Benny Lewis's Blog, page 80
April 15, 2016
Why Most Indians Can Speak Multiple Languages Like a Dream
Lots of colour. Narrow lanes. Unimaginable traffic. Spicy food. Thousands of cuisines. Seven-star hotels. Slums next to them. Religious processions. Stunningly beautiful temples. Sweltering heat. Mind-blowing history. Over 500 languages. Yoga.
Beneath all this colour and noise, India hides an unquestioned acceptance of the amalgamation of thousands of mini-cultures. India quietly and unassumingly uses her languages as a mega-unifier of her people!
India can really blow your mind in a lot of ways. Understanding her rich heritage of languages could be just one step in getting closer to admiring this truly amazing land.
So how come most people in India speak multiple languages? What’s their secret?
Let’s take a look at what makes it easy for Indians to be multi-lingual.
Each State has its Own Language
While most countries in the world have one national language, India has a different language for each of its 29 states.
Hindi is recognised as a national language and all Union Government Records are written in Hindi and English. Other State Governments have records written in the State's official language and English.
On top of that, there are dialects that change in every region. So, if you are in, let's say Karnataka, a state in the southern part of India where the primary language is Kannada, you will see a variation of this language in North and South Karnataka.
What’s more, in regions close to the borders of particular states, there are completely unique languages or dialects, influenced by neighbouring states. That means, you will hear people speak a totally different language called Konkani on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Note that the primary language of Karnataka is Kannada and that of Maharashtra is Marathi.
In India, language is how you connect with people. The variation in the intonation, the pitch, the way certain sounds are dragged or stressed is how people decode it and bond with other 'natives' in another city or town.
Not surprisingly, so much variety makes it unremarkable for an Indian to have native-level fluency in languages other than his own native tongue.
What’s the lesson here? If you want to learn a language, make it part of your identify. Decide who you’d like to connect with - then learn a language to connect with them.
Two of the World’s Oldest Written Languages are from India
Linguistic researchers have found that two of the worlds oldest written languages are from India: Sanskrit and Tamil.
Sanskrit heavily influenced many European languages. Some written records in this language date back to 3000 B.C. Indeed, the Vedas (Hinduism’s cornerstone scriptures) are written in Sanskrit. The Vedas are considered by some historians to be the first ever written literature.
Sanskrit is also one of the most scientifically developed languages. Unlike in many other languages which are predominantly made of words (English has some 50,000 words), Sanskrit has 700 Dhatu (root verbs), 80 Upasargas (suffixes, prefixes), and 20 Pratyaya (declensions). Using these basic constructs as a foundation, Sanskrit can provide an infinite number of words, each of whose meaning is easily decipherable based on the root words and grammatical constructs.
Sadly, Sanskrit has gradually fallen out of everyday use.
The other surviving classical language, Tamil, boasts records dating back to 5000 B.C. Unlike Sanskrit, Tamil is still in everyday use with many newspapers circulating in the language. However, the original structure of Tamil is slowly giving way to modern vernacular usage.
How are these old languages relevant to modern language learners? With Sanskrit, you learn a new system, and one that underlies many modern languages. Learn the basic roots of words and some rules in Sanskrit and - boom! - you can suddenly make sense of many more words in many other languages. It’s easier than most people imagine.
Most Languages in India Follow the WYSIWYG Premise
In a language like English, there are words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently. Same for French.
Consider “but” and “put”. At face value, they should rhyme. But they don’t. The same holds true for many French words.
However, all Indian languages are phonetic. That means you can pronounce any word just by seeing it written. In every major Indian language, each syllable has a unique representation in script. It is truly "What-you-see-is -what-you-get" for the Indian language.
What’s more, many Indian languages share the same script (the written alphabet). For example, Sanskrit and Hindi are written in the same script - Devanagiri - but are still very different.
As Indian languages are phonetic, once you’ve learned one, the others are ridiculously simple to learn. There is a very systematic approach to learning them with the added advantage that you never have to wonder if you are saying it right!
Indian Languages are Highly Versatile
Most Indian languages have the luxury of being correct with multiple constructs for sentences. Below is an example of a simple sentence written in multiple ways in Tamil - and still being correct in each of those constructs. Compare it to only one correct sentence structure in English.
The takeaway? There is really no reason to freak out on “propriety”. Odds are that you will be right most of the time while speaking in an Indian language.
Many English Words are Borrowed from India
India has often loaned words to Western languages. Way back in 1886, two India enthusiasts by names Henry Yule and Arthur C Burnell compiled and published the book Hobson-Jobson: The Definitive Glossary of British India. This was a complete glossary of Indian words that became a permanent fixture in the English dictionary.
From words like 'loot','shampoo' and 'sherbet' to popular names of spices and fruits like 'ginger', 'indigo' and 'mango', to recent additions like 'guru', there have been a steady supply of words to the English dictionary from India.
English is Spoken Widely Across India
Despite having many languages of its own, India still harbours a place for English. English is widely spoken. So much so, that there is a whole new word that describes the way English words creep into the local vernacular: Hinglish.
In fact, India is the largest English speaking country in the world
As India has so many native languages of its own, there are many different flavours and accents to the English that’s spoken in India. It all depends on which part of the country the speaker comes from.
There are several words still in use in India that are phased out in the UK, as remnants of British colonisation in India. One example is ‘stepney’, which means a ‘spare type’.
Indians do not just sprinkle English words into everyday sentences. English words are remixed, refreshed and reinvented within a whole new context.
One of the primary influences in this Englishisation of India is the mega film industry, Bollywood. Many movies have titles mixed with English words, and the songs have a fancy re-mix of English phrases.
This love affair with English is not just romantic. It’s also highly practical, and has been counted among India's major economic strengths. It has led to thousands of jobs being created in tech and customer services. That doesn’t mean there’s no conflict about it. Knowledge of English is seen as a major factor for the wide gap between the haves and have-nots in the country. The poor see the opportunity to learn English as the ticket to a good life.
This means that being an English-speaking tourist in India, you’ll fit in with any community. The urban classes will take you in because they identify with you and can rival your fluency in English. The rural will defer you with special status because you speak English! .
What’s more- you will probably go home with a slew of Hinglish words in your kitty!
Schools Make India Multilingual
Most private schools in India encourage students to learn multiple languages even from the first grade. Public schools teach in the vernacular but there is growing focus on access to the English medium of instruction.
However, even when the major medium of instruction is English, there are at least two to three choices given to students for "second" and "third" languages. Typical choices include Hindi (considered the national language), the local state language and/or a foreign/ancient language like French or Sanskrit.
Children in India typically grow up with parents coming from different language backgrounds, or in a community with neighbours coming from the far-end of the country speaking an entirely different language. Most children in India attain native-fluency levels in other languages simply because they have friends speaking other languages.
Anytime you’ve got a language related question in India, you can always ask a kid. You will get your questions answered and some great insights about the kids’ fantasy superheroes!
In India, Inclusiveness is a Culture
Tim Ferris, the author of the now famous The 4-hour-workweek states that the entrepreneurial abilities of the Indians has consistently amazed him for years.
Most travellers to India can vouch for the same experience.
Most of this entrepreneurial ability goes back to the fact that Indians can absorb diversity like a sponge. A roadside hawker in India may speak only broken English to attract customers, but speak he will! He will also go to great lengths to learn the language of his customer and speak to him in his language, albeit at an amateur level. The culture of inclusiveness is so prevalent that no language or culture surprises Indians.
Seriously, by now you should be convinced that learning a language in India isn’t that big of a deal. All you have to do is attempt it and I promise you: everyone will chip in to help you!
The post Why Most Indians Can Speak Multiple Languages Like a Dream appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
April 8, 2016
8 Spanish TV Commercials (Great for Spanish Learners)
Getting bored with learning how to speak Spanish?
Variety is the spice of life. And if you’re getting bored with Spanish, variety is the key to smashing that boredom and keeping Spanish fresh.
Study Spanish with the same textbook (or podcast, or course) every day, and one of two things will happen:
You’ll get bored and give up.
You’ll get stuck in that method, and will struggle to use Spanish in real world situations.
Music, films, books, podcasts, and conversations with real people can all add variety to your Spanish learning, and keep things fresh.
But have you ever thought of TV commercials (anuncios in Spanish) as a study aid? Probably not! But they’re surprisingly effective.
Why Use TV Commercials to Study Spanish?
Sure, you probably get as annoyed by TV commercials as the next person. Commercials usually interrupt what you want to be doing.
When you choose to watch commercials, it’s a different experience.
Here’s why you should choose to watch Spanish TV commercials:
TV Commercials are Short (and Perfect for Beginners)
Movies can be an ideal study aid. But for beginner learners, feature length movies are just too long. You get bombarded with new material for an entire ninety minutes, and that can be really disheartening.
A TV commercial is a bite-sized movie. It’s precise, short and to the point. As a beginner, you can follow along and get to grips with everything that’s said. And you won’t feel overwhelmed.
TV Commercials are Simple to Follow
Unlike movies, TV commercials are deliberately accessible to everyone. They’re written to be easy to understand.
With movies, you risk getting lost in a convoluted plot while simultaneously trying to follow all the dialogue.
I barely understood Inception in English, much less a language I’m not yet fluent in!
TV commercials are designed to reach as many people as possible. This means keeping it simple and using everyday themes. In other words, commercials are the perfect way to improve your comprehension skills.
TV Commercials are Memorable
Most commercials are less than a minute long. This means that they need to stand out if they’re going to have an impact on consumers. Advertisers employ teams of full-time psychologists to give their ads the most bang for their buck.
Just like a catchy Spanish song, a well-made Spanish-language commercial can stick in your mind all day.
That’s exactly what you need to learn Spanish fast.
Like it or not, advertising is a part of our lives. Use this to your advantage by turning it into an opportunity to practice your Spanish skills.
Get started with the following Spanish TV commercials:
1. Verizon (English subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1X7abXCYYg
Yes, this commercial is politically incorrect. It also happens to be very memorable!
What’s more, it includes everyday vocabulary about family, work and marriage. These are all topics that you’ll very likely need to talk about early on as you learn Spanish, especially when meeting new people.
2. Spanish Christmas Lottery (Spanish subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lCvf3urdmc
The annual Christmas lottery is a national institution in Spain. It’s the second longest running lottery in the world, and the largest one in terms of total payout at over two billion euro!
Each year, the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (Spanish lottery commission) produces a TV commercial to promote the lottery, and I’ve shared the video from 2014. To make sense of what’s going on in the video, you’ll need a bit of background on how the lottery works.
Lottery tickets are usually sold in tenths (décimos), because an individual ticket is quite pricey. If a ticket wins, then everyone who bought a tenth of that ticket gets 10% of the prize money. In this commercial, the cafe owner offers to sell his friend un décimo, but the friend declines. The implication is that that money is tight for him right now. Unemployment in Spain is still at one of the highest levels in the EU.
I’ll let you see for yourself how the commercial ends.
3. Faceboom (English subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFQPMy86RfE
This is a hilarious ad about Faceboom, a Spanish-language book that provides an in-depth analysis of the profound impact that Facebook has had on the world.
The dialogue of this commercial provides you with tons of useful vocabulary about Facebook. You can help this vocabulary stick in your mind by changing your Facebook language preference to Spanish.
Feeling ambitious? You can order the book to get Spanish reading practice about a very relevant topic.
By the way… have you liked us on Facebook yet? ;-)
4. iPhone 6S (no subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDgZc4sb7-E
This commercial is about a topic that rarely features in Spanish textbooks: iPhones!
Even if you don’t own one yourself, I bet you know several people who do. iPhones are just as popular in Spain and Latin America as they are in the rest of the world. When you meet real Spanish speakers, you can practice the vocabulary from this commercial to have an interesting conversation about a topic that nearly everyone has an opinion on.
On that subject, why not switch your phone’s language to Spanish? That way, you’ll sneak in extra practice every time you use your phone.
5. Cruzcampo Beer (English subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CClhCA_MGc
Like most beer commercials, this ad isn’t really about beer. It’s a rousing, inspirational speech about what it means to be Andalusian.
Andalucía is the region of Spain that this beer brand comes from. I can’t vouch for the quality of the beer there, but I’ve visited Andalucía and it’s spectacular. It’s everything this commercial says and more.
A word of warning: the narrator in this ad speaks quickly. This is a good thing! He doesn’t speak any more quickly than the average Spanish speaker in everyday conversation. This is the speed you’ll need to get used to if you want to have real conversations in Spanish.
Want to practice at a slower rate before getting to grips with full speed Spanish? Use the settings button on YouTube to slow down the video (it’s the button that looks like a cog at the bottom right of the video).
6. Coca Cola (English subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl83cRKsV8Q
This is a really useful commercial for practising the Spanish future tense.
It’s an interesting take on how today’s statistics predict the future of human health. Try to ignore the counterintuitiveness of this being a Coke commercial, and just enjoy the content. There’s lots of useful Spanish vocabulary in there.
7. IKEA (English subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ3ePGr8Q7k
How about a Swedish-Spanish fusion?
With this ad, IKEA brings home a poignant message about what’s most important over Christmas. Hint: it’s not toys!
I like how this commercial features lots of different voices. You get to hear all sorts of people speaking Spanish, including children of all ages.
Why’s it so helpful to hear kids speaking? For one thing, you get a different kind of listening practice, since young children haven’t mastered their own language yet and don’t speak it like adults do. For another, they often speak more slowly, which is especially helpful in a lightning-fast language like Spanish!
8. Nocilla (no subtitles)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXq1Lx22hsw
Everyone’s heard of Nutella, right? But have you heard of Nocilla? It’s by far the most popular chocolate hazelnut spread in Spain and Portugal, vastly outselling Nutella.
Only a Spanish chocolate spread advert could focus on football. And football is likely to be a topic you’ll find yourself chatting about during a visit to any Spanish-speaking country. If you don’t want to be left out of these conversations, then you’d better brush up on your football vocabulary,
Just don’t be surprised after watching this commercial if you get a craving for some rich, creamy hazelnut spread while you’re reviewing the difference between a golero and a goleador.
More Spanish Commercials
These commercials are just a taste of what you can find online. Here are some other places you can find Spanish TV commercials.
Youtube: Run a search for anuncio de televisión to find tonnes of Spanish TV commercials.
Flipboard: This social media news sharing website has a nice collection of commercials scraped from around the web.
ABC.es: A modest list of some of the best commercials from Spanish TV history.
Have you used TV commercials to help you learn Spanish? I’d like to hear about it! Drop me a line in the comments!
The post 8 Spanish TV Commercials (Great for Spanish Learners) appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
April 5, 2016
16 Free Online Italian Language Lessons
The internet is teeming with Italian language lessons that cost nothing. The only problem? Some of these no cost resources are good-quality, but others, not so much.
Not to worry. I’ve scoured the web to find as many high-quality, free Italian language lessons as I could. Check out the resources below, and you won’t have to worry about spending a single centesimo on your Italian lessons.
Free Online Podcasts to Help You Learn Italian
Get your Italian lessons in bite-sized podcast episodes whenever you want, either on your computer, tablet or smartphone.
ItalianPod101 Podcast: It’s a little-known fact that all of the Innovative Language podcasts, including ItalianPod101, are free to sign up for and offer quite a bit of free content. Sign up for an ItalianPod101 account and check out the lessons available for your skill level. After listening to these lessons, you’ll have a pretty good understanding of how the Innovative Language program works. Then you can decide if you’re interested in upgrading your account to a paid subscription.
Learn Italian Pod: With 175 lessons, Learn Italian Pod is one of the biggest Italian podcasts out there. Each episode starts with a short anecdote or news story narrated in Italian, followed by an explanation of the most important grammar and vocabulary points from the narration.
Coffee Break Italian: Relax and take in this popular Italian podcast while sipping a cup of cappuccino - but only if you haven’t just eaten! Italians never drink cappuccino immediately after a meal. Best stick with plain caffè after your meal if you’re on holiday in Italy.
Pastacast: This is a short podcast that ran for only six months, but it covers a surprising amount of material. It breaks down most of the more confusing Italian grammar points into simple elements. The host also tries to use simple English as much as possible for those listeners who don’t speak English as a first language.
Learn Italian with Free Audio Lessons
Listening comprehension is one of the toughest aspects of any foreign language. This is why it’s so important to include audio lessons in your Italian study routine. Here are some of the better no-cost audio resources I’ve found for Italian:
Audible Italian: If you’re an absolute beginner in Italian, this is a good place to start. Audible Italian teaches basic expressions for the most common situations you can expect to encounter on holiday in Italy. Each phrase comes with an audio recording of a native speaker saying the phrase. Listen to each one multiple times, and be sure to repeat after it out loud, to work on your speaking and listening skills at the same time.
One World Italiano: This website is bursting with useful Italian learning material. It contains a 37-part audio course for beginners, a 6-part course for intermediate students, and a 12-part video course. In the sidebar, there are many more lessons, as well as reading, writing and listening exercises that you can access for free.
Foreign Service Institute Italian FAST (Familiarization and Short-term Training) Course: This is the course that the US government’s Foreign Service Institute uses for training its own employees before they’re stationed overseas. It’s very structured and thorough, and is especially appealing to language learners who prefer a more classroom-oriented approach. Click on “Student Text” to download the textbook for the course, which includes instructions for how to use the course. Then follow along with the audio lessons.
YouTube: Free Online Videos for Learning Italian
Video lessons are especially useful for beginner and intermediate students. Having visual cues during a lesson helps you to understand what’s going on. Videos can also hold your attention better than purely audio courses can.
Speak Italian With Your Mouth Full: Learn about Italian cooking and language at the same time. Each lesson is divided into parts. In part 1, you watch an Italian teacher and chef teach new vocabulary and phrases to a class of students. Parts 2 and 3 are a cooking class where you can observe the students learning to cook an Italian dish while using the language material they just learned.
Lavori in Cors Genova: This YouTube course contains 67 detailed lessons about Italian grammar and vocabulary. Learn about every aspect of grammar that a beginner to intermediate student could want, such as object contracted pronouns, the various future tenses, and even how to swear in Italian!
Learn Italian with Marco: These video lessons from a very cheerful native Italian speaker will teach you a huge variety of useful Italian phrases. The narrator explains the relevant grammar and vocabulary for each phrase to help them stick in your mind.
ItalianPod101 free videos: ItalianPod101 has made many of their videos available to everyone on YouTube, so you don’t have to sign up for a paid subscription to access some of their amazing content. Check out the listening comprehension videos, which contain a dialogue that you’ll be tested on at the end of the video. If you’re very short on time, watch one of the “Italian in 3 Minutes” videos for a mini Italian lesson.
Italianissimo: This is a BBC series from the ‘90s whose goal was to teach Italian to beginners. It contains a mix of English and Italian and is appropriate even for absolute beginners. Try not to laugh too much at the early ‘90s cheesiness of the show - the material is top notch!
Benvenido in Casa Ba: Here is another television series designed specifically for foreigners learning Italian. It follows the story of a family who has just immigrated to Italy. It’s more advanced than Italianissimo, and is filmed entirely in Italian. Each episode comes with a transcript to follow along to if you get lost.
Free Online Italian Courses and Systems
Sometimes it’s just not the right time or place to watch videos or listen to audio lessons. In that case, take advantage of the courses below so you can study Italian even when “noisy” study methods are out of the question.
Italian Online Club: This hidden gem contains hundreds of lessons for Italian students, organised by difficulty according to CEFR levels, from A1 up to C2. Click on your level to get started. If you’re not sure of your level, take the placement test by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.
Iluss Free Resources: Learn from structured lessons sorted by skill level. Each lesson starts with an overview of the grammar point being covered, and then has a series of quizzes to test your knowledge. Many of the quizzes contain fill-in-the-blank questions, but some also include a listening comprehension component.
Duolingo Italian: For vocabulary and basic grammar exercises to do during your spare moments throughout the day, Duolingo is the go-to app for millions of language learners around the world. While I don’t recommend it be used exclusively, Duolingo can be a very useful supplement to your Italian studies.
Have you found a fantastic website for free Italian lessons that I forgot to add to my list? Tell me, and all my readers, about it in the comments!
The post 16 Free Online Italian Language Lessons appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
April 1, 2016
The Modern Guide to Language Learning
Last time we met, you expressed an interest in learning a language. I agree that this would be of benefit to any man willing to broaden his cultural horizons.
You shared with me your fears and concerns. You did not know where to start. You thought the entire task to be a monumental effort. You weren’t sure of how much money you should be allocating to your project.
Well, I’m here to tell you that learning a language is possible and a lot easier than you may have originally thought!
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Use Technology to Your Advantage
We live in a wonderful age, where technological advances open the doors that were previously closed to us. We have many more opportunities to converse with our comrades of foreign nations and tongues, than in any other time before.
Telegrams are an excellent means of communication and you’ll find them quite inexpensive to boot! They are deliberately designed to be short and sweet, making them perfect for those starting out on their language learning quests.
The average telegram in the Anglophone world consists of between 11-15 words. The idea is to get your message across as succinctly as possible, but by as equally as little means.
Remember that every word will cost you hard earned pennies – charged by those dastardly communications companies. Gee, they must make a killing off us ordinary citizens!
Make a Voyage to the Old World
Travelling has never been easier, my friend! In this modern age, steamboats have the capability of traversing the Atlantic Ocean in less than a week. What a glorious era we find ourselves living in, full of endless opportunities!
Just imagine – you and the wide-open ocean. Salty wind rushes through your hair and you can feel the sun pounding upon your back. Another land lies before you, teaming with possibilities. Opportunities to meet new people, feast upon decadent foods, acquire tasteful artefacts and sharpen one’s language skills.
Is money an issue for you? Consider the following solutions.
Befriend a member of the aristocracy, or of “old money” (or even new money, should the chance arise). Make yourself invaluable to them, so that when they embark upon their tour of Europe, they’ll have no choice but to take their closest confidant with them.
At the very worst, there is always the option to stow away. You can lay low and study your language books by day and sneak into the kitchens to feast ‘til your heart’s content at night.
Do Not Be Afraid to Exercise Your Tongue
Whilst on your tour of Europe, you will have the chance to converse in person with several learned people, who can speak multiple languages. Do not allow this opportunity to slip away. Indeed, you must make the most of this, by speaking in your target language whenever you have the chance to do so.
Yes, speak up, dear friend – you can and you must. How else will you ever achieve your goal of appreciating their company, if you’re too afraid to open your mouth and start talking?
Fear is the enemy and will do nothing but hold you back.
Find a Pen Pal and Keep in Touch
Foreign language is like any other skill we may set ourselves to learning in our lifetime – whether that be ballroom dancing, car racing, the exhilarating game of bridge or croquet. You will find that your knowledge and memory of foreign words, will only increase with repetition.
I hear of your concerns. That you will journey to the Old World, or visit communities of many cultures in the New World, on your own coin (or that of another’s, as was previously suggested!), worrying that it is a waste of time, money and effort.
Yet in this new and unchartered territory, you will feel encouraged to speak up and impress our brothers with your vast intellect and language knowledge. You will become assured in your ability to converse in a foreign tongue,.
Eventually, you will be required to journey back home. You’ll arrive on American or British soil, armed with a new set of skills… and accompanied by an old fear.
When one has acquired a new tongue, what must one do to ensure that their memory does not fail them - that these new and wonderful words and phrases are not lost to them forever?
The answer is simple. Practice.
You will undertake every effort to continue to converse in your new language. By doing so, you’ll ensure that it will continue to stay fresh in your mind.
Here is what you need to do.
While you are touring Europe, you must do all within your power to make yourself impressionable to your European comrades. Perhaps you’ll have a chance encounter with a gentleman who will be wishing to better his knowledge of your native tongue?
You will be able to come to a most suitable arrangement. Connect with him. Procure his address. Make a suggestion that will work out to be mutually agreeable.
Tell him, that upon your arrival back home, you will sit down at your desk and pen two letters. One text will be written in your native tongue, for him to study and use to his advantage. The other will be crafted using words and expressions that pertain to your target language. It will be a chance to test out your newly acquired skills.
You will address these letters to your foreign friend and send them by post at your earliest convenience, requesting in your postscript that he reward you with the same service.
We are lucky enough to live in an age where you can send your mail from anywhere else in the world and have it land within the eager hands of your recipient within a three-month period! At this rate, you will be enabled to swap pleasantries by pen with your foreign acquaintance upward of twice a year, without ever leaving the bosom of your homeland! Man has never known such conveniences before this modern era.
Connect With Other Language Learners in Your City
Whilst you are awaiting your letter from your new European friend(s), it will be become apparent that it will be in your best interest to practise your new tongue as often as humanly possible… on home soil.
You may feel as though you are at a disadvantage in your current circumstance, but I assure you that that is not the case.
You see, you are at an advantage. Remember that many individuals and families, from countries all over the globe flocked to the new world, and many also to this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (although I do dream of my state one day being independent) fuelled on by their hopes and desires for a better life.
Leaving behind the remnants of their old existence, they took with them their most beloved possessions and something that was of even more value, although they may not have realised it at the time – their culture and language.
These are the people you should look to connect with – there is so much you can learn from them. They can help you with tricky pronunciations, school you in slang and assist you in accent.
Not only that - out yonder in any of the 45 States with many millions of million inhabitants, I guarantee that there will be persons of a similar nature and with the aspirations that you yourself hold. Individuals who have spent hours, if not years, dedicating themselves to the pursuit of a foreign tongue.
My advice is to place an advert within your local paper, requestion the company of fellow language learners, not unlike yourself. For the investment of a few shillings, you will reap endless benefits!
Language Learning IS Possible!
As you can see, my dear friend, it is possible to acquire and maintain a foreign language. With the right contacts, a little spare change and a plucky attitude, you’ll find yourself broadening your mind, acquiring sought after skills, all while having the adventure of a lifetime.
God speed and good luck on this first day of April!
The post The Modern Guide to Language Learning appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 29, 2016
How to Use Tinder as a Language Learning Tool
I mostly viewed it simply as a fun game I could play, when I was bored or lonely, living as an expat in a brand new country. It was never anything serious - just a way to get out of the house and meet new people.
Yet, one day, I “matched” with someone who introduced me to a whole new world of Tinder. Turns out, the app is actually pretty handy for anyone learning a language.
You read right. Tinder isn’t just for dating. With a bit of fine-tuning, you can add this app to your arsenal of online resources for language learning.
Plus - you might make a few new friends along the way!
My Experience With Using Tinder for Language Learning
I discovered that Tinder can be used to learn languages by accident.
I was swiping away in London, when I “matched” with a spunky (that’s Australian for handsome) boy from Prague. He was fluent in three languages – Czech, German and English. He lived in Austria, was learning Russian, and looking to improve his English.
We were having quite a good time chatting, when he proposed moving onto Skype. I was concerned at first, imagining a situation similar to the harrowing I had experiences with Chatroulette as a teenager (anyone who stumbled onto this webpage last decade will know exactly what I’m talking about).
He assured me he just wanted to talk. He called me up and we had a chat as he walked home from work. His English was far more advanced than my German, but it was quite fun. Here was an opportunity to make a new friend from a country and cultural entirely different from my own.
The door was opened and Tinder immediately become a much more interesting app to use.
How to Start Using Tinder as a Language Learning Tool
Here’s what you need to do to make Tinder work for you as a language learner.
Step 1: Download the App
If you haven’t used the app before, the process is pretty simply. You download it through the App Store or Google Play. When you first launched Tinder, you’ll be asked to create an account. The only way to do this is to login through Facebook.
Don’t have Facebook? It’s easy enough to create an account for your purpose, as all you’ll need is your first name and a few pretty pictures.
Once your account is setup, select your photos and type up a bio. This is important - people are more likely to “swipe right” on you if you take the time to pen a little bit of information about yourself.
I would write something along the lines of:
Australian living in London. Bookworm. German language-learner. Loves dogs.
You can write more, or less. It’s up to you. I always feel less is more!
Step 2: Sign Up For Tinder Plus
This step costs money, but it’s a must if you plan to use Tinder for language learning.
By signing up for Tinder Plus you can change the location of where you search for Tinder matches.
I live in London in the UK and I’m learning German. Chances are, there are plenty of German speakers in London. But there are many more non-German speakers.
I could spend hours flicking through Tinder, hoping by chance that I’ll encounter a German speaker who has then also matched with me.
With Tinder Plus, I could eliminate London entirely, opting to search for people in Berlin, seriously increasing my chances of finding someone I can practise speaking German with.
It’s entirely up to you, whether you want to invest the money in the paid version of Tinder. I only suggest it, as I think it saves time and your time is a far more valuable asset than money!
Step 3: Choose Your Tinder Location
If you do decide to go with the paid version of Tinder, the next thing you need to do is decide on where you want to start swiping.
This is particularly helpful if you’re living in a country where only a few people speak your target language. For example, are you living in America, wanting to learning Icelandic?
You may also be looking to practise your speaking skills on a region with a particular dialect. If I really wanted to test my German skills, I could focus on a city in Switzerland or Austria and see if I could actually understand what was being said.
It doesn’t matter which location you pick, as you can always change it later.
Step 4: Get Swiping!
Let the game begin! Start swiping. Swipe left for people you don’t like, right for people you do.
Take the time to read the bios before making your decision. You can get a lot of useful information by taking a couple of minutes to do this.. I find if people do play an instrument, make films for a living, or speak multiple languages they’ll let you know up front. This will make deciding on who you end up “liking” a much easier process.
I’ve also found that people who take the time to write a bio tend to be the most fun to talk to online.They’re also the most willing to talk. These are the types of people that you’re going to want to be looking for - people who are up for anything (I don’t mean in a sexual sense!).
Step 5: Get Down and Dirty Straight Away
Once you do have a few matches, I think it’s important not to beat around the bush. People are on Tinder for all sorts of reasons - boredom, looking to make friends, quick hook ups, or with the hope of starting a relationship.
You’re here to learn a language, not break hearts.
So, be upfront. Tell the person that you don’t currently live in their area - but you are looking for someone to chat with. Explain your language learning quest to them. Be prepared for rejection. Some may un-match you without another word. Don’t take it personally. There will be people out there who are up for having a chat, happy to participate in your experiment.
Consider this - you’ve got something valuable to offer, simply with your native language. You’re looking to strengthen your language skills and guaranteed there are other people on the Internet who are in the same boat as you.
My German may be sketchy, but I’m 100% fluent in English. There would be people in Germany just as interested in looking to strengthen their English writing, reading and speaking skills as I am in German. Everyone wins!
Step 6: Move From Tinder to Skype
This last step is entirely up to you. I approached it with the same sort of trepidation as I would in giving a stranger my mobile number. I would only give someone my Skype handle if I’d had a few conversations with that person and felt completely comfortable with my decision. Common sense applies, as with most decisions you make in the online dating world.
You may not be interested in speaking to your new online friends, merely content with texting. It’s up to you. And if the conversation moves into territory that you don’t feel comfortable with – get out of there and be merciless with the block button.
The Benefits of Using Tinder as a Language Learning Tool
I strongly believe in the adage “practice makes perfect”, particularly with language learning. If you are truly serious about becoming fluent in a language, you should be using a whole range of methods to increase your knowledge. While adding to your vocab list or practising pronunciation, you should also be studying movies or singing your heart out in the shower.
Learning a language should never be a chore, especially when there are so many opportunities to approach it from a creative angle and make the process enjoyable.
The beauty of Tinder is that it opens up the possibility of speaking with ordinary people. It provides you with an opportunity that learning in a classroom or from textbooks alone never could. Rather than studying a language in its standardised form, Tinder will allow you to learn slang, experience different dialects and talk about cultural trends.
Best of all, you’ll be communicating in your language, with those who speak it fluently. That’s why you wanted to learn after all, wasn’t it?
Plus - you never know. You could even meet the love of your life along the way!
Would You Use Tinder For Language Learning?
That’s my experience with using Tinder for language learning. Now I want to know – would you do the same?
Feel free to share your thoughts with the community. See you in the comments!
The post How to Use Tinder as a Language Learning Tool appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 25, 2016
10 German Songs to Help You Learn German Faster
That said, I remember well how frustrating German could be. How I had to wrap my head around German grammar and memorise the intimidating long words.
Why Study German With Songs?
When people try to tell me that particular languages are hard to learn, I’ll argue back until I’m blue in the face. Why? Because when it comes to difficulty, I think all languages are created equal. German is no exception.
Even so, it doesn’t hurt to oil the wheels of learning with a bit of fun.
I love music and often incorporate it into my language learning process. Here’s why.
It’s Fun!
For me, studying from grammar textbooks can be quite dull at times. Reading tables of verbs doesn’t help me internalise them in any way - I just tend to get bored.
On the contrary, I find music to be a helpful language learning tool, simply because I enjoy it so much.
Listen to a song long enough (especially a catchy and upbeat song), and you will inevitably find yourself singing along to it. I don’t know about you, but I’m generally always up for an impromptu karaoke session.
Your Accent Will Improve in Leaps and Bounds
There’s a reason why I’m a massive advocate of getting out of the classroom (or onto the Internet) when studying a language. You’re not going to learn to talk like a native merely from reading a textbook.
You have to get out there and hear how people speak in their native tongue. You can do this in person, through watching films, or listening to music.
To know a language, you have to live it. So, if you want to speak like a German, you’re essentially going to have to pretend to be one.
It Will Give You a Unique Insight into German Culture
Luckily, music is an easily accessible gateway into a foreign culture. You can learn a lot about a people through the tunes that they listen to.
Throughout the ages, human beings have chosen to celebrate and commiserate with the aid of music. It doesn’t matter whether you’re listening to the current top 40, or singing a song from the last millennium. You’ve got a front row seat to an art form that highlights both the values and heritage of a particular culture.
You’ll Strengthen Your Memory Skills
Why is it that we get commercial jingles stuck in our head? Well, it’s because music engages certain parts of your brain that spoken language doesn’t.
So, you’re more likely to remember foreign words, if you hear them in a song, rather than in conversation. The music itself will act as a trigger point, stimulating words that you may otherwise have trouble recalling.
Active repetition of learning via song lyrics will help strengthen your memory skills overtime. That means you’ll be growing your vocabulary while having fun.
And of course, this language hack will give you a wicked advantage over others, the next time you partake in a karaoke session.
Here are some German songs you can use to strengthen your knowledge of this particular language. You have my permission now to go forth and listen to them obsessively.
1. Rammstein – Ich Wille
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOnSh3QlpbQ
Rammstein have been rocking around on the world stage since the mid-nineties. The majority of their songs are performed in German, although they do often integrate many other languages (English, French and Spanish, to name a few) into their lyrics.
Ich Wille is perfect for those at a beginner’s level. The lyrics are short, simple and straight to the point and the song is sung entirely in German. Best of all this particular tune is family friendly – which is notable in itself. As a hard-core rock band, Rammstein don’t tend to see keeping their songs PG as a top priority.
2. Helene Fischer – Atemlos durch die Nacht
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haECT-SerHk
Helene Fischer is Germany’s answer to Britney Spears. Her songs are pop-y, fun and catchy – pretty much guaranteed to get stuck in your head.
Atemlos durch die Nacht happens to be the most successful song in German history. I wouldn’t be surprised if i were to find out that most German speakers would know the words to it. It’s certainly the impression you get if you’re at a German club and the DJ puts this track on. Best to learn the lyrics if you should ever find yourself in this particular situation, so as not to look out of place!
3. O Tannenbaum
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS4wTuvR7Ik
Although this is a song that is generally best served during the festive season, it’s another good one to start with. I would be surprised to meet anyone who didn’t know the words of this song off by heart in English – my guess is that they would have been deeply ingrained since childhood! The video itself is aimed at children and features subtitles so you can sing along.
4. David Hasselhoff – Du
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SebarSe6u4c
David Hasselhoff’s music career may have never got off the ground in the United States, but he was a massive hit in Europe, particularly in German speaking countries. So much so, that he performed his iconic song “Looking for Freedom” on New Year’s Eve 1989 at the Berlin Wall (the song hit #1 in the German charts that year).
“Du” is unique among the other songs on this list, as the Hoff is not a native German speaker. He doesn’t run his words together – he sings clearly and distinctly (and with such fervent passion!), which makes this song yet another good choice for those who are just starting to tune their ear to German.
5. Marlene Dietrich - Lili Marleen
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZAV4hsP5WU
This German love song grew in popularity during World War II. Originally a poem written in 1915 during the first World War, Marlene Dietrich’s cover is probably the most well known recording of the song.
Funnily enough, the tune was popular on both sides of the trenches during WWII, making it one of the most famous German-language songs in the world.
6. Nena – 99 Luftballons
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lur-SGl3uw8
This anti-war protest song became an international hit when the English version was released. The original German rendition tells the story of an army general sending pilots to shoot down what turns out to be harmless children’s balloons, floating on a country border. This leads to a 99-year long war, in which there is no winner.
7. Stereo Total - Wir Tanzen Im Viereck
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3r7LtwMS0
Here’s a song you can sing and dance along to! The beat is catchy and the lyrics repetitive. It’s probably the most bizarre song on this list.
The band in question are the multilingual Stereo Total, who mix things up by often producing songs in French and English as well.
8. Disco Pogo – Die Atzen
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWsQQgbKkjc
Disco Pogo is yet another catchy party tune, that’ll have you shaking your tail-feather in no time at all. I dare you to keep a straight face during the chorus. Dingalingaling indeed.
9. Deichkind - So’ne Musik
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdIP3hyxi3k
This song takes us well into intermediate to advanced language learner’s territory. Hip-hop is not a genre for everyone, but I recommend you give this song a go.
Deichkind are notorious for their humorous lyrics and So’ne Musik is no exception. If you’re eager to pick up some German slang while testing out your rap skills, then this is the song for you.
10. Klee – 2 Fragen
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG--_hTSSfo
Klee are a German pop group influenced by English bands such as Coldplay and The Cure.
“Two Questions” speaks of the point at the end of a relationship, where you look at your significant other and fail to recognise them. It’s a sweet little song that is fairly easy to sing along to. You’ll be craving something with a bit of a slower pace after the last two tunes!
Songs are a Great Way to Learn
I hope you’ve enjoyed this list of songs.
A small warning: Be sure to avoid falling in the trap of passive learning.
Write down the lyrics as you listen to the song, until you have it memorised. Add words you’re unfamiliar with to your vocab list.
Also, don’t be afraid to belt out the lyrics with an exaggerated German accent. You may feel silly at first, but you’ll be sounding like a native in no time at all.
And even if you sound silly, it’s so much fun! To prove that I know what I’m talking about, see this music video I made (with a pretty terrible accent, and off-key, in true karaoke style but clearly enjoying myself) about a song in German that was popular while I was living in Berlin.
Above all, enjoy yourself. Language learning is not supposed to be a chore. It’s something you undertake because you have a particular passion for a country or culture. If you choose to mix up your learning, you’ll be far less likely to get disheartened along the way.
What are some of your favourite German songs? Let me know in the comments.
The post 10 German Songs to Help You Learn German Faster appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 22, 2016
Multilingual Dating: Should I Date Someone Who Speaks Another Language?
On the first day at school, all the girls had a crush on him. Even the teachers.
I don’t know exactly what it was. Perhaps his accent, possibly it was his style, or maybe it was the fact he kissed girls on the hand when he greeted them. I soon realized one word summed it all up: “foreign”.
There are plenty of things that are attractive about dating a foreigner. They look different, they sound different, and they have a different view of the world.
But what about the language aspect? Is it a good idea to date someone in your target language?
When I was in university, I dated a Brazilian girl for two weeks but I didn’t bother to learn any Portuguese. The language barrier was an issue. Then she dumped me. Let’s just say I doubt she remembers my name.
Then, while studying abroad in Ghana in 2012, I had a Ghanaian girlfriend. She was great and extremely helpful for me to learn the local language, Twi. I also learned heaps from her about Ghanaian culture, food, dance, and more.
When I first arrived in Vietnam in 2014, I went on a bunch of dates with Vietnamese girls hoping I could learn some Vietnamese from them. Some of them barely spoke any English. This made it pretty challenging to communicate. I went on some dates where we spent most of time in silence.
Finally, I found a keeper. In fact she was a Vietnamese teacher! So it came with many benefits.
Thanks to these experiences, I’ve learned that there are a lot of benefits when you date someone in a language you're hoping to learn (I call this your "target language"). But there can also be a lot of inconveniences. Luckily, I’ve learned from my mistakes and I am here to share my secrets.
Dating in Your Target Language: The Good
Being in a relationship with someone who speaks your target language has lots of benefits. Here are my favourites:
Learning From Experience is Better than Textbooks
One of the best parts about dating someone in your target language is that you can learn the real life experiences and not from a boring textbook.
You’ll get to practice with your partner regularly and grow together. You’ll also learn at a faster pace because you’ll (hopefully) have more fun in the process.
No Fear of Making Mistakes
With a boyfriend or girlfriend, you can practice conversations without the usual fear of making mistakes.
It can be scary to practice a foreign language with a stranger, but you shouldn’t have this problem with your partner.
Getting comfortable with one another’s mistakes is good practise for later on in your relationship, too. Plus, it’ll invite funny and cute mistakes.
Your Goal Is Clear
Finding a partner who speakers your target language gives you a clear purpose for why you are learning the language. You’ve found someone who makes your heart flutter, and you want to get to know them better.
In Vietnamese, there’s a saying, “học trên giường" which means, “study on the bed.” Vietnamese people always tell me it’s the best way to learn. I always respond, “mình ngủ trên sàn mà!" It means, “but I sleep on the floor!”
Accountability
Many language learners struggle with accountability. They don’t have anyone checking in to ensure they’re making progress.
With a partner, there’s no hiding from your language learning. If you forget a word, he or she is going to know. If you take a week off, you’ll be in the dog house!
In addition to accountability you’ll get more exposure to your target language. That’s assuming you see your partner on a regular basis, though if you’re hanging out with your Skype tutor more often than you’re going on dates with your partner, you may have a problem anyway!
New Food and Culture
If your partner comes from a different country, that usually means new food and a new culture. Both are great benefits in a relationship! You will will open up new perspectives on life as well as open your mouth and enjoy new flavors and spices.
Also, if you take a trip to your partner’s home country, you’ll have a free tour guide.
Dating in Your Target Language: The Bad
Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and cuteness. If dating someone in your target language brought no challenges, then perhaps the term “polyglot’ and “polygamous” would be combined to create a new one: “polyglotamous”.
I’ll admit, that was a lame attempt.
Anyway, before I smash my head on the keyboard for that horrible joke, below are a few things to be aware of when dating someone in your target language.
Miscommunication
Communication is crucial in any relationship. Having a foreign partner can lead to a lot of misunderstanding. When you speak your native language, you know exactly what you are saying and what it means. But when you are learning a new language, you often make mistakes.
You may say something you don’t really mean that could offend your partner. Or maybe you say something that ruins your plans. Maybe you call him or her “sweetheart”, but you say “sweet fart” instead.
You’ll need a good sense of humour, or that could go downhill very quickly!
For example, in Vietnamese, I used to mix up the days of the week. One time, I told my girlfriend that I would meet her on Thursday, but I thought I said I was meeting her on Friday. Same but different? Not exactly!
Thursday rolls around and she’s angry and confused because I wasn’t answering her calls. I’m confused at why she’s angry because I thought I said we were meeting on Friday!
You May Get Lazy
If your partner is too easy on you, you may end up not working as hard as you would if you had a class or a tutor. If they love you for who you are, they may not push you to learn more.
Also, if you’re immersed in the country, having a local partner can be dangerous because when you go out, he or she does all the work. When you go to a store, your partner is the pro. When you go to a restaurant, they do all the ordering. While this is convenient, it does NOT help you improve your language skills.
Mixing a Student/Teacher Dynamic into Your Relationship
Learning from your partner can create an interesting dynamics between you (the student) and your partner (the teacher).
If your partner is not a certified teacher, they may not be confident and comfortable helping you with the language. You may ask a lot of questions that they can’t answer. Your partner may not want to be your teacher, so this could lead to a lot of problems as well.
Dating in Your Target Language: The Ugly
This isn’t really the ugly parts, rather the neutral parts. Because I believe that EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL!
Below are the aspects of international relationships that can go both ways, depending on you, your partner and the situation.
Your Relationship Develops With Your Language
If you learn a language for a long period of time, you’ll start to more about the culture as well. Personally, I find this fascinating. The more I learn Vietnamese, the more I understand Vietnamese culture and the more I understand my girlfriend. I understood the jokes, we sang songs together, and it got more exciting.
This can be a bad thing, though. Sometimes you can learn things that you may not like. For example, the more I learn Vietnamese, the more I swear in Vietnamese. My girlfriend hates this. You may also discover some things about your partner only when you fully understand the language and culture.
Nonstop Questions
With a partner who speaks your target language, you have a teacher available to answer your questions 24/7. They can help you with your struggles no matter how big or small, whether it’s just a spelling question or pronunciation. While this is a good thing for you, it can also be a bad thing if they’re not up for it.
Maybe she wants to learn your native language, so you end up doing some sort of language exchange. But again, do you want to be a teacher? Does she want to be a student? If she wants to learn your language, then how can you learn hers? Are you two going to compete? Is it clear what your expectations are? How many times can you call late at night with a language question?
While it’s nice to have a teacher around whenever you want, there are many things that can go wrong if the expectations are not clearly set.
Patience
Dating someone in your target language forces you and your partner to develop patience.
Now, this can be seen as a good thing, as your relationship will force both of you to develop patience with one another. But on another note, you could drive each other crazy.
If you constantly ask questions and constantly make mistakes, it may be tough on your partner. It’ll be similar to them having to babysit a kid constantly. Babysitters get paid for a reason.
In Conclusion: Don't Break Hearts to Learn a Language
You may not agree with some of these points. You may be dating someone in your target language right now and have zero issues. Please remember, not every situation is the same.
When it’s all said and done, like almost anything in life, you never know until you try it yourself.
Sure, dating someone in your target language may come with many advantages, but it can also be uncomfortable if you are not clear and honest. So, keep that in mind.
Most importantly, please don’t break anyone’s heart just because you want to learn a language. And make sure that the term “polyglot” and “polygamy” are not to be confused!
Your turn: Have you dated someone in your target language? Let us know what happened in the comments.
The post Multilingual Dating: Should I Date Someone Who Speaks Another Language? appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 15, 2016
Stealth Learning: The Fast, Easy Way to Learn a Language
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE studying languages. In addition to my mother tongue (English), I’ve dabbled in seven languages, have become fluent in one (French), and speak another one at an advanced-intermediate level (Thai).
But it didn’t come quickly. I started studying both languages over 15 years ago (25 years in the case of French!).
What gives? Why so long? Well, like Fluent in 3 Months founder Benny Lewis, I started by following the “traditional” approach to language learning: taking classes and doing my homework. No more, no less.
A fat lot of good that did for me! To this day, the only languages I can speak at a useful level are those that I stopped studying in a traditional manner.
It still took a long time, though. Even though I had taken my language learning out of the classroom, I still employed the strategy of only studying my target language when I had explicitly scheduled some time to sit down and focus on studying in one way or another (be it watching Thai cooking shows, chatting with Thai speakers on italki, or listening to lessons on ThaiPod101). The rest of the time, it was English, English, English!
I did this for years. My skills progressed at a slow crawl as a result.
Well, you know what they say about insanity: it’s doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I realised that if I wanted to start learning quickly, I needed to do something different.
One of my most useful strategies has been what I call “stealth learning”. It’s brought me from being able to chat only about food and the weather in Thai, to being able to chat about tons of complex subjects that are important to me.
I still struggle with it. But this year, my resolution is to speak Thai with full fluency before the year is out. Stealth learning will be one of the more important strategies I plan to use to reach my goal.
What is Stealth Language Learning?
If you’ve seen the movie The Karate Kid, you’ll remember all those times in the movie when Mr. Miyagi made Daniel do chores around his house, such as painting the fence, sanding his deck, and waxing his cars (“Wax on, wax off!”). We later discover the real purpose of the chores. Yes, Daniel was painting the fence and waxing the car. But what he was actually doing was learning how to block punches and kicks. In doing all those chores, he gained muscle memory and learned how to block without even knowing it!
Wouldn’t it be great if you could do the same thing with language learning? Learn a foreign language without even realising it? Well, you can’t. At least, not quite. You can’t learn a language without actually realising you’re learning. It would be pretty cool if you could!
But like the Karate Kid, what you can do is incorporate your learning into normal activities you’d do anyway. That way, you end up studying your target language without explicitly setting aside time to do so. Language learning becomes the result of the activity rather than the activity itself.
In short, stealth learning means going about your daily life without always having to plan special “study time”, and still fitting a lot of studying into your day.
Here’s how you can put stealth learning into practice.
7 Simple Strategies for Stealth Learning
Stealth learning is really simple: think of any normal activity you do - such as using your phone, listening to music, or watching TV - and find a way to incorporate your target language into it. Here are the techniques I use:
1. Change Your Phone or Computer Settings to Your Target Language
This is such an obvious language learning strategy that I overlooked it for a long time! But now that I’ve tried it, I can personally vouch for its effectiveness. I’ve had my phone in Thai for several months now, and it’s been so useful for everything from listening to Google Map audio directions in Thai to understanding technical information about my phone in Thai. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the Thai translation for “Your phone’s memory is almost full. Please go to your settings to delete some files”; I see it every couple weeks (I think it’s time for a phone upgrade).
An added benefit of this is that it will discourage your family from “borrowing” your phone or computer when you’re not looking!
2. Label Objects Around Your House
This is an easy way to learn the names of household objects. Give it a try! Just take some sticky notes and write the name of each object in your target language only (don’t write the English word on it). Stick it on the object in your house, and every time you use it, say the name of it out loud.
This is a real-life variation on Benny’s Google Image search suggestion for learning vocabulary in your target language. But instead of setting aside time to google for vocabulary words, you’ll be able to see them all around your home as you go about your business.
3. Listen to Music in Your Target Language
I recently learned how powerful it can be to learn songs in my target language.
While doing some research for another article a few months back, I discovered the Spanish band Amaral and the Mexican band Maná. Now I’m totally hooked on both of them! I listen to them all day at work. I’ve learned a tonne of their songs, and although I’m not actively studying the language, this has helped me get nearly to upper-beginner level in conversational Spanish.
I’ve had some luck with this in Thai as well, but I haven’t yet found a Thai band that I absolutely love enough to listen to their stuff really often - with one exception: Venus Butterfly is a Thai rock band that formed in 2001, in which yours truly played the guitar and trumpet at their first live gig.
4. Play Games in Your Target Language
Most people enjoy playing games. And since you’re reading this, I’m guessing that you like learning languages. So why not combine the two?
Pick games you’d play anyway, even if you weren’t learning a foreign language. In my case, I love crosswords, Scrabble, and other word games. So I downloaded the app Word Search Multilingual, which has word search puzzles in thirty languages. When you solve a puzzle, it shows you the list of words you just found, along with a link to their dictionary definitions in English. I could play this all day.
Depending on the language you’re learning, and the type of games you like playing, there might be a few of your favourite games available online in your target language. For instance, if you love memory games and are learning Spanish, try searching for “juego de memoria” online and see what’s available.
5. Stop Reading the News in Your Native Language
You probably spend a little time every day catching up on the news. If you’re at an intermediate or advanced level in your target language, reading the news is a highly effective way to practice your language skills while doing something useful.
I downloaded the Sanook.com news app onto my phone to get the news in Thai. There’s almost certainly a news app out there in your target language. Just be sure to actually use it, and don’t cheat by reading the news in your native language first!
6. Commit to Counting in Your Target Language
I don’t know why it is, but numbers have always been a difficult aspect of foreign languages for me. Virtually all of the language learners I’ve met say the same thing.
I don’t just mean learning the numbers in a foreign language. Anyone can do that in an hour or two. I mean mastering numbers. Thinking numbers in your target language. This is much more difficult.
I know people who speak English with native-like fluency and have for decades. But when it comes to quickly reading a series of numbers, or counting, they nearly always revert back to their native language.
You can avoid this trap by making a conscious effort to always use numbers in your target language, right from the beginning. You have to count anyway, right? So why not do it in your foreign language to get some practice in at the same time? When reading phone numbers or quantities, do so in your target language (either out loud or in your head).
This technique has helped me a lot in French. Even though I’m fluent, I used to find it insanely difficult to read any numbers in French, or understand when they were recited quickly to me. These days, whenever I read a phone number or another series of numbers, I go out of my way to read them in French.
7. Watch Well-Known TV Shows in Your Target Language
Somehow, I doubt that I’m the only one who watches the same episodes of my favourite TV shows multiple times (especially when my favourite TV shows get cancelled after only fourteen episodes - cough Firefly cough ). If you know a certain TV show well enough, then watching it in a foreign language won’t be difficult at all. You already know what the characters are going to say; only now, you can hear how it translates to your target language.
The trick is finding TV shows that are dubbed in your target language. Most popular movies and TV shows are available to order online on DVD. If you’re willing to pay for international shipping, you can order them from online stores in the country where your target language is spoken.
Alternatively, you can search YouTube and other sites on the internet for your favourite TV shows in your target language. The downside is that they might not have subtitles, but if you watch shows that you know really well already, you shouldn’t need subtitles anyway.
By the way, if anyone knows where I can find a Thai dubbed version of Firefly, I’d be eternally grateful ;-)
Learning Opportunities are Everywhere - Add Them to Your Life Wherever You Can
With stealth learning, you can integrate language learning into many of the daily activities you already do. While these are a fantastic way to supplement your studying, they should not replace your studying.
Continue to set aside time in your schedule to focus entirely on studying your target language. And always, always be sure to plan regular times to speak with real people. I can’t emphasise this enough. If I didn’t have regular Thai lessons and language exchanges with native speakers, I wouldn’t benefit nearly as much from the stealth learning methods I use.
You can learn a foreign language fluently in nearly any time period you choose. It took me nearly twenty years to be comfortable enough in French to consider myself fluent. Don’t do what I did!
If you want to speak a language fluently without waiting literally decades, take every opportunity you can find to integrate language learning into your everyday life.
Have you found stealthy ways to incorporate language learning into your daily habits? Please share your ideas in the comments. I’m always looking for new ways to practice my target languages!
The post Stealth Learning: The Fast, Easy Way to Learn a Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 8, 2016
How to Apply Stoic Philosophy to Language Learning
What upsets people is not things themselves, but their judgments about these things. - Epictetus, Stoic philosopher
An ancient way of philosophy has been on the rise recently.
Stoicism is all about adjusting your thoughts to make yourself happier.
When I first learned about Stoic philosophy, I realized that I had been practising it already. I’d never thought about having a philosophy on life, but once I read about it, it made so much sense.
I wanted to apply Stoic philosophy to everything in life. Entrepreneurship, exercising, dating, and more. Eventually, I started thinking: “How would a Stoic philosopher apply Stoic principles to language learning?”
Stoicism is not an all or nothing deal. It’s up to you how far you want to take it and apply it into your life. There are a lot of ways that it can help you become a better language learner and also make language learning more fun.
Here are some really useful Stoic tools.
1. Ask Yourself: What’s the Worst That Could Happen?
For this practice, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?”. This is positive practice because it prepares you for the worst if it actually does happen. Once you are done thinking about this and you go back to reality, you are more appreciative for what you still have.
An example of this is consciously thinking about your dog dying. How will you feel? You’ll be sad. You’ll have a little doggy funeral in your backyard, share some stories, and then the house will be quieter. Maybe you’ll buy a new dog, maybe not. When you snap back to reality and realise your dog’s not dead, you’ll be more appreciative. Plus, when the day comes and your dog dies, it’s not as shocking since you’ve already thought about this scenario and dealt with it in your mind.
How to apply this to language learning: In language learning you can do the same thing by asking yourself “What’s the worst that can happen?”
When you talk to someone, expect no one to understand you. If signing up for ten lessons scares you, think about the worst possible scenario. Maybe you don’t like your teacher and you end up learning nothing.
Or, picture this scenario: You forget all of your French and freeze up when you meet someone from Montreal. After a few awkward silences, you switch the English. That’s not so bad, is it?
You can prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. That way, if you try to practise your target language and people don’t understand you, you are not surprised because you’ve already thought about that happening as a possibility. And if they do understand you, you will be surprised and even happier.
2. Choose to Be Uncomfortable
Many of the early Stoics took the idea of negative visualisation even further and put themselves in difficult real life situations. So, instead of picturing a scene in which they lost all their money, they’d actually spend a few days living in poverty to keep themselves humble and remind themselves to live a simple life.
They did this to make sure that they were still able to have fun and be happy even if they didn’t have the most comfortable lifestyle. The best way to apply this to language learning is to go through language immersion.
How to apply this to language learning: Cut out your native language completely. This can be as intense as you would like. You can start with putting your phone in your target language, or maybe your computer. You could also spend one evening without speaking your native language and only speak in your target language. Set yourself up for failure by trying to talk to someone in a language you don’t know. You’ll feel stupid and may get a little embarrassed, but you’ll see that it won’t be so bad.
Put yourself in uncomfortable situations where you are forced to use your target language. Maybe a restaurant, a Skype call, or using an online teaching platform.
3. Laugh at Yourself, Don’t Take Yourself So Seriously
Self-Deprecation is the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, or disparaging oneself. Basically it’s being excessively modest.
Stoics use this as a way to avoid arguments from stupid people. They used it as a way to turn tension into humour. You can do the same.
How to apply this to language learning: When you are practising your target language, if people start to make fun of your accent or your lack of vocabulary, don’t let it get to you. Instead, make fun of yourself. Say “Haha, don’t I sound like a fat 5 year old with this accent?”
4. Live Below Your Means
Another reason Stoics used to live like paupers was to remind themselves of their values and to stay humble. They call it “practicing poverty.”
How to apply this to language learning: Instead of constantly spoiling yourself with new language learning materials, try to make the best of what you have every once in awhile. Use the same small book for a week. Or actually dig into that online course your bought a few months ago.
Take one set of flashcards, and spend six hours memorising them. After you know them, get creative! Turn them in sentences. Turn them into little poems, or lyrics. Try to connect them. Having too many resources can be overwhelming anyway. So it’s good to practice language learning without much.
5. Live in the Moment
Practicing Stoics do their best to “live in the moment”. This phrase has become a cliché, but it will never lose its power.
How to apply this to language learning: In language learning, your past lessons don’t really matter. How long have you been studying? That’s not relevant. How many tutors you have had? No one cares. Your grade that you’ve got in school?
ENOUGH ALREADY!
All that matters is your language ability right now and the progress you are making. And that’s all you should be focused on.
6. Set Goals That Are In Your Control
Stoics discuss how people set unrealistic goals with no clear cut tactic of how they are going to get there. These goals often have so many external influences or are hard to track.
Stoics prefer setting goals that it's within their control to achieve.
How to apply this to language learning: “I want to be the best Spanish speaker in my friendship group” has a lot to do with other people and their ability to speak Spanish. Instead, try to be practical and focus on the more intricate details of how you’re going to achieve good Spanish skills. A better goal would be “I want to spent more time learning Spanish than everyone I know.”
Setting a goal that is in your control helps you feel even more accomplished and gives you more motivation. For example, you can set a goal that’s to study 30 minutes a day, or maybe you set a goal to have a conversation with a native speaker once a week. Thinking that you can get a Mexican girl to fall in love with you because you learned Spanish? NO. That's not Stoicism.
7. Don’t Respond To Insults
Stoics use this strategy as a way to communicate with ignorant people who are trying to bother them. By ignoring insults, they can stay focused on the substance of the argument. Staying calm also helps them gain the upper hand.
How to apply this to language learning: In language learning you can use this strategy by not reacting to miscommunication. If you have to say something five times before your conversation partner finally understands it, that’s okay. Each time you repeat yourself, you should be just as positive and enthusiastic as the next.
8. Feeling Unhappy? Take A Look At Your Values
Stoics believe that when they’re unhappy, it’s not the world around them that’s the problem. It’s their thoughts that are the problem. In other words, what matters is not a change in circumstances, but a change in attitude.
How to apply this to language learning: If you are not happy with how it’s going, what you are learning or the progress you are making, perhaps, you need to make some changes.
That could mean switching to a language you really want to learn. It could mean finding a new teacher. Or, perhaps it means learning the vocabulary words you want, not what your tutor or textbook suggests. It could mean skipping grammar to focus on learning songs.
You’re in control here, you are the language learner, you get to decide how it goes.
How to Apply Stoic Philosophy to Language Learning
I don’t expect you to become a philosopher and start philosophising in a foreign language! But philosophy can be a big help in language learning.
Hopefully you’ve picked up a few tips from this article that’ll enable you to make language learning more fun, available, and effective.
The next time you hit a roadblock on your language learning adventure don’t acquiesce to defeat. Rather, accept your shortcomings, change how you view your perceived problems and see where you can improve.
And if you get discouraged, remember this fun fact: Socrates never even wrote anything down. So, you’re further ahead than you think.
The post How to Apply Stoic Philosophy to Language Learning appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
March 1, 2016
Culture Hacking: The Real Secret to Mastering a Language
You put in tons of effort, but it just feels impossible to move off the plateau?
You have a large vocabulary, and you understand a lot but when it comes to speaking, you keep wondering why you can’t sound like a native speaker?
Well, I had the same feeling with English when I started to learn it many years ago. It’s a language radically different from my mother tongue, Hungarian, and after reaching an upper-intermediate level, I was wondering if I would ever speak like a native.
I spent long, endless hours memorising flashcards and going through grammar books. I diligently immersed myself by reading tons of articles. But somehow I felt very far from true mastery of the language. I could manage everyday situations in English but I was hopelessly far from being mistaken for a native speaker even for a fleeting moment.
How Linguistics Completely Transformed My English Journey
When I discovered cognitive linguistics and cultural semantics (more on that later - it’s not as scary as it sounds), I went from one “aha!” moment to another. Soon, I realized why I was wrong about languages.
I used to look at learning a language as most of us are led to believe:
Memorise many words and phrases
Apply grammar to them to make sentences
Practise with others to make your reactions automatic
Needless to say, it’s easy to get tired of this process and lose motivation. It took me quite a while to break free from this mindset.
Thankfully, after getting my hands on some of the best linguistic research I could find, a whole new world opened up before me. I could now see a tremendous wealth of culture and imagination where I had only seen a randomly connected sequence of sounds before.
I came to understand that the secret recipe for mastering a language is the following:
Master every bit of the culture and you can achieve native-like mastery of the language itself.
When I realised this, my English studies immediately gained a new momentum. Fast-forward to now. I can already write articles in English for native speakers, talk at a conference without grasping for the right word and easily discuss all sorts of ideas (Okay, maybe not particle physics or rocket science but that’s another matter).
Mastering English has been an incredible gift in my life. I received a new mindset, a new set of emotions, and a new way of thinking. My personality has been subtly but powerfully impacted. I would say I even took on a secondary identity. Cultural semantics has played a very important role in this process. But what is cultural semantics?
What the Heck Is Cultural Semantics?
To put it simply, cultural semantics is the study of the meaning of words and phrases and their connection to culture. Many words in a language are unique; they cannot be exactly translated into other languages. Every word has a whole range of connotations, images, and associations that you cannot map to another language. The English words “patronise” and “fun”, and the phrase “common sense” all reflect English (and American) mentality and culture. They cannot be simply translated into my native language of Hungarian, because Hungarian people have a different mentality, a different mindset and this is reflected in their language.
That’s one of the main reasons why memorising words is not an option if you want to achieve mastery. Instead of rote learning, one needs to go beyond the surface and uncover the hidden culture behind words and phrases. It’s like cracking an exciting secret code, or connecting the dots in a detective story.
Let me now crack for you the secret cultural code behind a few common English expressions.
The Secret Cultural Code behind Everyday English Words and Phrases
There are countless English words that have no exact counterparts in Hungarian, nor, as far as I know, in other European languages. The reason is that they capture an aspect of English or American mentality that is not present in other European cultures.
”Reasonable”: One can easily count tons of expressions with this one word alone: reasonable doubt, reasonable guy, reasonable time, reasonable request and many others. There’s a similar word to “reasonable” in Hungarian but I could never think of saying anything like reasonable request or reasonable doubt. These phrases are deeply rooted in a society that admires science, reason, logic and common sense. The word reasonable is linked to the idea that there is a certain common sense and everybody is supposed to follow it. However, it’s a highly culture-specific concept together with _common sense_and its range of use can be very hard to understand and master for a non-native speaker.
”Make a difference”: As far as I could see, Americans tend to have an innate desire to impact the world in a positive way with their work and actions. The phrase to make a difference is practically non-existent in most languages I know. There is some form of saying “to change the world” but it’s not a popular dream shared by millions of people.
”Fun”: I have never before come across a word in any language that describes such a wide spectrum of enjoyable activities from shopping to listening to a lecture. If translated literally from English into Hungarian, the words fun and enjoy can have a hedonistic overtone because we lack exact counterparts to these words.
The word enjoy can have a stronger meaning in most European languages than it has in English. In most of them it couldn’t be said, for example, enjoy your meal or enjoy your time. Maybe that’s why English has given me a sense of casual cheer and a more easy-going mentality.
The Cultural Mindset that’s Embedded into English
The following approaches and mindsets are unique to English, and come across in the language.
Softeners. A little bit, quite, rather, really, probably, presumably, I think, evidently, obviously, as far as I know and many other so-called softeners lend a special character to the English language. If you don’t use them, you can easily come across as abrupt, rude, or even uneducated. It was a revelation for me when I first started to see how these phrases work. Interestingly, I also started to use them more and more in my mother tongue. My family and friends have even begun to tease me for becoming too English.
An indirect approach. There are few European cultures that can express meanings in such a subtle and indirect way as English. Before saying something, you’re supposed to think carefully if it’s going to hurt someone else’s feelings, or if your comments will be considered prying.
Many of the Anglo-style indirect and polite requests could easily cause confusion in other European cultures where it’s not the norm to be indirect. It’s enough to think of those funny phrase collections where you can see how the British say something, what they mean and how other Europeans understand it. For example, “quite good” is often understood as praise by most Europeans, while the British might mean “it’s quite disappointing”. As an other example, “you must come for dinner” can often be said out of politeness by the British, without implying an actual invitation. However, it can be confusing because this phrase would be taken as an invitation in most parts of Europe.
I learned to be much more tactful, polite and sometimes indirect after mastering English. I would say it’s one of the most obvious ways English has left its mark upon me.
Positive thinking. One can argue about the pros and cons of positive thinking but one thing seems to be certain: thinking positively is an essential part of Anglo-Saxon culture and it’s imprinted on the fabric of the English language. This is apparent from the way many English speakers replace negative words (e.g. problem) with positive and neutral words (e.g. challenge or issue). Positive thinking is an all-pervasive idea. Some authors, like Barbara Ehrenreich, even attribute large-scale social changes to this mindset.
As you can see, the connection between language and culture goes far deeper than a few generalisations about the Italians being romantic and the Germans precise. Most words of a foreign language reveal a specific mentality. It’s most easily felt when you translate from one language to another. Maybe you know the feeling when a translation just doesn’t “feel” the same as the original version. Through understanding everyday words and phrases from a native speaker’s standpoint, you can unravel their culture in a very detailed and practical way, just like you can crack a secret code.
Culture Hacking: The Real Secret to Language Mastery
Language learning, at least once you’re past the beginner level, is not about memorising sequences of random sounds until you can utter them automatically.
Language learning is not about sweating over grammar rules and trying to get them right every time you speak.
Language learning is all about discovering the beauty of another culture. It’s like travelling to a far-away, exotic country. It’s about being energised by the seductive charm of a new culture.
As you walk through new lands, you soak up the atmosphere of a different people. You immerse yourself in their history, music and food. At every corner you come across something that makes you stop, smile and wonder.
Mastering a language is exactly the same. No matter what language you’re learning, let the pulse of a new culture run through your veins.
The post Culture Hacking: The Real Secret to Mastering a Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.
