Benny Lewis's Blog, page 66

Spanish Accent Marks: The Ultimate Guide

Spanish accents can be confusing - and I'm not just talking about the way they pronounce things in Chile. What about the written accent marks that go above Spanish letters?

In Spanish, accent marks are important. More often than not, an accent (or lack of it) completely changes the meaning of a word.

For example, you definitely don't want to confuse año (year) with ano (anus).

A proper understanding of Spanish accent rules is therefore essential if you want to read and write Spanish effectively.

How does it all work?

The good news is that accent marks in Spanish - like everything else about Spanish spelling - follow very consistent rules. They're easy to learn.

In this article, I'll tell you everything you need to know about Spanish accent marks.

We'll cover what the accents in Spanish are, how and when they're used, how they affect pronunciation, and how you can type them on Windows or a Mac. By the end, you'll never be unsure again about whether to write como or cómo.

A quick note before we get started: Technically these "accent marks" are called diacritics - an extra symbol added to an existing letter. Spanish uses three such diacritics: the diaeresis (ü), the acute accent (é), and the tilde (ñ). You'll never see a grave accent (è) or a circumflex (ê) in Spanish.

Let's start with the simplest diacritic of Spanish’s three:

The Tilde in Spanish (ñ)

This accent mark is only ever found above an "n". While a tilde-less "n" is pronounced like the English letter "n", an "ñ" is pronounced roughly like an English "ny".

In Spanish, "n" and "ñ" are considered to be two completely separate letters. They have different names - "ene" vs. "eñe", and are listed separately in the dictionary - so for example leñador comes later than lengua and lento. They even have separate keys on a typical Spanish keyboard.

Confusingly, while the English word "tilde" exclusively refers to this "~" symbol, the Spanish cognate tilde is used to refer to diacritics in general, including the other ones you'll see in this article like the accent on "é".

What English speakers call a "tilde", Spanish speakers call la virgulilla or la tilde de la eñe.

The Diaeresis in Spanish (ü)

This symbol - two dots above a letter - is called a diaeresis (pronounced “die heiresses”).

Sometimes people call it an umlaut, but technically, an umlaut and a diaeresis aren't the same thing, despite looking identical.

Suffice to say that Spanish has no umlauts, only diaereses, as seen in words like pingüino or vergüenza.

Truth be told, there aren’t many words in Spanish that use a diaeresis. Here are the ones you’re more likely to encounter:


ambigüedad - ambiguity
antigüedad - antiquity
argüir - to argue
bilingüe - bilingual
cigüeña - stork (the bird)
desagüe - drain
lingüista - linguist
lingüística linguistics
monolingüe - monolingual
paragüero - umbrella stand
pingüino - penguin
piragüista - canoeist
plurilingüe - multilingual
vergüenza - shame


Did you spot the pattern? In all of these words, the diaeresis appears above a “u”. More tellingly, that “ü” always comes immediately after a “g”, and immediately before an “e” or “i”.

To understand what’s going on here, we need to consider how the “gue” and “gui” letter combinations are pronounced when they don’t have diaeresis.

Normally, a “g” in Spanish is pronounced like an English “g”. But when it’s followed by an "e" or "i" - as in words like gemelo (twin) or girar (to spin) - it becomes a raspy, "h"-like sound from the back of your throat. This is the same sound that's normally written in Spanish as a letter "j". So gemelo, for example, is pronounced as if it was written jemelo.

But wait - what if you have an “e” or “i”, and you want to preserve the regular “g” sound without turning it into a “j”?

Spanish does this by sticking a “u” in the middle, as in as in words like guitarra (guitar) and manguera (hose). That extra “u” is silent - it’s just there to tell you that the “g” should be pronounced like a regular “g”, not like a “j”.

So guitarra is pronounced “gee-TAH-ra”. If it was spelled gitarra it would be pronounced “hee-TAH-ra”.

But hold on: what if you don’t want the “u” to be silent? That’s where the diaeresis steps in.

In a word like pingüino, the diaeresis tells you that the “u” should be pronounced out loud like a regular “u”. It’s not just there to provide moral support to the “g” - it’s a fully articulated vowel.

So pingüino is pronounced like "peen-GWEEN-oh". If it didn't have the diacritic on the "u", it would be pronounced "peen-GHEEN-oh".

With that out of the way, it’s time to tackle the biggest and baddest of Spanish accent marks:

The Acute Accent in Spanish

Time to bring out the big guns. The acute accent (é) is by far the most common diacritic in the Spanish language. It can appear above all five vowels: á, é, í, ó, ú. At most, it appears once per word.

Generally, an acute accent is used to denote word stress. If you don't know what that means, let me quickly explain:

What Is Word Stress?

In linguistics, stress is when a particular syllable or syllables in a word are emphasised when speaking. Usually this means the syllable is pronounced louder and longer than its neighbours.

English makes liberal use of word stress, and you need to get it right. In the word "language", the first syllable is stressed - “LANG-gwij”. Pronouncing the stress on the second syllable - saying “lang-GWIJ” - would sound very strange to a native English speaker.

Sometimes in English, changing the stress can change the meaning of the word. For example, the word "present" can be pronounced as “PREH-sunt” (as in "a christmas present") or “pruh-SENT” (as in "he presented his case").

Annoyingly, English spelling doesn't tell you much about where to put the stress. If you read the word "present" with no context, you don't know which way to pronounce it.

Spanish is much kinder in this regard.

Word Stress in Spanish - and How it Relates to Spanish Accents

Remember that Spanish spelling is highly consistent. From the spelling of a Spanish word, you should always know exactly how to pronounce it (regional pronunciation quirks notwithstanding).

This is also true for word stress. When you read a Spanish word, you can apply consistent rules every time to figure out which syllable receives the emphasis.

In nutshell, those rules go like this:


If the word ends in a vowel, an "n", or an "s", stress the last-but-one syllable:

hablo = "HA-blo"
joven = "JO-ven"
computadora = "com-pu-ta-DO-ra"
hombres = "HOM-bres"


If the word ends in a consonant other than "n" or "s", stress the last syllable:

español = "es-pa-ÑOL"
estoy = "es-TOY"
feliz = "fe-LIZ"
trabajador = "tra-ba-ja-DOR"


If the word has an acute accent, ignore the above rules and stress the accented syllable:

habló = "ha-BLO". Without the accent it would be "HA-blo".
jóvenes = "JO-ve-nes". Without the accent it would be "jo-VEN-es"
inglés = "in-GLES" Without the accent it would be "IN-gles"
estábamos = "es-TA-ba-mos". Without the accent it would be "es-ta-BA-mos"




Another way to think about it: an acute accent means that the word is an exception to the "normal" rules of Spanish word stress (i.e. rules #1 and #2 above.)

Remember those simple rules, and you'll be fine most of the time. It's all you really need to know as a beginner. (Mnemonic for remembering the "n" and "s" exception: the word "nose".)

But we can break it down further. For starters, it helps to clarify exactly what we mean by a "syllable".

Breaking Down Spanish Words Into Syllables

Generally, when a vowel isn't next to another vowel, it forms its own separate syllable:


hablo - two syllables, "HA-blo"
comfortable - four syllables, "com-for-TA-ble"


But when a word has two or more vowels in a row (as in creo or acuerdo), it gets a bit more complicated.

First, understand that the vowels a, e, and o are considered in Spanish to be the "strong vowels". i and u are the "weak vowels" (Mnemonic: you and I are weak).

Two strong vowels in a row are considered to be two separate syllables:


creo - two syllables, "CRE-o"
caos - two syllables, "CA-os"
coreano - four syllables, "co-re-A-no"


A strong vowel with a weak vowel, or two weak vowels together, is considered a single syllable (When two vowels form a single syllable like this, it's called a diphthong):


nueve - two syllables, NUE-ve
saliera - three syllables, sa-LIE-ra.
fui - one syllable, FUI


This distinction matters when you're figuring out where to put the stress.

For example, the word bacalao ("cod") ends in two strong vowels, so the stress goes on the first of the two: "ba-ca-LA-o". The word hacia ("towards"), on the other hand, ends in a diphthong, so the stress goes elsewhere: "HA-cia"

What if the word stress does fall on a diphthong? For example, the word durmiendo ("sleeping") has three syllables, no written accent, and ends in a vowel. Therefore the stress must go on the diphthong in the middle: "dur-MIEN-do". There's no reason why this can't happen.

Normally, a diphthong is pronounced with slightly more emphasis on the second vowel than the first. E.g. in fui, the "i" is a little bit stronger than the "u". However, some words are exceptions, so the first vowel in the diphthong gets the accent:


compraríamos ("we would buy")
tío ("uncle")
búho ("owl")


(How does the "h" in búho affect the placement of the accent? The answer: it doesn't. The RAE have ruled that, for the purposes of word stress and written accents, an "h" has no effect. You treat it as if it wasn't there at all. So the "u" and "o" in búho are still considered to form a diphthong, even though there's an extra letter in between them.)

Why Are Some Words Accented In Some Forms, But Not Others?

Can you see now why jóvenes is written with an accent, but joven isn't? Remember that joven means "young", and jóvenes is its plural form:


El hombre joven = the young man
Los hombres jóvenes = the young men


In the singular form, the first syllable ("jo") is stressed. The word ends in an "n", so rule #1 applies: the last-but-one syllable (which in this case is also the first syllable) receives the stress.

When pluralised, however, we add an extra syllable. With no written accent, we'd have jovenes, and the stress would now "naturally" fall on the second syllable ("ve"). That's wrong - the stress needs to stay on the "jo". So we now write an accent to show that, despite the pluralisation, the "same" syllable still has the stress.

Another place this happens is when combining pronouns with imperative verbs. Compra means “buy”, but if you want to say “buy them for me”, you combine compra with me (“for me”) and los (“them”) to get cómpramelos. The accent is now necessary because without it, the stress would become “com-pra-ME-los”.

Using An Acute Accent to Distinguish Homonyms in Spanish.

I've explained how the acute accent affects word stress in Spanish. It has one other function you need to know about.

You know how in English, "there", "they're" and "their" are all pronounced the same? Or "won" and "one", "right" and "write", etc.? And you know how some people find this hard, and don't know which won their supposed to right? (Tee-hee.)

Spanish has words like this too. It has a neat way of dealing with the problem: it writes one word with an acute accent, and the other without. For example, sí means "yes" and si means "if". Both words are pronounced the same. The accent only matters in writing.

You need to learn the following pairs of words:





Unaccented Spanish word
English
Accented Spanish Word
English




de
of, from
dé
give (third-person singular present subjunctive)


el
the (masculine singular)
él
he


mas
but*
más
more


mi
my
mí
me (object pronoun)


se
(reflexive pronoun)
sé
I know


si
if
sí
yes


te
you (object pronoun)
té
tea


tu
your
tú
you





*FOOTNOTE: the word mas, meaning “but”, is very literary and is rarely used in everyday speech. Use pero instead.

Spanish Accent Marks and Question Words

The following words may also be written with or without an accent:


¿Cuál? (Which?)
¿Cuándo? (When?)
¿Cuánto? (How much/many?)
¿Cómo? (How?)
¿Dónde? (Where?)
¿Por qué? (Why?)
¿Qué? (What? / Which?)
¿Quién? (Who?)


If you don't have time for the full explanation, just remember this rule of thumb: when these words represent a question, write them with an accent. When they represent a statement, don't include an accent:


¿Quién es él? - "Who is he?"
Es el chico de quien te hablé - "He's the guy who I told you about"


With that rough guide, you'll get it right 90% of the time. But let's go into more detail.

If a question word is used in an indirect question, it has an accent:


Quiero saber quién eres - "I want to know who you are"
No sé dónde está - "I don't know where he/she/it is".


If a question word is used as a pronoun, it has no accent:


El celular que compré está averiado - "The phone that I bought is broken"
Me iré cuando él llegue - "I'll go when he arrives”
Es la ciudad donde se pasó - "It's the city where it happened."


Cómo with an accent means "how". Como without an accent means "as" or "like".

(Coincidentally, como is also the first-person singular present form of comer, "to eat".)


Me explicó cómo hacerlo - "He/she explained to me how to do it"
Tan grande como un elefante - “As big as an elephant”
Como arroz - "I eat rice"


When qué means “what,” write it with an accent:


Por favor, móstrame qué hacer - "Please, show me what to do."
¡Qué día más bonito! - "What a lovely day!"


When cuánto/cuánta/etc means "how much/many", write it with an accent:


Me dijo cuántas personas vendrían - "He told me how many people would come"


Don't forget: in all of these examples, the accent does not change the word's pronunciation. Como, donde, cuando, etc. are all stressed on the first syllable anyway. (If you don't understand why, go back and read the word stress rules above).

Writing them as cómo, dónde, cúando etc. doesn't change anything related to word stress. The distinction only matters in writing.

Spanish Accent Marks: Demonstrative Pronouns vs. Adjectives

There's one last set of words which we need to cover - the demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives.

A demonstrative adjective is a word like "this" or "that" which describes a noun:


Este carro - "this car"
Esa persona - "that person"
Aquellos libros - "those books"


In English, we have a distinction between "this/these" (used for objects which are close to you) and "that/those" (for objects which are further away. Spanish has three such degrees of distance, explained in the table below.

Like all Spanish adjectives, demonstrative pronouns must also agree with their noun in number and gender:





distance
masculine singular
feminine singular
masculine plural
feminine plural




near
este
esta
estos
estas


far
ese
esa
esos
esas


further
aquel
aquella
aquellos
aquellas





Sometimes in English, we don't need to explicitly say "that car" or "this book". Instead we can just say "this one", or "that one", and it's obvious from the context whether "one" refers to a car, a book, etc..

In Spanish you can do something similar, except "this/that one" is translated to a single word:


Éste es mi carro - "This is my car"
No tengo ésa - "I don't have that one"


These are the demonstrative pronouns. They're like the demonstrative adjectives, except they stand by themselves with no need for a supporting noun. Again, they must match the noun they replace in number and gender:





distance
masculine singular
feminine singular
masculine plural
feminine plural




near
éste
ésta
éstos
éstas


far
ése
ésa
ésos
ésas


further
aquél
aquélla
aquéllos
aquéllas





Hopefully you've noticed that the demonstrative pronouns are written with accents, while the demonstrative adjectives are not. There's no difference in pronunciation: it's just a visual thing to distinguish the two types of word.


Este carro no es tan rápido como ése - "This car isn't as fast as that one"
Esa silla y aquélla - "This chair and that one"
"¿Tienesaquellibro de que te hablé?" "No, sólo tengoéste." - "Do you have that book I was telling you about?" "No, I only have this one."


Strictly speaking, you don't have to write demonstrative pronouns with an accent. The Real Academia Española decreed in 1959 that the accent is optional. However, many sources still follow the old rules and write an accent every single time.

There are also three "neuter" demonstrative pronouns: esto, eso and aquello. Use these to refer to abstract concepts and ideas when there's no specific noun being replaced:


Me gusta, y eso es lo importante. - "I like it, and that's the important thing".


Also use them to an object when the gender is unknown. Once the gender has been established, you must switch to éste/ésta/ése etc.:


"¿Qué es aquello?" "Aquélla es mi casa" - "What's that?" "That's my house"/


Note that esto, eso and aquello, unlike the other demonstrative pronouns, aren't written with accents. That's because there are no demonstrative adjectives with the same pronunciation, so adding an accent wouldn't achieve anything.

How to Type Spanish Accents

Don't know how to type "é", "ñ", etc.? If all else fails, just copy and paste the characters from this list:


á
é
í
ó
ú
ñ
ü


But you can do better than that. Here's a more convenient way to type them on Windows or a Mac:

How to Type Spanish Accents On a PC

The following shortcuts should work in newer versions of Windows:


To get an accented vowel press Ctrl + ', then the vowel.
To get "ñ", press Ctrl + ~, then "n"
To get "ü", press Ctrl + :, then "u".


If that doesn't work, you can try inputting the character code directly.

Each accented character can be entered with a four-digit code. Simply press the "alt" key, then enter the Spanish accent codes below. (Note: you'll need to enter them with the number pad on the right-hand side of your keyboard, not the number keys above the letters.)





Character
Code




á
Alt + 0225


é
Alt + 0233


í
Alt + 0237


ó
Alt + 0243


ú
Alt + 0250


ñ
Alt + 0241


ü
Alt + 0252





How to Type Spanish Accents On a Mac

Generally, you can type "special characters" on a Mac by using the Option/Alt key. That's the one labelled "⌥", between "ctrl" and "cmd". Here's what you need to know for Spanish:





Character
Code




á/é/í/ó/ú
press “alt” and “e” together, then release them and press the vowel you want


ñ
press “alt” and “n” together, then release them and press “n” again


ü
press “alt” and “u” together, then release them and press “u” again





Depending on your keyboard and system settings, you may also be able to type special characters by holding down a regular letter key. For example, when I hold down "e" on my Mac for a second or so:



Now to get the accented "é", I just press "2".

Spanish Accents: In Conclusion

That’s your complete guide to Spanish accents. Why not print it out as a reference?

Do you have any more questions about Spanish accents and word stress? What worked for you when learning them? Let me know in the comments.

The post Spanish Accent Marks: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Spanish Numbers: How to Count from 1 – 1,000+ in Spanish

Would you like to know about Spanish numbers, and how to count from 1-100 in Spanish?

In this article I share everything you need to know about Spanish numbers. I cover what the Spanish numbers are, shortcuts for how to learn them, and some bonus stuff like their etymologies.

Spanish Numbers from 0-100

Let's start with the basics. I'll show you the first 100 numbers in Spanish, then I'll break things down and explain some tricks for remembering them.





1
uno
11
once
21
veintiuno
31
treinta y uno
41
cuarenta y uno
51
cincuenta y uno
61
sesenta y uno
71
setenta y uno
81
ochenta y uno
91
noventa y uno


2
dos
12
doce
22
veintidós
32
treinta y dos
42
cuarenta y dos
52
cincuenta y dos
62
sesenta y dos
72
setenta y dos
82
ochenta y dos
92
noventa y dos


3
tres
13
trece
23
veintitrés
33
treinta y tres
43
cuarenta y tres
53
cincuenta y tres
63
sesenta y tres
73
setenta y tres
83
ochenta y tres
93
noventa y tres


4
cuatro
14
catorce
24
veinticuatro
34
treinta y cuatro
44
cuarenta y cuatro
54
cincuenta y cuatro
64
sesenta y cuatro
74
setenta y cuatro
84
ochenta y cuatro
94
noventa y cuatro


5
cinco
15
quince
25
veinticinco
35
treinta y cinco
45
cuarenta y cinco
55
cincuenta y cinco
65
sesenta y cinco
75
setenta y cinco
85
ochenta y cinco
95
noventa y cinco


6
seis
16
dieciseis
26
veintiseis
36
treinta y seis
46
cuarenta y seis
56
cincuenta y seis
66
sesenta y seis
76
setenta y seis
86
ochenta y seis
96
noventa y seis


7
siete
17
diecisiete
27
veintisiete
37
treinta y siete
47
cuarenta y siete
57
cincuenta y siete
67
sesenta y siete
77
setenta y siete
87
ochenta y siete
97
noventa y siete


8
ocho
18
dieciocho
28
veintiocho
38
treinta y ocho
48
cuarenta y ocho
58
cincuenta y ocho
68
sesenta y ocho
78
setenta y ocho
88
ochenta y ocho
98
noventa y ocho


9
nueve
19
diecinueve
29
veintinueve
39
treinta y nueve
49
cuarenta y nueve
59
cincuenta y nueve
69
sesenta y nueve
79
setenta y nueve
89
ochenta y nueve
99
noventa y nueve


10
diez
20
veinte
30
treinta
40
cuarenta
50
cincuenta
60
sesenta
70
setenta
80
ochenta
90
noventa
100
cien





A lot to take in? Take another look and try to spot the patterns. I recommend you follow these steps to get all the numbers into your head:


Learn the numbers for 1-15. There's no real pattern, you just have to learn them: uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince.
Learn the numbers for the multiples of ten: veinte, treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa. A few tips to help you remember:

Other than veinte, they all end in -enta
Other than veinte (again), they all have a clear relationship with the related smaller number: cuatro cuarenta, ocho ochenta, etc.




Once you've memorized the above, you can fill in the gaps with a simple formula:


For numbers from 16-19, take the rightmost digit and say "diez + y + (digit)". E.g. 17 = "diez + y + siete" = "diez y siete", which contracts to diecisiete. This is much like how in English 16 is "six-ten" i.e. "sixteen".
For numbers above twenty, simply take the "tens" number (veinte, treinta, etc.) and the "ones" number (uno, dos, tres, etc.) and stick "y" ("and") in the middle. E.g. 31 = "thirty and one" = treinta y uno. 98 = "ninety and eight" = noventa y ocho.
The only extra thing to be aware of is that numbers from 21-29 get contracted into a single word - so instead of "veinte y cuatro", it's "veinticuatro".


Finally, don’t forget that:


zero = cero (this one should be easy to remember!)
100 = cien (note the link with English words like "century", "centipede", or "percent".)


With these simple steps, you’ll have the numbers 1-100 memorized in no time.

Spanish for “One”: Un, Uno, or Una?

Spanish doesn't distinguish between "one" and "a" in the same way that English does. "Un libro" can mean "a book" or "one book".

When you think about it, those two phrases mean the same thing; the only difference is in emphasis.

However, it's important to note that the word uno changes to match the gender of the noun it describes. Before a feminine noun, it becomes una. Before a masculine noun, you drop the o and just use un.

Some examples:


Un libro - a book/one book. Drop the "o" from "uno" because it's followed by a masculine noun.
Una mesa - a table/one table. Change "uno" to "una" because it's followed by a feminine noun.
Tengo uno - "I have one". "Uno" is unchanged because it's not followed by a noun.
"¿Hay preguntas?" "Solo una." - "Any questions?" "Only one". In this case you use una because you're referring to a pregunta (question), which is a feminine word.


Spanish for 100: Cien or Ciento?

The number 100 can be translated into Spanish as either cien or ciento. What's the difference?

Use "cien" when you have exactly one hundred of something:


Cien personas = one hundred people
Cien libros = one hundred books


Use "ciento" as part of a larger number, e.g. "one hundred and one" is ciento uno.

But how do you form those larger numbers anyway?

Spanish Numbers from 100 to 999

Larger Spanish numbers can be formed according to some simple rules:

For numbers from 100 to 199, use ciento:


101 = ciento uno
129 = ciento veintinueve
195 = ciento noventa y cinco.


(Note that you don't need to add y after ciento - it's ciento uno, not ciento y uno.

For numbers from 200 to 999, you must first learn the multiples of 100. Don’t worry, they’re really straightforward:


200 = doscientos
300 = trescientos
400 = cuatrocientos
500 = quinientos
600 = seiscientos
700 = setecientos
800 = ochocientos
900 = novecientos


These are simple enough - just note that 500 (quinientos), 700 (setecientos) and 900 (novecientos) are slightly irregular.

These eight numbers have masculine and feminine forms, and so must agree with the noun:


setecientas personas = seven hundred people
ochocientos libros = eight hundred books


To fill in the gaps, e.g. between 200 and 300, just follow the same patterns as for 100 (ciento):


201 = doscientos uno
202 = doscientos dos
220 = doscientos veinte
221 = doscientos veintiuno
225 = doscientos veinticinco
238 = doscientos treinta y ocho


Spanish Numbers from 1 Thousand to 1 Million

The only two new words you need to learn are mil (1,000) and un millón (1,000,000).

Note that 1,000 is always mil, never un mil - whereas for un millón, you can't leave out the un.

Forming new numbers with mil and un millón is fairly straightforward, and is best illustrated by example:


1,000 = mil
1,001 = mil uno (not "mil y uno"!)
1,500 = mil quinientos
1,686 = mil seiscientos ochenta y seis
2,001 = dos mil
20,000 = veinte mil
33,000 = treinta y tres mil
100,000 = cien mil
483,382 = cuatrocientos ochenta y tres mil trescientos ochenta y dos
1,000,000 = un millón
3,000,000 = tres millones
6,492,000 = seis millones cuatrocientos noventa y dos mil
8,841,932 = ocho millones ochocientos cuarenta y un mil novecientos treinta y dos (Yikes! What a mouthful.)


Finally, note that when you're using un millón or millones with a noun, you must use de. So, for example, "one million books" is un millón de libros. Literally, you're saying "one million of books*".

Breaking Up Spanish Numbers: Dots or Commas?

In English, it's conventional to break up big numbers with a comma every three digits to aid readability. So instead of writing "1048710123901", we write "1,048,710,123,901".

We also indicate the decimal point with a dot, so "one half" can be written as "0.5".

Be careful! In Spanish-speaking countries - as in many other parts of the world - these conventions are reversed. They use a comma for decimals, and break up large numbers with dots. So my two examples above would be written as "1.048.710.123.901" and "0,5".

(For the sake of consistency, I'm going to stick with the English-like conventions for the rest of this article. But make sure to do things the other way around when writing Spanish.)

Billions and Trillions in Spanish (They’re Not What You Think)

What do you think the Spanish words billón and trillón mean? Did you guess "billion" and "trillion"? Sadly, things aren't that simple.

In the English-speaking world, a "billion" is one thousand millions (1,000,000,000) and a "trillion" is one thousand billions (1,000,000,000,000.) In other words, every "step up" involves multiplying by 1,000.

Not everyone does it like this! Our way is called the "short scale" numbering system, but many countries around the world - including most Spanish-speaking countries - use the "long scale" system.

In this system, a "billion" (or its cognate) is one million millions, and a "trillion" is one million billions. Rather than multiplying by a thousand each time, you multiply by a million.

So Spanish words like billón don't "match up" with their English counterparts like you might expect:


un millón = one million = 1,000,000
un millardo (or "mil millones") = one billion = 1,000,000,000
un billón = one trillion = 1,000,000,000,000
mil billones = one quadrillion = 1,000,000,000,000,000
un trillón = one quintillion = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000


(Note: in the past, American English used the short-scale system while British English used the long-scale system. This is no longer true - all dialects of English now use the short-scale system.)

How to Say "...and a Half" in Spanish

In English, we often abbreviate the names of numbers by saying "... and a half", "... and a third", etc..

So instead of saying "two thousand five hundred", an English speaker might say “two and a half thousand”. Instead of "one million five hundred thousand”, they might say "one and a half million".

I often notice Spanish people getting this wrong when they speak English. They put the "and a half" in the wrong place - instead of saying (for example) "one and a half million", they say "one million and a half". That's because they're translating directly from how they'd say in Spanish - un millón y medio.

Try not to make the opposite mistake when you speak Spanish. Say un millón y medio, not un y medio millón.

Ordinal Numbers in Spanish

So far I’ve only talked about cardinal numbers - one, two, three, etc. It’s also important to learn the ordinal numbers - first, second, third, fourth, etc. Here are the first ten:





English
Español




first
primero


second
segundo


third
tercero


fourth
cuarto


fifth
quinto


sixth
sexto


seventh
séptimo


eighth
octavo


ninth
noveno


tenth
décimo





Ordinal numbers are adjectives that must agree with the noun - although, unlike most Spanish adjectives, they go before the noun, not after:


el segundo libro = the second book
la segunda persona = the second person
los primeros carros = the first cars
las primeras flores = the first flowers


Note that primero and tercero drop the “o” before a singular masculine noun:


el primer día = the first day
el tercer hijo = the third son


To form ordinal numbers above 10, you must first learn the numbers for the multiples of ten:





English
Español




twentieth
vigésimo


thirtieth
trigésimo


fortieth
cuadragésimo


fiftieth
quincuagésimo


sixtieth
sexagésimo


seventieth
septuagésimo


eightieth
octogésimo


ninetieth
nonagésimo





Then fill in the gaps by combining numbers from the above two tables:


22nd = vigésimo segundo
56th = quincuagésimo sexto
81st = octogésimo primero


Just remember that both parts of the number must agree with the noun: “the 22nd person” would be la vigésima segunda persona.

For numbers from “11th” to “19th”, it’s more common to write them as one word than two:


11th = decimoprimero or décimo primero
14th = decimocuarto or décimo cuarto
18th = decimoctavo or décimo octavo (Notice how the “o” at the end of decimo merges with the “o” at the beginning of octavo here, so you don’t write two “o”s)


Finally, note that “11th” and “12th” can alternatively be translated as undécimo and duodécimo.

If this is a lot to take in, don’t worry! Ordinal numbers higher than décimo aren’t actually used very often. They tend to be reserved for formal writing. In everyday speech you’re much more likely to hear the cardinal number:


“The eleventh day” = El undécimo día or el día once
“The 56th person” = la quincuagésima sexta persona or la persona cincuenta y seis


Etymology of Spanish Numbers

Where do Spanish numbers come from, anyway? As you probably know, Spanish is a "Romance language", which means it's descended from Latin.

Compare modern Spanish numbers to ancient Latin - and to other modern Romance languages - and you can easily see the links:





Latin
Spanish
Portuguese
French
Italian
Romanian




Unus
Uno
Um
Un
Uno
Unu


Duo
Dos
Dois
Deux
Due
Doi


Tres
Tres
Três
Trois
Tre
Trei


Quattor
Cuatro
Quatro
Quatre
Quattro
Patru


Quinque
Cinco
Cinco
Cinq
Cinque
Cinci


Sex
Seis
Seis
Six
Sei
Şase


Septem
Siete
Sete
Sept
Sette
Şapte


Octo
Ocho
Oito
Huit
Otto
Opt


Novem
Nueve
Nove
Neuf
Nove
Nouă


Decem
Diez
Dez
Dix
Dieci
Zece





But we can go further back than that! The Romance languages are a sub-family of Indo-European languages - the family that also includes English.

The common ancestor of all Indo-European languages was proto-Indo-European . That name is a modern invention - we don't know what its own speakers called it.

In fact, we know very little with certainty about proto-Indo-European. There are no written records of it; the best we can do is guess what it sounded like by comparing its modern descendants.

Here's one linguist's guess as to what the numbers 1-10 sounded like in proto-Indo-European. Can you see the similarities with both ancient Latin and modern English? (Some are more obvious than others.)


hoinos
duoh
treies
kwetuor
penkwe
sueks
septm
hekteh
hneun
dekmt


Spanish Numbers: How Do You Learn Them?

Here’s a funny story about Spanish numbers:

In 2008 the American football player Chad Johnson legally changed his last name to "Ochocinco". This new moniker was a reference to his jersey number: 85. The problem - as you’ll now know - is that ocho-cinco doesn't mean "eighty-five". The correct Spanish is ochenta y cinco. It's unknown whether Chad was aware of this mistake when he made the name change. (In 2012, he changed his last name back to "Johnson".)

Now you’ve read this article, you’re not going to make a mistake like that.

Do you have any tricks for learning Spanish numbers? What worked for you? Let me know in the comments.

The post Spanish Numbers: How to Count from 1 – 1,000+ in Spanish appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

23 Fun German Interjections: from Ätsch to Igitt!

How can you express happiness in German? What is the right replacement for ‘damn’ when you’re speaking German? How can you say ‘ouch’ like a German would?

The answer is to use German interjections.



Learning a new language is always a challenge: you have to keep in mind so many new rules and words. However, a language is not only grammar and vocabulary, it is also the culture and how you express yourself.

Every language has its own tonality, emotions and gestures. In many languages (including German), one of the best ways to express your emotions is to use interjections. Interjections make your speech more lively, and will help you feel more like a native. What’s more, interjections are standalone words, so you don’t need to know about sentence structure before you start using them.

By learning German interjections, you’ll have an authentic way to express yourself in the language, even if you’re a beginner.

I’d like to share some of the most important German interjections related to specific feelings.

German Interjections to Express Joy

Let’s start with one of the most pleasant emotions: joy. In English you can express joy by saying “Hooray!”, “Yay!”, or if you’re feeling traditional, “Yippee!” German also has several words for “hooray”: Hurra (pronounced with a light breath in), Jippi and Juhu.

Oh My Goodness! Expressing Surprise in German

Usually we Germans exclaim “Oh, my Goodness” when we are surprised. In German this is Ach du meine Güte!



German Interjections for Teasing

When an English speaker says “It serves you right” the German speaker would hiss Ätsch. Meanwhile, variations of laughing seem to be international Ha-ha, Ho-ho, and Hi-hi all work in German, with the difference that you should not hesitate to laugh louder in German.

Wow! Expressing Amazement in German

An English speaker might say “Really?” or “Oh!” if given a free glass of beer. Echt?, Oho! or even Na so was (meaning “My, my”) are what Germans would say if this happened to them.

Just You Wait… Making Threats in German

Strictly speaking, the English phrase “Just you wait” has become a cartoon expression and does not create a strong sense of threat anymore. However, a short and precise “Oi!” could sound very threatening -- just like the German Na or Oha pronounced with emphasis.



Oh Crap! Here’s How Germans Express Frustration (Explicit!)

You thought that German language does not have it’s own version of “crap”? You were mistaken! Here it is: Mist (literally “dung”). Moreover, there is an analog for “damn”: Verdammt nochmal or Zum Teufel!

And we can’t ignore the famous German Scheisse, literally “shit”. With children in front you would replaced by Schade -- with long and expressive ‘Sch’.

Eww! Disgust in the German Language

Germans have a lot of simple ways to express disgust. You can say Pfui or Bäh, or at least Igitt (pronounced “ill-get”) or Ihn. The English equivalents to these are ‘pshaw’, “yuck”, “eww” or “ugh”.



How to Say “Ouch!” in German

The English “ouch” has become international, and will be understood in Germany. However, if you want to sound more German, you should say Aua.

How do Cats “Meow” in German? German Animal Sounds

Now for some fun! While animal sounds in German aren’t strictly speaking interjections, it’s fun and useful to know them. And it’s an interesting topic. Given that animals sound the same whichever country they’re from, how do different languages end up with different animal sounds? The answer is simple: at the inception of language, human speech was simply an imitation of different sounds. Natives of different languages hear the sounds differently and thus interpret them in their own way, which proves the flexibility of language systems.

That is why if you forgot how to say “frog” in German and wanted to explain it with the help of sounds, you would probably fail, because the German frogs don't croak, they ‘quak’.


“Croak/Ribbet” -- Quak (Frog)
“Cockadoodledoo” -- Kikeriki (Rooster)
“Z-z-z” -- Summ (Bee)
“Tweet-tweet” -- Piep (Bird)
“Baa” -- Mäh (Sheep)
“Squeak” -- Piep (Mouse)




Why German Interjections Matter

Many people think that interjections are not really an important part of language learning. You’re unlikely to find them in a beginner’s language course or textbook.

I disagree. In fact, you could go so far as to say interjections are integral to being human. They are equal to the emotions in that they express emotion in a raw, open way. And when you start using interjections, you’ll sound and feel much more like a native speaker.

What’s more, interjections are easily understood, especially with the use of gestures. So, when you’re learning a new language, always consider interjections that can help you sound more natural.

Are there any other German interjections that you like? Let me know in the comments.

The post 23 Fun German Interjections: from Ätsch to Igitt! appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Sale: Black Friday Mega-Deals for Language Learners 2017!

Welcome to the the home of Black Friday deals for language learners.

This year is our biggest ever -- we’ve got deals of up to 99% off for 40+ languages.

Here are the best of the best deals on excellent language-learning resources worthy of you language hackers.

Most of these discounts end this weekend, so act fast!

One more thing: On this page, I've just shared the highlights of the deals I've found.

Want to see all the deals available for the language you're learning?

See the Black Friday Deals for:

Spanish
French
German
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Afrikaans
Arabic
Armenian
Brazilian Portuguese
Bulgarian
Cantonese
Catalan
Chinese
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Farsi
Filipino
Finnish
French
Gaeilge
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Mandarin
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Tagalog
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian

Welsh




The Fluent in 3 Months Black Friday Collection -- 80% off



Get a 80% discount on our 2017 package of language learning courses and guides from Fluent in 3 Months.

The Fi3M Black Friday Language Learner’s Collection includes:

The Language Gym -- Lifetime Membership (value: $147)
Learn a language in just a few minutes a day -- and stick with it for life. You choose the language workouts that are right for you, and fit perfectly with your life and needs.

Fluent in 3 Months Premium -- Lifetime Membership (value: $97)
My classic language learning programme, with everything you need to become a language hacker.

My Complete Easy Language Package (value $234)
A pack of 6 guides for hacking Spanish, French, German, Italian, English and Chinese.

$25 Discount Coupon on the Add1Challenge
Learn a new language to conversational level in just 3 months with the Add1Challenge.
Total value: $503

Black Friday Deal Price: $97

Get the Fi3M Black Friday Collection (80% off) here

Innovative Language – Podcasts for 37 Languages -- 51% off

This is my favourite language learning podcast and audio course, available in an incredible 34 languages.

You start by picking your level, and the audio course adjusts to you, getting slightly more complex as you progress.

Click the podcast website below of your target language, and enjoy! These discount links will get you 51% off the normal price for 1 or 2 year subscriptions, for any language. This covers Premium AND Premium+ subscriptions.

Click the language you want below to find out more:

Most popular on Innovative Language:


English
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Chinese
Japanese


Other languages in alphabetical order:


Afrikaans
Arabic
Bulgarian
Cantonese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Filipino/Tagalog
Finnish
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Hindi
Indonesian
Korean
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Swahili
Swedish
Thai
Turkish

Urdu




Mondly -- Lifetime Membership for ALL 33 Languages -- 99% Off



Mondly is one of the world’s favourite language learning apps, with 20 million downloads and an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 in the Google Play store and the iTunes App store.

Mondly was also awarded Facebook App of the Year 2017.

We’ve negotiated a lifetime membership deal that gives you lifetime access to all 33 of Mondly’s language courses for just $149.

If you paid for monthly access for each individual language course ($9.99/month for each language), it would come to over $15,000 in just five years.

So even in that short timeframe, you’re getting a mind-blowing 99% discount!

Get this Mondly deal (99% off) here

MosaLingua Exclusive -- “Never Again” LIFETIME Access Deal -- 97% Off



The MOSA Learning ® method is based on principles of cognitive science, so you can learn a language faster and smarter. Fi3M’s Holly Keenan found “a lot to love” when she tried out MosaLingua for our review.

We’ve negotiated an EXCLUSIVE lifetime access deal -- and Mosa have told us this is the “first and probably last time” they’ll offer a lifetime plan.

MosaLingua is usually $59.99 per year -- but with this exclusive deal you can get lifetime access to six languages for $99.

Get MosaLingua lifetime access (97% off) here

Magnetic Memory Method -- the Language of Memory Package -- 70% Off


Anthony Metivier of the Magnetic Memory Method has put together a special Language of Memory package just for Fluent in 3 Months readers

The Language of Memory package includes the courses:


The Magnetic Memory Method Masterplan
How to Learn & Memorize the Vocabulary of any Language
Speak From Memory
How to Memorize Names and Faces
Implementation Bootcamp


Plus Lifetime Updates for all the above courses.

This is a unique package for Black Friday, with a 70% discount.

Click here to get 70% off the Language of Memory package from the Magnetic Memory Method

Glossika -- Audio "Rep Training" for Language Learning -- 15% Off



Glossika uses audio repetition training with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make sure you're learning at the pace that feels right for you. We especially like Glossika's focus on listening and speaking. You get to watch your fluency progress live with each audio “rep”.

Glossika membership includes access to courses for 50+ languages.

Get 15% off Glossika here using the coupon code FI3M2017

Clozemaster Pro -- Rapidly Expand Your Vocabulary for 50 Languages -- 50% Off



Clozemaster helps you rapidly expand your vocabulary by learning a language in context. You’ll use the Cloze method to fill in the missing word for thousands of sentences in your target language.

They’re offering a 450 discount on their two year subscription to Clozemaster Pro. A two year subscription is usually $120, but with the coupon code FI3M2017 you’ll get it for $60.

Clozemaster is available for 50 languages -- and the deal includes access to all 50 language courses.

Note: You'll first need to create a free Clozemaster account, then when you join Clozemaster Pro enter the coupon code FI3M2017 at checkout.

Get 50% off Clozemaster Pro here

Mimic Method -- Elemental Sounds Power Pack for 10 Languages -- 92% Off



Learn your target language faster by mastering the sound systems of ten languages. With this Elemental Sounds Power Pack, you'll learn to "see the matrix" of all human sounds, making you a better language learner.

Click here to get 92% off the Elemental Sounds Power Pack from the Mimic Method

Courage to Speak from Fluent in 3 Months -- 34% Off

Courage to Speak with Fi3M Language Encourager Shannon Kennedy will help you build your confidence to connect with people all around the world through your language learning. You’ll learn the courage to speak your new language, in real conversations.

A student who recently finished this course told us: "I just want to say I LOVE this course! So supportive and encouraging. You have helped me go from thinking it's all impossible to, actually it IS possible. Thank you so much." -- Maria V

Get 34% Off Courage to Speak here

Babbel -- Relevant, Real Life Language Skills (1 Year Membership Plan) -- 50% Off



Babbel aims to give you the shortest path to a real life conversation, so you can start speaking your new language with confidence.

You can get 50% off a Babbel one year plan for the language of your choice from the 14 languages available using the coupon code FLUENT1.

To get this deal, click this link, then click “Register Now” at the bottom of the page. After you’ve registered, select the language you want to learn, then you’ll be able to apply the coupon code FLUENT1 for a 50% discount on a one year membership plan.

Get 50%-off a one year plan for Babbel here

Language Study Club (6-Month Membership) -- 54% Off

In the Language Study Club you’ll work with Lindsay (Lindsay Does Languages) and Shannon Kennedy (Eurolinguiste), as well as a small, private group of language learners to get where you want to be with your target language

Each month you’ll get a new language learning video and workbook, a mini-mission, and a live Q&A with Shannon or Lindsay.

Click here to get 54% off your first six months in the Language Study Club

Language Learning Accelerator from Eurolinguiste -- 50% Off



Shannon Kennedy of Eurolinguiste is one of the busiest people I know! She has four jobs, a young child (under 2) and she runs her own language blog, as well as learning more languages than I can count on one hand (Full disclosure: One of Shannon’s jobs is working as the Language Encourager at Fluent in 3 Months).

So if you want to discover time management and productivity strategies so you can learn a language on a busy schedule, Shannon will show you exactly how it’s done.

Get 50% off the Language Learning Accelerator here

The Vocab Club from 5-Minute Language -- 40% Off



The Vocab Club Premium from the 5-Minute Language School is a 4-part intensive vocabulary expansion course. You'll learn memory techniques including horizontal expansion, association, advanced vocabulary webs, and mnemonics.

Click here to get 50% off The Vocab Club Premium

Language Motivation Mastery from Actual Fluency -- 50% Off



Learn how to create unstoppable language learning routines in just 6 weeks. Perfect if you feel your language learning is random, or if you struggle with procrastination or inactivity.

Get 50% off Language Motivation Mastery here

Black Friday Deals for Your Target Language

This blog post would be way too long if I collected all the deals I've found in one place!

So I've put together individual Black Friday deal pages for each language...

Click the language you want to see deals for:

Most Popular Languages


Spanish
French
German
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
Russian


All Languages


Spanish
French
German
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
Russian


All Languages


Afrikaans
Arabic
Armenian
Brazilian Portuguese
Bulgarian
Cantonese
Catalan
Chinese
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Esperanto
Estonian
Farsi
Filipino
Finnish
French
Gaeilge
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Mandarin
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Tagalog
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian

Welsh

The post Sale: Black Friday Mega-Deals for Language Learners 2017! appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

New Course: The Language Gym from Fluent in 3 Months

I'm excited to launch my new course, The Language Gym. It's been a long time in the making!



I’ll share more about what’s inside this new course below, but first I wanted to say how I created The Language Gym.

How I Created The Language Gym

I hear from so many people who tell me they’d love to speak a new language, but it feels like too much to fit into their busy lives.

These are people like Samantha, who emailed me to say:

"I barely make it to bed on time, let alone practice my Spanish".

Or Berkley, who said:

"My life is so busy... I can never find the time [for language learning]".

Maybe you’re in a similar situation. Or you’d like to find an easier way to learn a language… and stick with it.

What can you do?

I wish I could say that I’ve found a way to make life less busy… but the truth is my life is busier than ever. Last year I published four Language Hacking books. That’s on top of running the Fluent in 3 Months website. Plus I’m pretty much constantly in travel mode as I visit different cities and countries to share about language hacking.

My “trick” -- if I can call it that -- has been to find a way of learning languages that fits snugly around my busy life. Easier said than done...

It took me years to develop a system for learning languages that works with my hectic lifestyle, and one that I’m able to stick with, day-after-day.

Now, I’ve created a step-by-step programme to where I share this system: The Language Gym.

Choose Your Own Language Adventure

Inside The Language Gym you’ll learn techniques for hacking a language that you can apply:


Even if you've quit more times than you can count
Even if your default mode is "easily distracted"
Even if you’ve got “no time” for language learning
Even if your life is hectic with many different priorities


All in just a few minutes a day.

[caption id="attachment_22957" align="aligncenter" width="734"] A Language Gym workout with me, Benny Lewis.[/caption]

Inside the Language Gym, I'll show you step-by-step how to build a language learning system that works for you, that grows with you and will serve you for the rest of your life. Today. Tomorrow. 10 years from now.

With your system in place, every time you sit down to learn you'll be able to start right away. No wasting time thinking "what should I do next?"

You'll know exactly what to do, and when.

[caption id="attachment_22959" align="aligncenter" width="755"] Language Gym Workout video with Shannon Kennedy.[/caption]

What’s more, the design of the Language Gym was inspired by Choose Your Path story books. Remember those books you read as a kid, when you could pick what happened next in the story? The Language Gym works the same way. I've built the framework (with cliffhangers to keep you hooked and coming back for more). You choose the language workouts that are right for you… that fit perfectly with your life and needs.

"The Best Investment I've Made in Language Learning"

I could tell you how we spent over 18 months developing the Language Gym. Or how we stress-tested it with dozens of people learning languages, to make sure it's a system that works for everyone. Or how you’ll begin to find yourself learning a language on “autopilot”.

But I’d prefer to let the results speak for themselves.

"[The Language Gym] was the extra push I needed, finally getting serious." - Heather Hnizdil

 

 

 

"Language Gym was exactly what I needed to get myself back on track. Now I am happy to report that I am totally in the habit of working on my [language learning] every day!" - Karen Blacklock

 

 

"The Language Gym is by far the best investment I've made in my language learning journey. Prior to going through the program, I was great at finding new shiny books, apps, etc. to teach me my language - but really bad at sticking to any of them! I can now say that I have a seriously rock solid language learning habit. I may not be fluent in my target language (yet) however everyday I'm making progress and that's a great feeling." - Kathy Stephens

Here's What You Get Inside the Language Gym

So, what’s inside the Language Gym?


21 daily modules -- where you'll learn how to always have time for language learning. I’ve designed these modules to fit in with your life, no matter how busy you are.
The private framework I use to build new habits -- and once you've applied this to language learning, you can use it to create new habits in any area of your life.
20+ plug-and-play modules for your language learning system.
11 video workouts (with myself, Shannon Kennedy and James Johnson) where you'll discover my insider hacks that make language learning easy and fun.
A 10-week accountability programme to make sure you stick-with-it, every day.


To launch The Language Gym, I’m offering a very special deal. You can get lifetime membership to The Language Gym right now with The Fluent in 3 Months Black Friday Collection.

Find out more here:

The post New Course: The Language Gym from Fluent in 3 Months appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

I Messed Up Learning Spanish… and Now I Speak Chinese

“I’ll never learn Chinese. Spanish was hard enough for me and that’s an easy language. Learning Chinese would be impossible.”

I felt defeated by my attempts to learn Spanish.

I had just come home to Michigan after three years of living in Latin America. I was preparing to move to China when my brother asked me if I was going to learn Chinese. The thought of trying filled me with dread and disappointment in myself.

When I started learning Spanish, I thought it was going to be easy. I thought it would only take six months and I’d be speaking perfectly. But it had been three years and my Spanish never reached the level I had hoped for.

Learning Spanish was much harder than I expected.

I was certain that I just sucked at learning languages. I figured it must be harder for introverts. I even convinced myself that I was too old, even though I’m still not even 30. I was too busy, I had too much work to do and no time to study.

I had excuses, lots of excuses.

Before I arrived in China I only planned on learning the absolute basics. I wanted to be able to ask where the bathroom is, order food, and count - not much more than that.

However, once I got to China, my plans changed. Not being able to speak Chinese made everything a struggle. I quickly realized that if I didn’t learn the language, that my time here would be much more difficult and frustrating that it needed to be.

So, I decided to do what any introvert would do, self-reflect. I looked back at my experience struggling to learn Spanish and realized there were a lot of lessons and mistakes to learn from. I realized I don’t suck at learning languages, I just made a lot of mistakes.

In this post, I’m going to share these mistakes with you and how I’ve learned from them to help me with Mandarin.

Mistake #1 - I Failed to Work Out What I Wanted

I had no clear goals when I began learning Spanish. I wanted to become fluent but wasn’t even sure what that would look like or how I would get there.

Fluency means different things to different people. I guess fluency in my mind was speaking perfect mistake-free Spanish. Basically I thought to be fluent I’d have to be indiscernible from a native speaker. This unnecessarily high bar doesn’t leave room for error. It left me constantly disappointed in myself.

Nowadays, I agree with Benny’s definition of fluency which is being socially equivalent in your second language as your first one. Being somewhere around 90-95% perfect is enough.

I was learning Spanish to communicate, not to trick people into thinking I was from a Spanish speaking country.

I didn’t spend much time thinking about the steps I’d need to take to reach fluency. That was the only goal. I didn’t break it up into smaller mini-goals to keep me motivated. As time passed, and I remained far from my original goal, I never re-evaluated or made new goals. Instead, I just got down on myself for falling short.

Lesson Learned - Set Clear Goals While Learning Mandarin

My aspirations when I started to learn Chinese were much humbler. In the beginning, I just wanted to be able to express and understand basic things. Later, I decided I wanted to eventually reach fluency. But that’s a very long-term goal so it hasn’t been my focus. Instead, I've set many smaller goals and these have brought me closer to fluency - though I’m not there yet. Some of these mini-goals include…


Know the 100 most common characters.
Recognize enough Chinese characters to order food from a menu, without pictures, and know what I ordered.
Listen to X number of ChinesePod lessons (depending on which difficulty level I was at at the time).
Be able to use Didi (Chinese Uber), Taobao (Chinese Amazon) and Waimai (food delivery) apps on my own.
Passing various HSK level tests. My current goal is to pass the HSK 5 by December.


None of these goals are terribly exciting, impressive or difficult by itself. But, each of them bring me one step closer to that bigger, long-term goal of fluency in Mandarin.

Mistake #2 - I Assumed Living Abroad Would “Immerse” Me to Fluency

After graduating college, I decided to move abroad and travel throughout Latin America for an undetermined amount of time. Since I knew I wanted to learn Spanish, I of course decided to start studying and reviewing what I already knew before leaving, right?

Wrong.

Somehow, I’d gotten the idea that living abroad is how you learn a language. As if the energy I spent back home was somehow not as valuable. I thought living abroad was all I really needed. Who needs Spanish class when everything around you is in Spanish? Why review verb conjugations when you’ll see and hear them everyday? Why use flashcards to review vocabulary?

Living abroad makes all of this completely unnecessary, right?

Wrong.

Perhaps if I was in a total immersion situation things would be different. But, for most people who go abroad, they aren’t going to find themselves being completely immersed in the language they’re trying to learn.

I know I wasn’t.

I had bills to pay - which meant work to do. I worked online and didn’t have any need or use for Spanish during my working hours. That’s a huge chunk of my day gone right there.

I made lots of friends that I always spoke to in Spanish. However, I also made lots of foreign friends and friends with locals that spoke better English than I spoke Spanish. If their English was better than my Spanish, we would speak English as it allowed us to express ourselves better.

If I wanted to relax and watch a TV show or read, most of the time I would do it in English. Perhaps this was just me being lazy. But, most people will find themselves being lazier than they planned to be. After a long and frustrating day of work, it’s much easier to watch an English show on Netflix than try to follow a TV show in Spanish.

While living abroad sounds like a great way to get completely immersed in the language, it’s easy to find yourself only using your target language rather sparingly.

I thought that if I lived abroad, I would just magically learn Spanish. I’d be like a sponge soaking up the language from everywhere. That didn’t happen.

Lesson Learned - Living Abroad is Helpful but it’s Not Enough on its Own

I got a head start on learning Chinese before arriving in China. I still wasn’t sure how far I wanted to take my Chinese learning. At this point, I thought I just wanted to be able to do the basics. But, even the basics will take some time to learn.

This got me on the right path. I find learning very enjoyable and building the study habit can be rather addictive. This habit carried over even after landing in China.

Not unexpectedly, I found that actually being in China didn’t do much to help my studies.

I understood nothing, could read nothing, could say basically nothing. None of the study resources I used required me to be in the country. I even worked with an online teacher because it was cheaper and more convenient than finding a local teacher.

In the beginning, there was only one benefit to being in China - motivation. After realizing how limited my life would be if I didn’t learn Mandarin, I became obsessed. For the first time in my life, I began putting in the work needed to learn a new language.

When you’re living abroad, there’s so much that’s new and exciting. It’s easy to skip the time studying. But, learning a new language is a very active process. You won’t just pick it up without conscious effort and time spent working on your target language.

I realized from my mistakes with Spanish that actually being in China would only be a small piece of the puzzle. I had to find the right tools to use.

Mistake #3 - I Ignored Spanish Resources and Waited for the “Magic” to Happen

Because I thought living abroad was the magic pill to learning a language, it’s not surprising that I didn’t look more deeply at the Spanish resources I could use.

I never spent the time studying Spanish grammar that I should have. Because of this, I still make lots of mistakes. If I wanted to learn a grammar point, I would expect a teacher to explain it to me and then provide me with ways to practice it. It was all very passive.

I had no method for remembering words that I learned. I somehow expected to remember them without reviewing. Because of this, my Spanish vocabulary grew much slower than it otherwise would have.

I never worked on my Spanish pronunciation and it shows. I have a strong gringo accent and can’t roll my r’s. It’s pretty embarrassing actually.

My only attempts reading Spanish were with native level resources - books and newspapers. They were too difficult for me. Because of this, I almost always got frustrated and gave up. It’s a shame too because reading is one of my favorite hobbies.

I needed to improve my listening skills. Whenever anyone spoke, it was too fast and difficult to understand. But just like with reading, I needed to find materials suitable to my level. And just like with reading, I never did.

Lesson Learned - Find the Right Tools - and Use Them!

I use a ton of different resources for learning Chinese. Most of the time I study is spent studying alone. I’m on a budget and I’ve found the most cost effective way for me to learn Chinese is to learn most things on my own and then have conversation practice.

Now, I’ll find various grammar videos on YouTube and and practice on my own. Later, I’ll work with someone to practice it in spoken situations.

Reviewing vocabulary is essential but I don’t want to waste too much time on it. I’ve found using Pleco or Anki to be a quick and efficient way to review new words I’m learning.

I knew pronunciation was worth learning early on. Changing bad pronunciation habits is something that gets more and more difficult the longer you’ve been studying. There are lots of videos and other resources for learning Chinese pronunciation and getting feedback online.

I’ve been slowly working my way up to read more and more difficult texts. I’ve taken my time instead of jumping right into materials that are too difficult. Luckily, it’s easy to find interesting material regardless of your level. I’ve found that reading in Chinese often feels less like studying and more like like something I would do for fun or to relax.

There are lots of good podcasts for learning languages. For learning Chinese, ChinesePod has been my favorite. Instead of jumping right into native level material, I’ve slowly worked my way up to it. My listening skills are getting better every day.

I’ve used Skritter to learn and practice writing Chinese characters.

Basically, there are a ton of awesome resources for learning Chinese. Making use out of these tools has made learning Chinese much easier and more fun. They also make it possible to find materials that fit my personality.

Mistake #4 - I Overlooked the Role Personality Plays in Learning a Language

Immersing yourself in constant conversation may be a great way to learn a language. But for me, this wasn’t realistic. I get exhausted if I spend a lot of time in conversation - even in English.

With Spanish, I get exhausted from conversation even sooner. If I try to force myself into too much conversation, I get too tired to learn anything from it.

Instead of accepting this and finding other ways to learn, I blamed my introversion as the reason why I was struggling with Spanish.

I didn’t take advantage of my strengths as an introvert. I can study on my own for hours and hours. But, instead of finding study materials to work on independently I exhausted myself trying to do what was too tiring for me.

It also took me far too long to use materials that fit my interests.

When I started trying to read books in Spanish, I started with books that I never would have read in English. They were things that I thought would be easier to read but that I wasn’t really interested in. It wasn’t until reading a book about a topic I was interested in and familiar with that I finally got the reading practice I needed.

Similarly, I tried listening to music that I thought would be easier to understand but wasn’t the style I liked. I love hip-hop and when I finally started listening to hip-hop in Spanish, I found a way to have a lot of extra listening practice.

I like planning and setting goals before starting a task but I never did this with Spanish.

I didn’t appreciate the fact that what works for others won’t necessarily work for me.

Lesson Learned - Personality Matters

With Chinese, I’ve approached conversational practice as a way to practice what I’ve learned rather than as a way to learn everything. If you’re the type of person who can socialize all day, go for it. But I realized that this isn’t a realistic plan for me.

Instead, I’ve learned most things independently and then find someone to practice with. This has been a much more efficient, enjoyable, and affordable way for me to learn a language.

I like seeing the big picture of things and I’ve used this to my advantage with Chinese.

Early on, I decided to take a step back and make some plans. I read a lot about how to go about learning Chinese. For some, this would be a way to procrastinate studying. But for me, it was a way to figure out the best path and avoid wasting energy and making mistakes that would give me problems later.

There is a lot of great content on this website and elsewhere about learning languages. I’ve found it to be worth taking some time to learn from these people. You can save yourself a lot of time and energy by avoiding making the same mistakes they have.

I focused on learning the building blocks rather than trying to learn everything right away. This has given me a strong foundation going forward.

It’s Never Too Late to Learn from Your Mistakes

I made every mistake possible when I was learning Spanish. I went so far wrong that I had given up on learning languages. I thought that it was just something that I’d never be good at.

If you can relate to any parts of this post, know that it’s not too late to learn from your mistakes.

Although, at first I didn’t want to try to learn Chinese. I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity. Few things are as exciting and rewarding as learning to communicate in a new language. I see now that the mistakes I made learning Spanish have really been a blessing.

I realized that I needed to set clear and realistic goals for learning Chinese. I knew it was going to be a lot of work over a long period of time. This has helped prevent me from getting burnt out or frustrated by the speed that I’ve progressed.

I also understood that simply moving to China wouldn’t be enough. While it helped with the motivation, I recognized that I wouldn’t passively pick up the language. This has pushed me to take a more active role in the learning process.

It’s never been easier to learn a foreign language than it is today. There are tons of great resources that will make learning much easier and quicker. You can learn just about everything online without spending a fortune. I’ve utilized the tools available to me.

Lastly, I learned to respect the fact that I know myself and what’s best for me. Instead of focusing on my weaknesses, I’ve began to harness my strengths. I love reading, so I read as much as possible. I’ve found the right balance between independent study and conversational practice. I finally understand what works best for others may not be best for me.

I hope you don’t make the same mistakes I did. But if you have, know that it’s never too late to learn from them.

The post I Messed Up Learning Spanish… and Now I Speak Chinese appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Messed Up Learning Spanish… and Now I Speak Chinese

“I’ll never learn Chinese. Spanish was hard enough for me and that’s an easy language. Learning Chinese would be impossible.”

I felt defeated by my attempts to learn Spanish.

I had just come home to Michigan after three years of living in Latin America. I was preparing to move to China when my brother asked me if I was going to learn Chinese. The thought of trying filled me with dread and disappointment in myself.

When I started learning Spanish, I thought it was going to be easy. I thought it would only take six months and I’d be speaking perfectly. But it had been three years and my Spanish never reached the level I had hoped for.

Learning Spanish was much harder than I expected.

I was certain that I just sucked at learning languages. I figured it must be harder for introverts. I even convinced myself that I was too old, even though I’m still not even 30. I was too busy, I had too much work to do and no time to study.

I had excuses, lots of excuses.

Before I arrived in China I only planned on learning the absolute basics. I wanted to be able to ask where the bathroom is, order food, and count - not much more than that.

However, once I got to China, my plans changed. Not being able to speak Chinese made everything a struggle. I quickly realized that if I didn’t learn the language, that my time here would be much more difficult and frustrating that it needed to be.

So, I decided to do what any introvert would do, self-reflect. I looked back at my experience struggling to learn Spanish and realized there were a lot of lessons and mistakes to learn from. I realized I don’t suck at learning languages, I just made a lot of mistakes.

In this post, I’m going to share these mistakes with you and how I’ve learned from them to help me with Mandarin.

Mistake #1 - I Failed to Work Out What I Wanted

I had no clear goals when I began learning Spanish. I wanted to become fluent but wasn’t even sure what that would look like or how I would get there.

Fluency means different things to different people. I guess fluency in my mind was speaking perfect mistake-free Spanish. Basically I thought to be fluent I’d have to be indiscernible from a native speaker. This unnecessarily high bar doesn’t leave room for error. It left me constantly disappointed in myself.

Nowadays, I agree with Benny’s definition of fluency which is being socially equivalent in your second language as your first one. Being somewhere around 90-95% perfect is enough.

I was learning Spanish to communicate, not to trick people into thinking I was from a Spanish speaking country.

I didn’t spend much time thinking about the steps I’d need to take to reach fluency. That was the only goal. I didn’t break it up into smaller mini-goals to keep me motivated. As time passed, and I remained far from my original goal, I never re-evaluated or made new goals. Instead, I just got down on myself for falling short.

Lesson Learned - Set Clear Goals While Learning Mandarin

My aspirations when I started to learn Chinese were much humbler. In the beginning, I just wanted to be able to express and understand basic things. Later, I decided I wanted to eventually reach fluency. But that’s a very long-term goal so it hasn’t been my focus. Instead, I've set many smaller goals and these have brought me closer to fluency - though I’m not there yet. Some of these mini-goals include…


Know the 100 most common characters.
Recognize enough Chinese characters to order food from a menu, without pictures, and know what I ordered.
Listen to X number of ChinesePod lessons (depending on which difficulty level I was at at the time).
Be able to use Didi (Chinese Uber), Taobao (Chinese Amazon) and Waimai (food delivery) apps on my own.
Passing various HSK level tests. My current goal is to pass the HSK 5 by December.


None of these goals are terribly exciting, impressive or difficult by itself. But, each of them bring me one step closer to that bigger, long-term goal of fluency in Mandarin.

Mistake #2 - I Assumed Living Abroad Would “Immerse” Me to Fluency

After graduating college, I decided to move abroad and travel throughout Latin America for an undetermined amount of time. Since I knew I wanted to learn Spanish, I of course decided to start studying and reviewing what I already knew before leaving, right?

Wrong.

Somehow, I’d gotten the idea that living abroad is how you learn a language. As if the energy I spent back home was somehow not as valuable. I thought living abroad was all I really needed. Who needs Spanish class when everything around you is in Spanish? Why review verb conjugations when you’ll see and hear them everyday? Why use flashcards to review vocabulary?

Living abroad makes all of this completely unnecessary, right?

Wrong.

Perhaps if I was in a total immersion situation things would be different. But, for most people who go abroad, they aren’t going to find themselves being completely immersed in the language they’re trying to learn.

I know I wasn’t.

I had bills to pay - which meant work to do. I worked online and didn’t have any need or use for Spanish during my working hours. That’s a huge chunk of my day gone right there.

I made lots of friends that I always spoke to in Spanish. However, I also made lots of foreign friends and friends with locals that spoke better English than I spoke Spanish. If their English was better than my Spanish, we would speak English as it allowed us to express ourselves better.

If I wanted to relax and watch a TV show or read, most of the time I would do it in English. Perhaps this was just me being lazy. But, most people will find themselves being lazier than they planned to be. After a long and frustrating day of work, it’s much easier to watch an English show on Netflix than try to follow a TV show in Spanish.

While living abroad sounds like a great way to get completely immersed in the language, it’s easy to find yourself only using your target language rather sparingly.

I thought that if I lived abroad, I would just magically learn Spanish. I’d be like a sponge soaking up the language from everywhere. That didn’t happen.

Lesson Learned - Living Abroad is Helpful but it’s Not Enough on its Own

I got a head start on learning Chinese before arriving in China. I still wasn’t sure how far I wanted to take my Chinese learning. At this point, I thought I just wanted to be able to do the basics. But, even the basics will take some time to learn.

This got me on the right path. I find learning very enjoyable and building the study habit can be rather addictive. This habit carried over even after landing in China.

Not unexpectedly, I found that actually being in China didn’t do much to help my studies.

I understood nothing, could read nothing, could say basically nothing. None of the study resources I used required me to be in the country. I even worked with an online teacher because it was cheaper and more convenient than finding a local teacher.

In the beginning, there was only one benefit to being in China - motivation. After realizing how limited my life would be if I didn’t learn Mandarin, I became obsessed. For the first time in my life, I began putting in the work needed to learn a new language.

When you’re living abroad, there’s so much that’s new and exciting. It’s easy to skip the time studying. But, learning a new language is a very active process. You won’t just pick it up without conscious effort and time spent working on your target language.

I realized from my mistakes with Spanish that actually being in China would only be a small piece of the puzzle. I had to find the right tools to use.

Mistake #3 - I Ignored Spanish Resources and Waited for the “Magic” to Happen

Because I thought living abroad was the magic pill to learning a language, it’s not surprising that I didn’t look more deeply at the Spanish resources I could use.

I never spent the time studying Spanish grammar that I should have. Because of this, I still make lots of mistakes. If I wanted to learn a grammar point, I would expect a teacher to explain it to me and then provide me with ways to practice it. It was all very passive.

I had no method for remembering words that I learned. I somehow expected to remember them without reviewing. Because of this, my Spanish vocabulary grew much slower than it otherwise would have.

I never worked on my Spanish pronunciation and it shows. I have a strong gringo accent and can’t roll my r’s. It’s pretty embarrassing actually.

My only attempts reading Spanish were with native level resources - books and newspapers. They were too difficult for me. Because of this, I almost always got frustrated and gave up. It’s a shame too because reading is one of my favorite hobbies.

I needed to improve my listening skills. Whenever anyone spoke, it was too fast and difficult to understand. But just like with reading, I needed to find materials suitable to my level. And just like with reading, I never did.

Lesson Learned - Find the Right Tools - and Use Them!

I use a ton of different resources for learning Chinese. Most of the time I study is spent studying alone. I’m on a budget and I’ve found the most cost effective way for me to learn Chinese is to learn most things on my own and then have conversation practice.

Now, I’ll find various grammar videos on YouTube and and practice on my own. Later, I’ll work with someone to practice it in spoken situations.

Reviewing vocabulary is essential but I don’t want to waste too much time on it. I’ve found using Pleco or Anki to be a quick and efficient way to review new words I’m learning.

I knew pronunciation was worth learning early on. Changing bad pronunciation habits is something that gets more and more difficult the longer you’ve been studying. There are lots of videos and other resources for learning Chinese pronunciation and getting feedback online.

I’ve been slowly working my way up to read more and more difficult texts. I’ve taken my time instead of jumping right into materials that are too difficult. Luckily, it’s easy to find interesting material regardless of your level. I’ve found that reading in Chinese often feels less like studying and more like like something I would do for fun or to relax.

There are lots of good podcasts for learning languages. For learning Chinese, ChinesePod has been my favorite. Instead of jumping right into native level material, I’ve slowly worked my way up to it. My listening skills are getting better every day.

I’ve used Skritter to learn and practice writing Chinese characters.

Basically, there are a ton of awesome resources for learning Chinese. Making use out of these tools has made learning Chinese much easier and more fun. They also make it possible to find materials that fit my personality.

Mistake #4 - I Overlooked the Role Personality Plays in Learning a Language

Immersing yourself in constant conversation may be a great way to learn a language. But for me, this wasn’t realistic. I get exhausted if I spend a lot of time in conversation - even in English.

With Spanish, I get exhausted from conversation even sooner. If I try to force myself into too much conversation, I get too tired to learn anything from it.

Instead of accepting this and finding other ways to learn, I blamed my introversion as the reason why I was struggling with Spanish.

I didn’t take advantage of my strengths as an introvert. I can study on my own for hours and hours. But, instead of finding study materials to work on independently I exhausted myself trying to do what was too tiring for me.

It also took me far too long to use materials that fit my interests.

When I started trying to read books in Spanish, I started with books that I never would have read in English. They were things that I thought would be easier to read but that I wasn’t really interested in. It wasn’t until reading a book about a topic I was interested in and familiar with that I finally got the reading practice I needed.

Similarly, I tried listening to music that I thought would be easier to understand but wasn’t the style I liked. I love hip-hop and when I finally started listening to hip-hop in Spanish, I found a way to have a lot of extra listening practice.

I like planning and setting goals before starting a task but I never did this with Spanish.

I didn’t appreciate the fact that what works for others won’t necessarily work for me.

Lesson Learned - Personality Matters

With Chinese, I’ve approached conversational practice as a way to practice what I’ve learned rather than as a way to learn everything. If you’re the type of person who can socialize all day, go for it. But I realized that this isn’t a realistic plan for me.

Instead, I’ve learned most things independently and then find someone to practice with. This has been a much more efficient, enjoyable, and affordable way for me to learn a language.

I like seeing the big picture of things and I’ve used this to my advantage with Chinese.

Early on, I decided to take a step back and make some plans. I read a lot about how to go about learning Chinese. For some, this would be a way to procrastinate studying. But for me, it was a way to figure out the best path and avoid wasting energy and making mistakes that would give me problems later.

There is a lot of great content on this website and elsewhere about learning languages. I’ve found it to be worth taking some time to learn from these people. You can save yourself a lot of time and energy by avoiding making the same mistakes they have.

I focused on learning the building blocks rather than trying to learn everything right away. This has given me a strong foundation going forward.

It’s Never Too Late to Learn from Your Mistakes

I made every mistake possible when I was learning Spanish. I went so far wrong that I had given up on learning languages. I thought that it was just something that I’d never be good at.

If you can relate to any parts of this post, know that it’s not too late to learn from your mistakes.

Although, at first I didn’t want to try to learn Chinese. I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity. Few things are as exciting and rewarding as learning to communicate in a new language. I see now that the mistakes I made learning Spanish have really been a blessing.

I realized that I needed to set clear and realistic goals for learning Chinese. I knew it was going to be a lot of work over a long period of time. This has helped prevent me from getting burnt out or frustrated by the speed that I’ve progressed.

I also understood that simply moving to China wouldn’t be enough. While it helped with the motivation, I recognized that I wouldn’t passively pick up the language. This has pushed me to take a more active role in the learning process.

It’s never been easier to learn a foreign language than it is today. There are tons of great resources that will make learning much easier and quicker. You can learn just about everything online without spending a fortune. I’ve utilized the tools available to me.

Lastly, I learned to respect the fact that I know myself and what’s best for me. Instead of focusing on my weaknesses, I’ve began to harness my strengths. I love reading, so I read as much as possible. I’ve found the right balance between independent study and conversational practice. I finally understand what works best for others may not be best for me.

I hope you don’t make the same mistakes I did. But if you have, know that it’s never too late to learn from them.

The post Messed Up Learning Spanish… and Now I Speak Chinese appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

What are the Most Spoken Languages in the World?

What are the most spoken languages in the world?

This question isn't as simple as it may seem. There are a few complications that make it hard to give a precise answer:

First of all, what do you mean by spoken? Do you want to rank languages by their number of native speakers, or by how many people speak them_ at all_, natively or non-natively? These two approaches produce very different-looking lists.

Secondly, where do you draw the boundary between a language and a dialect? How different do two "dialects" have to be before they're considered separate languages entirely? There's often no clear answer - and the answer you give can significantly affect a language's position in the "most-spoken" rankings.

With that being said, it's possible to come up with some rough rankings. Here's the best estimate, at the time of writing, as to the most-spoken languages in the world - going by total number of speakers, not just natives.

The Top 10 Most Spoken Languages in the World

1. Mandarin Chinese (1.1 billion speakers)

Number of native speakers: 897 million
Number of non-native speakers: 193 million
Total speakers: 1.09 billion
Name in the language itself: 官话 (Guanhua)
Language family: Sino-Tibetan
Related to: Cantonese, Tibetan, Burmese

People sometimes speak of "Chinese" as if it's a single language. It's actually a group of related languages, of which Mandarin Chinese is by far the biggest. It's an official language in the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore.

The native name for Mandarin, Guanhua, literally means "the speech of officials". Since Mandarin is more common in northern China, it's sometimes referred to as beifanghua (北方话) - "Northern Dialects".

Mandarin is written using Chinese characters (sometimes called "Han characters"), an ancient pictorial system where each symbol represents a different word. There are two main versions - "traditional" characters, used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, and "simplified" characters, used in China, Singapore, and Malaysia. It's estimated that you need to learn 2,000-3,000 characters to read a newspaper - an educated Chinese person will know about 8,000!

2. English (983 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 371 million
Number of non-native speakers: 611 million
Total number of speakers: 983 million
Language-family: Germanic, a sub-family of Indo-European.
Related to: German, Dutch, Frisian
Name in the language itself: English. But you already knew that.

Thanks to the historical dominance of the British Empire - and, more recently, the economic and cultural clout of the United States - English is well-established as the world's lingua franca(If only there were other contenders for an international language...), and is the second most spoken language in the world.

The name "English" comes from the "Angles", a Germanic people who settled in Britain in the first millennium A.D.. They ultimately derived their name from Anglen, a region in northern Germany, and of course they gave their name to the area now known as England.

At its core, English is a Germanic language. Its vocabulary and sentence structure are closest to modern languages like German and Dutch. However, it’s been heavily influenced by other languages throughout its strange history. Much English vocabulary is Latin in origin, having been introduced by the French-speaking Normans who conquered Britain in the 11th century A.D.

3. Hindustani (544 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 329 million
Number of non-natives: 215 million
Total number of speakers: 544 million
Language family: Indo-Aryan, a sub-family of Indo-European.
Related to: Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Nepali
Name in the language itself: हिन्दुस्तानी or ہندوستانی

Hindustani is the collective name for Hindi and Urdu - two dialects of the same language. The name comes from Hindustan, a historical term for the north/north-western part of the Indian subcontinent.

Hindi is spoken across northern and central India, and is the official language of the Indian government. Urdu is primarily spoken in Pakistan. While Hindi and Urdu have differences in vocabulary and pronunciation, speakers of either language can easily communicate with each other.

A notable difference between Hindi and Urdu is that they use different writing systems. Hindi is usually written in in Devanagari script - called "देवनागरी" in the script itself. Urdu, on the other hand, is written right-to-left with a script that's closely related to the Arabic alphabet. The name "Urdu" itself is written "اُردُو".

4. Spanish (527 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 436 million
Number of non-native speakers: 91 million
Total number of speakers: 527 million
Language family: Romance, a sub-family of Indo-European.
Related to: French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian
Name in the language itself: español or castellano

¡Sí señor! By number of native speakers, Spanish is the second biggest language in the world (behind only Mandarin). By total speakers, it's at number four.

The language now known as Spanish originated in the Castile region of Spain. For this reason, it's sometimes referred to as "Castilian" - castellano in the language itself. Since then, Spanish explorers and conquistadores have spread their language all around the world. It's spoken all across South and Central America and the Caribbean, with pockets of speakers in Southeast Asia and even Africa.

(Trivia tidbit: Equatorial Guinea is the only country in Africa to have Spanish as an official language.)

Spanish is also the second most-common language in the United States, which is home to a whopping 40 million native speakers. This makes the U.S. the second-biggest Spanish-speaking country in the world, behind only Mexico - and it's predicted that, within our lifetimes, it'll overtake Mexico and become the largest.

5. Arabic (422 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 290 million
Number of non-natives: 132 million
Total number of speakers: 422 million
Language family: Semitic, a sub-family of Afro-Asiatic.
Related to: Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic.
Name in the language itself: العَرَبِيَّة‎‎ (al-ʻarabiyyah)

Arabic is the official language of 26 countries, although some have argued that it's not really one language, but several.

If we leave this aside and assume that there's a single tongue called "Arabic", then it's a massive language, with over 400 million speakers. It originated on the Arabian peninsula, and has since spread all across the Middle East and North Africa.

Arabic is also, of course, the language of Islam. While most Muslims are not native Arabic speakers, the language is of special importance to the world's second-largest religion. Islam holds that God (via the angel Gabriel) literally spoke in Arabic when he dictated the Quran to Mohammed.

That was 1400 years ago, and modern Arabic dialects have changed a lot since the "Classical Arabic" of the Quran. As well as their local dialects, many Arabs also speak "Modern Standard Arabic", an academic dialect that's based on Classical Arabic.

6. Malay (281 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 77 million
Number of non-natives: 204 million
Total number of speakers: 281 million
Language family: Austronesian
Related to: Javanese, Tagalog
Name in the language itself: bahasa melayu

Malay is an official language in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. You can also hear it being spoken in parts of Thailand and the Philippines. It's by far the largest of the Austronesian languages - a family that's thought to have originated in Taiwan.

The area in which Malay is spoken is extremely linguistically diverse. Indonesia alone is home to more than 700 living languages! Bahasa melayu, as it's known, has a long history in the region as a lingua franca, the language of government and trade.

Except Indonesians don't call it bahasa melayu (Malay), they call it bahasa indonesia (Indonesian). Malaysians call it bahasa malyasia (Malaysian). These dialects are mutually intelligible, and shouldn't be considered separate languages.

Just whatever you do, don't call it "Bahasa"! For some reason, foreigners often call it this, but the word bahasa simply means "language". Malay isn't called "Bahasa" any more than Spanish is called "Idioma". You have been warned.

7. Russian (267 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 153 million
Number of non-natives: 113 million
Total number of speakers: 267 million
Language family: East Slavic, a sub-family of Indo-European
Related to: Ukrainian, Belarusian
Name in the language itself: ру́сский язы́к, (rússkiy yazýk)

The largest of the Slavic languages, Russian is the official language of four countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan). It's also widely spoken in many other countries of the former Soviet Union, and has official status in numerous sub-national territories.

Russian's closest relatives include Ukrainian and Belarusian. The three are all descended from the language that was spoken in the medieval state of the Kievan Rus. More distantly, they're related to other Slavic languages like Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, and Serbo-Croat.

By number of native speakers, Russian is the biggest language in Europe. Like many of the Slavic languages, it's written with the Cyrillic alphabet (see here for some tips on how you can learn it.)

8. Bengali (261 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 242 million
Number of non-natives: 19 million
Total number of speakers: 261 million
Language family: Indo-Aryan, a sub-family of Indo-European.
Related to: Hindustani, Punjabi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Nepali
Name in the language itself: বাংলা (Bangla)

Sometimes known in English by its native name Bangla, Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh and of several Indian states. In fact, it's the the second most widely spoken language in India.

Like Hindustani (mentioned above), Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language. This is a branch of the Indo-European family; other branches include the Romance and Germanic languages. In other words, Bengali and Hindustani are (believe it or not) distant cousins of English.

Bengali is written in the Bengali alphabet, sometimes known as Eastern Nagari or Bengali-Assamese script. It's related to Tibetan script. Natively, "bengali alphabet" translates to "bangla bôrnômala". In the alphabet itself, that looks like this: বাংলা বর্ণমালা.

Bengali script is relatively unknown in the West, but it's actually the fifth most widely-used writing system in the world. More people worldwide write in Bengali script than in Cyrillic!

9. Portuguese (229 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 218 million
Number of non-natives: 11 million
Total number of speakers: 229 million
Language family: Romance, a sub-branch of Indo-European.
Related to: French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian
Name in the language itself: português

Portuguese developed from Latin and is closely related to modern Spanish. The name comes from "Portugal", whose name in turn comes from Porto, the second-largest city in that country. But the word porto in Portuguese simply means "port".

Someone who speaks Portuguese is called a Lusophone. This word comes from "Lusitania", the Roman name for the area that's now Portugal. The vast majority of Lusophones live in Brazil, which has more than twice as many Portuguese speakers than the rest of the world put together!

The Portuguese empire once stretched far and wide, from South America to Africa to as far as India and Southeast Asia. Today, Portuguese is an official language in nine countries, as well as in the Chinese territory of Macau.

Personally, I find Brazilian Portuguese to be an extremely beautiful language. That's just one of many great reasons to learn it.

10. French (229 million speakers)

Number of native speakers: 76 million
Number of non-natives: 153 million
Total number of speakers: 229 million
Language family: Romance, a sub-branch of Indo-European.
Related to: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian
Name in the language itself: le français

Rounding up the top 10 is French, another Romance language. It's the official language of 28 countries, with the highest number of speakers in France, Canada, Belgium, then Switzerland (in that order). It's also widely spoken in parts of Western and Central Africa, on several Caribbean islands, and even on the South American mainland (in the French overseas department of French Guiana.)

French is a Romance language, but over the centuries it's taken on heavy influence from Celtic and Germanic tongues. In fact, the language (and country) are named after the Franks, a collection of tribes from the Middle Ages whose language, Frankish, was Germanic, not Romance.

Frankish is now extinct, but it's believed to have contributed many words to modern French vocabulary. French, in turn, contributed many words to English vocabulary, largely thanks to the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066.

As well as the countries and territories that speak French today, many people worldwide speak French-based creoles - particularly in Haiti, where most of the population speak Haitian Creole as their only language. Haitian Creole is heavily influenced by French, but different enough to be considered a separate language.

5 Huge Languages That You Didn't Realise Had So Many Speakers

Did any of the top 10 most spoken languages surprise you?

While researching this post, I spotted a few languages whose size surprised me - including some I'd never even heard of before. Let's finish off with a quick look at some languages which don't get much global attention, but nevertheless have a large number of speakers.

(Note that this isn't a list of the 11th to 15th largest languages overall, although some of them are in that category.)

1. Hausa

Number of native speakers: 85 million
Number of non-natives: 65 million
Total number of speakers: 150 million
Language family: Chadic, a sub-family of Afroasiatic
Related to: Ron, Bole. More distantly: Arabic, Somali
Name in the language itself: Yaren Hausa or Harshen Hausa

Hausa just barely missed inclusion in the above list. By some estimates, it's the 11th most spoken language worldwide - although Punjabi may be bigger (see below). By number of native speakers (85 million), Hausa is in twelfth place.

A member of the Chadic family, Hausa is the biggest language in Nigeria, and a national language of Niger. There are also many native speakers living in Chad. Across wide swathes of western and central Africa, Hausa is used as a trade language.

The Chadic languages are a sub-branch of the Afroasiatic family, meaning that Hausa is distantly related to Arabic. It's normally written in a Latin-based alphabet called boko, although you can sometimes see it written in ajami, an alphabet that's based on Arabic script.

2. Punjabi

Number of native speakers: 148 million
Number of non-natives: negligible
Total number of speakers: 148 million
Language family: Indo-Aryan, a sub-family of Indo-European.
Related to: Hindustani, Bengali, Marathi, Kashmiri, Nepali
Name in the language itself: ਪੰਜਾਬੀ or پنجابی (panjabi)

Punjabi is named for the Punjab, a region in northern India and Eastern Pakistan. It has close to 150 million native speakers - more than Hausa, although by total number of speakers it's not clear whether Hausa or Punjabi is bigger.

The most commonly spoken language in Pakistan, Punjabi is a member of the Indo-Aryan family. It's also spoken by a wide diaspora - it's the fourth most common language in the United Kingdom!

Punjabi, along with its fellow Indo–Aryan languages like Hindi/Urdu and Bengali, is a very distant cousin of English (All are part of the wider Indo-European language family). What makes Punjabi very unusual among its Indo-European relatives is that it's a tonal language.

3. Telugu

Number of native speakers: 80 million
Number of non-natives: 12 million
Total number of speakers: 92 million
Language family: Dravidian
Related to: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada
Name in the language itself: తెలుగు (Telugu)

I've already mentioned three South Asian languages: Hindustani, Bengali, and Punjab. Those are all from the Indo-European family. The next biggest South Asian language is Telugu, which is a Dravidian language (meaning that, unlike the first three, it has no known relation to English).

Telugu is the third most-common language in India, spoken mainly in the southeast of the country. It has about 75 million native speakers. That's more than the population of the U.K.!

Telugu is the fifteenth most-spoken language worldwide, and has its own rather beautiful writing system. In the language itself, the alphabet is called "తెలుగు లిపి" (Telugu lipi).

4. Javanese

Number of native speakers: 84 million
Number of non-natives: negligible
Total number of speakers: 84 million
Language family: Austronesian
Related to: Malay, Tagalog
Name in the language itself: basa Jawa

I covered bahasa indonesia above. But Indonesia, with 260 million people spread over more than 17,000 islands, is home to some extraordinarily diverse cultures, and has over 700 living languages.

Most Indonesians speak a local language as well as Indonesian. The most common of those local languages is Javanese, which is spoken on (you guessed it) the island of Java. More than half of Indonesia's population lives on Java, making it the most populous island not just in Indonesia but in the entire world.

Javanese is related to Indonesian, but not super-closely; they're very much separate languages. As the Indonesian government only recognises Indonesian as the official language, this makes Java the largest language in the world not to have official status in any country.

5. Southern Quechua

Number of native speakers: 6 million
Number of non-natives: 1 million
Total number of speakers: 7 million
Language family: Quechua
Name in the language itself: Quechua

Southern Quechua has about 7 million speakers, which means it's not nearly as big as some of the other languages I could have included. For example, Gujarati and Malayalam have far more speakers but I've covered enough Indian languages already.

So what makes Southern Quechua interesting? In my mind it deserves an honourable mention, because it's the biggest of all indigenous American languages. Sadly, the Western hemisphere isn't nearly as linguistically diverse as it used to be, but Southern Quechua is still going strong.

Note that people often call this language simply Quechua - but, to be precise, "Quechua" is more of a language family than one specific language. "Southern Quechua" is used to refer to the largest grouping of mutually intelligible dialects in the Quechua family. Its native speakers mostly live in Peru and Bolivia.

Another honourable mention should go to Guaraní. It has about 6 million speakers, so it's not huge. But it has the distinction of being the only native American language to have official status in any country (specifically, Paraguay.) It's also the only such language that's widely spoken by a large number of non-native people - many Guaraní-speaking Paraguayans are of European, not indigenous, descent.



There are many other languages I could include on this list - such as Sundanese (spoken by 15% of the population of Java), or Kannada, which is spoken not in the country whose name it resembles but India. (Seriously, India is huge.) This all goes to show - you'll never run out of languages to learn!

Are you surprised by any of the the most spoken languages? Are there any languages you were surprised weren't included? Do you think this list is likely to change in the near future - which languages are shrinking, and which are growing? When deciding which language to learn, does it matter how many speakers it has? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The post What are the Most Spoken Languages in the World? appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

German for Kids: 12 Helpful Online Resources to Teach Your Children German

Kids absorb new languages like a sponge. But how easy is it to teach your child German? And what are some good German resources to help?

Here’s something good to know: An early start with languages can bring with it many benefits and opportunities.

Bilingual children tend to be better learners with more advanced reading skills, greater confidence and a bigger sense of the world we live in, with its varying countries and cultures.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that there are 228 million German speakers worldwide, making German the 10th most spoken language in the world. Plus Germany is the world’s fourth largest economy, so speaking German brings with it many opportunities.

There are plenty of resources available online that you can use to introduce the German language to your child.

Let’s get started!

German for Kids: Infants

It’s never too early to start learning a language. If your desire is to raise a bilingual child, then there’s no harm in immersing them in the world of German from day one.

Begin by exposing your child to German songs from an early age.

Babies can distinguish between languages from the age of just seven months, through qualities such as pitch and duration of sound.

What’s more, singing nursery rhymes and lullabies to children from an early age prevents them from developing language problems later on in life.

There are plenty of good German songs for kids. The YouTube channel Sing mit mir (Sing With Me) has a range of children’s songs and lullabies, all in German. The channel boasts three different playlists – Nursery Rhymes, Lullabies and Christmas carols. Songs such as the well-known Johannes Brahms lullaby Guten Abend, gute Nacht (Good evening, good night) have been animated and subtitled with the German lyrics, which play back in a karaoke-style sing-along fashion.

Spotify is also a good place to find German music for kids. There are playlists for just about every mood or occasion, just a mouse click away.

Search for language learning playlists, such as Sing and Learn German, which features 19 well-known nursery rhymes such as Mary Hatte Ein Kleines Lamm (“Mary Had a Little Lamb”) and Bist Du Glücklich Und Du We (“If You’re Happy and You Know It”). In this playlist, songs are initially sung in English, followed by the German translation.

German for Kids: Toddlers (Age 2-5)

Three years is said to be the optimal age to start learning a second language. This is because younger kids are better at mimicking new sounds and learning new pronunciations. Language lessons can be completely informal, and can even be part of your child’s playtime.

While continuing to expose your child to German songs and music, now is a good time to allow them to start watching German cartoons and television shows. They may not understand every word that’s being said, but they will certainly enjoy laughing along with the main characters.

Die Sendung mit der Maus (“The Program with the Mouse”) is one of the most popular German children's TV shows of all time. It’s been screening since 1971, with each show comprising several segments that present information in a straightforward and simple manner. The Lachgeschichten (entertaining) segments of the show are meant to be humorous, while the Sachgeschichten (informative) are short, non-fiction stories about a variety of topics, mostly with a “how stuff works” slant to them. The cartoon mouse pops up here and there between these segments, shown hanging with his friends.

The show is loved by adults and children alike. Online episodes can be found on the Das Erste Mediathek website. There is also an interactive website where kids can watch short German video clips and play games, such as colouring online with The Mouse.

KiKANiNCHEN is a newer German kids show. The main character is a talking blue rabbit. This show can be found on YouTube, and there is also a companion website with interactive German games.

German for Kids: Kindergarten (Age 5 & Up)

German Books for Kids

Almost every child will grow up knowing the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Originally written in 1812, in German, these world-famous tales have since been translated to English and in many cases, watered down to make them slightly more “child-friendly” than the original texts.

It’s always enjoyable to hear or read a text in its original language. Amazon features several volumes of the Brüder Grimm’s fairy tales, in a dual-language format that can be purchased either in hard copy form or Kindle e-book. Reading or listening to the fairy tales, you can enjoy classics such as Aschenputtel (“Cinderella”), Der Froschkönig (“The Frog King”) and Rotkäppchen (“Little Red Riding Hood”).

A popular German children’s book that is less well known in the English-speaking world is Max und Moritz – Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen (“Max and Moritz – A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks"). Published in 1865, it’s a funny tale told in rhyming couplets that has retained popularity as a children’s bedtime story in all German-speaking countries.

The book covers seven pranks that Max and Moritz - tormentors and troublemakers - play on their unsuspecting family members, teachers and acquaintances. The original German version and the English translation can be found online. Children can read the texts in either standalone German or with the dual language option. This website also features a series of quizzes on the books, which kids (and adults!) may use to test their German knowledge.

Parents may delight in reading their children (and in turn, seeing them read for themselves) timeless classics that they too have grown up with. Although Tintin was created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé, the comics were read and adored across Europe, with the stories being translated into more than seventy languages…including German.

Other options for child-friendly reading in German include Wo ist Walter? (“Where’s Wally/Waldo?”) and Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt (“The Very Hungry Caterpillar”).

German Games and Apps for Kids

Duolingo is one of the most regularly cited resources on Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M) and for good reason. The app has an easy and inviting interface and works on a rewards-based system – you’ll level up as you learn and earn lingots, which can be spent within a virtual store. Designed for both kids and adults, Duolingo aims to help build basic vocabulary and grammar skills.

German Sing-along Songs

The German YouTube channel YleeKids German hosts a wide range of videos targeted to young children – animated and designed to be sung along to.

Your child can learn the German pronunciation of the alphabet, or sing along to old favourites Zehn in einem Bett (known in the anglophone world as “Ten in a bed”) and Baa Baa Schaf (“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”).

German for Older Kids (Age 10+)

You may have a child whose love of languages has followed them into the double digits. Here are some German resources that older kids, tween and even teenagers will enjoy.

The Story that Never Ends

Die unendliche Geschichte is a German fantasy novel by Michael Ende, that was published in 1979. The novel’s protagonist is a young boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux, who steals a book called The Neverending Story from an antique bookstore, through which he enters the magical world of Fantastica. Sound familiar?

The book was translated into English and later made into the film, but if your child is an advanced reader, they will undoubtedly find joy in reading the original German version.

Austria’s Favourite Detective

Dog-lovers unite! Kommissar Rex is a beloved police drama in which a newly divorced cop teams up with a police dog to solve crimes in Vienna. Rex is the star of the show, a super-intelligent German Shepherd who can sniff out drugs, unlock doors and always seems to be several steps ahead of the human members of the criminal police force team.

The show, which was shot in Austria for its first ten seasons, has been set in Rome since 2009. Luckily, the first season, in German with English subtitles, is available online.

Have you helped your children learn German? If so, please share the resources you’ve used in the comments.

The post German for Kids: 12 Helpful Online Resources to Teach Your Children German appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

10 Ways to Use YouTube as a Language Learning Tool

YouTube is an amazing tool for learning languages.

That’s one of the reasons I have my own YouTube channel. In fact, I started posting videos on YouTube before I started this blog. Some of the videos were even in other languages!

There’s only one problem with YouTube…there’s just so much there!

The amount of content on YouTube is mind-boggling. But there is gold hidden among the videos of cute animals, wannabe pop stars and the amateur films. If you know what to look for, YouTube can become an excellent resource in your mission to learn a language.

Here are a few ways you can use YouTube to become a better language learner.

1. Look for Online Language Courses

There are plenty of language learning courses on YouTube, and they’re all free!

Finding a course is pretty simple. In the YouTube search box type ‘(your target language) online courses’ into the search bar. You’ll be surprised by how many videos come up.

Once you start watching videos to learn your target language, YouTube will automatically recommend others that are suitable for your level.

If you need help getting started, try Easy Languages, Travel Linguist or Language Pod, all of whom feature classes in many different languages.

2. Look for TV Shows and Movies in Your Target Language

I’ve heard arguments that watching foreign TV shows or movies can be a waste of time for language learners. I disagree – as long as you don’t fall into the habit of passive learning.

The important thing is to really pay attention to the TV show or film. Look up and write down words you don’t understand, and be willing to play the video several times until you fully understand it. You’ll be surprised by how much you can learn by getting familiar with a single TV episode.

YouTube is a fantastic resource for finding both films and TV shows - in almost any language you can think of.

You’d be surprised by what you can find on there. Studying German? You’re in luck – the entire first season of Inspector Rex is available on YouTube. You can find the first episode of the popular Spanish TV series Cuéntame cómo pasó on there too.

Not sure where to get started? Do a quick Google search to find out the most popular TV shows in your target language. Then look for those shows on YouTube. Before you know it, you’ll have a pretty decent-sized queue of videos lined up to watch in your new language!

3. Follow Language Vloggers

Vloggers are people who blog using video. Just like me!

People vlog about just about anything. Whatever you’re interested in, chances are you can find a vlog in your target language about it. Your job is to find them.

Whatever your interest – beauty, travel, fashion, video games, etc. - translate it to your target language, enter it into the YouTube search bar, and see what comes up.

What to do when you’ve found the videos? Treat it as you would any listening exercise. Listen to pronunciation. Write down words you’re unfamiliar with. Try repeating sentences. Go out and buy that new blush they recommend (just kidding).

4. Comment On Videos in Your Target Language

This method takes courage. People really do love to share their opinions, so what’s stopping you from expressing yours? A mere language barrier? I think not!

Take the plunge. If you see a video you feel strongly about, then say what you’re thinking! Just be sure to say it in your new language. Think about phrasing and how best to express your opinion. Then, just put it out there.

The beauty of the Internet is, that if people think you’re wrong, they’ll be happy to tell you so. So, if you make a grammatical mistake, someone will probably feel it is their civil duty to tell you.

Don’t feel disheartened. Look at it this way: you’re getting your work marked for free!

5. Find Videos with Transcripts to Read as You Listen

Listening to a video online and finding it difficult to keep up with the pace?
Fortunately, many videos in foreign languages feature either subtitles or transcripts, which you can read while listening to the audio. By doing this, you’ll find it far easier to keep up with what’s being said, and won’t find yourself lost in a series of words or phrases you don’t understand.

The key is to make sure you don’t end up relying too heavily on the transcript or subtitle.

Study what you listen to. Pause the video often and write down the translation, if it’s something that you’re not completely sure of.

6. Slow Down YouTube Videos

When you’re learning a language, native speakers talking at normal speed can seem fast-paced. Don’t feel bad if you’re finding it hard to keep up with the video you’re watching. The more you practise, the quicker you’ll learn to decipher what’s being said. It’s one of those skills that you pick up over time.

Until that moment comes, try slowing the videos down, so that the dialogue is being said at a pace you understand.

The easiest way of doing this is to press the < and > keys on your keyboard, which are the default keys for changing the video speed. But this may not be the case for you if you have a non-English keyboard or have changed your settings. In that case, click the “cog” symbol in the lower right corner of the video to open the settings, then click “speed”. You can then adjust the speed to whatever works best for you.

7. Search for Songs in Your Target Language

Music is a fun way to improve your listening skills and pick up new vocabulary.

Unlike TV shows and movies, pretty much every popular song in existence has its own music video, which is available on YouTube.

Get to know the bands or solo artist who sing their songs in your target language, then look them up online. Once you’ve found the songs, get singing!

The beauty of YouTube, is that you can play these songs, for free, as many times as you like. Once you’ve memorized the lyrics, you can move to the bathroom and practise your vocal range as you take your morning shower.

8. Upload Your Own Practice Videos

Here’s another step that takes a bit of courage to execute.

I believe it’s important to keep yourself accountable when undertaking a task like learning a foreign language. One of the ways of doing this is to start a blog. Another is to upload videos of your progress to YouTube.

It really isn’t as scary as it sounds! I know putting yourself out there can seem incredibly daunting at first. Yet, it is fear that primarily stops many of us from doing the things we want to do. Once we overcome this fear, we start to realise just how far our capabilities as human beings can extend.

Suddenly, all our hopes and dreams don’t seem so ridiculously out of reach.

Uploading videos of your progress to YouTube can help in many ways. You’ll get over your fear of speaking in a foreign tongue in public. It will help hold you accountable to your goal. Your videos may also reach a new audience, and rally a positive community around you. You’ll also pick up a new skill – video editing isn’t quite as simple as it looks!

Not sure of where to start? Never fear. I’ve been recording and uploading videos in a foreign language for quite a few years now and have picked up many tricks along the way.

Once you’ve created your video, you can share it with the Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M) community here.

9. Translate YouTube Comments

Sometimes, YouTube comments are more entertaining than the video (I should know – I’ve received stacks of comments on Fi3M over the years, many of which I’ve enjoyed).

If you happen to find a video in your target language that you feel confident you understand, try your hand at translating the comments underneath!

You may end up feeling quite confused. You might lose a little bit of faith in humanity. Either way, you’ll be amused.

Bonus points if you take the time to reply to a comment in your target language.

10. Subscribe to Polyglot Channels

There are loads of polyglots around the world with a strong online presence. These people are the ultimate language hackers – there’s a lot you can learn from them.

I’ve uploaded tons of videos in many different languages over the years. My friends Lucas Lampariello, Susanna Zaraysky, Steve Kaufmann, Olly Richards, Lindsay Williams and Richard Simcott each have their own YouTube channels, on which they vlog fairly regularly.

We’ve each dealt with our own challenges in language learning, and have managed to overcome them to get where we are today.

Have a burning desire to find out how we did it? Subscribe to our YouTube channels to learn our secrets!

Your Turn

As you can see, YouTube can be a handy language-learning tool – as long as you approach it the right way.

Do you use YouTube to learn languages? If you’ve got any hints or tricks, please let me know in the comments.

The post 10 Ways to Use YouTube as a Language Learning Tool appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.