much simpler.

There are plenty of Japanese cartoons for kids, but here’s a few of the longest running and most popular among young children:
ドラえもん (Doraemon)
Doraemon is like the Mickey Mouse of Japan. He’s been around forever and is well loved by all! Doraemon is a cat-like robot from the future with a magical pocket to the 4th dimension. He’s always pulling new things from his pocket! He tries to help his owner’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, Nobita, through life (and pass his school exams).

The show is fun, light-hearted, and easy to follow. Sometimes, they feature educational plotlines about history or folk tales.
サザエさん (Sazae-san)
Sazae-san is another Japanese household staple, and one of my personal favorites. Sazae-san is a young woman who lives with her husband, son, parents, and younger siblings in Tokyo. They’re a typical Japanese family, and their interactions and dialogue are easy to follow. Even though the situations can be silly, the show offers more “real world” speech than most cartoons.
アンパンマン (Anpanman)
アンパン (anpan) is a popular Japanese bread snack, filled with red bean paste. Anpanman stars a bread-headed hero and his snack friends. This show is aimed at toddlers more so than the other two mentioned, but it offers a lot of insight into Japanese food culture.
Learn Japanese for Kids: Reading with Toddlers
You’d be surprised how easy it is to find reading resources for Japanese nowadays! You can get them as easily as ordering from Amazon or Kindle.

You can find classic Japanese books like ぐりとぐら (Guri to Gura) and はらぺこあおむし (Harapeko Aomushi, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”) right on Amazon with Prime shipping. You don’t even have to pay to import it.

A quick search of Japanese children's books on Kindle will show quite a few short, bilingual books to read together. Some are even free, while others are only a couple of dollars. My son and I have read “Am I small?” わたし、ちいさい？ and “I Love My Dad” おとうさんだいすき.

If there is a Japanese community where you live, you can also see if they hold yard sales or if a Japanese friend would let you borrow books. I went to a few Japanese yard sales at our local Japanese Saturday School, and scored a lot of books that way!

A couple of other reading resources for your children as they grow (or you!) are free reading resources online with fairy tales and traditional stories. There’s even an online newspaper made for children!
Learn Japanese for Kids: Kindergarten and Up
Japanese Games for Kids
At this age, your kids are probably pretty good at finding their way around your smartphone or tablet (if they’re anything like mine!). And they’re at that curious age where they love to solve puzzles. So take advantage of it!

Japanese apps for kids are an excellent way to help them learn the basics of the language. While they won’t teach your child by themselves, they’re a great tool to assist in learning mnemonics, kana, vocab, and simple grammar. It’s best if you reinforce what they’re learning by encouraging them to speak to you with what they know, using the things they’ve learned. Talk back to them in Japanese! If they don’t use it, they’ll lose it.

Here are my favorite Japanese apps for kids:

Duolingo is a fun game that is perfect for kids once they hit kindergarten and 1st grade. Especially because they’ll be learning similar grammar in English at school at the same time. So instead of having to relearn it and make the connection, they’ll learn it together. Duolingo also teaches kana and some kanji.
Gus on the Go has bright colors, simple pictures, and some basic words to get started speaking! They only use kana to simplify learning like how children learn in Japan. While the vocabulary isn’t robust in this app, it’s perfect for something fun and colorful to get started at this age.
Mindsnacks Japanese is only available for iPhone currently, but it’s a cute game. You play as a woodland creature, learning the kana and vocab. It also tests your reading and listening skills, depending on which character you pick to play during the game.

Japanese Kana and Kanji for Kids
You can teach your kids how to read and write Japanese with apps, too. First, there’s an excellent app, Dr. Moku, which teaches Hiragana and Katakana, as well as phrases. They’re working on the Kanji app, but it’s still in development.

The app Drops also teaches kana and kanji with over 2,000 vocab words. Some of the exercises may be more challenging for kids, but it’s a good option as your child grows.

Besides apps, there’s a Nintendo DS game called Japanese Coach. It teaches kana and kanji, and includes a dictionary in-game. You’ll only be able to buy it used now though, since it’s quite a few years old.

Regardless, try to encourage your child to write in Japanese with pen and paper to really learn them. You can find free printable writing sheets for kids here.
Learning Japanese Together with Your Child
It’s never too early, or too late, to start learning a language together with your kids. Even if you’re not bilingual yourself yet, giving your child a headstart is a great thing. It opens their minds up to more than just new words. You teach them about a whole world and culture outside their own. And it gives you more practice!

How are you teaching your child to learn Japanese? Is there a great Japanese resource for kids that I missed here? Leave me a comment and let me hear about it!

The post Japanese for Kids: 17 Helpful Online Resources appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

“Insta” Language Secrets: My 6-Step Method to Learning French on Instagram

Instagram is an amazing place to learn a language. I’m an intermediate French learner, and I’d like to show you how I’ve used Instagram to become a French ace in just a few months.



First let me tell you about my Instagram account. My stats aren’t mindblowing, but they do show what’s possible when you choose to use Instagram as a genuine way to connect with native speakers in your target language.

I joined in March 2018 (less than a year ago)
I have 615 followers
I follow 159 people
Most of my posts get 50+ likes
I typically get 10+ comments on each post

Best of all? I do everything in French. No English. Everything I write on Instagram is in French.

I’ve written 111 posts entirely in French so far on Instagram.

That’s 111 times I’ve practiced writing in my target language to communicate with others. Pretty. Freaking. Cool.

Not to mention the thousands of comments I’ve written in French, and everything I’ve read in French from all the French accounts I follow.

Let me tell you how it all started...
Why I Joined Instagram
I struggled for years to learn a new language (in fact, I tried 10 different languages) before I stumbled on the strategy that works for me:

It’s easiest to learn a language when you’re using it in the real world.

I first put this into practice using the Speak From Day One method. It was effective for me because I was using my new language right from the start to chat with native French speakers. That’s much more fun than getting lost in textbooks!

Then I discovered the idea of using social media as a language learning tool. But that was quite a journey in itself...
“Facebook? I Will Never Join That”
I remember the first time someone told me about Facebook.

“It’s this website where people share what they are eating for lunch. Jenny had the biggest burrito I’ve ever seen on Wednesday.”

My first thought was, “You have got to be kidding me. I will never join.”
Never Say Never
I did end up joining Facebook. And I found myself spending more time than I’d like on social media.

Thankfully, I learned how to put that time to good use.

During a Women in Language conference, Effin Waters of @allaboutitalian taught me how to change my bad habit into an useful language learning tool.

I was hesitant to join Instagram as I was already involved in an on-again/off-again relationship with Facebook. But I decided to give it a go because Elfin was convincing.

And so I created an Instagram account.
It All Started in Paris
I joined Instagram in March 2018 and shared a photo from my last trip to Paris. Here’s my first ever Instagram post:



As you can see, it got 24 likes. Even before I had any followers! I’ll show you how that happened in a moment.
How I Turned My Social Media Addiction into a Language Learning Resource
My guilty pleasure is now actually a healthy part of my weekly study routine. And I’m excited to share the secrets of my success. So, grab your nearest device and let’s get ready to tumblr!

On Facebook, I had a mess of anglophones liking my shares in English about my French journey. So, I started an Instagram account that was not connected to my Facebook account or email address. It became my French only account.

So far, I’ve created 111 posts entirely in French. And I’ve made friends with amazing native speakers and enthusiastic language learners.

Here are my six secrets to creating a fabulous Instagram language account.
1. Be Really, Really Stubborn About Avoiding English
I only ever post in French. I only comment in French too. This is what works for me.

For example, here’s me sharing about my favourite book for learning French:



It works really well for me, and it means I avoid the temptation to slip back into English.

That’s why if you’re using Instagram to learn a language I recommend that you only post, comment and speak in your target language. Doing this will put you in a different mindset every time you peek at your phone to distract yourself. Even if you’re reading a post in English, your mind will begin to think of how you might comment in your target language.

Some language learners start out by sharing one word in their target language with a photo or short video. For example, Erika will post a video of herself practicing the word prędkość (Polish for “speed”). As she grows her vocabulary, she’ll make a few simple sentences with this word.
2. Don’t Translate into Your Native Language
This is the biggest mistake I see people doing. They write a post in their target language and then translate it into English as well. That takes too long. Making your brain think in both your native and your target language will slow down your mojo, yo!



If the person reading your post doesn’t speak your target language, they are not your target audience. I’ve met so many very groovy people on Instagram that I don’t follow because they don’t understand French.

It’s tiresome to have to translate every stinking comment you make. Remember secret number one. You have to write everything in your target language.
3. Make Hashtags Your New Best Friends
For my first post, I used these hashtags; #languagediarychallenge, #womeninlanguage, #correctionswelcome, #learningfrench. With absolutely no followers, I received 24 likes and felt inspired. That dopamin hit inspired me to post again the next day.

Now, I put most of my hashtags in my first comment to keep the post uncluttered. Here are a few of my favorites:
Instagram Hashtags for Language Learning Communities
These are communities I’m part of to improve my language skills, and they’ve played a big role in helping me build a following on Instagram and get support from other language learners.

I don’t use these hashtags every day. I did one month of posting every day and it started to feel stale. Now, I post once a week but follow many people who speak French and/or are learning French from these hashtags.

#iglc by Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages
#languagediarychallenge by Katie Harris of Joy of Languages
#30dayspeakingchallenge by Jonathan Huggins of Huggins International
#add1challenge by Fluent in 3 Months


French Instagram Hashtags for Hobbies
Look up words for things you enjoy in your target language. I found a few interesting French speaking accounts through them. Now I use those hashtags for my posts, too.

#apprendrelefrançais (to learn French)
#forêt (forest)
#livre (book)
#rando (hike)
#ratdebiliothèque (library rat) How silly is that? It’s the French version of bookworm.
#thefluentshow by Kerstin Cable (podcast) She speaks French. So, I can comment about her show in my target language.

4. Like and Comment on Other People’s Posts
You want to win friends and influence people? Like and comment on posts that are in your target language. But how will you find posts in your target language?

Easy, search on one of your favorite things from secret number three. And don’t forget to comment in your target language only.

I read other comments to learn that “mignon” was a quick comment to say something was cute.

I commented on every single Harry Potter post in French.



Why? Because I could use the same sentence again and again, “J’ai lu le premier tome de Harry Potter. C’était chouette.” I read the first volume of Harry Potter. It was cool.

Here’s one of my Harry Potter comments on someone else’s post:



Next thing you know, there are native French speakers commenting on my posts with words of encouragement. One teen in France told me that my accent is quite pretty. I couldn’t even believe she understood what I had recorded. Somewhere in the far recesses of my mind I still think I’m making up words when I speak my target language.

A French artist started talking to me about her dog after I commented that he was “mignon”. She posted pics of him carrying her shoes everywhere and tagged me in the posts. It’s such a delight to connect with her.

There’s a Canadian who continually reminds me that French is also spoken in Quebec. I don’t mind his comments because they often come with a grammatical corrections. I learn from every single one.

Don't forget to comment on posts written in your native language by people that speak your target language.

I enjoy the posts of these polyglots who speak French.

@allaboutitalian - Elfin Waters
@blackgirlslearnlanguages - Shahidah Foster
@languagehacking - Benny Lewis
@lindsaydoeslanguages - Lindsay Williams
@languages.with.jonathan - Jonathan Huggins
@eurolinguiste - Shannon Kennedy
@frenchisbeautiful - Carrie Anne James
@kerstin_fluent - Kerstin Cable
@pillartoposts - Sam Grigg

[caption id="attachment_25379" align="aligncenter" width="540"] Carrie Anne James of @frenchisbeautiful, photo taken by Abby Ingwersen[/caption]

[Photo of Carrie Anne with this caption Carrie Anne James of @frenchisbeautiful, photo taken by Abby Ingwersen]

I follow them and comment in French on their posts. They often reply in my target language. It’s such a nerdy thrill to get a reply. Carrie Anne does live videos and encourages her audience to comment in French. It’s wonderful practice.

I also like the comments of others on posts that I can relate to and are in French. Comment by comment, a wonderful French speaking community on Instagram has appeared.
5. Dare to Be Perfectly Imperfect
I learned from Benny to make as many mistakes per day as possible. My goal on instagram is to make one perfectly imperfect post per week. And like most of my goals, it’s evolved over the months.

My Instagram handle is @perfectlyimparfaitfluency. I wanted to remind myself every time I log in that my goal is fluidity not perfection when I speak French. Perfectionism can be paralyzing. Whereas making messy mud pies while learning languages can be liberating.

I usually type sentences that I know how to construct. Then I double-check them on Google Translate to be sure they are saying what I want. Lastly I share them. My language buds will often comment on my progress, help me correct an error or answer a question.

The aim of my posts is to tell my audience a story. One photo showed my dog resting on lush grass one sunny day. I shared about how kindness is important in language learning. And my pup was a 90 pound mass of kindness..



Another post was a photo of my notebook. I explained how I organize my study routine into 12 week phases.



Yet another post was a short video of me explaining how to make hot chocolate with honey. Your post doesn’t need to be fancy. It just needs to be in your target language.
Psst… I Do Challenges Imperfectly, Too
There are way too many people apologizing when they only do two out of ten days of their challenge posts. That’s a glass is half empty approach. That apologetic person wrote two more posts than the person who wrote zero posts. Definitely a half-full week! Celebrate your successes.

For the first month on Instagram, I did one post per day for a month. My two favorite hashtags were #languagediarychallenge & #iglc.



I committed to 30 days of posts. After that, I changed my goal to once a week because I didn’t want to be on Instagram everyday.

And sometimes, I go one step further in my perfectly imperfect posting. If I’m super tired and don’t have the brain space to create sentences. If my fatigue is stopping me from hitting my weekly goal. I improvise. I use Google Translate by entering English and typing out the French result.

Gasp! Horror! Shock! Oh stop clutching your pearls.

Instagram didn’t dissolve into chaos. The god of baguettes didn’t curse me with the inability to pronounce the French r. In fact, it kept my weekly strike happy and healthy while practicing French spelling.
6. Be Selective about Who You Follow
Your goal for a language Instagram account is not to having five thousand followers. That might elicit way too much pressure to produce posts that are interesting. Your goal is to practice your target language.

Let’s just name it. You already have enough pressure in real life. The tool of Instagram only works for me if it’s fluffy and fun. It’s my teddy bear of language learning.

Only follow people who speak your target language.

Save your Aunt Tilly’s cat photos for your personal account. You can only benefit so much from the “That’s nice, dear. We’re all so proud of you.” comments.

With that stated, I love @marionruffieabsolumentchats, @lingualibri and @emcourtemanche (Emilie Courtemanche) because they often share humorous posts in French about their cats. And Emilie happens to be the author of my favorite funny French novel, Mémémoires.

[caption id="attachment_25384" align="aligncenter" width="597"] Photos by Emilie Courtemanche[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_25383" align="aligncenter" width="597"] Photos by Emilie Courtemanche[/caption]

Weed your insta-garden from time to time.

Someone recommended I follow a particular blogger because she speaks French. Only she irritated me to no end. Maybe it was the constant slanted angle of her camera with duck face pouts. Maybe it was the body lotions she kept trying to sell me. Whatever it was, she had to go. So, I stopped following her and the clouds of annoyance vanished.
Easy Does It
Learning a language is hard enough. Make your Instagram tool a place where you see people, places and things that inspire you. Ideally, you want posts that give you the urge to comment.

What happens if you liked someone you know in real life but he's a super boring dude? You don’t want to hurt his feelings by unfriending him. Guess what? You can “mute” him so that you don’t see his daily shirtless selfie posts.

Always return to secret number one. If you post in your target language, you will more likely attract native speakers to your account. In a language Instagram account, you’re looking for quality over quantity.

Ready. Set. Post! What are your favorite social media sites for language learning? Let me know!

The post “Insta” Language Secrets: My 6-Step Method to Learning French on Instagram appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Korean Greetings: 10+ Ways to Say “Hello” in Korean

Ready to learn how to speak Korean? It all gets started with “hello.”

Learning how to say hello in Korean is pretty simple, and you may even have heard it before...

via GIPHY

Long before I had an interest in learning the language, I learned how to say “hello” in Korean while watching Arrested Development. If you’ve seen the show, you might remember they thought “Annyeong” was his name, but it really meant hello (which is why he was always saying it). The Bluths’ mistake was my memory gain!

But saying hello has a bit more to it than that. The Korean language has a hierarchy of formality based on who you’re talking to. But no worries! I’ll fill you in on all the details so you can start using your Korean greetings with ease.
How to Say Hello in Korean
First, let’s talk about that formality thing. In the Korean language, there are seven levels of formality, although you only need to know the four main levels. They are: informal, familiar, formal, and honorific. The other levels are mostly outdated. They’re good to know if you want to read religious scriptures or watch intense Korean period-dramas, but you won’t hear them in everyday life.

Informal is for when you’re speaking with friends, family, and those younger than you or of lesser seniority.

Familiar speech is for when you’re speaking with people you know, but not very well. This level of speech allows for social distance (you aren’t saying you’re higher or lower than them), and it’s pretty neutral and polite.

You should use formal speech with strangers or in formal situations, such as introducing yourself. You would use this with people who are older than you or higher seniority.

Lastly, you have honorific speech. This isn’t actually spoken much in daily life, except in very formal situations at work. The most common instance you would hear this style is during news broadcasts.

So, for example, a boss would use informal speech with his employees because he's the superior. But employees would use formal speech with their boss. You would use informal speech when talking with your spouse, but familiar speech when talking with a coworker.

It’s important to know these levels of formality so when you learn the phrases below, you know when to use them correctly and why there are variations for the same thing. Korean can be easy to learn once you understand some of the basics like this.

Okay! That’s out of the way. Let’s learn some Korean greetings. I’ll write them in both Hangul (Korean characters) and romanized letters. But it’s best to learn Hangul for proper pronunciation. In fact, you can learn Hangul in just a few minutes.
안녕하세요 (Annyeong Haseyo) - “Hello”
This is your most common way to greet someone in Korean. It’s the familiar, polite speech pattern.

You use 하세요 (haseyo) to show extra respect. 하세요 is actually a casual, but honorific form of the verb 하다 (hada), which means “to do.” So because it has extra politeness added, it’s a good phrase for almost all situations, especially if you’re unsure what level of formality to use.

You can say this to introduce yourself, to show respect to those older than you, and in the office. If you add a question mark or use raised tonation on the last syllable, it means the same thing as “How are you?” Like:

“안녕하세요?” (Annyeong haseyo?, “Hi, how are you?”)

“예. 안녕하세요?” (Ye. Annyeong haseyo?, “I’m well. How are you?”)

It’s normal to bow when you greet someone.

Bonus fun fact: 안녕하세요 literally means “are you at peace?” which is why the standard response back is “yes” or 예 (ye).
안녕 (Annyeong) - “Hi”
This is your informal, casual way to greet those you’re close to, such as friends and family. What’s nice about 안녕 is that it’s used in many ways. Unlike other languages, Korean doesn’t have phrases for different times of the day. Although there is a “good morning” phrase (which I’ll show you later), you won’t hear “good afternoon” or “good evening.”

So, 안녕 is a good one to know because you can use it at all times of the day, and even to say goodbye. This informal version is also the building block for adding the more polite parts of the word, like how you add 하세요 to be more polite.
안녕하십니까 (Annyeong Hasibnikka) - “Good Day”
Okay, so the literal translation is still “hello” in Korean. But I’m going to explain it as “good day” or even “good day Sir/Madam” because I think of it as a super formal, almost awkward way to greet someone. These days, it’s only used on the news, or when greeting customers to show a high level of respect. This is the honorific form, and one of the most polite that’s still in use. You probably won’t say it yourself, but it’s good to know because you may sometimes hear it.
여보세요 (Yeoboseyo) - “Hello”
Yes, another way to say “hello,” but this one has nothing to do with formality. You only use this phrase when you answer the phone. If you’ve ever studied Japanese, it’s like saying もしもし (moshi moshi).

여보세요 can also be used very informally to get someone’s attention, like saying “Look over here!” But it’s almost exclusively used over the phone, or if you’re calling out “hello”, are unsure who you’re talking to, or if anyone is there.
좋은아침이에요 (Joeun Achimieyo) - “Good Morning”
This is the familiar form, while 좋은아침 (joeun achim) is the informal form for greeting close friends. While this means “good morning,” and you will sometimes hear it, it’s not as common as it is in English. 안녕하세요 is still a much more common greeting, at all times of the day.
오랜만이에요 (Oraenmanieyo) - “Long Time No See”
If you haven’t seen someone in a while - about four weeks or more - you can use this phrase as a greeting, like you would in English. You can adjust it to be informal for close friends, 오랜만에 (oraenman-e), or to be formal (like to your boss), 오랜만입니다 (oraenmanibnida).

Note: The “e” ending or the basic form of the verb is least formal, “ieyo” ending is familiar, and the “nida” ending is most formal in common speech.
만나서 반갑습니다 (Mannaseo Bangapseubnida) - “Nice to Meet You”
Like in English, you can greet someone you’re meeting for the first time with “nice to meet you” instead of “hello.” The most common way to say it is 만나서 반갑습니다 (mannaseo bangapseubnida), which is in its most polite “nida” form. This is one instance where an outdated honorific form is still used. It's one of the few set phrases you'll hear often in that formality.

But, in more casual settings, you could also say 만나서 반갑습이에요 (mannaseo bangapseub-ieyo) which is “It’s nice to meet you.” More often though, you leave off the first half and say 반갑습니다 (bangapseubnida). Kind of like “Nice to meet ya.”
무슨 일이야? (Museun Ir-iya?) - “What’s up?”
Here’s a slangy greeting for you to use with friends! You can use 무슨 일이야? to greet someone or ask what they’re doing, like in English. But you wouldn’t use this phrase with people outside your social circle.

You can also add 이게 (ige) to the beginning of the phrase to say 이게 무슨 일이야 (ige museun ir-iya), “What’s happening?”
어떻게 지내세요? (Eotteohge Jinaeseyo?) - “How are you?”
While you can use 안녕하세요? (annyeong haseyo?) to ask how someone is doing, it more literally means, “are you at peace?” To be more direct and get a real answer out of someone, you ask 어떻게 지내세요? (eotteohge jinaeseyo?) instead.

With friends, you could say 요즘 어때? (yojeum eottae?) which is a very casual way to say “What’s up,” “How’s it going?” or “How are you?” But there’s also the phrase 밥 먹었어? (bab meogeoss-eo?), meaning “Did you eat?” You’ll hear it often because friends don’t let friends miss out on good meals.
야! (Ya!) - “Yo!”
If you’re calling out to your friends, you can grab their attention with “야!” It’s pretty slangy, and a bit masculine. You can only use this one with close friends the same age as you, and it can also be used to exclaim “Wow!”
잘부탁드립니다. (Jalbutag Deurimnida) - “Please look after me.”
Translated literally, it means “thank you very much (for doing as I asked/taking care of it).” And it is used in that way sometimes, but more often, you’ll hear this as a respectful greeting to go with introductions. It’s a cultural thing, but it means something like “please let’s have a good relationship” or “please look after me.”

It’s also used like “I ask this of you, so please take good care of it.” So if you were to drop off your child at school or daycare, you would say 잘부탁드립니다 to ask them to take good care of your child. It’s very polite and usually said with a bow.
Which Greeting Will You Use?
You’re one step closer to starting your first conversation in Korean! If you’re ready to start learning more, check out these 35 free Korean resources. You can also check out founder of Fluent in 3 Months Benny Lewis' favorite Korean resources. My favorite resource? 90 Day Korean.

Which greeting will you use to starting chatting away? Have I missed your favorite Korean greeting? Leave me a comment below and let me know.

The post Korean Greetings: 10+ Ways to Say “Hello” in Korean appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

50+ Must Know Caribbean Spanish Expressions (You’ll Only Hear These in the Caribbean)

When you think about the Spanish language and culture, you probably think about the running of the toros (bulls) in Spain or elegant women dancing the tango on the streets of Buenos Aires. Or maybe images of black and white skeleton-painted faces for Mexico’s Día de los muertos (Day of the Dead) pop into your head.

Despite the fact that Spanish speakers outnumber English speakers in the islands of the Caribbean, many of us only think about its sandy pristine beaches when we hear a Bob Marley song.

You probably don’t think of Caribbean Spanish.

The truth is, the Spanish speaking Caribbean has a rich cultural identity that makes it unique in many ways. Its language -much like its people, cuisine, music, and dance -represents a coming together of cultures: Spanish, indigenous, and African.



From the island shores of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic to the Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela exists a Latin American culture that isn’t 100% Latino nor 100% West Indian. Their common ancestry of Taíno and Carib indigenous tribes, Spanish colonists, and African slaves has been preserved in the languages of each of these Caribbean populations.

Later migration, military intervention, and the sheer proximity of the United States brought an American English influence that’s created some “Spanglish” throughout Latin America.

This means that Caribbean Spanish, like many other Spanish dialects, carries historical influences that make it unlike the European Spanish taught in many schools.

The result: many Spanish learners and even native Spanish speakers visit the Caribbean and are shocked when they are unable to understand much of what’s being said.

“They talk so fast!”

“Is that even Spanish?”

“What did he just say??”

In fact, the accent in this region resembles the Andalusian region of Spain more than any other area. This is mainly because the Spaniards that first arrived in the west were from Southern Spain.

For example, the aspiration or deletion of the /s/ sound at the end of syllables and words is common to both dialects. This is why a phrase like Buenos días. ¿Cuántos huevos quieres? ¿Dos o tres? (“Good morning. How many eggs would you like? 2 or 3?”) may be difficult to decipher to an untrained ear. It will sound more like Bueno’ día’ ¿cuantouevoquiere’? ¿Do’ tre’?

But while there are some commonalities in accent, the words that have been preserved and created from the aforementioned influences have given rise to a special way of speaking Spanish.

And if you’re not aware of it, you might be at a loss when trying to have a conversation in Caribbean Spanish… or even if you’re listening to music from the region.

The explosion of popularity of Latin American music represents genres largely from the Caribbean: namely reggaeton (Puerto Rico), bachata (Dominican Republic), salsa (Puerto Rico, Colombia, Cuba), dembow (Dominican Republic).
And this music has fans from all over the Spanish-speaking world, including many non-Spanish speakers.

This means if you’re going to turn on the radio or enjoy your favorite playlist, you may run across Caribbean Spanish words and phrases. So it’s a good dialect to be aware of!
50 Must Know Caribbean Spanish Words -- and Their English Translations
While there are regional differences even within the islands, there are many words and expressions that are used across most of the Caribbean.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common that you’ll likely hear throughout the region:
1. Chiquito - “Child”
Un chiquito necesita dormir más horas que un adulto. - “A child needs to sleep more hours than an adult.”


2. Bochinche - “Discussion”
Also means fight, dispute, racket, or uproar.

Comenzaron a discutir y se formó un tremendo bochinche. - “They started to argue and everything ended in a big fight.”


3. Guachimán - “Guard”
Usually someone watching the cars on the street (comes from the English words “watch” and “man”).

El guachimán de ese restaurante es muy amable. - “The guard at that restaurant is very friendly.”


4. Coco - “Bald, hairless”
No hair on the head.

Jorge se está quedando *coco y apenas tiene 23 años.* - “Jorge is going bald and is barely 23 years old.”


5. Candela - “Fiery”
Being unpredictable or hard to deal with; fiery.

José es candela. Cuídate de él. - “José is a fiery one. Watch out for him.”


6. Dale - “Go ahead”
Interjection demonstrating approval, meaning ‘okay’ or ‘go ahead.’

Ve tú primero, dale. - “You go first, go ahead.”


7. Guagua - “Bus”
A van or SUV; bus.

Ayer esperé la guagua para San Juan por más de una hora. - “Yesterday I waited for the bus to San Juan for more than an hour.”


8. Jeva - “Woman”
Informal way to say “woman.”

Las jevas de La Habana son bellas e inteligentes. - “The women of Havana are beautiful and smart.”


9. Radio Bemba - “Word on the street”
Word on the street, the grapevine, rumor. This phrase has origins in Cuba but is used throughout the region.

¿Qué dice radio bemba? - “What’s the word on the street?”


10. Socio (masculine) / Socia (feminine) - “Close friend”
Close friend.

Arturo y Raúl son socios. - “Arturo and Raul are good friends.”


11. Fiebrú’ (masculine) / Fiebrú’a (feminine) - “Enthusiast”
Someone that spends a large amount of time, effort and resources in participating in a specific activity; enthusiast. (Contraction of fiebrudo/fiebruda.)

Francisco un fiebrú de las carreras de carros y va a correr todas las semanas. - “Francisco is a racing enthusiast and races his car every week.”


12. Guille - “Full of oneself”
An attitude of pride or conceit; to be full of oneself; cockiness.

Tiene tremendo guille ahora que empezó a trabajar en esa compañía. - “He’s so full of himself now that he works for that company.”


13. Guineo - “Banana”
Banana. This name is unique to the region, and shouldn’t be confused with the larger plátano (plantain), which must be cooked before eating.

Me gusta comer siempre un guineo en el desayuno. - “I always eat a banana for breakfast.”


14. Mai - “Mom”
Contraction of the word “madre” (mother). It’s commonly used to refer to the parental figure, or a female loved one.

Dile a tu mai que venga acá. - “Tell your mom to come here.”


15. Pana - “Buddy”
Friend, buddy.

Ayer salió con sus panas a celebrar el ascenso que le dieron en el trabajo. - “Yesterday he went out with his friends to celebrate his new promotion.”



Now that you’ve got some of the common Caribbean words down, let’s take a look at words that are unique to specific regions: namely Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.
Spanish Words You'll Only Hear in Cuba


Cuba has a culture all its own. Aside from its infamous revolution and tumultuous political history, Cubans are proud of their identity. Their language reflects the diversity in this large Caribbean island.

Let’s take a look at some Cuban Spanish words…
16. Palestino - Not from Havana
Someone that is not from Havana, especially if they are from the east part of the island; outsider.

Ése está más perdido que un palestino. - “That guy is more lost than an outsider.”
17. ¿Qué bolá? - “What’s up?”
Phrase meaning “What’s up?” or “How are you?”

¿Qué bolá asere? - “What’s up buddy?”
18. Sardina - “Skinny Woman”
Skinny woman.

Mira esa sardina. - “Look at that skinny woman.”
19. Son - “Son”
Not to be confused with the third person plural form of “ser” (to be). This is a type of Cuban music fundamental to salsa music.

Mi puro cantaba son en los bares. - “My father used to sing ‘Son’ in bars.”
20. Darse un totazo - “to hit oneself by accident”
To hit oneself by accident, especially in the head.

Me di un totazo esta mañana y me mareé.* - “I accidentally hit myself this morning and I got dizzy.”

21. Yuma - USA

The United States.
A foreigner, especially North American.

Toda mi familia se ha ido pa’ la Yuma. - All my family has left for the _US_.
22. Tonga - “A lot”
A big quantity of something.

Tengo una tonga de mangos pa’ llevar al mercado. - “I have a bunch of mangos to take to the market.”
23. Rumba - “Party”
Esta noche hay rumba en el centro. - “Tonight there’s a party downtown.”
24. Piñazo - “Punch”
Punch; hit delivered with the fist.

El papá de Enrique le dio un piñazo en la clase de boxeo. - “Enrique’s father punched him in boxing class.”
25. Pinchar - “To work”
To work.

Me voy temprano mañana a pinchar. - “I’m going to work early tomorrow.”
26. Moros y cristianos - “Moors and Christians”
White rice with black beans. (Literally: Moors and Christians.)

Señora, quisiera moros y cristianos con el bistec. - “Ma’am, I’d like black beans and white rice with the steak.”
27. Fula - “Dollar”
Slang for US dollar
Uniquely Puerto Rican Words and Phrases


Puerto Rico is a US territory, and notorious for its Spanglish. I once heard a story about someone from Puerto Rico making up their own cognate for the word carpet. They didn’t realize that a carpeta is actually a folder in Spanish, despite the fact that the individual was a native Spanish speaker.

If you hear any of the following words, it’s likely you’re talking to a Boricua.
28. Dito - “Please!”
Contraction of bendito, used to express pity or compassion, or to plead with someone.

¡Dito! ¡Ayúdame, por favor! - “Please! Help me!”
29. Coquito - “holiday drink”
Holiday drink made by mixing eggs, condensed milk, evaporated milk, cream of coconut, coconut milk, cinnamon and other spices and normally spiked with rum
It’s a Puerto Rican version of eggnog, and it’s delicious!

Mi tía nos hizo dos botellas de coquito para Navidad. - “My aunt made two bottles of coquito for Christmas.”
30. Corillo - “A group of friends”
A group of friends; gang.

Ángel siempre sale los fines de semana con su corillo de amigos. - “Ángel always goes out with his gang on the weekends.”
31. Fufú

A dish of African origin made out of smashed boiled plantains and cassava.
A spell cast by a practitioner of the Santería religion.

El fufú es una comida difícil de encontrar en los restaurantes en Puerto Rico. - “Fufú is a tough food to find in restaurants in Puerto Rico.”

Compró flores, velas y estampas de santos para hacerle un fufú a su marido. - “She bought candles, flowers and saint icons to perform a spell over her husband.”
32. Mofongo
Traditional dish made out of mashed fried green plantains. It’s usually served in the shape of a bowl and stuffed with meat, chicken, or seafood.

Me gusta el mofongo con mucho ajo. - “I like my mofongo with lots of garlic.”
33. Mangó - “Mango”
Mango – the fruit. This word has the peculiarity that Puerto Rico is the only Spanish-speaking country in which the tonic accent is on the last syllable instead of the first, meaning that it needs to have a graphic accent.

Ya pronto va a ser época de mangó. - “It will soon be mango season.”
34. Ñoño (masculine) / Ñoña (feminine) - “Prima Donna”
A person that is likes to be spoiled; someone that needs a lot of love and attention; a docile animal.

Ese gato es muy ñoño y le gusta dormir en la falda de su dueña. - “That cat is very spoiled and likes to sleep on his owner’s lap.”
35. Parcha - “Passion fruit”
Passion fruit (known in other countries as maracuyá). Puerto Rico is the only place in which it is known as parcha.

El jugo de parcha es muy bueno para bajar la presión. - “Passion fruit juice can help lower high blood pressure.”
36. Patatús - “To freak out”
A strong reaction to a negative event; freaking out.

Te va a dar un patatús cuando te enteres de lo que pasó. - “You’re going to freak out when I tell you what happened.”
37. Bacalao (masculine) / Bacalá (feminine) - “Coward”
Someone who is weak of character and has little initiative; slacker, coward.

¿Le dijiste que no querías ir? ¡Qué bacalá eres! - “You told him you didn’t want to go? You’re so chicken!”
38. China - “Orange”
Orange – the fruit. Not to be confused with the country China.

No hay nada como un jugo de china fresco. - “There is nothing like freshly squeezed orange juice*”
39 - Chinchorro - “Cheap Bar”
A modest establishment with a friendly and informal atmosphere where food and drink is sold at low prices; joint.

En el centro del pueblo hay un chinchorro que vende las cervezas súper baratas. - “There’s a hole in the wall bar in the city center that sells cheap drinks.”
You Know You're Talking to a Dominican If...


Dominicans could easily win the award for the most difficult to understand Spanish speakers. But once you get the hang of the way they speak and learn a little about the culture, it’s not so bad. It helps if you know some of these words, too:
40. Aficia’o (masculine) / Aficia’a (feminine) - “Deeply in love”
A person that is deeply in love.

María está aficia’a de su marido. - “Maria is deeply in love with her husband.”
41. Allantoso (masculine) / Allantosa (feminine) - “Show off”
A person who talks a lot and does little, a show off.

Esos políticos son unos allantosos. - “Those politicians are all talk and no action.”
42. Anda el diablo - “The devil walks”
Translates literally to “the devil walks.” This phrase is used commonly to show frustration, worry, or awe.

Anda el diablo, ahora no tenemos gasolina.* - “For the love of God, now we’re out of gas.”

43. Juntadera - “Get together”
This term refers to a gathering to drink or eat.

La juntadera de esta noche es en casa de Juan - “The get together is at John´s”
44. Mata - “Tree”
Tree (in other countries, árbol).

¿Viste a ese carajito encaramarse en esa mata? - “Did you see that kid getting up that_ tree_?”
45. Matatan
A man who believes is able to handle any situation or person.

Ese pana es un matatan. - “That dude is a pro.”
46. Merengue
Musical style originating in the Cibao (northern region) of the Dominican Republic, it consists of fast rhythms and is played on instruments such as the güira, marimba, accordion and hand drums.

El dominicano que no le guste el merengue que se revise. - “A Dominican that doesn’t like merengue has to get himself checked.”
47. Picoteo - “Side hustle”
Informal or second job, side hustle.

Yo picoteo en las tardes cuando salgo del trabajo. - “I work my second job in the afternoons when I get out of work.”
48. Qué lo que - “What’s up?”
An expression meaning “What’s up?” or “What’s going on?” Literal translation “What is what.” KLK is the text message abbreviations of this term.

Dime qué lo que con esa jeva. - “Tell me what’s up with that girl.”
49. Sanki-Panki
Also known simply as “Sanki,” is someone that roams the beaches of the island in search for foreigners to start a romance for money or with the ultimate end of getting a visa to leave the country, usually through marriage.

Los Sanki-Panki están sueltos en playa boca chica. - “Sanki-pankis are loose in Boca Chica beach”
50. Sancocho
Traditional Dominican dish, it’s a thick soup that comes full of tubers/root vegetables, and well-seasoned meats.

El sancocho de don Raulo está para morirse. - “Old man Raulo’s sancocho is to die for.”
51. Ta’To - “Everything’s all right”
Linguistic contraction of the phrase in Spanish “Está todo bien” (Everything is all right).

Ta’to’, llego en un momento.* - “OK, I’ll be there in a moment.”

There you have it, 51 Spanish words from the beautiful Caribbean. Enjoy - and let me know if you use any of them when you visit the Caribbean.

The post 50+ Must Know Caribbean Spanish Expressions (You’ll Only Hear These in the Caribbean) appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

“I Learned This Language Just for You”: How to Save the World One Language at a Time

To learn a new language, you need a fire inside you.

My identity as a language learner was forged by a spark that left me in tears. I made a little girl cry.

Now, I actually started “learning” languages when I took French my sophomore year of high school. I thought it would be fun to learn another language. I also thought that it would be easy. Halfway through the school year, I was kicked out of the class and given a failing grade because I was caught cheating on a test.

I didn’t even hang on to bonjour because I found absolutely no joy in memorizing conjugations and taking written tests where I would fail if I forgot an accent mark. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that my brain forcefully scrubbed every last morsel from my memory.
How My Hero Complex Backfired and Left Me in Tears
Fast forward to grown-up Amanda. I acquired a bit of a Messiah complex. I want to save every dog, feed every starving child and house every homeless person.

One of my humanitarian efforts led me to Juarez, Mexico. This town is about six hours from the Phoenix, Arizona suburb that I call home, but it might as well be on a different planet. Resources are scarce, the infant mortality rate is high, and disease is rampant.

On my second to last day there, I joined the group I had traveled with on a visit to an orphanage. There, a vibrant, little girl came up and began excitedly talking to me, in Spanish. It was clear she wasn’t given much attention. She was one child in an overpopulated, crumbling little building that was understaffed. I said the only three words I could say: no habla español.

This little girl, who was only maybe five or six years old, sat down on the dusty ground in her tattered clothes and started to cry. Not the tantrum type of cry that we parents know so well, but the heartbroken and let down type of cry. Not surprisingly, I cried, too.
Then My Broken Heart Led Me Back to French
No matter what I did during the rest of my time there, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Weeks later, I was still dwelling on her while orchestrating a monthly sewing night for a charity that I am a Chapter Leader for called Days for Girls. One of my regular volunteers struck up conversation with me about a need for kits and volunteers in several areas such as the Ivory Coast, Haiti and Chad. She mentioned that she had gone to the Ivory Coast a couple of years prior and had spoken to the group about sustainable agriculture.

“And they understood you?” I asked incredulously.

“Well, no. Obviously, we needed a translator. They all speak French,” she replied.

We had a translator for our trip as well, but there was one of him, thirteen of us and several dozen orphans (not to mention the other people we met). None of the natives told us their stories. None of them talked about life with us. We went, gave them the items we collected, and built a few houses for them. Then we left. Without ever really meeting them. We learned their names from our translator, nothing else.

What a dreadfully impersonal way to try to connect with someone!

“French, huh?” I had mused to her.

I shrugged it off and laughed with her, but inside, I felt a spark in my heart. After all, there was a reason I had taken French all those years ago. I really had wanted to learn it. It had just seemed too difficult.

I felt deeply compelled to investigate serving these areas, but I was never going to repeat that experience with that little girl.
My First Experience of Getting Back into French was Like Drawing a “Horse” in Art Class
“Well,” I thought to myself. “Put your big girl boots on and go out there and save the world! Do this!”

I found a language learning app that promised I could learn French with just ten minutes a day. With a young child and a variety of obligations to my business and my charity work, I didn’t have a great deal of spare time. Or so I told myself, But I could commit to ten minutes day! I downloaded it. I got to work. I feverishly took notes.

This experience was very similar to an art class I took once. I was directed to draw a couple of varying sized circles, a few lines, and then shade it in with perfection. Voila, I was supposed to have a horse. I did not, in fact, have a horse. I had a blob. An asymmetric amorphic mess of scribbles. With the app, it eased me in with simple things like counting, introducing myself and colors. By the end of the first week, it wanted me to conjugate verbs in the past imperfect tense. Umm, what?

That clearly wasn’t for me.
And Then I Got a Little Closer to What I Was Looking For...
Then, I bought a textbook. The process was largely the same. Here’s some vocabulary, let’s learn a few survival phrases, now explain the difference between an interrogative pronoun and a relative pronoun. I don’t even know what that means in English (my mother tongue!).

I reached out to a young man named Benjamin, who is the founder of French Together. I had zero direction, but lots of passion. When I explained why I so desperately wanted to learn his language, he took me under his wing. He pointed me to Fluent in 3 Months as well as several other websites and apps, giving me a few pointers. The first of which: I needed some solid goals.
Jumping into the Deep End
Lists? I love lists! I am a compulsive list maker. I suffer from anxiety and to keep it managed, everything needs to be organized and reasonably planned out. So, I pulled out a fresh piece of paper, clicked my pink pen to the ready position… and probably stared blankly for at least half an hour. What were my goals? Well, I only had one, and that was to be fluent in French! Duh.

Coincidentally, Benjamin sent me this link about effective goal planning for language learning.

So, I made a list. A few of the items included:

Being able to send an email in French within 30 days
Reading Harry Potter in French within three months
Being able to understand every word of a Harry Potter movie without subtitles in six months
Being able to have a fluent conversation for one hour with no errors within the year

Yes, those were my goals. No, I wasn’t huffing glue. I don’t think I read the aforementioned article closely enough. Because I was so excited, I found it extremely difficult to focus. I downloaded nearly a dozen apps, joined groups, bought books, and read tirelessly about grammar. Do you know what I didn’t do? Speak my language. Or really listen to it much for that matter, except the single phrases my apps spouted out in their slow computerized voices.
The Letdown
After three or four months, I thought I was making progress based on the assessment of these apps. So, I scheduled a lesson with a tutor on italki, thinking that they could help me clean up my accent and I would be moving right along.

I logged into Skype for my lesson and started the call with my tutor. First, I didn’t understand a word he said. Secondly, I could not form sentences on the fly. After two lessons, he flat out told me that I would never speak French. At the time, my brain wasn’t thinking, “What kind of a prick says that to a student who just wants to learn something?!” All I could dwell on was what a failure I was and how I wasted a lot of hours (turned out, I found more free time than I originally admitted that I had).

I cried in my office for the rest of the afternoon before curling up with a glass (or three) of wine and watching Netflix. That got me through the night.

The next day, I woke up hungover from wine and disappointment. I reached for my phone to use my French app out of habit. Remembering my tutor’s words, I grunted, rolled onto my stomach, and covered my head with my blanket. I could hear battle drums inside of me starting to beat as my ego went toe-to-toe with my heart.

Despite my tutor’s cruel assessment, I still craved the language.
French Music to the Rescue!
I settled for listening to some French music, as one of my favorite bands of over a decade happened to be French Canadian. I pulled up my YouTube and sang along to French lyrics. Lyrics that I understood. Holy guacamole.

Sure, maybe I couldn’t order food or debate religion, but there was this other language entering my ears, and I was understanding it!

I hadn’t been having fun with the language. It was a chore that I did every day, like the dishes. It was a means to an end, nothing more.

“Nobody can judge you for listening to it,” I thought to myself.

So, I decided to do just that. I found that most of my favorite movies have a bande annonce (trailer) in French. My favorite show, Dexter, had clips and there were short videos out there, which I soon learned were much more suited for me.

I was a few months in and letting some jerk convince me that I wasn’t good enough because I didn’t have the level he expected me to have.
“Prove Them Wrong,” I Told Myself
“What did you do when people bullied you like this growing up?” asked a voice inside my head.

“Proved them wrong,” I answered instinctively.

I remembered the scene in my favorite movie, Legally Blonde, where Warner (the ex-boyfriend) told Elle (the protagonist) that she wasn’t smart enough for law school. In fact, I found the scene in French. “I’ll show you,” I thought, just like my idol. On cue, my chihuahua jumped on my lap, reminding me in some abstract way that anyone can have Elle’s strength and determination.

Maybe I didn’t understand every word, but I found much more enjoyment in this than methodical and complicated “lessons” and “studies.”

Several months later, I had added two of the apps back into my routine just to get a little more vocabulary and sentence structure down. I had since made more reasonable goals, like being able to understand the three-minute Dexter video and having a 15-minute conversation where I didn’t resort to English (unless I was asking how to say a specific word).
Suddenly, I Had No Choice
Then, I got the kick in the pants I needed. The trip that I had wanted to go on for my charity practically fell out of the sky and into my lap. I couldn’t say no. Voila. Just like that, I was signed up to go to Haiti in six months.

In my case, because of the nature of the topic of menstruation and the fact that there were no female translators available, I had no choice but to give the presentation myself. In French. Otherwise, I would be giving these important kits to a group of girls, many of which knew absolutely nothing about their bodies and their natural functions. It was common to believe that monthly bleeding was a curse from God or a disease, as no one explained the process to girls in areas such as Haiti.

A nuclear bomb went off in my head as I came to terms to what I had just agreed to.

I had to amp up my skills. That night, I got an email from italki offering a small credit if I gave them another shot. The Universe was not being subtle. This time, I found a woman because, well, girls stick together, right? Around that same time, the website started a challenge to do twelve hours in thirty days. My dad instilled me with the desire to jump into things with both feet, often blindfolded. I bought enough credits to cover twelve lessons because I knew that I wasn’t going to waste that kind of money.

My experience with the tutor I chose this time proved to be much better. She had the patience I needed and met me at my level.

Between the lessons, I did fun mini assignments the teacher gave me, and listened to the first Harry Potter audio book in French while following along with a physical copy. Halfway through, I realized something. When I first picked up that book, I understood about four words on the first page. Now, I at least knew what was going on.

To follow the “Legally Blonde” theme, I made my very own Snap Cup. This accomplishment went in there and I sang the little jingle to myself.
Speaking French in the Real World
After a few months, I found a local meet-up at a little French bistro. I didn’t know this existed anywhere in the state, let alone in the Valley.

I RSVP’d. In fact, I RSVP’d three times over the course of six weeks. Each time, I made an excuse not to go. When I did finally go, I sat in my car for twenty minutes before the event and cried.

Finally, I convinced myself that worst case, I never had to see these people again. But can you guess what actually happened? I spoke French. I understood French. Neither were perfect, but I didn’t spontaneously combust, nor did I die of embarrassment. I was welcomed and guided. Another card in the Snap Cup.

I was so proud that on the way home, I listened to a few clips from the app News In Slow French . I also treated myself to a pastry that I ordered in my target language. Success never tasted so good.

The app became my new go to for longer car rides (which were frequent considering I lived in a suburb and most places are at least thirty minutes from me). My son had begun a French immersion summer school program that was just under an hour away during the daily rush hour.

It gave me a less stressful way to be creative and practice the language. I made fun little games with him, such as Pêcher (Go Fish) and Pierre a Dit (Simon Says) and suddenly, I could write TV time off as “educational” and didn’t feel guilty adding more into our schedule.
The Final Push
By the time my trip was on the horizon, I wrote up a speech for the girls that I wanted to serve and sent it to a new teacher. To my pleasant surprise, most of the corrections that she made were simply cultural preferences on how to say certain things and a few grammatical errors.

I read it until my eyes wanted to bleed. I recited it in my head every night as I fell asleep. I practiced in the car and on the plane and at the airport during my layover.

After just over a year of practicing French, I delivered a coherent and informative speech educating women on their bodies and their self-worth. I distributed the kits that we had sewn for them so that they had the basic materials necessary to cope with their menstrual cycles without having to miss school. I succeeded despite having fallen notably ill that same morning.
The Greatest Success of My Life
When they came up to me afterwards, I could not only answer their questions, I could talk about their lives and their struggles. I learned their names and their talents, their favorite colors and their dreams. I could understand them when they told me how much these gifts meant to them and that I learned this language just for them.

Am I fluent? That depends on your definition. I can speak and be understood. And so long as the other person isn’t rambling at an auctioneer pace, I can understand most things. I still don’t know technical grammar terms, I still mix up tenses and I still occasionally stare blankly at the person I am talking to until they restructure their sentence.

I have lived dreams that many never will. I have traveled the world, shot for Playboy, and met many of my favorite celebrities. None of that will ever compare to being able to connect with these girls on their terms. Nothing will ever feel as powerful as knowing that I taught myself a language.

The post “I Learned This Language Just for You”: How to Save the World One Language at a Time appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.