Benny Lewis's Blog, page 70
July 31, 2017
MosaLingua Review: A Faster Way to Learn a New Language?
For this MosaLingua review, I decided to use MosaLingua to study a language I had virtually no prior experience in: Italian.
I say “virtually” because I knew a few Italian words, like Allegro! Crescendo! Fermata! Di capo al coda! I play a couple of musical instruments, so I’m used to seeing these terms on my sheet music. But that’s not too useful in the real world!
I’ve wanted to study Italian for a while, so I jumped at the opportunity to study it with MosaLingua.
As cool as any new app looks, it’s only good if it actually works. I wanted my review to be as in-depth as possible, so I tried out MosaLingua for 10 hours and then recorded myself speaking Italian with an advanced speaker. You can watch my video at the end of this review.
MosaLingua: More than “Just” a Flashcard App
Flashcard apps that use SRS are a really efficient way to learn difficult vocab in a new language. SRS is a proven technique, and you’ll find lots of advice here on Fi3M about how SRS works, and how to use it for language learning.
In the past, I’ve used Anki as my SRS tool. If there’s one downside to using a really customisable app like Anki, it’s that you have to do all your own research and make your own flashcard decks, or else download decks from other users and hope they’re accurate - and relevant! I created an audio flashcard deck a few months ago during my Portuguese mission, but it took me two months to get around to doing it, and I only made the one deck. I found the process tedious, even though I knew it would be helpful in the end.
Enter MosaLingua. I found it to have all the benefits of a general flashcard app like Anki, with a lot less work.
How to Get Started with MosaLingua
It’s easy to get up and running with MosaLingua. Just download the MosaLingua app to your iOS or Android device. I put links for the different languages at the end of this review so you can find the right one for the language you’re learning.
When you first launch the app, you can take an assessment test to calculate your level in the language (or bypass this step if you’re an absolute beginner). Then, you select your reason for learning the language. Options include travel, socializing, exam prep, and more. After that, it’s time to get started learning flashcards. You can tap the ‘Learn’ tab to see which flashcards you’re about to learn. If you’ve already learned some, then the Learn tab becomes the ‘Practice’ tab (look at the bottom of these screenshots):
When it comes to which flashcards to study, MosaLingua does the heavy lifting for you. It has a built-in directory of thousands of flashcards for you to choose from. Tap the ‘Explore’ tab to search for flashcards, and select ones that are relevant to you. You can browse cards by topic, level, or by typing in a keyword to find a specific card.
Each flashcard contains a recording of a native speaker saying the word or phrase. You can also create your own cards, just like with generic flashcard apps. The Italian text on your homemade flashcards will be read by a computer voice.
If you don’t create or search for your own flashcards to learn, MosaLingua will choose for you. It does a pretty good job of picking suitable cards, too. I LOVE this option, because if I’m too lazy to browse the directory, or am just not sure what to study next, it’s nice to let the decision be made for me. So I never have an excuse not to study with MosaLingua.
Studying Flashcards with MosaLingua
Learning New Cards
When it’s time to learn new flashcards (such as when you first launch the app, or when you’ve finished reviewing cards that you’re due to be tested on), you’ll see a ‘Learn’ tab at the bottom of the screen.
MosaLingua gives you new flashcards to learn in groups of five. If you want to learn more, just tap the + sign below the list. The flashcards in the list will be ones that you’ve chosen by searching for cards in the ‘Explore’ tab. Or, if you haven’t picked any yourself, they will be chosen automatically for you by the app.
There are four steps involved in learning new flashcards:
Listen and pronounce. You hear the word (or phrase) spoken by a native speaker, and repeat the sounds even though you won’t understand the meaning yet. If you want, you can tap the record button and record your voice saying the word, to compare your pronunciation to the native speaker’s.
Memorize. You see the English side of the card and try to remember the translation.
Write. You see the English side and a jumble of letters. You arrange the letters in the right order to spell the word in your target language. For longer sentences, you arrange each word rather than individual letters.
Self-evaluation. Similar to the Memorize step, but now you get to rate how well you answered. More on the ratings below.
Reviewing Previously-seen Cards
Practising flashcards you’ve already seen is just like the self-evaluation step you do when you first learn a new card: you see the English on side one, and have to guess the translation before flipping over the card. Then you rate your answer with the tap of a button:
Perfect (you recalled the word almost as if it was your native language)
Good (the word was pretty easy to remember and you’re confident you got it right)
Difficult (the word took you a bit of time to remember)
Again (you forgot the word or guessed wrong. The card will be shown to you again during this review session.)
To make the MosaLingua SRS algorithm work correctly, it’s really important to be honest in your self-evaluation. The easier a card is for you to remember, the less often you’ll see it. The maximum possible time before seeing a card again is one year. Some SRS apps can’t show you a card any less often than every three months. I like that MosaLingua is in it for the long run.
My Experience with MosaLingua: The Good
There’s a lot to love about MosaLingua. The flashcards cover tons of different scenarios and can get pretty advanced if you want. Some of them contain individual words to help build your vocab, and others have entire sentences, which improves your conversation skills.
Beyond just the flashcards, you can also study entire dialogues!
I found this feature really useful, as it lets me see sentences in real-world contexts. Some days, I just don’t feel like studying a stack of flashcards. Dialogues are a great alternative because they tell a story. To study dialogues, just tap the ‘More’ tab, then the ‘Dialogues’ icon. Browse them by subject, select the one you want, and follow the steps to study the dialogue:
Audio only (just listen actively and look at the accompanying images, even if you don’t understand everything.)
Audio with foreign language subtitles (listen again, and read in your target language as you go)
Audio with English subtitles (listen again, and see the English translation)
Memorize (select which cards you’d like to add to your deck for your next learning session)
I also liked unlocking bonus material after completing a review session. A bonus item could be a joke, a fun fact about the language or culture, learning advice or a popular expression or quotation in your target language. You can add each of these items to your flashcard deck if you want.
Another great aspect of MosaLingua is its incredible customer service. On virtually every screen in the app, you can tap the ? icon in the corner to get an explanation of what to do, followed by options to rate the page or send a suggestion. You can also report problems with individual flashcards. And the response time is fantastic. I left a lot of feedback on pages and flashcards, and I nearly always heard back from an actual person within 24 hours, to either confirm that there was an error that they will fix, or else to ask me more questions to better understand the issue. I’ve never had such good customer service on any app, ever. Kudos, MosaLingua.
One of my favourite features about MosaLingua is how it doesn’t shove grammar down your throat. I don’t like to study grammar when I’m first learning a language. Often grammar rules just fall into place after I’ve learned a good number of phrases and their meanings.
If you want to learn about grammar (and sometimes I do, too), you can go to the ‘Lessons’ category in the ‘Explore’ tab, and browse for specific grammar rules.
Finally, I need to give a shout-out to MosaLingua’s non-spammy reminders. There are very few apps on my phone that I allow to send me push notifications. They always seem to abuse it with notifications like “Here are some tips to better use this app!” or “Looks like you haven’t logged in for a while. Why not see what your friends are up to?” Argh!
I must admit, I only turned on MosaLingua notifications so I could comment on them for this review. But the developers were telling the truth: they don’t abuse the feature. You get one notification when you're approaching 24 hours since your last review session. Since the app works best when used daily, this is definitely not overkill at all. I left notifications turned on the entire time I was using the app for this review.
My Experience with MosaLingua: The Bad
As with any product that has a lot of functionality, MosaLingua has a few problem areas that could use some work.
MosaLingua offers a hands-free function that lets you listen to your flashcards and try to remember the translation before the cards automatically flip over. This is great if you’re on the bus, going for a walk or just lying on the couch. But it has one flaw. You can’t lock your phone or navigate away from the app while you listen, or else the audio stops playing. This isn’t very useful when you’re not near a charger, because if your phone’s screen is constantly on while you listen to your flashcards, it will drain the battery pretty fast. I used the “suggestion” feature in the app to ask the developers about this, and they replied that they’re still perfecting this feature. So stay tuned.
The search function I mentioned earlier, while useful, is not particularly “smart”. It only matches the exact search term you enter, spaces and punctuation included. I wanted to look up the word “software”, but I typed a space after the word, so MosaLingua filtered out every flashcard that contained the word “software” without a space after it. For example, one flashcard said on the Italian side, “il software, il programma”, but it didn’t match my search term because there’s a comma after “software”. Another flashcard said on the English side, “to run (software)”, and it didn’t match either because of the parenthesis after “software”. So some refinement is needed in the search function.
My final comment only applies to the Italian version. I found that a small handful of native-speaker recordings were not of very good quality. They were muffled, or too quiet, or the speaker’s tone didn’t really match the “mood” of the phrase on the card. This didn’t happen too often, and I used the “report a problem” feature on the card to send a comment about it.
My Results with MosaLingua After 60 Days
You can see from my review so far that I’m a pretty big fan of learning with MosaLingua, even if it has a couple of flaws.
I easily put in a bit of study time every day. Study sessions are really nice and manageable. If you learn ten new flashcards a day, then you’ll probably spend an average of 10-15 minutes per day in review. I defy anyone to assert that they don’t have 15 free minutes per day! In my case, I reviewed flashcards with MosaLingua right before bed for about ten minutes per day for nearly eight weeks - so a total of about ten hours. I learned an average of nine new cards per day.
Obviously ten minutes of study per day isn’t a very well-rounded routine. But MosaLingua doesn’t pretend that it’s the only thing you’ll ever need. In fact, in addition to flashcards, dialogues, grammar and bonus items, the app also has a lot of advice for how to keep studying when you’re not using the app. For instance, it gives tips for starting a conversation with a stranger, and offers a list of movie and podcast suggestions in your target language.
In my case, I chose to use only MosaLingua to study Italian, followed by three conversations with native speakers. I wanted to be absolutely clear about what MosaLingua can do, and what it can’t. If I watched Italian TV or went to frequent language meet-ups, I wouldn’t be sure if my improvement in Italian was really from MosaLingua. I did do three conversations with native speakers the week before recording my result video, to get a bit of speaking practice. I strongly feel that whether or not I use a single product like MosaLingua for my language studies, it’s still essential to occasionally use the language with native speakers.
The Video: Me Speaking Italian After 60 Days with MosaLingua
So, how was my Italian after using MosaLingua for 10 minutes a day for 60 days? I haven’t taken any placement tests, but I feel like I’m still an A1, though a strong A1. According to MosaLingua’s ‘Progress’ section, I have 264 cards stored in my long-term memory (out of 416 cards I’m currently learning). Many of these cards are complete phrases, not just single words. So I know quite a bit more than 247 Italian words.
Although I’m still an A1, I know enough Italian to converse about a few basic topics, as you can see from my result video:
httpvh://youtu.be/kswmF5ZaWi8
The video is only six minutes long, but Shannon and I actually talked for nearly 20 minutes, exclusively in Italian! Yes, I had to look up several words before I could say them, and Shannon had to repeat herself a few times, but our conversation was absolutely a success.
I must admit I was a little worried at first! When I called Shannon on Skype and it was ringing, I felt minor panic when I tried to recall some Italian words and couldn’t think of a single one! But once we got talking, I gained some momentum and the words came to me as I needed them. Speaking the language with a real person is the only way I can overcome that mental block and start using the language naturally.
MosaLingua Review: The Bottom Line
Would I use MosaLingua again? Absolutely. Especially in the early stages of learning a new language. It’s a fast, efficient way of building up a nice foundation of vocab and phrases.
No matter what your level is, I recommend including MosaLingua in your language studies. It requires a small enough time investment that you could even squeeze it into your existing routine without changing anything else.
MosaLingua alone can’t make you fluent, but no single method can. But if you use MosaLingua correctly, you’ll store tons of useful material in your long-term memory, where it will be easily recalled when you need it. This recollection is the key to progressing in your target language toward fluency.
MosaLingua Links
To use MosaLingua to help you learn your target language, click the links below to find the app for the language you’re learning:
Italian:
MosaLingua Italian for iOS
MosaLingua Italian for Android
Spanish:
MosaLingua Spanish for iOS
MosaLingua Spanish for Android
French:
MosaLingua French for iOS
MosaLingua French for Android
German:
MosaLingua German for iOS
MosaLingua German for Android
Brazilian Portuguese:
MosaLingua Portuguese for iOS
MosaLingua Portuguese for Android
English:
MosaLingua English for iOS
MosaLingua English for Android
The post MosaLingua Review: A Faster Way to Learn a New Language? appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
July 28, 2017
10 Incredible German Sayings: The Inspiring, the Funny and the Just Plain Confusing
These are the everyday German sayings that German speakers use to express emotions, actions and thoughts. You probably know them better as turns of phrase or idioms in English and you use them every day. You know, expressions like:
"Hit two birds with one stone"
"Once in a blue moon"
"Let the cat out of the bag"
"Cry over spilt milk"
By learning these phrases your German will begin to take on a more natural flow and help convince people of your fluency! You’ll never see anyone look so surprised as when you quote Goethe or ask someone, Warum spielst du die beleidigte Leberwurst? “Why are you playing the offended liver sausage?”
In this article I want to share some of the best German proverbs, idioms and sayings that you can work into your everyday conversations.
Lass uns anfangen! Let’s begin!
1: “Ich kriege so eine Krawatte”
This is one of those funny German sayings that really doesn’t make any sense when you first hear it in conversation (I mean, do they ever?).
Literally it translates to, “I get such a tie!” as in the formal item you would wear around your neck. And it comes from the pressure you feel in your throat when you get so angry you could scream.
Germans use this saying when they find something makes them really angry. Here are a few examples of it in action:
Ich kriege so eine Krawatte, wenn Lucy mein letztes Ibuprofen nimmt. “It really annoys me when Lucy takes my last Ibuprofen”
Sara hat gesagt, ‘James du musst nicht lügen!’, aber ich bin kein Lügner! Ach…ich kriege so eine Krawatte. “Sara said, ‘James, you don’t need to lie.’ But I’m not a liar! Oh...it really winds me up that does.”
Ich kriege so eine Krawatte, wenn man mit mir auf Englisch reden will. Ich muss Deutsch üben! “It really annoys me when someone wants to speak to me in English. I have to practise my German!”
If you can use the English phrases, “I get so annoyed when…” or “It really winds me up when…” you can use this in its place.
2: “Warum spielst du die beleidigte Leberwurst?”
In English this translates quite hilariously to, “Why are you playing the offended liver sausage?”. This is one of my favourite German sayings because I feel you can only appreciate the strangeness of it if you’re not a native speaker.
You’d use this to ask someone why they’re throwing a tantrum or overreacts to something trivial. For example when a child asks for some sweets and doesn’t get them. Or in an adult setting that might look like:
”Jenny, warum spielst du die beleidigte Leberwurst?” (“Jenny, what’s ticked you off?”)
”Ach! Ich habe am Samstag Frühschicht. Ich will Freitagabend zu einem Konzert gehen. Mist!” (“I have an early shift on Saturday. I want to go to the concert on Friday evening! Crap.”)
This adds a little fun to the situation too. It’s hard to be mad when someone is calling you a liver sausage.
3: “Du gehst mir auf den Keks”
Is someone really getting on your nerves? Maybe they’re grinding your gears? Or, perhaps they’re just a thorn in your side. Well then this phrase is perfect for you.
This phrase literally translates to “You’re going on my cookie” and can be used any time someone is really getting on your nerves.
David, hör auf! Du gehst mir auf den Keks. “Stop it David, you’re getting on my nerves.”
Ach, Ed Sheeran. Seine Musik geht mir auf den Keks. “Oh Ed Sheeran! His music really gets on my nerves.”
It’s simple and it’s often considered quite a polite way to tell someone to stop doing what they’re doing because you find it annoying.
4: “Ins Fettnäpfchen treten”
Have you ever said something to someone and then immediately regretted it? Like making a joke and then realising someone in the group could really take offence?
Well that feeling of putting your foot in your mouth translates to this phrase in German. Although it has an appropriately more disgusting translation of, “To step into the fat bowl”. Which pretty much sums up how anyone has ever felt at that moment.
5: “Ich hab’ dich lieb”
In German there are two stages of love.
There’s ich liebe dich which means you’re completely in love with someone or something. But they also have a stage that sits somewhere around puppy love on the spectrum and it’s best used when you want to express love, but don’t want to be too on the nose about it.
That’s where, “Ich hab’ dich lieb” comes in.
This translates to, “I have love for you”. Which is one of those sentences that sounds like it could be grammatically correct but there’s something off with it.
6: “Ich bin bis über beide Ohren verliebt”
If you’ve found someone you’re completely smitten with, this is the perfect saying to express that emotion.
In English this is the equivalent of saying that you’re head over heels in love, although it literally translates to, “I’m over both ears in love!”.
This could either mean that your body is so filled with love that it goes over your ears. Or, that your brain is completely in love with them and can’t shake the thought.
7: “Frauen und Bier immer von unten”
If you’ve ever given a toast in German you’ll notice two things: people make extreme eye contact and they always clink their glasses at the bottom.
And whenever you ask a German about the latter they’ll always tell you this (cheeky) German saying. It translates to, “Women and Beer; always from the bottom!” and I’ll let you figure out why for yourself.
8: “Ich habe einen Kater”
Sticking with German sayings about beer, this lovely little phrase is what people use when they have a hangover.
Now I’ve never had to use this phrase myself but I’d hear it often on Saturday and Sunday mornings after we’d been out to bars and clubs. “Kater” literally translates to a hangover, but you can also use Muskelkater to describe the soreness in your muscles after you’ve been to the gym.
9: “Das ist nicht mein Bier”
Has someone ever told you a problem that you really don’t care about, or want nothing to do with?
“That’s not my beer” literally expresses that emotion in five short words. Much like how you wouldn’t drink someone else’s beer, you’re not going to take on that problem.
This is one of those phrases that it’d be really cool to have in English because, “That’s not my problem” just feels a little bit too unimaginative. The Polish phrase “Not my circus, not my monkeys” is another way of saying the same thing that I really like.
10: “Da steppt der Bär”
Do you have a good feeling about a party or place you’re going to? Well this phrase is the perfect way to express your excitement.
This literally translates to “There steps the bear” and I really can’t think an English equivalent for it. But beware, sometimes Germans use this sarcastically when they’re invited to a party they really don’t want to go to. So be sure to pay attention to the tone of voice when it’s said.
It’s also pretty flexible because you can replace Da with any location or place, for example:
Hier steppt der Bär. “Here steps the bear/ This party is really good!”
Bei Julia steppt der Bär. “At Julia’s it’s a crazy party!”
In der “Bar 100” steppt der Bär heute. “In Bar 100 it’s going to be a great party today!”
Play around with it and use it to show how much you’re looking forward to a party. Or use it sarcastically to express how much you want to leave.
What’s Your Favourite German Saying?
OK, now it’s your turn! What’s your favourite weird, funny, or insightful German saying that you love to use? Share it with the Fi3M community in the comments…
The post 10 Incredible German Sayings: The Inspiring, the Funny and the Just Plain Confusing appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
July 24, 2017
How to Ace a Job Interview in a Non-Native Language
Although I’ve been comfortable with foreign languages since childhood, this frightened me, since my dream job was at stake.
Jumping ahead, I’ll simply say that I was successful, and I got the job I was after.
How did I do this? My success was based on several things: a solid cover letter, a positive attitude, and a firmness of purpose that helped me cope with the stress of the interview, even when I was at a loss for words and couldn’t even answer a fairly simple question. At that moment, I just remembered what my goal was, and I was able to leave the interview with a smile on my face.
But first things first.
It All Starts with a Cover Letter
The importance of a cover letter simply can’t be overemphasized. So before you send your cover letter to the HR department, try to put yourself in their place. Showing your enthusiasm for the role can win over a manager, even if you don’t quite have all the skills the job requires.
Succinctly mention your professional skills and qualities in the cover letter, and explain why you are applying for the position. The letter should address, above all, why you are the best candidate for the position.
But I Don’t Feel Confident Writing in My Non-Native Language!
The idea of writing a cover letter shouldn't frighten you. Don't think of it as an essay or a poetry contest - nobody is judging your eloquence, especially if your dream job is a Front-end Developer. Other popular fears that I've heard are "What should I start with?", "My cover letter is not creative enough!", "I feel like it’s too short!", "It doesn't sell me properly", "I want a managing position, but don't I sound like a leader...", "Should I add some jokes?"
Put those fears to bed by writing something that’s professional and to the point. If it’s an actual printed letter, keep it to one page maximum.
Don't try to be smart or funny. If you don't have a feeling for the language yet, that's OK. Aim to be brief, direct and understandable. Your extraordinary personality may not be visible in your limited writing skills, but you can always have this opportunity during the interview call.
And remember: The fact that you’re writing in a non-native language gives you a unique perspective and writing voice that other candidates won’t have.
Finally, it’s a good idea to get your cover letter checked by a native speaker. Even if you’re at an advanced level in the language, it’s easy enough to make a small mistake that could cost you the opportunity of going to interview.
An Example of a Model Cover Letter
One of my past jobs was to find and hire employees. I would like to share an example of a cover letter which I still remember, and became an inspiration for my own personal cover letter in applying for my current job:
Greetings!
My name is Maria, and I saw your job posting on Facebook. In the past five years I have worked as an art director in an advertising agency and a product designer in three different companies. I created mobile and web applications and complex interfaces for corporate clients.
My Employment (references in the portfolio):
[LIST OF PAST EMPLOYMENT]
I would like to work in a team of competent people who think alike, and which does not place limitations on the designer's freedom to design.
Can we talk?
I liked how Maria managed to state in a couple of lines all the pertinent information concerning her work experience and expertise. Additionally, she explained her reasons for applying for the position. And the references in the portfolio allowed me to verify her work experience.
What Not to Do: The Most Common Mistakes Made in Cover Letters
There are a few common mistakes in cover letters.
Mistake 1: Sending the Same Letter to Everyone
You can send the same resume for different positions, but try to adapt the cover letter to each employer. This is important, first of all, for the applicant himself, because there is no such thing as a letter that will appeal to everyone. Even similar positions in a company differ in some ways, and the candidate must match each position.
Mistake 2: Opening with “Dear Sir/Madam”
Start the letter by referring to the addressee by name. Using profiles on social networks, take a few minutes to get acquainted with HR, and try to use this information effectively.
Mistake 3: Focusing on Tasks over Achievements
Companies are interested in the results you have achieved, not a list of tasks that you performed. It is better to relate one successfully completed project than to waste the personnel manager’s time by listing all of your work-related skills.
I wrote, “I developed applications for projects X and Y. In concert with this, I came up with my own action plan for the project and reduced the time spent working on the application by 30%.”
I’ve mentioned two specific results here. This demonstrates initiative, productivity, and the ability to perform an analysis of one's own work.
A Few More Tips on Writing Your Cover Letter
Take a look at the website of the company where you’re applying for job. Get a sense of the writing style, and try to use the same style in your own letter. This in itself will let the manager know that you’re on the same page.
Mention your hobbies and things you’re interested in. There is always the chance you’ll win over the HR department, if not with your specific interests, then maybe with your active lifestyle. And don’t be afraid to toot your own trumpet and explain why you’re the best candidate for the role.
You’ve Been Invited to Interview! Here’s What to Do Next
An interview in a foreign language is not necessarily a reason to panic.
Try not to give in to your emotions, and be yourself. The interviewer will most likely be more interested in hearing about your skills and achievements than looking for minor errors in pronunciation and verb forms.
The best thing you can do is prepare yourself for questions that are likely to come up. Let’s take a look at some of those.
Make Sure You Have Answers Prepared to These Typical Interview Questions
In order to get ready for the interview and be less nervous, be prepared for questions such as:
“Tell us about yourself.”
This is usually asked at the very beginning of the interview. In order to make as few mistakes as possible when speaking, try to be succinct. Emphasize your work experience, education, and hobbies. Speak confidently and show interest in the conversation, as if you are talking to a friend. But don’t forget to be respectful.
“Where do you see yourself in…years?”
In response to the recruiter's question about your plans for the next few years, try to talk about your ambitions. Of course, you need to consider the goals of the employer. For example, if there is the potential to become a future marketing manager, a good response would be, “I hope to become the marketing director of one of your future branches.”
“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
Here you can leave out the details about your ability to drink three beers at once or your fear of cars. Emphasize your strengths which will appeal to the employer, such as diligence and punctuality. With regard to weaknesses, focus on something neutral, for example, altruism, perfectionism, or the need to be better than everyone else -- and explain how it can also be a strength.
“Can you give me an example of a time when you … and how you dealt with that?”
This question is becoming more and more common. It is asked to understand how well you manage stress and your ability to cope in difficult situations. Think of an instance when a problem arose in your company and you succeeded in quickly getting it under control.
“What are your salary expectations?”
You never know how a potential employer will react to a specific amount. So instead of giving a direct answer, mention your salaries from previous jobs. You can return to the question of money when the conversation turns to the details of the job or future work. Just say: ”Can we discuss this later if you decide to make me an offer?" For overseas companies, an acceptable answer would be, for example, “In my experience, $38,000-$45,000 per year is a typical salary for this role”.
“Do you have any questions for us?”
This is one of the final questions which will be asked during the interview, and is intended to determine your level of initiative. Ask about training opportunities at the company, interesting projects which are currently underway, the work schedule, and the potential to develop your career. It would be better to prepare these questions in advance to make sure they are worded correctly.
3 Phrases to Help You Win Over an Employer
“I am a multitasker”
You don’t necessarily have to be a one-man orchestra to call yourself a multitasker. You just need to mention a couple of situations where you had to do several tasks on the same project or replace a colleague from another department during his absence.
What employers want to see is that you can adapt yourself to different situations.
“I’m always eager to learn”
Even the most talented people need some training in a new job. Let the recruiter know that you are willing to use your own personal time to learn new things related to the job. You can even share your experience of learning a foreign language or mention other self-study projects.
“I’m looking for the chance to progress”
If your resume did not focus on a specific project, then the future employer, most likely, plans to work with you for a long time. Tell him about your plans for growth and development within the company. This will convince him of the seriousness of your intentions.
What About Job Interviews by Skype?
When preparing for an interview using Skype, make sure you know the local accent and colloquialisms for the country where your interviewer is from. It can be helpful to watch videos on YouTube that will help you to distinguish different accents, and this will help you to properly understand the interviewer’s manner of speaking.
Before the interview, check all of the settings on the computer. The camera should be positioned so that the interviewer sees you just as he would if you were sitting across from him. Eliminate all possible sources of noise: turn off the radio and TV, send children out for a walk (with an appropriate adult!), and lock pets in another room. You need to be able to fully concentrate on the questions asked by the potential employer. Believe me, not every HR manager will want to sit there and smile at the chaos in your house, waiting until you deal with the problems and return to the conversation.
More Tips and Tricks to Ace Your Job Interview in a Non-Native Language
If there are language clubs in your city, go to a few meetings. Only real, active conversations with native speakers will teach you to properly react to intonation and answer readily and properly. You can also ask others there to rehearse an interview with you, thereby preparing you for even the most unexpected subjects that could come up.
If during interview you find yourself in an awkward or difficult situation – for example, if you do not understand the question of the interviewer, or if a joke he told is not funny – start improvising. Remember all those uncomfortable situations from the movies that main characters find themselves in, and apply them in practical ways. The most important thing to do on an interview is to focus on your strengths. In the TV show Suits, one of the main characters was able to land a position as a lawyer in leading firm because of his outstanding memory.
Here is a trick that I have used: If I don’t understand a question and I can’t quickly give an answer, I simply say: "I didn't catch that. Could you repeat the question?" Remember, there’s no shame in being honest.
What if you don’t have the vocabulary to answer a question, or your mind goes blank? While it’s always better to answer questions where you can, a useful strategy here is “switching”. This is where you reflect the question back to the interviewer. For example, you could say “Can you tell me a bit more about what you mean by that?” This puts the focus back onto the interview, and gives you some time to gather your thoughts.
If your internet connection is playing up, say that there is a bad connection (“I have a problem with my Internet connection. Please repeat your question.”). In fact, this can be to your advantage. It has given me the opportunity to glance at the notes that I made beforehand and find clues, or look at my printed resume (so I can easily return to questions about my previous employment).
And I have attached useful phrases to the wall above the computer so I’m not looking all over the place in order to come up with an answer.
Try to speak slowly, and don’t be afraid to ask the interviewer to do the same. Often people think that a person knows a foreign language well if he speaks it quickly. But the phrase “Fools rush in” is directly applicable to interviews. Your chance of blowing it in the eyes of the interviewer is especially high when you are speaking his own language. Additionally, if you speak a bit more slowly, you’ll have a little more time to think about the questions you’re asked. And appropriately placed pauses will help to emphasize key thoughts and ideas.
Learn more about the history of the company you want to work for. What inspired the creation of it? Who was there at the very beginning? Learn about its products and services, and read reviews about it. Be ready to talk about your first impressions upon being introduced to the company.
Resources to Help You Prepare for Job Interviews
Here are some good online resources to will help you prepare for job interviews in any language, but particularly in English:
The University of Kent, one of Britain’s leading universities, outlines 150 potential interview questions (and how to answer them) for those who are looking for their first job;
The British Council website has collected dozens of podcasts about marketing, PR, biotechnology, medicine, motivation, job search, and management;
Ronnie, who will teach you not only how to swear in English (don’t do that when you’re applying for a job!), but also how to get through an interview.
The most difficult part of a job interview in a foreign language is making the decision to embark on this adventure. People who rarely speak another language in everyday life find it especially difficult to imagine that, considering their poor communication skills, they will be understood by the interviewer. But in fact, interviewers are often willing to work with potential employees and give them time for in-depth study of the language after they are hired.
The post How to Ace a Job Interview in a Non-Native Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
July 21, 2017
Spanish Jokes: 9 Lame but Hilarious Jokes in Spanish
Okay, that one isn't going to win me any comedy prizes. To redeem myself, I’ll share some funny jokes in Spanish. As well as making you laugh (maybe), they might help with your Spanish learning, and teach you some new words.
Jokes in Spanish are known as chistes, although the word “joke” could also be translated as broma. The latter is more like a practical joke or a prank that you play on someone, while the former is a witty line or story that you tell to someone. In this article I'll list a few chistes; if you’re interested in learning some bromas, I’ll leave that up to you.
Obviously, there are many funny Spanish jokes where the humour doesn’t come from wordplay or a pun, meaning they could easily be translated into English and you’d still understand the punchline (or in fact you might have already heard it in English.)
For our purposes here I’ll stick with the Spanish jokes that are harder to translate.
1 - Lazy Cows
Cuáles son las vacas más perezosas? Vacaciones!
Translation:
“What’s the laziest type of cow? A vacation!”
This is a great example of a pun-based joke that makes absolutely no sense when translated. It’s a play on the fact that the word vaca, meaning “cow”, is the same as the first two syllables of vacación, meaning “vacation”. So “vaca-ciones” are like lazy cows, because they always go on vacations… get it? Okay, maybe not the funniest chiste ever, but moving on...
2 - Exercising Bees
¿Qué hace una abeja en el gimnasio? Zumba!
Translation:
“What does a bee do in the gym? Zumba!”
To understand this, you must know that the verb zumbar means “to buzz”, i.e. the noise that bees make. And in many gyms you can work out with the popular dance fitness program Zumba™. So what does a bee do in the gym? Why, he zumbas of course!
Zumba was invented by a Colombian, so after hearing this joke I was curious whether it was deliberate choice that the name means “buzz”. As it turns out, the name isn’t supposed to mean anything, it was just chosen because it sounds cool. So now I know.
3 - An Apple at the Bus Stop?
Una manzana está esperando el autobús. Llega una banana y le pregunta:
«¿Hace mucho que usted espera?»
Y la manzana responde:
«No, yo siempre fui manzana.»
Translation:
“An apple is waiting at the bus stop. A banana arrives and asks him:
“‘Have you been waiting here for very long?’
“And the apple replies:
“‘No, I’ve always been an apple.’”
The pun here is on the word espera - “you wait” - which sounds like “es pera”, “you are (a) pear”. (These verbs are in the third-person form, but here they mean “you” because the banana is addressing the apple with the polite pronoun “usted”.)
So the banana has asked the apple how long he’s been waiting, but the apple thinks that he’s been asked “have you been a pear for very long?”
Good luck translating that one into English and making people laugh!
4 - Two Nuns
Era un grupo de chicos sentados en el banco y pasan 2 monjas. Dice uno «Las conozco, una tiene una heladería y otra tiene una joyería.» «¿Cómo sabes tú eso?» «Porque una es Sor Bete, y la otra Sor Tija.»
Translation:
Some boys were sitting on a bench when two nuns walked past. One boy said, “I know them, one of them runs an ice cream shop and the other one runs a jeweller’s.” “How do you know that?” “Because one of them is Sister Bete, and the other one is Sister Tija.”
Nuns in English have the title “Sister”, while in Spanish it’s “Sor”, not to be confused with “hermana”, which is the literal term for a female sibling. The observant boy in our story knows that the nuns names are Sister “Bete” and Sister “Tija”, or in other words, sorbete (sorbet) and sortija (ring). So of course sorbete makes ice cream for a living and sortija makes jewellery.
Another version of this joke involves Sor Teo (sorteo - raffle), who’s always very lucky, and Sor Presa (sorpresa - surprise) - who often arrives unexpected.
5 - Two Cubans and Santa
Había una vez en Cuba dos Cubanos y uno le preguntó al otro:
- Oye chaval ¿tú sabes quién es Santa Claus?
Y el otro respondió:
- Pue papá noel
Y él respondió:
- Pue mamá tampoco
Translation:
There were two Cubans in Cuba and one said to the other:
“Hey dude, do you know who Santa Claus is?”
“Well, he’s Father Christmas.”
“Well, he’s not mother either.”
This one is a lighthearted jab at the way Cuban people speak, since they often drop the “s” sound when it’s at the end of a word. When one Cuban says “Papa Noel”, Father Christmas, the other thinks he said papa no é, the Cuban way of pronouncing “papa no es” (he/she/it’s not dad.) So the second Cuban replies to say that it’s not mother either.
By the way, “pue”, written above, is not a real (written) word, but a a phonetic way of writing how most Cubans would pronounce the word “pues”, which means “well”.
6 - This Heater is a Rip-Off!
- ¿Cuánto cuesta esta estufa?
- Cinco mil dólares
- Pero, oiga, ¡esto es una estafa!
- No, señor, esto es una estufa
Translation:
How much does this heater cost?
Five thousand dollars.
Wow, this thing is a rip-off!
No, sir, this is a heater.
This one is easy to understand. The Spanish word estufa, meaning “heater” (or “stove” in some places like Mexico), sounds similar to estafa, meaning a swindle, scam, or rip-off. So when our shopper hears how expensive the estufa is, he declares it to be an estafa. Hilarity ensues?
7 - Little Jaime and the Solar System
- Jaimito, ¿qué planeta va después de Marte?
- Miércole!
Translation:
Jaime, what planet is after Mars?
Wednesday!
Jaimito - “little Jaime” - is another well-known character in Spanish comedy. He’s similar to “Little Johnny”, subject of many jokes in English. Jaimito and Little Johnny are both mischievous young boys known for saying cheeky, witty, and risqué things to grown-ups, usually their teachers.
Like “Little Johnny jokes” in English, many Jaimito jokes are rather rude, but above I’ve given a more family-friendly one. Jaimito’s teacher asks him which planet in the solar system comes after Marte, the planet Mars, which sounds like martes, Tuesday. And Wednesday is miércoles. So if Marte sounds like “martes” without the S, and “miércoles” comes after martes, then what comes after Marte? Miércole, of course!
I’m sure Jaimito gets good grades...
8 - Is the Snake Free?
- ¡Socorro, me ha picado una víbora!
- ¿Cobra?
- No, gratis.
Translation:
Help, I’ve been bitten by a snake!
A cobra?
No, free.
Yet another pun that’s lost in translation. The joke is that the noun cobra, the type of snake which has the same name in English, is a homonym of the third-person singular form of the verb cobrar, which means “to charge” (as in to charge money.)
So when the second person in the dialogue tries to guess the type of snake - “¿Cobra?” - he could also be asking “does he charge”, as in “did the snake charge you for the bite?”. So the bite victim replies that no, the bite was free.
9 - English Nose
- ¿Cómo se escribe «nariz» en inglés?
- No sé
- Correcto!
Translation:
How do you write “nose” in English?
I don’t know.
Correct!
I started this article with a joke that requires knowledge of both English and Spanish, so why not end with something similar? “No sé” means “I don’t know”, but it’s of course written with the same letters as the English word “nose”. So if a Spanish speaker asks you how to say nariz in English, and you tell them you don’t know… you’ve also given them the correct answer.
What are your favourite jokes in Spanish? Let me know in the comments.
The post Spanish Jokes: 9 Lame but Hilarious Jokes in Spanish appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
July 14, 2017
Bilingual Baby: How to Teach Your Baby Two Languages
First things first: Is it beneficial to raise a child with multiple languages? There are arguments on both sides of the fence. However, according to the majority of scientific studies, teaching your child two languages is beneficial. The benefits of being a bilingual child include:
The ability to communicate with extended family
Open-mindedness and acceptance
Future job opportunities
Being a “language friendly learner”. They’ll find it easier to acquire more languages later on in life.
A more diverse cultural upbringing (with literature, films, perspectives, music, games, culture, and so on.)
An increased ability to focus
Neuroplasticity
Delayed onset of Alzheimer’s disease in comparison to monolinguals
Are there any reasons not to have a bilingual baby? The greatest argument against introducing multiple languages at a young age seems to be that teaching a child more than one language will confuse them or cause delays in their learning. But recent research is proving this wrong.
Growing up, I often heard my father lament the fact that his father had never taught him and his brothers Croatian (his native language). This had huge impact on me - and is one of the reasons I’m now learning Croatian.
After hearing my father’s story, I swore to myself that I never wanted my children to feel the way my father felt. I never wanted them to feel that I had shorted them in some way by not sharing my languages and cultural heritage. If later on in life they choose not to learn several languages, then that’s their decision to make. But the least I can do is offer them the languages I speak.
Here’s How to Teach Your Baby Two Languages (or more!)
When it comes to successfully bringing up a bilingual baby, there’s no one size fits all approach. It’s all about finding what works best for your situation and your child.
There are four methods for raising bilingual kids that seem to be the most widespread, so we’ll focus on them and how they can support your child’s bilingual development.
One Person One Language (OPOL)
The One Person, One Language method is where each parent consistently speaks a different language to the child. This could mean that the mother speaks her native Portuguese with her children, while her partner speaks to them in English.
This method is also effective when the two languages used by the parents are different to the main language used outside the home. In other words, it’s still okay even if neither parents’ language is the majority language where the family lives. In the example I used, with a Portuguese speaking mother and an English speaking partner, the family could live in Japan, and thus, the child would learn a third language through school.
The One Person, One Language approach is often regarded as the best method for teaching a child two languages because it is believed that it results in less mixing. It also ensures that your baby has regular exposure to both languages.
That said, it requires a lot of dedication from the parents to avoid mixing languages.
Minority Language at Home (ML@H)
While children need support in every language they speak, many parents find that a minority language needs extra support. When this is the case, many families adopt the Minority Language at Home approach.
This means that the minority language is used at home by both parents with the children.
For example, both parents speak French at home (whether it is the native language of both parents or not) while living in Germany (where the child learns to speak German outside of the home).
Time and Place (T&P)
The Time and Place method is commonly used in bilingual schools. This could mean that during the morning, everyone speaks one language and in the afternoons everyone speaks another language. Alternatively, it could mean that Tuesdays and Thursdays are for the majority language, while Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are spent with the local minority language.
Families can adjust this approach as it suits them, and it could even mean a seasonal approach. Perhaps the majority language is used most of the time, while the minority language is used over the weekends or during summer to coincide with a family vacation to the country where the language is spoken.
Mixed Language Policy (MLP)
With the Mixed Language Policy, parents use the language that is appropriate to the situation. For example, the majority language may be used to help with school projects while the minority language may be used to discuss personal topics.
Teaching a Child Three or More Languages
All the methods I’ve shared so far can be used to teach two or more languages. There’s one more method for families interested in going beyond bilingualism and teaching their children more than two languages.
Two Parents, Two Languages (2P2L)
The Two Parents, Two Languages approach is for parents who are bilingual themselves. This may mean, for example, that the mother speaks to her child in English and German while the father speaks to the children in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Combining Methods for Teaching Bilingualism to Children
Each of the methods I’ve outlined can be combined with one another depending on what is most appropriate for the situation.
Regardless of which method you choose, your child will need as much consistent input and support as possible in each language.
If you need help getting started, we put together a few resources to help support your child’s language learning:
Spanish resources for kids
French resources for kids
Our Approach to Bringing Up a Bilingual Baby
At home, my husband and I already talk to one another in both French and English. With a baby in the house, it has just become a matter of mixing the two less often.
Outside our home, my family speaks English while my husband’s only speaks French. As such, the decision to teach Little Linguist both French and English was easy. For him to be able to communicate with his family, he’d need to know both.
However, we decided we wanted to do more to give him every leg up, so we made the decision to speak to him in Mandarin Chinese, too.
We are currently using the OPOL method, where my husband speaks to him in French and I speak to him in Chinese. Since we live in the US, we aren’t too worried about his English for now. We’re also certain he’ll pick it up from my parents and later on in school.
Of course, as time goes by, we’ll probably need to adapt our methods based on what language support Little Linguist needs as he gets older. I’m sure our strategies will constantly evolve as he grows.
What about you? Have you decided to teach your baby two languages or more? What methods are you using to support their language development?
We’d love to hear about your experiences and methods in the comments.
The post Bilingual Baby: How to Teach Your Baby Two Languages appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
July 10, 2017
When Online Polyglots Disagree – Much Ado About Something
I too am what you would call an online polyglot. A little over 10 years ago I made my first video on YouTube about language learning. I have now reached over 100,000 subscribers. During these ten years, I have made almost 1,000 videos with over 12 million views.
Benny and I are not alone, but part of a community of people doing this. The Internet and modern technology bring people with like interests together in a way that was not possible before.
Linguist or Polyglot - What’s the Difference?
When I started making these videos, I had already learned nine languages over the course of my professional career as a diplomat and businessman. I was only vaguely familiar with the term polyglot. To me, at that time, and probably still for most English-speaking people, someone who speaks a number of languages was a linguist. I have on occasion pointed this out in my videos, which usually created consternation within the community of people who study linguistics, those other linguists. In fact I don’t really think that linguistics is all that relevant to language learning.
I have become more accustomed to the term polyglot in recent years. In fact, since I started making these videos I have learned another eight languages, to varying degrees of proficiency. I am happy to be counted as a polyglot. Certainly the term has become more widely recognized, in part as a result of the activities of Benny and other online polyglots. There is even a new word, polyglottery, which for sure I had never heard before. Polyglottery is a thing!
Certainly, an increasing number of people want to talk about language learning on the Internet, to offer opinions and describe their experiences learning languages. These Internet polyglots write blogs, create YouTube videos, have podcasts, and attend conferences. The number of such real and aspiring polyglots may number in the hundreds, but their follower numbers in the tens or even hundreds of thousands, all over the world.
Much to the amusement of some, these polyglots, myself included, often disagree with each other. Some are in favour of speaking from day one, such as Benny, the host of this blog. Some, like yours truly, favour waiting to speak. Some encourage the use of translation as an important language learning activity. Some think music is important to language learning.
Polyglots have varying degrees of tolerance for or interest in grammar, attending language schools, and using various language learning techniques. In fact, the polyglots are all over the map on a number of issues, and their positions probably evolve over time.
Why does anything they have to say matter if they all disagree? Why listen to them?
Here’s Why Our Disagreement is a Good News Story
Each of these polyglots has a following, people who are interested in what they have to say. These followers may be learning their first language, or they may already be a polyglot with a few languages under their belts, seeking to add more.
One has only to visit the blogs or YouTube channels of these polyglots to see the comments of appreciation from their followers. People credit their favourite polyglot with having stimulated them to start learning a language, or with encouraging them to continue when their enthusiasm lagged.
This is not an insignificant phenomenon.
This spontaneous community of Internet polyglots has great influence, encouraging learners all over the world, whether they attend language schools or learn on their own. Make no mistake, learning another language is one of the most rewarding things people can do. Each language opens a door to another part of our common human experience.
These polyglots, even if they disagree with each other on aspects of learning methodology, or maybe because of it, are positively impacting many people. In a world with lots of bad news stories, this is a good news story.
How the Online World is Influencing Established Language Teaching
Benny Lewis recently developed a series of language hacking books with Teach Yourself that teach a language hacker’s approach to Spanish, French, Italian, and German. It is quite remarkable that one of the leading established publishers of language learning books should reach out to Benny, a member of the online polyglot community, and ask him to craft a learning approach that combines his own personal language experiences with more established techniques.
This is not the only example. Olly Richards, another online polyglot, is doing a similar thing with his Short Stories for Beginners in various languages. While Benny shows learners how to start engaging in conversations in various languages, Olly focuses on graded reading materials that help learners build up vocabulary and get used to new languages.
I suspect that in a few years, the language learning sections of bookstores will no longer just display the well known brands of language learning books, but more and more products that reflect the attitudes and experiences of online polyglots. These approaches may very well differ from each other, but offer a range of possibilities to language learners.
Not only established language learning publishers, but also language schools are taking notice of these people. LingQ, the web and app language learning platform I developed 10 years ago, has contacts with schools and universities, and I am sure the same is true of other polyglots in their various activities. Many of the people who follow their favourite online polyglots are themselves students or even teachers at such institutions. Online polyglots are increasingly a mainstream language learning influence.
“Fighting Polyglots”: A New TV Series?
The fact that these polyglots have areas of disagreement is a form of stimulating entertainment to the people who follow them, many of whom follow more than one of these polyglots. Their fans are sometimes more engaged in the controversies, and more scathing in their criticism of their favourite’s adversary, than the polyglots themselves. But this just increases the interest that surrounds the online polyglot community. “Fighting polyglots” sounds almost like the title of a TV series.
In reality, online polyglots have respect for each others’ achievements, however much they disagree on method. They know how difficult it is to learn a new language and how much work is involved. They believe strongly in the effectiveness of their own language learning method, yet listening to the experience of others forces them to constantly evaluate their own approach.
This doesn’t mean that they convert to the views of others. It does mean that they consider these different approaches and test the validity of their own approaches with each successive language that they learn. Necessarily their views evolve. All of this takes place in full view of their followers. This exposure to contrasting approaches to language learning is a great stimulus to language learners.
Polyglottery: A Growing Movement
Polyglot conferences and gatherings are sprouting with increasing frequency in a number of locations. These are occasions where people meet to speak in different languages and compare language learning methods. The frequency of these get togethers is increasing, and the number of participants is growing. Most Polyglot gatherings have been in Europe; Berlin, Thessaloniki, Reykjavik, Bratislava. But there have been two in North America; New York and Montreal. In fact, the next opportunity for polyglot and language learners to get together is the Montreal language festival. A number of online polyglots will speak at this year’s festival, myself included, and entering the first name of one of them in the promo code box when you buy your ticket will get you a discount!
There are also increasing examples of local polyglot gatherings, where people get together to converse in different languages and exchange notes on language learning. Meetup is a great way to find one near you.
Here are some sources of information on polyglot conferences and get togethers around the world:
8 Life-Changing Language Learning Events Around the Globe
Language Events - Polyglot Club
Polyglot Conference
Polyglot Gathering Berlin 2016 in Review
Language-Related Events - Omniglot
We are Global Social Butterflies, Flapping Our Wings to Share the Joy of Language Learning
Online polyglots like to think of themselves as serious students of languages and language learning who want to share their own experiences and insights with others. Most of them expend a great deal of energy in this endeavour. Some critics, however, may see them as butterflies just flapping their wings to gain attention.
As an online polyglot, and therefore perhaps a butterfly myself, I offer Zhuangzi’s parable of the butterfly as a possible insight into our state of mind.
“Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction.”
I think all online polyglots enjoy what they do, flapping their wings, sharing the joy of language learning, sometimes unaware of who they are. The effect can be quite significant, though, as is exemplified by the butterfly effect.
Small causes can have large effects. I will continue to flap my wings.
The post When Online Polyglots Disagree – Much Ado About Something appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
July 7, 2017
How Speaking from Day One Helped Me Conquer Love and The Spanish Language
Maybe so, maybe not. However, I most certainly didn’t. Five years ago, I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I would be living in Colombia with my wife, speaking Spanish.
But here I am now. It all started with a boring accounting job, then it became a trip to Argentina, and then a longing to be fluent in Spanish. Looking back, I think to myself: “thank goodness I found myself in a boring cubicle job.”
I imagine my story might be like your own in one way or another. At some point in time you decided you had had enough and it was time to start speaking a second language. At some point, you realized it was worth it to take on the tough task of learning a language.
In this article, I am going to show you how speaking from day one helped me finally learn a language, and changed my life forever.
Speaking from Day One - Why it Matters
Let me preface by saying that I didn’t start learning languages with a “speak from day one” approach. I had 4 years of high school Spanish class where I proceeded to learn very little except for the conjugation of words I didn’t understand. That, and my name in the class was Juan.
Like most people I had a tiny bit of Spanish knowledge and could say introductory phrases like ¿Cómo estás? and Me llamo Nate. Part of me longed to speak Spanish, but I just wasn’t there.
I finished school and got a regular job. However, after five years of accounting, I decided that I was done waiting for “someday” to learn a language and chose to take six weeks off to go to Argentina.
“Someday” can mean “never” if you let it. Thankfully, I didn’t.
I went to Argentina to take language classes and quickly found that my immersive program wasn’t going to make me fluent anytime soon. Most people spoke to me in English (in Argentina!) and I couldn’t really hold any actual conversation in Spanish.
I came back home to the states frustrated and looking for answers.
I searched far and wide to find the best and most efficient ways to learn Spanish quickly. That’s when I discovered Benny Lewis and his language hacking approach.
How I Found Fluent in 3 Months
Thankfully, around this time, I stumbled on Benny’s blog and signed up for his awesome Fluent in 3 Months Newsletter.
The main thing I took away from Benny’s teaching was to start speaking in the language right away. It seems so clear now, yet almost everything I was doing at the time was the opposite to this.
I was using boring textbooks and attending large classes. Instead, I should have been conversing in the language and worrying about the grammar later. I had always made the worst mistake of all - waiting until I felt ready to start speaking.
Looking back from where I am now, I do wonder why it is that most school systems start off teaching the grammar structure of a language. It all seems so backward now. Just as children learn to speak by hearing a language spoken and then attempting to speak it themselves, likewise we need to hear the words and start speaking them early on.
The Game Changer: Signing Up for italki
With Benny’s prodding, I signed up for a free account on italki and Conversation Exchange. I quickly found some new friends for informal language exchanges.
There was a limitless number of people that were eager to speak Spanish with me in exchange for me helping them out with their English. I met so many great friends from these two sites.
Never before has it been so easy to connect with people from all over the world - even 10 years ago it would have been much more tricky than it is today.
I found that many people I met for language exchanges just wanted to meet a new friend and preferred to speak Spanish the whole time. So, I essentially had free Spanish lessons despite me asking them if they wanted to switch to English.
Not only that, I took Benny’s advice and started trying out a few Spanish tutors on italki. For less than $10/hour you can schedule language lessons that are 100% focused on your language goals.
I scheduled two or three lessons a week with a few of my favorite Spanish tutors and soon found myself speaking new words and phrases. The main teacher that I used was great and always spoke Spanish to me and even corrected my errors as I went.
I liked him so much as a teacher that I even sent him a Christmas card.
I was soon having natural conversations with native Spanish speakers. I even started to think in Spanish, which to me was a great sign that I was making progress.
I did this all from the comfort of my home. Amazingly, I was making more progress with my Spanish in Austin, Texas than I was in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The difference was the way I was learning. I stopped focusing on grammar and hearing about all the intricacies of the language and started to speak. Of course, as I talked with natives I was slowly picking up grammar and improving my pronunciation and vocabulary along the way.
It turns out this Benny guy knew what he was talking about!
Searching for A Language Friend and Finding Love
Around this time that I met this one Spanish friend on Conversation Exchange named Andrea. We quickly swapped Skype usernames and started up a language exchange online.
We immediately hit it off right away. There seemed to be some sort of connection even though she was thousands of miles away living in Colombia.
We kept talking for the next year and a half online a few times a month. I improved my Spanish with her and I helped her in her nearly perfect English.
Then, one day, I told her casually that I was planning on hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru with friends in the upcoming year.
She mentioned that it was always her dream to go and see Machu Picchu. I quickly jumped on the opportunity and invited her to come with us and to bring a friend.
Naturally, she was hesitant at first and it took a lot prodding for her to finally decide to come with us on the journey with a guy she met online. We planned for it to be traveling as friends only.
The Month Long First Date…
We did start out as friends in Machu Picchu, but a week or so into the trip it became what in retrospect was a month long first date. We traveled through Ecuador to the “Mitad del Mundo” and then on to her beautiful home country of Colombia where we saw some incredible sights in Bogota and Cartagena.
The month long first date had to end at some point and I headed back to the States with a commitment that we’d remain together. Anyways, she ended up coming to the US to volunteer for half a year in which I got to know her more closely. I eventually realized that I wanted to make her my wife!
What If I Never Took the First Step and Started Speaking from Day One?
As you can see, learning Spanish and speaking from day 1 has been life changing for me to say the least. I am not just saying that to be dramatic.
I often think back as to what would have happened if I didn’t find myself in a boring job and a desire to travel for six weeks in Argentina. If I didn’t travel to Argentina, I might never have taken Spanish seriously and followed Benny’s advice to speak from day one.
I certainly wouldn’t be embarrassing myself each week on my wife and I’s Spanish conversations podcast.
By speaking from day one, I met many great online tutors and Spanish speaking friends, one of which is now my wife. The timing all seems so perfect looking back.
When I finally did go to Machu Picchu a little over a year after starting the “speak from day one” approach, I was already conversationally fluent in the language.
When I look back at how much progress I made it is quite mind boggling. In less than one year, I went from speaking very little of the language to having normal everyday conversations with native speakers.
It was, as they say, Vale la pena! (“Totally worth it!)
Why You Should Start Speaking Your Target Language Right Now
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I believe speaking right away is essential to learning whatever language you want to learn.
I cannot promise that you will find love, nor do I recommend that you learn a language to find a soul mate. But what I can guarantee is that you will be pushed and challenged more than you ever have. Good things never come easily.
You will soon find yourself picking up new vocabulary words and improving your grammar and pronunciation as you hear and speak with natives.
You will probably make a fool of yourself many, many times, but you will grow in confidence and learn more about the people that you come across. Fact of the matter is, you will become a better you.
The post How Speaking from Day One Helped Me Conquer Love and The Spanish Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
July 3, 2017
Spanish Accents and Dialects Around the World
Of course not!
Like most languages, Spanish is diverse and can vary significantly, even in the same country. Even within Spain there are many Spanish dialects and accents (along with four official languages!).
Being able to understand a range of dialects is part of what takes you from intermediate to expert Spanish speaker - which is why it’s important to learn the differences between the main Spanish dialects.
There are TONS of Spanish dialects, so for the purpose of this article I will focus on the main Spanish accents including Mexican, Spanish, Argentinian, Northern South American, Central American, Caribbean and Chilean.
Let’s get started!
The Mexican Spanish Accent
If you’ve ever visited the Southwestern US, you will likely have heard Mexican Spanish.
There are two big influences on Mexican Spanish: Indigenous languages such as Nahuatl and Tzotzil, and American English.
As an example of indigenous influence many common Spanish words such as chocolate (same meaning in English) and aguacate (“avocado”) come from Nahuatl. And it’s worth noting that there are many Mexican communities that are purely Indigenous and don't speak Spanish.
Mexican Spanish also features many English loan words. For example, Mexicans would say computadora for “computer,” while Spaniards use ordenador. Another case of this is the verb rentar, meaning “to rent”, while other countries use alquilar.
Lastly, Mexican Spanish has many interesting slang words and phrases, such as the common word güey. In colloquial usage, güey means “dude” or “homie” and an example of this is Que pedo güey? or “What up dude?” However, güey literally means “castrated bull”. Another phrase that is common in Mexican vernacular is chingar and its variations. Chingar means “f*ck”, but it has many variations such as chingón, meaning “badass”.
The Castilian Spanish Accent
Ah, Spain, the birthplace of Castellano, or Castilian Spanish.
Within Spain, the main Spanish dialect is Castilian Spanish, and it has different verb conjugations from other Spanish speaking countries.
A key example of these differences is that Spaniards use the vosotros verb form. Vosotros is an informal second person conjugation, which is used to address a group of people. This form is used with friends, while the ustedes form is a second person conjugation used to convey respect when speaking with groups of elders or people in positions of authority. For example, cómo estáis?, or “how are you guys?”, uses the vosotros form. On the other hand, cómo están ustedes?, is the ustedes translation of “how are you all?”. The vosotros form is only used in Spain, and rarely in other Spanish-speaking countries. Thus, students who learn Latin American Spanish will have little exposure to the vosotros verb form.
Spaniards also have unique grammatical forms, most notably the imperfect subjunctive. The imperfect subjunctive is an important Spanish grammar tense used to talk about uncertainty in the past. Most Spanish-speaking countries use -ra endings, while Spaniards frequently use -se endings. llegara, “to arrive”, is one of llegar's imperfect subjunctive forms, and Spaniards would use llegase instead. Despite the spelling differences (ra/ se endings) these words mean the same thing.
The imperfect subjunctive can be a tricky tense, but it becomes easier to use with practice. The following phrase, Espero que llegaras ayer meaning “I hope you arrived yesterday”, uses the imperfect subjunctive form of llegar. This tense is used in many uncertain situations, especially those regarding emotion and doubt. Many Spanish learners would be tempted to say Espero que llegaste ayer, which would be grammatically incorrect.
Castellano is famous for its unique accent, which sounds like a lisp. For example, if a word has a z, ci, or ce, these make a th- sound. So if you want to pronounce Barcelona authentically, you would say bar-the-lona. Likewise, Zaragoza would be thara-go-tha. To do make this lisp sound, stick your tongue between your teeth and let the air pass through the small gap.
Rioplatense Spanish
Argentina and Uruguay have unique Spanish dialects with tons of distinct phrases. Since Argentina and Uruguay border the Rio de la Plata, their variation of Spanish is known as Rioplatense.
Both countries experienced a high influx of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century, and as such Rioplatense is strongly influenced by Italian. For example, for “goodbye”, people in these countries rarely use the traditional hasta luego. Instead, they’ll say chau, which is derived from the Italian ciao. Neighbouring Brazil was also influenced by Italian immigrants in this time period and Brazilians use tchau to say goodbye.
Argentinians typically use the vos form for the informal “you”. Some other countries that use vos include Paraguay, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Vos is not an Italian word, but rather an archaic Latin word meaning “you”. French and other Romance languages have their own versions of “you” derived from vos. For example, vous is used in French as a formal “you”.
Vos has its advantages, especially by having fewer stem-changing verbs in comparison to the standard tú form conjugations. Here are some examples of vos conjugations compared to tú conjugations:
hablar (to talk): tú hablas / vos hablás ( you talk)
sentir (to feel): tú sientes / vos sentís (you feel)
poder (to be able to): tú puedes / vos podés (you can)
querer (to want): tú quieres / vos querés (you want)
An easy way to conjugate verbs in the vos tense is to use the below patterns:
-ar verbs: remove ar and add ás
-er verbs: remove er and add és
-ir verbs: remove ir and add ís
Another benefit of using vos, is that commands are much easier than the traditional tú form: To conjugate vos commands, all you need to do is drop the r and add an accent on the last letter. Better yet, there are no irregulars with the exception of ir (to go) which would be andá.
Examples:
beber: bebé (drink)
bailar: bailá (dance)
vivir: viví (live)
hacer: hacé (to do/make)
Finally, Argentinians and Uruguayans pronounce y and ll as a sh- sound. So yo me llamo would be "sho me shamo." Unlike Castilian Spanish, Argentinian Spanish has standard pronunciation of z, c, and s, although the “s” at the end of words can be aspirated in certain regions. So, más cerveza (“more beer”) would be "ma cerveza."
Spanish in Northern Latin America
In this section, I am referring to Spanish spoken in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia. These dialects are often considered easier to understand, and the Colombian accent has been called the "most neutral Spanish accent." That’s because in this region, people speak Spanish more slowly and don’t cut words.
As with Mexico, many of these countries (especially Peru and Bolivia) have a high concentration of indigenous tribes. In fact, indigenous languages such as Quechua and Aymara are official languages in these regions and have influenced their Spanish accents. The word chullo, a type of hat, derives from the Quechan word ch'ullu, which has the same definition.
In these regions, especially Colombia, y and ll are pronounced with a soft “j” sound. So calle would be cay-je and yo is pronounced jo.
The Spanish Accent in Central America
Central America is comprised of the Spanish-speaking nations of Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador. While each country has its own unique dialect, proximity to North and South America play a special role here. Guatemalan Spanish is closely related to Mexican Spanish, while Panamanian Spanish shares parallels with Colombian Spanish.
As mentioned above, many countries in this region such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, use vos instead of tú, as in Argentina.
Costa Rican culture, meanwhile, can be epitomized by its usage of the phrase Pura Vida, “Pure Life”. Pura Vida reflects the pure natural resources like rainforests, volcanoes and beaches within Costa Rica. Pura Vida can also be a response to a question, and means “ok” or “cool”. In response to como estás (“how are you?”), Pura Vida means “I’m great”.
Caribbean Spanish Accents
Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic have unique Spanish dialects, but they’re all categorized as Caribbean Spanish.
If you think other native speakers speak quickly, Caribbean Spanish takes it to a whole new level. For example, the “d” at the end of the word is completely dropped turning mitad or “half”, into mita. In a similar way, para, which means “for”, becomes pa'. Also, the “s” is quite slippery as it is frequently missed off not only the start and end of words, but also the middle. For example, estoy aquí en la estación, or “I’m here in the station”, is pronounced as ehtoy aquí en la ehtació.
Puerto Rico is unique because it's not a country, but a territory of the US. Thus, English greatly influences Puerto Rican Spanish. Like English speakers, Puerto Ricans emphasize “r” sounds at the end of words. For instance, they pronounce the word matar as matar, while most Spanish countries will softly pronounce the final “r”. What’s more, the letter “r” is treated very differently depending on where it is in the word. If an “r” comes at the end of a syllable (not followed by a vowel) it's typically converted to an “l” sound, so "Puerto Rico" becomes "Puelto Rico".
Dominican Spanish is influenced by both indigenous tribes and the history of African slavery. Before the Spanish conquered the Caribbean, many native tribes of the Taíno people lived there. Common Spanish words of Taíno origin include maracas (the musical instrument) and hamaca (“hammock”).
As I’ve alluded to, the languages of African slaves impacted Carribbean Spanish. For example, Dominican Spanish uses pronouns in ways similar to African languages like Igbo. Instead of a saying cómo estás tú, Dominicans like to say cómo tú ta. It is common to add the pronoun ahead of the verb in a question along with shortening verbs (e.g. ta instead of está). In standard Spanish, questions follow the format of verb then subject as shown in the phrase; Adónde vas tú translated as “Where are you going?” Dominicans, on the other hand, could say Adónde tú vas?
Like other dialects such as Puerto Rican Spanish, Dominicans like to cut words. As shown above, está becomes ta, which can make words run together. While this change might appear minor, Dominicans are infamous for their rapid speech along with word cutting, making it hard for even native Spanish speakers to understand it.
The Chilean Spanish Dialect
Like Caribbean Spanish, Chilean Spanish is unique and difficult.
A key feature is that Chileans pronounce ch like “sh” which would make Chile sound like “Shi-lé”. Also, words ending with a vowel followed by “do” or “da” eliminate the “d” sound. So, words such as fundido (“melted”), fracasado (“failed”) and patudo (“sassy”) will most often sound like “fundío”, “fracasáo”, or “patúo”. However, it is very important to distinguish between the accent on the second-to-last vowel as this can change word meanings. Even though accents can seem trivial, one letter can change the entire meaning of the word. For example, ’e ‘onde eres, properly pronounced as de donde eres, meaning “where are you from?” will blend the words together making it very tough to understand.
In a similar way, when a word ending with the letter “a” is immediately followed by another word beginning with the letter “d”, the “d” sound is removed. So, the phrase dónde está la biblioteca becomes “‘onde esta la biblioteca”. Another example is persona del espacio, which would be said as “persona ‘e espacio”. Likewise, words ending in “von” drop the “v” sound, so the common word huevón (“dude”) becomes “hue-ón”.
In addition, para el plus a masculine word is shortened to pa’l and sounds like PAL in palm. With para la plus afeminine word it becomes pá la and and can been seen in the phrase el regalo es para la maestra or "el regalo es pá la maestra", which both mean “ the gift is for the teacher.” Since para is a very commonly used word, cutting words and merging syllables can make it tough to understand. Thus, it’s crucial to get accustomed to this quirk if you’re trying to learn Chilean Spanish.
Conclusion
Spanish is a diverse language with many unique dialects, each of which has its own quirks.
As you become more proficient in Spanish, it’s fun to distinguish where someone is from based on their slang and accent.
Have you heard other Spanish dialects that I missed in this article? Please share about them in the comments. Don’t be shy!
The post Spanish Accents and Dialects Around the World appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
June 30, 2017
Why You’re Stuck At Intermediate Spanish … And How To Break Through The Plateau
Did you breeze through your beginner lessons, only to run into a brick wall as you approach intermediate Spanish?
If so, grab a pen and paper, and clear your schedule for the next 5 minutes…
I’m going to show you the following:
Why your progress in Spanish seems to be slowing
The “intermediate plateau” – and why it’s important
The problem with your current study method
10 ways to use the “whole language” to get unstuck and bring fluency in Spanish one step closer
Getting stuck at intermediate level in a language is a well-documented phenomenon, and you’re not alone!
I’ve squared up to this predictable roadblock in all the 8 languages I speak, and come out on top most of the time!
Once you understand what’s going on, and commit to studying in a new, exciting way, you can shake off the cobwebs and breathe a new lease of life into your Spanish overnight.
The Honeymoon Period of Beginner’s Spanish
I began learning Spanish by myself, many years ago, in a grey, asphalt corner of London, England.
During the first few months, I felt like I was learning quickly.
I had some native speaker friends around me, and they taught me a lot of cool phrases, such as colloquial ways of greeting people: ¿Cómo estamos? ¿Qúe pasó, tío?
And some cool replies: ¡No tan bien como tú!
My first conversations didn’t amount to much, but I was so excited to be really communicating in Spanish!
(What I didn’t know at the time is that when you’re a beginner people have a tendency to humour you, and make you feel like you’re a much better speaker than you actually are!)
I gained vocabulary.
I learnt some basic verb conjugations.
Before long, I could start making up my own sentences, not just repeating the same things I learnt in my books.
Every day, after practicing with my fiends, I would go home feeling great, and thinking: "I'll be fluent in Spanish in no time!"
I remember even starting to flip ahead in my textbook, excited about the next lesson.
The Roadblock Hit Me Like A Ton Of Bricks
Sure enough, the honeymoon period came to an end.
It happened to me in Spanish, and it’s happened in every language ever since…
At first, it's easy and fun.
Then something changes. You're not sure why. You may not know exactly when. You can't quite put your finger on what happened. Yet, at some point, you stop feeling like you're really learning.
Things start to become frustrating.
Maybe it's a grammar point that you just can’t get right: choosing between the infamous ser and estar, for example. Or conjugating your –ir and –er verbs in different tenses.
No matter how long you go over the rules, you still make mistakes.
No matter how many times you conjugate verbs on paper, it still takes you ten minutes to utter a decent sentence.
You wonder if you're not meant for language learning. Maybe you blame your teacher. Maybe you start looking into French classes, convinced that Spanish just isn't your cup of tea.
Well, I can’t vouch for your teacher, but I can tell you this…
Hitting this language roadblock is totally normal. In fact, it even has a name. It's called the “intermediate plateau”.
The Intermediate Plateau in Language Learning (and Why It Matters)
When you start learning a new language, your progress has a positive gradient.
Your knowledge builds quickly, and that makes the process fun! Every word you learn seems immediately useful…
Verbs like: comer, beber, entender or gustar
Nouns like: bebida, teléfono, casa
Adjectives like: rápido, inteligente, bueno
Eventually, your learning levels out to a plateau.
By this stage, you already know the most common words in Spanish. Your speaking may lack finesse, but you can hold a conversation in Spanish, and get your point across.
From this point on, everything you’re learning now seems less and less useful in conversation:
Verbs like: mascullar (to mumble) , engrapar (to staple), or apoderar (to empower)
Nouns like: herramientas (tools), estantería (bookshelf), huerta (orchard)
Adjectives like: tibio (warm), hervido (boiled), and so on…
Not only do you not need this vocabulary right away, you might go for weeks or months without using these words even once.
Because your new vocabulary is harder to use, you have the impression that you’re not progressing as quickly as before.
But this is just an illusion.
In fact, you’re still learning just as much as before – it just doesn’t feel that way!
Finer Shades Of Meaning Are Harder To Get Right
This feeling of diminishing returns isn’t limited to vocabulary.
It also extends to Spanish grammar.
When you start learning Spanish, you begin with the present tense. Next, you learn the preterit to discuss things in the past, and perhaps one of the future constructions to talk about future plans.
These tenses are great for explaining immediate needs and telling simple stories.
When your Spanish reaches intermediate level, though, you begin to encounter other forms of grammar that are used to convey finer shades of meaning, such as other forms of the past tense, the conditional and the subjunctive
“Why do we need all these tenses?” you might catch yourself thinking!
Consider the different ways you might ask a colleague to go to the bank – using the subjunctive:
Quiero que vayas al banco
Me gustaría que fueras al banco
Me gustaría que fueses al banco
Now, you might spend months studying how to use the subjunctive accurately, but it doesn’t make a great deal of difference to your ability to communicate – you can get your point across with a rudimentary: Vas al banco, por favor (and a smile).
Once again, it feels like a lot of study, for not much return.
A Strategy For Breaking Through The Intermediate Plateau In Spanish
Essentially, what we’ve been talking about up until now is a growing disconnect between what you’re studying, and what you need in order to communicate.
The more your learn, the more abstract it becomes.
The key to progressing past the intermediate plateau in Spanish is to make everything you're learning feel relevant and useful.
Only once your learning appears relevant and useful will your brain work hard to retain it.
In order to make more advanced Spanish feel useful, you need to go beyond the textbook and study the whole language.
“Whole language” is the opposite of grammar exercises and word lists in your textbook. It means spending time with Spanish in context - as it is used in real life.
You study the whole language when you do two things:
Connect with Spanish regularly through self-study and personal interest
Make Spanish part of your daily life (not just an activity for study time or weekends)
The best way to learn Spanish on your own involves speaking with others and interacting with the language beyond the classroom, especially by doing things that you enjoy.
When you learn Spanish this way, new words and phrases automatically have meaning from the context you find them in – even if they’re less frequent.
Not only that, but learning with the “whole language” massively increase your exposure to the Spanish language, resulting in exponential opportunities to learn.
(Oh, and doing things this way is also a lot more fun!)
Let’s talk about practical ways to do this:
10 Ways To Beat The Intermediate Plateau
1. Read. Listen and read. Listen
Becoming fluent in Spanish requires you to spend a lot of time in the company of the language. The easiest way to do this is by listening and reading to things you enjoy. However, material intended for native speakers can be difficult to understand. The most effective way to learn with real Spanish is to find listening material that comes with the transcript (Or books that come with the audio).
When you can read what you hear (or vice versa), you have far more chance of learning and retaining the information. Your listening skills also improve, as you can find clues in the text that you might not be able to hear by yourself.
Here's how to do it:
Find audio (podcasts, music, or audio recordings of books) that also has a written transcript
Listen multiple times without stopping the recording
Focus on pushing your ear to pick up as much it can by itself
Then, add the transcript and look up any difficult vocabulary
Continue to listen and read, trying to increase your understanding each time
When you’re confident of understanding the text, hide the transcript and see if you can understand everything just by listening
Here's an example of this approach in practice:
httpvh://youtu.be/_hJPsaaZXBg
It’s important not to use material that’s too far above your level. If you're not sure where to get good material for this, check out the Fluent Spanish Academy.
2. Listen to music or podcasts during your commute
Do you commute to work or school? If so, then try listening to music or podcasts in Spanish in the car or on public transportation. Podcasts usually employ clear, well-articulated speech, making it easy for learners to listen. You can even find podcasts specifically for learners.
Listening to music without the help of transcripts is a less effective study method than the "Listen. Read. Listen and read. Listen." method described above. However, it may be easier to fit into your daily routine and you might decide to look up lyrics for favourite songs later, after hearing them a couple of times.
3. Read a novel in Spanish
If you’ve never tackled a book in Spanish before, start with a translated book that you've already read in English. That way, you'll already know the plot and will have a “scaffold” to help you handle new vocabulary, thereby spending less time with a dictionary.
When you're ready for a real challenge, grab a novel originally written in Spanish. If you don't know any authors, look for something by Isabel Allende. She's a Chilean author with tons of classic titles that can easily be found both online and in bookstores. I also like Gabriel García Márquez, the late Colombian novelist.
4. Create Regular Opportunities To Speak Spanish
Readers of Fluent in 3 Months hardly need reminding of the need to speak their target language. However, one thing is knowing it, another is doing it. It’s easy to fall into the habit of studying Spanish and never getting into the habit of speaking it – because speaking Spanish regularly requires you to get off the sofa and haul yourself out to language events…or at least to your computer!
Speaking is so fundamental to breaking through the intermediate plateau that you must make sure you’re speaking at least 2-3 times a week before you worry about anything else. Doing this will throw all kinds of unexpected situations at you, and give you the option to put into practice everything you’re learning. There are tonnes of ways to meet native speakers, but with iTalki.com (online) and Meetup.com (real world) you’re covered.
5. Do online searches in Spanish
How many times a day do you search for information online? Is there anything stopping you doing your searches in Spanish? No. Product reviews, recipes, destination guides… they’re all great ways to get meaningful Spanish practice, and learn a lot of incidental language while you’re at it.
6. Use your phone in Spanish
Go into your settings and set your phone's language to Spanish. About 90% of the time you probably navigate your phone using mostly icons anyways, so you won't get too lost or frustrated. However, you will give yourself constant, daily interactions with Spanish.
7. Watch TV shows in Spanish
If you like watching TV, switch out your English shows for Spanish language ones, like El Príncipe. Don’t go anywhere near the English subtitles – put on the Spanish ones instead!
If you usually watch with English-speaking friends, bilingual shows like Narcos can stimulate your Spanish without leaving your friends in the dust.
8. Get your news in Spanish
Reading the news is a daily activity for most of us. Getting your news in Spanish is a great way to add purposeful language time into your day, related to your own interests. BBC Mundo has a widget that you can download for the home screen of your Android phone. You can also check out paper and online versions of newspapers from whatever country or city most interests you.
9. Read blogs, comics & other online material in Spanish
Often, one of the best ways to find stimulating material in a foreign language is to simply ask yourself the question: “What do I do for fun in my own language?” Run through a list of things you typically look up online, and you ought to be able to find something similar in Spanish.
10. Take general-interest classes run in Spanish
If you live in an urban area, you may be able to find classes run in Spanish. I searched “españoles en londres” and found this site which is a wealth of opportunities for meeting Spanish speaking people in my hometown. Even if you take classes in English that have a Spanish connection, such as Salsa classes, you’re putting yourself in a great position to meet native speakers at some point down the line.
Conclusion: The Secret To Fluent Spanish
What I want you to notice from all these ideas is this:
You can’t keep studying the way you used to.
Simple lessons and grammar exercises may have helped you get started in Spanish, but it doesn’t cut it beyond the beginner stage.
Breaking through the intermediate plateau in Spanish means immersing yourself in the “whole language” with activities that you are personally invested in.
By making Spanish part of your lifestyle, and not waiting until the day when you feel “ready”, you will not only improve faster, but have a lot more fun!
The post Why You’re Stuck At Intermediate Spanish … And How To Break Through The Plateau appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
June 26, 2017
A 5-Step Method to Improve Your Listening Skills
Bamboozled?
Personally, I’ve always found listening to be the most difficult language learning skill. Maybe you feel the same way?
In this post, we’ll look at the key to improving your listening and I’ll share the method I use to work on my listening skills.
One the reasons I used to struggle with listening is that I didn’t really know how to practice it. Should you read along while you listen or should you listen without a text? What should you listen to? Do you need to translate every single word?
I had many failed experiments when I first started learning Spanish and it took me a long time to figure out the best methods to practice my listening skills.
In fact, it was only when I moved to Argentina that I finally realised what I needed to do to improve my listening and I discovered it somewhat by accident! Before I arrived in Buenos Aires, I thought my Spanish was pretty good. Then I landed and I couldn’t understand anything! It was a bit of a baptism of fire! On the bus, in the supermarket, no matter where I went I found myself smiling, nodding and desperately trying to work out what people were saying to me.
[caption id="attachment_20964" align="aligncenter" width="774"]
The author James in Buenos Aires.[/caption]However, over the coming weeks and months my listening skills began to significantly improve and this taught me a very valuable lesson: To improve your listening skills, you have to truly listen. You have to listen with focus and attentiveness. Passively listening to things you don’t understand is never going to work.
I was forced to do this because I’d moved to a new country where most people don’t speak English very well and I had to figure out how to get by. But the same concept applies whether you’re travelling abroad or learning the language from home. Active listening, not passive listening, is what will give you results.
Passive vs. Active Listening: What’s the Difference?
Why Passive Listening Doesn’t Work
What is passive listening? Passive listening is when you listen to something without giving it your full attention. For example, you put on French radio in the background while you’re working, or listen to Spanish music without really paying attention to the lyrics.
Passive listening doesn’t work because basically … you’re not really listening! You’re doing something else - it could be working, sleeping or daydreaming - rather than actually listening to the sounds. When you listen this way, you can’t just expect to suddenly understand everything you’re hearing.
Think about it. Even in English, we don’t remember things or understand them unless we actually pay attention to them. For example, lots of people like to have the radio on in their kitchen while cooking or in the morning while having breakfast. Maybe you do this too. But how much of what you hear do you actually remember? If you’re being honest, very little because you weren’t really listening. You might remember a particular song you like or something important that was mentioned on the news but unless you actually try to focus on what you’re listening to, most of it goes in one ear and out the other.
Since that’s what happens with our native language, why do we think doing the same thing in another language will give us different results?
The idea of passive learning is appealing because it promises results without much work. But the truth is that it just doesn’t deliver on those promises. If you’re spending time passively listening as part of your core language learning, it’s time to stop and start practicing more efficiently instead.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s no harm surrounding yourself in the language by having music or radio playing in the background while you’re in the kitchen or while you’re reading a book. You’ll still pick some things every now and again when a particular word or phrase catches your attention. Just don’t let passive listening become the foundation of your how you work on your listening skills. To really see predictable, sustainable results you need to practice listening in a more focused way.
Why Listening Needs to be Active
Your brain needs you to bring attention to things to remember them.
By paying close attention to something and repeating it multiple times, you send a clear message to your brain that something is important and needs to be remembered. This obviously applies to things like learning vocabulary but it’s also true when it comes to the other parts of listening, including sounds, accents, intonation or phrasing. You need to bring attention to them. That’s why it’s important to listen actively rather than passively when you practice.
Another reason to practice active listening is to get used to differences between how words sound on their own and how they sound in context. Native speakers often 'smash’ words together when they speak. We do this ourselves in English. For example, in American English the phrase ‘what’s up?’ often sounds more like ‘wassup?’ or in Hiberno-English a greeting like ‘how’s it going?’ often becomes ‘howsagoin?’
These are things we take for granted in our native languages but when you hear such transformations in a foreign language, they can leave you totally lost!
That’s why sometimes you might know a word but not recognise it when you hear it because the sounds mutate when they're spoken together rapidly by native speakers. This is one of the many reasons why focused listening practice is important. Just learning individual words isn’t enough. You need to hear how these words sound and appear in context and that’s not something you can pick up passively. Learning new words but never hearing them isn't sufficient when it comes to high level, real-life conversation.
So how can you go about practicing your listening skills in a more active way and what kind of materials should you practice with?
The Tools You Need to Improve Your Listening Skills
I suggest using a language resource that contains both audio and a text transcript. The main reason for this is so that you can check your comprehension when you listen to something new. It’s always good to listen without a text first to really test yourself, but it’s very useful to have a text or transcription so you can check your understanding afterwards.
Here are some ideas for materials you could use to practice with:
A scene from a movie or tv show (+ the subtitles)
A podcast episode you have a transcript for
A video on Euronews or another news site
A YouTube video with a transcription
A book in print and audiobook format
Dialogues and their transcription
An Assimil course
LingQ
Textbook audio and text
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LingQ[/caption]When practicing your listening skills, I would always suggest working with a short audio clip of no more than three or four minutes. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, unless you’re at an advanced level, long clips are exhausting! Secondly, as you’ll see, repetition is an important part of the learning process. Working with short clips means you can easily listen to them multiple times. Besides, there’s much more value in working with a short clip and learning it well than working with a longer one and not examining it in any real depth.
If you spend half an hour working with a single three minute clip, you’ll be able to listen to it multiple times, look up what you don’t understand and repeatedly hear the new words and phrases you come across. On the other hand, if you work for half an hour with a 15 or 20 minute audio clip, you won’t have time to repeat the audio, and you may only hear each new word once or twice. You can’t really do this and expect to remember very much of what you learned a few days later.
Finally, I strongly suggest that you think carefully about the content of the materials you choose and find things that cover topics that are important to you. [Fluency doesn’t require you to know every word in the dictionary] (https://www.fluentin3months.com/most-...). It just requires you to know the words you’re going to need in the conversations you’re going to have. Think about the kind of things you’re actually going to want to or need to talk about in your target language and choose your materials accordingly. That way you can ensure that you’re learning vocabulary that directly improves your ability to use the language.
Now that’s the groundwork explained, here’s my five step method to improve your listening skills.
A 5-Step Method to Improve Your Listening Skills
Step 1: Listen to the Audio - No Reading!
The first step in this method is to simply listen to the audio alone. Don’t read the text in advance and don’t follow along with it as you listen. The point here is to focus solely on your aural skills and see how much you can understand without any visual aid.
Of course, unless you’re already at a very high level, this can be very difficult. Rather than trying to understand every single word, it’s better to focus on trying to understand the ‘gist’ of what’s being said.
See if you can pick out some key words or phrases that might give you an idea of what’s being said and note them down. Find anything at all that you can cling on to and you’ll be able to use this as starting point to learn more from the context.
Step 2: Repeat!
It’s not time to look at the text just yet. Many learners make the mistake of turning to the text too quickly. However, the point here is to practice your listening skills so just stay focused on listening for the time being.
On the first listen, you’ll probably have identified one or two key words or ideas. As you repeat the audio, listen carefully and see if you can pick out and words or phrases you may have missed the first time. By now you may already have some idea what this piece of audio is about, so use the context to your advantage. If you can’t figure out exactly what’s going on, don’t worry. Just note down any keywords you do understand or words that seem important.
At this stage, I’d suggest listening at least three more times. With each listen, you can add a little more to your comprehension. Your goal should be to try and use all of your current knowledge in the language to understand as much as possible from the audio before you read the text. When you feel you’ve reached a point where there’s nothing more you can take from the recording, it’s time to move onto the next step.
Step 3: Get Reading
Now it’s time to look at the text. Read through it and check how much you understood from your listening. Did you get the ‘gist’ of it?
As you read through the text, identify any new words you come across. See if you can guess the meaning of the words from their context; otherwise, look them up in a dictionary. If there are any new words that you think will be particularly useful for you in conversation, write them down and add them to your list of new vocabulary to learn.
As well as new words you haven’t seen before, you’ll also likely find words in the text that you already know but didn’t understand! Some words can sound quite different when spoken together and at native level speed. Pay careful attention to these words and be sure to listen out for them when you repeat the audio.
Step 4: Listen With the Text
Once you’ve read through the text a few times and looked up any words you didn’t understand, you should be confident about its meaning. Next, I suggest listening again a couple of more times while you read along with the text.
This is the one time during the process that you’re using aural and visual stimuli together, so take advantage of it. Try to connect the written words to the sounds and pay special attention to phrases or groups of words and how they’re pronounced.
If there were a lot of new words in the text you’re working on, trying breaking the audio down into smaller chunks as you continue to repeat it. Rather than repeating the whole recording at once, you can work through paragraph by paragraph if you prefer.
I tend to repeat this step at least twice to help build connections between the written and spoken words.
Step 5: Listen Again Without the Text
Finally, go back and listen again a few more times without the text. By this point, you should be able to understand almost everything quite well even without the visual aid of the text.
Over the next few days, it’s good to listen back to the clip again whenever you have a chance. Download the recording to your phone so you can have a quick listen any time you get a few free minutes. With each extra repetition your comfort level will grow. Because you’re now able to understand the words and phrases you studied without any visual aid, you’ll also find it easier to recognise this vocabulary when it comes up conversations or in other recordings you listen to.
In Conclusion: There’s no Quick Fix for Listening Skills
Whether you’re learning a language or any other skill, there’s no magic solution.
Improving your listening skills takes time and a lot of focused listening but if you work at it in the right way you can actually make significant improvements faster than you might think.
The post A 5-Step Method to Improve Your Listening Skills appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
