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Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | February 2022

We’re a month into the new year and you’ve likely set language learning goals for 2022, so now Is a good time to check in and join us in sharing your language learning plans as a part of #CleartheList

So without any further ado, it’s time for a new analysis of my language goals as a part of Clear the List, but also the latest Language Conqueror Quest!

We’re heading into February with a Quest all about building habits. It’s hosted by my good friend Caitlin, and you’re going to get all kinds of good info from her! She’s a fitness trainer and has helped loads of people build healthy habits.

Join the Quest

What is Language Conqueror? It’s a course I work on with a monthly Quest focused on passion-driven learning. You can learn more, get a feel for my teaching style, and download our free PDF here: Get the Free PDF

And if that’s not enough, you can also get a feel for my teaching style with Snack-Sized Language!

Snack-Sized Language is a free podcast where we teach you snack-sized language lessons. So far we have episodes teaching general language learning tips, Japanese, French, Mandarin and Korean. Plus, we recently added Russian, Spanish, and German. Not to mention, more languages are coming soon!

You can subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform.

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Google Podcasts

And if you enjoy Snack-Sized language, we would absolutely love it if you left us a review!

And now, on to #clearthelist …

Wondering what #clearthelist is? Let me clear it up for you (see what I did there?). #CleartheList is a linkup where we share our monthly goals, and by we, I mean myself, and you!

We’d absolutely love for you to be a part of our community. You can join us by adding a link to your own goal post in the comments below.

So let’s get started, sharing our goals and motivating one another to #clearthelist!

Please feel free to tag your posts or photos with either #clearthelist on your favorite social media channels!

Last Month’s Highlights on InstagramLast Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // We’re still working this back into our schedule with YouTube video lessons and other regular interactions in the language.

Maintain my vocabulary learning streak + maintain my Duolingo learning streak. // I, believe it or not, missed getting this in before midnight a couple times this month. I still completed it those nights but my streaks no longer show on Memrise. Because I still studied before I went to bed, I don’t count this habit as lost. And thankfully, I started using Streaks to keep track. I have been keeping this habit up though.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // I slowed down on this quite a bit this month. I’m still getting through videos but not at the pace I was before, so the number of videos in my queue is creeping back up. It’s around 2,300 videos now. I still count this goal as a success, however, because even though I’m not getting through as many, I am still getting through them consistently.

Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // I totally fell off the tracks with this one.

Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // Same as above.

This Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // As usual, I’d like to continue to incorporate this more and more until we’re an OPOL household. It’s fallen off slightly, so it’s something I want to bring back. And while we’re heading in the right direction, it definitely needs more attention.

Maintain my vocabulary learning streak. // This has been a great way to rebuild my language routine, so it’s staying on the list indefinitely! I share my stats over on Instagram in my stories nearly every day, so if you’re ever curious where I’m at, you can check out my stories. I am learning Persian, Hungarian, Croatian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese. I’ve reduced doing Drops to every other day because it’s all I need to do to keep up my streak and I want to save that time as often as I can.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // As always, there’s a lot I need to get through. I hope to continue working at this in order to make consistent progress. Like last month, I’d like to break 2,000 this month since I missed it before.

Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // My goal is no longer to just generally read, but I need something more specific since I dropped off. I want to get 26 LingQs each day this month.

Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // Same as above.

Read in French. // I’d like to add reading in French each day to this list because I’m not using the language as much as before. For this language, I’d like to get 13 LingQs per day.

Resources I Used This Month

A quick recap of the materials I am using.

What I Am Using to Learn Chinese:

LingQ – my favorite tooliTalki Lessons – I have weekly Chinese lessonsMemrise  

What I’m Using to Brush Up/Improve My French:

LingQListening to French radio/podcasts/musicDuolingo

What I am Using to Learn Russian:

Colloquial RussianLingQiTalki LessonsPimsleurMemrise

What I am Using to Learn Persian:

LingQPreply LessonsPimsleurTeach Yourself Complete PersianMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Japanese:

Genki IiTalki LessonsPimsleurMemriseDuolingo

What I’m Using to Learn Croatian:

Colloquial CroatianiTalki LessonsLingQ Memrise

What I’m Using to Learn Hungarian:

Colloquial HungarianiTalki LessonsDropsLingQ Memrise

What I’m Using to Learn Korean:

Memrise

What I’m Using to Learn Spanish:

DuolingoMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Portuguese:

DuolingoMemriseComplete PortugueseitalkiDrops

Not Currently doing any study for: German, Hindi, Norwegian, Hebrew, Italian

What I’m Using for Little Linguist

Lots of booksDay-to-day interactionitalki LessonsDuolingo ABCDropletsMovies in ChineseGus on the Go Chinese

Resources That Aren’t Language-Specific

Fluent in 3 Months ChallengeTodoist (to keep all my language lessons and to-do’s organized)Notion – my new favorite app for taking notes (I just set up a template for the way I use Notion to take notes if you’re interested in duplicating it for yourself)The Biggest Lesson I Am Taking Away from This Month

Knowing a bunch of words in a language doesn’t necessarily mean you can use it.

I really like bulking up on vocabulary. And sometimes I get too much into that headspace and leave out using the language in other contexts.

In fact, with Norwegian, that’s all I did — learn loads of words in Drops.

And then I had an opportunity to use it last weekend and… I couldn’t.

It’s a good reminder that if you want to be able to actively use your languages, daily consistent study with an app just isn’t enough. I knew this in theory, but I’ve been doing this for so long I sometimes just get into a routine that I need to remember to break out of every once in a while!

Don’t forget that I would love to hear all about your goals for this month!

The post Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | February 2022 appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

Snack-Sized Language Episode 9: How to Say Goodbye in French



In this episode of the podcast, we focus on learning how to say goodbye to someone in French and you’ll learn the phrases for “goodbye,” “bye,” “see you later,” and some other ways to bid someone farewell in French. Wondering how to how to say bye in French? You’ll learn how with these French phrases in this week’s snack-sized lesson.

Listen on Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Google

Want to keep learning with us? Join Language Conqueror.

In This Lesson, You Learned

“Goodbye” in French – au revoir“Bye” in French – salut! (you may remember this one from French greetings — it also works as a farewell)“Until…” – à … “Until tomorrow” is à demain. “Until Monday” is à lundi. “Until next week” is à la semaine prochaine. And “until later” is à plus.

Featured Trade Secret:

Now that we’ve learned how to say “hello” and “goodbye”, you know how to start and end your conversations in French. Now it’s time to start using it! Finding a French friend you can chat with will be super helpful on your journey to learn French. Whether you find a language exchange partner online through an app, a French tutor on a site like italki, or even just finding a French community of Instagrammers to chat with (yes, that’s a thing!) — find someone to start talking to in French.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Language Conqueror italki

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the podcast! Let us know what you think by leaving us a review. We appreciate your reviews because they let us know what you enjoy most about the podcast so we can keep doing more of it and it helps other learners like yourself find the podcast.

You can share your thoughts on the podcast at eurolinguiste.com/review

Snag our FREE guide to passion-driven language learning

25 language learning ideas + our top 5 habit-building strategies to help you have fun reaching fluency.Get the Free Guide

The post Snack-Sized Language Episode 9: How to Say Goodbye in French appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

6 Goal Setting Methods & The Ultimate Guide to Setting Good Language Learning Goals

The new year is around the corner and many of us are setting our New Year’s resolutions.

Since you’re here you’ve likely set goals related to language learning. But are they good goals?

Wait… what?

No, don’t worry. I’m not judging you.

Rather, I’m here to help you make sure you’re setting good language learning goals.

What does a good goal look like?

For me, a good goal is something that’s specific, has a deadline, and a system for me to work towards it.

Let me share my goal for the new year with you as an example.

I want to learn 2,500 words in Norwegian within 3 months by using my go-to vocabulary app.

I have a specific goal: 2,500 words in Norwegian. I have a deadline: 3 months. And I have a system: my go-to vocabulary app.

How to Set Good Language Learning Goals

A few years ago, if you had asked me what my language learning goal was, it would have probably been something like “learn to speak Chinese fluently!”

But this goal is problematic for a variety of reasons.

First, it’s not specific. What does “fluently” mean? Does it mean at a native-like level? Does it mean perfectly? Does it mean being conversational? There are many different kinds of “fluent”. Which one was I aiming for?

Second, there wasn’t a deadline. When was I hoping to be fluent? Was there a set date? Or was it just something I generally wanted to achieve in my life?

And finally, I didn’t have a system. What exactly was I going to do to reach fluency?

I didn’t have the answer to those questions. So instead, I set another goal. Pass the HSK 4 exam after studying for 1 year. Now that’s a specific goal with a deadline. My system? Taking weekly lessons and completing practice tests. Did I succeed? You bet.

If your goals look a lot like my initial goal, don’t worry. I’m here to help you out and create goals more like my altered goal.

Here are 6 goal setting methods and systems to help you achieve your language learning goals in the new year.

SMART Goals

If you’re familiar with any goal setting system, it’s likely SMART goals. SMART stands for:

Specific: you have a specific, targeted goal (like learn 50 words)Measurable: you have steps that get you to your goal (learn 5 words a day for 10 days)Attainable: your goal is realistic (learn 50 words in 10 days [learning 200 words in 10 days is likely not attainable])Relevant: your goal is relevant to you (for example, learning 50 words in the language you’re studying is more relevant than learning 50 words in a random language you don’t have any long term plans with)Time-related: you have deadlines (again in our example, 10 days)

Here are a few of SMART language learning goals:

Learn 50 words in Norwegian in 10 days.Do 15 minutes of Persian listening every day for 1 month.Have one 1-hour lesson in Croatian every week.OKRs

Familiar with the expression “shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars”? Those are OKR goals. An OKR goal is where you go big or go home and it stands of “objectives and key results”. And even if you don’t reach your OKR goal, you will still likely get farther in your learning than you would if you set a more conservative goal.

Here are examples of OKR language learning goals:

Have a 30-minute lesson in Russian every day for a month. (You’ll likely miss days, but still have far more Russian lessons than you would have otherwise.)Complete 1 language learning course book every single month. (Again, you might not finish an entire course book every month, but you’ll likely work through a lot more than you would with a more conservative goal.)4DX

4DX, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, is a goal-tracking framework developed by Stephen R. Covey and Chris McChesney. This method is similar to OKRs, but these bigger goals are things you intend to reach (whereas OKRs focus on overperformance).

The disciplines that make up 4DX are:

Focus on wildly important goals (WIGs): in other words, focus on the most important thingsAct on lead measures: put energy into the work that will yield the greatest results (the 80/20 rule)Keep a compelling scoreboard to track progress: a little friendly competition does wondersCreate accountability: when you have encouragement and community, you have greater chances of success

Speaking of accountability and community, now is the perfect time for me to take a quick commercial break to announce something new and exciting!

Recently, I put together a program called Language Conqueror.

Each month, we release a new language Quest and this coming month’s Quest focus is all about… goal setting! We go in-depth and provide loads of information on how to set good language learning goals and how to build systems to help you reach them. You’ll also get access to our course community where you can chat with other language learners like yourself.

You can learn more about Language Conqueror and join us here.

Now back to 4DX goals.

Here is an example of a 4DX goal:

If you are aiming to learn conversational Japanese, you would most need to focus on speaking and listening comprehension. So you should spend 80% of your study time working on improving your speaking and listening skills. By joining a community of other learners, you can compare how much time you spend working on these skills and even have a bit of friendly competition with them to rack up the most time.

V2MOM

Another method of goal setting is called V2MOM and it stands for:

Vision: what you want to accomplishValues: the principles that guide youMethods: the steps and actions you takeObstacles: any challenges or issues you may need to overcomeMeasures: the goal’s minimum achievement

An example of a V2MOM goal for language learning is:

You want to learn conversational Hungarian (vision) without spending any money on resources because you’re working to keep a tight budget (values). You’ll find exchange partners and other free resources to study, getting creative in your search for tools because finding high-quality, free resources is challenging. You’ll measure “conversational” as being able to keep an entire 1-hour exchange in the language at the end of a year.

Onion Goals

My good friend Lindsay of Lindsay Does Languages introduced me to a goal setting system called “Onion Goals”. This is where you imagine goals and systems as the layers of an onion. At the center, you have your goal. And each layer you peel is a step you need to take to get to that goal.

You ask yourself how at each stage until you get to a step you can take each day.

Here’s an example of an onion goal in language learning:

I want to learn 50 words. How? By studying them with my favorite app. How? By studying five new words a day. How? By adding the new words that come up in my lessons to the app. How? By asking my teacher to add words I don’t know or understand to the chat during our lessons.

Ladder Goals

Another goal setting method I learned from Lindsay is “Ladder Goals”. This is more about the “what” than the “how”.

So you take a goal and identify what small goals, targets, and tasks need to be achieved to make that top goal happen. You work backward, or down the rungs of a ladder.

So let’s return to the example of learning 50 words. What do you need to do this?

You’ll need to curate your word listGet that list into MemriseStudy the wordsAnd review them so they stay in your memory

So there you have it. Six ways you can set goals.

But goal setting isn’t always enough.

Why Goal Setting Isn’t Enough When You’re Learning a Language

When it comes to learning languages, I think that setting aside time to set goals and then later re-evaluate those goals and your progress towards them is crucial to one’s success.

Each month, I do just that, but I realized that my review and planning was really quite short-term. I hadn’t really looked any farther ahead or back than a month at a time.

So I decided to take some time to sit down and look at my language learning progress on a larger scale.

I went through old blog posts and notes, reviewing the past year or two. I found that I was quite surprised at how much my language learning methods have changed.

To be honest, I’m not so sure why I was surprised by just how much my methods of changed. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was vaguely aware of the changes, I had even mentioned them in various interviews and posts. But somehow, the totality of it managed to escape me.

I started learning languages “seriously” about four or five years ago (goodness, where does the time go?), but when I first set out, I really didn’t know what I was doing. As I mentioned in other posts, my process included running out to the local bookstore, buying any books I didn’t already have, only to return home and let them collect dust on my shelves.

Needless to say, this method really didn’t work for me.

And I’d even go as far as saying, that I don’t imagine this method working for anyone.

It wasn’t until I realized that being an independent language learner didn’t mean that I had to go about learning a language all by myself that I started to get my process sorted to the point that I could develop a system that worked for me.

How Getting to Know the Online Language Learning Community Changed My Learning for the Better

As I began to discover other language learners online, realizing that their learning was conducted utilizing methods so much more effective than my own, I started to look at what I was doing quite differently.

Up until that point, I felt that language learning was something that one did with a textbook in a classroom environment (and I was trying to create this experience by doing activities out of one of my old textbooks, having it corrected by native speakers as though it was my “homework”).

But as I started to look around online, I discovered a whole new world of language learning methods.

There were (and are) apps, videos, courses, books, games, and conversation exchange platforms the went far beyond learning to buy plane tickets or book hotel reservations. Languages weren’t just for getting around for travel, they are a way to connect with people around the world.

As I immersed myself in the language learning community online, I realized that there were two things that they were doing better than me. One was that they were speaking sooner and more often than I was. The other was that they were experts at setting goals (and achieving them)

Goal setting is great, and if you’re getting ready to learn a language, I highly recommend setting aside some time to think about your goals (and write them down) as your first step. If you’ve already started to learn a language, it’s not too late to take a quick break and do some goal planning, too.

The thing is, you shouldn’t stop there.

Your goals are only the stations you’ll stop at on your language learning journey. In order to get to those stations, however, you’ll need a map. And if detours or new stops come up, you’ll also need to do a bit of revising to your original travel plans.

So why isn’t goal setting enough?

Goal setting alone isn’t enough because goals in themselves can seem too far off, too distant. They’re something that you’ll do “one day”, not necessarily today.

[Tweet “Goal setting alone isn’t enough because goals in themselves can seem too far off.”]

But the thing is, in order to actually “one day” accomplish your goals, you need to break them down into monthly, weekly and even daily milestones. You need to proactively plan out the exact steps that you’ll take to achieve your goals.

How do you do this?

Step One // Decide on your big picture goals

First, take some time thinking about something that you’d like to accomplish in about a year from now. Using myself as an example, I wanted to take (and pass) the HSK 4 exam after a year of studying Mandarin Chinese.

That was my big picture goal for language learning and, not to brag or anything, but it was a pretty great goal because it was 1) specific; 2) measurable; 3) easy to break down and 4) had a deadline.

The test ended up being at the beginning of December, so I had 11 months to prepare.

Step Two // Find a way to break you big picture goals down into smaller chunks

Once I established my big picture goal, giving it a deadline, I could then break it down into smaller chunks. I essentially had eleven months to work through four levels to prepare for the exam. So, I decided to break my big goal down into four smaller goals – one for each level. I gave myself three months to focus on each level (except for the fourth level for which I only had two months). Doing this then gave me something even more specific to work on.

Since I had three months for each level, give or take, I could then break down the material I needed to learn into monthly tasks. In order to do this, I had to take a look at the different resources I would be using to decide how I’d divide up my time using them.

Here’s what I was using specifically to prepare for the exam:
– Flashcards
– Practice tests
– Practice test review
– Lessons with an iTalki tutor

In each three-month period, I needed to study regularly with my tutor, take ten practice tests, review those ten practice tests, and work through flashcards for each level’s word list. There are about twelve weeks in each three-month period and I only had ten practice tests, so I had two weeks that I could use to catch up whenever necessary.

It’s really important to give yourself time off because 1) sometimes you need a break and 2) if there is time that you weren’t supposed to have off that you ended up having to take off anyway, you’ve given yourself some leeway and time to play catch up.

Step Three // Divide those smaller tasks again into even smaller tasks

Once I figured out how much material I needed to work through each month, I could then assign myself tasks for each week.

Saving my two week catch-up period for the end of the month, I challenged myself to work through:
– The necessary number of flashcards to stay on track (this varied for each level, but is easy to figure out when you know how many words you need to learn – you just divide each flashcard set by the number of weeks you have and then you know how many words you need to learn per week)
– One practice test
– Review of the one practice test
– An iTalki lesson

Step 4 // Plan out your weekly/daily schedule

I really think a big part of successful study is knowing exactly what you’re going to study each day. It’s really easy to waste time flipping through different resources, deciding what to work on. Especially on days where you only have a limited amount of time to study – uncertainty can really get in your way.

Knowing what I needed to accomplish each week allowed me to create a weekly plan with specific tasks for each day of the week and knowing what I was going to study each time I sat down to do just that, really saved me a lot of time.

Let’s take a look at level three of the exam to give you an idea of what I did.

For level three of the exam, I had ten tests, ten test reviews, twelve lessons, and 2358 words to learn (if you count the pinyin and the character as two separate words, which I did). A three-month period has about 90 days or so, which means that I needed to learn about 26.2 words per day. That right there gave me my first daily task. I then just needed to decide which days I met with my tutor, and which I worked through the practice test material. By level three, it usually took me about two days to do the review (I wrote out each question and answer I got wrong and it was a bit time-consuming). I also ended up taking each test twice during each three-month period for levels 3 and 4.

My weekly/daily schedule ended up looking something like this:

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday26.2 words26.2 words26.2 words26.2 words26.2 words26.2 words26.2 wordsPractice test 1Test ReviewiTalki lessonTest ReviewPractice Test 2Test ReviewTest Review

If I had just decided that I wanted to pass the HSK 4 exam after a year, but didn’t plan out how I was going to do that, I don’t think I would have succeeded in achieving my goal. Actually breaking down what I wanted to accomplish into daily tasks was definitely worth the effort because the end result was that I passed my exam. And I don’t think that would have happened if I didn’t spend the time planning out my study schedule early on.

Over to You

What are your language goals? Which of the above methods did you use to set them?

Want to learn more about effective goal setting and goal settings systems? Join us in Language Conqueror.

In the month of January, we’re focusing on goal setting.

You’ll get:

A video lesson introducing the QuestA workbook with all the exercises and instructions you need to complete the QuestDaily prompts so you know exactly what to work on each dayA video demonstrating the Quest in action from one of our hosts (or special guests)Trade secrets from Shannon and Caitlin: these are tricks you can use to succeed at your QuestA Side-Quest: an action you can take to help you gain the confidence you need to complete your QuestAccess to the Quest community so you can collaborate with other learners, share what you’re working on, and get supportYour Quest: the final assignment you complete to put everything you learned over the month into practice

Join Language Conqueror .

The post 6 Goal Setting Methods & The Ultimate Guide to Setting Good Language Learning Goals appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | January 2022

The holidays are here! How are you spending your last month of the year?

It’s time for a new analysis of my language goals as a part of Clear the List, but also the kick off for a new intake of Language Conqueror Master Quest! We’re kicking off the new year with a new opportunity to register for 12 months of passion-driven language learning.

We’re starting off the year with a Quest all about goal setting. And in February, we’ll dive into habits.

What is Language Conqueror? It’s a course I work on with a monthly Quest focused on passion-driven learning. You can learn more, get a feel for my teaching style, and download our free PDF here: Get the Free PDF

And if that’s not enough, you can also get a feel for my teaching style with Snack-Sized Language!

Snack-Sized Language is a free podcast where we teach you snack-sized language lessons. So far we have episodes teaching general language learning tips, Japanese, French, Mandarin and Korean. Plus, we recently added Russian, Spanish, and German. Not to mention, more languages are coming soon!

You can subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform.

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Google Podcasts

And if you enjoy Snack-Sized language, we would absolutely love it if you left us a review!

And now, on to #clearthelist …

Wondering what #clearthelist is? Let me clear it up for you (see what I did there?). #CleartheList is a linkup where we share our monthly goals, and by we, I mean myself, and you!

We’d absolutely love for you to be a part of our community. You can join us by adding a link to your own goal post in the comments below.

So let’s get started, sharing our goals and motivating one another to #clearthelist!

Please feel free to tag your posts or photos with either #clearthelist on your favorite social media channels!

Last Month’s Highlights on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shannon Kennedy (@eurolinguiste)

Last Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // We’ve started watching Chinese language films again and we’re slowly working it back into the schedule now that school has settled in.

Maintain my vocabulary learning streak + maintain my Duolingo learning streak. // I’ve kept this up and have streaks for all of my focus languages in the 100s.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // I’m at the same place this month as I was last — at about 2,000 videos in the queue. The good news is that while the number hasn’t decreased, it hasn’t crept up either.

Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // Yes, I’m still making steady progress here.

Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // Same as above.

Start getting into course book study again. // This really is the most challenging thing for me to work into my schedule, so I didn’t manage this during this month.

This Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // As usual, I’d like to continue to incorporate this more and more until we’re an OPOL household. It’s fallen off slightly, so it’s something I want to bring back. And while we’re heading in the right direction, it definitely needs more attention.

Maintain my vocabulary learning streak. // This has been a great way to rebuild my language routine, so it’s staying on the list indefinitely! I share my stats over on Instagram in my stories nearly every day, so if you’re ever curious where I’m at, you can check out my stories. I am learning Persian, Hungarian, Croatian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // As always, there’s a lot I need to get through. I hope to continue working at this in order to make consistent progress. I’d like to break 2,000 this month.

Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // Same as usual.

Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // Same as usual.

Resources I Used This Month

A quick recap of the materials I am using.

What I Am Using to Learn Chinese:

LingQ – my favorite tooliTalki Lessons – I have weekly Chinese lessonsMemrise  Drops

What I’m Using to Brush Up/Improve My French:

LingQListening to French radio/podcasts/musicDuolingo

What I am Using to Learn Russian:

Colloquial RussianLingQiTalki LessonsDropsPimsleurMemrise

What I am Using to Learn Persian:

LingQPreply LessonsDropsPimsleurTeach Yourself Complete PersianMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Japanese:

Genki IDrops – they just added hundreds of new culture-specific words for Japanese!iTalki LessonsPimsleurMemriseDuolingo

What I’m Using to Learn Croatian:

Colloquial CroatianiTalki LessonsLingQ – they added Croatian, woot woot!DropsMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Hungarian:

Colloquial HungarianiTalki LessonsDropsLingQ – they added Hungarian, too!Memrise

What I’m Using to Learn Korean:

Memrise

What I’m Using to Learn Spanish:

DuolingoMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Portuguese:

DuolingoMemriseComplete Portuguese

Not Currently doing any study for: German, Hindi, Norwegian, Hebrew, Italian

What I’m Using for Little Linguist

Lots of booksDay-to-day interactionitalki LessonsDuolingo ABCDropletsMovies in ChineseGus on the Go Chinese

Resources That Aren’t Language Specific

Fluent in 3 Months ChallengeTodoist (to keep all my language lessons and to-do’s organized)Notion – my new favorite app for taking notes (I just set up a template for the way I use Notion to take notes if you’re interested in duplicating it for yourself)The Biggest Lesson I Am Taking Away from This Month

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ve really been reminded of the power of consistency this month. And that when you rely on routines and habits, making language learning a part of your day-to-day routine becomes automatic.

Don’t forget that I would love to hear all about your goals for this month!

The post Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | January 2022 appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

Glossika Review | Audio-Based Learning at the Sentence Level

I am always on the lookout for good audio resources. Because I spend so much of my time in the car, this is where I do the bulk of my language study.

For languages like Croatian, there’s not a lot available, so whenever I find something, I’m over the moon.

Because my goal with many of my languages is to attain a conversational level, listening comprehension is doubly important to me.

And that’s why I’ve found Glossika to be an invaluable resource.

Meet Glossika

When I first discovered Glossika, the platform was completely different than it is today. At present, Glossika is an online software (though you can download audio to work on offline). It is audio-based, but you can read the sentences in both your native and target languages as you work through the exercises.

The tool uses Glossika Mass Sentences. In other words, it’s all about learning a language by practicing a lot of sentences. The focus isn’t on individual words or grammar, but on learning at the sentence level.

In the words of Glossika founder Mike Campbell, “By focusing on language at the sentence level, it makes it easier to learn several things that are not easy to learn by themselves: pronunciation, syntax, vocabulary, and grammar.” (source) This method is mixed with spaced-repetition. That means the software repeats sentences for you just before you might forget them.

Founded by Mike Campbell, the company is based in Taiwan where it has a team that specializes in creating its immersive learning program.

Who is Glossika for?

Glossika is best for the upper beginner or intermediate learner. Someone with a basic understanding of the language.

What I Like About Glossika?

The Placement Test // If you have experience with the language, I recommend taking the placement test. That way, you don’t have to start from the beginning. You can skip what you already know and dive right into the new material. With a repetition-based program, this is an excellent feature. You don’t grow bored drilling sentences you already know and can focus on new material.

Speaking // If you activate your microphone, Glossika records you speaking the sentences. You aren’t given feedback on your recordings, but it’s still a great way to get speaking practice without the pressure of conversing. And because you’re mimicking the sentences you heard only a moment for, it’s a useful way to improve your accent, too.

Flexible Settings // You can choose between normal, slow or fast so that you can experience the audio at different speeds. Other settings you can choose include:

Whether or not you see the text in your native languageWhether or not you hear the sentence read in your native languageThe speed of the sentences in both your native and target languagesThe amount of space between the sentences (to give you time to repeat or process if needed)Whether or not the sentences in your target language are repeated before moving on to the next sentenceThe topics you learnThe number of new sentences your introduced to per session

The Language Selection // In addition to many of the more popular languages, Glossika also offers a lot of languages that don’t have many resources available elsewhere. Some of these include Croatian, Serbian, Taiwanese Hokkien, Kurdish, Cantonese, Gaelic, Irish, European Portuguese, and Southern Vietnamese.

Glossika is Perfect for Language Laddering // You can set your native language to any language available in the Glossika system. This means that if you already speak a language at an intermediate or advanced intermediate level, you can use it to improve another language. Once I realized this is an option, I changed my native language to French. I was then able to keep my French active while learning many of the other languages in the system.

Things That Could Be Better

More Writing Support // For a language like Japanese, you’re shown both kana and kanji. This means you need to be familiar with all three systems in order to understand the written sentences. Additionally, you need to have the appropriate keyboard installed to try out the three of the four writing exercises: typing, dictation, and fill in the blank.

More Cultural Context // All of the sentences are the same for every language in Glossika. This means that you lose out on any cultural context. That said, Glossika admits that it is not a complete language learning solution (and the same can be said for any language resource). So you can always learn about the cultural elements of your language outside of Glossika.

Your Personal Dashboard Could Be Easier to Navigate // For me personally, I’d love to have a personalized dashboard where I could see my progress with each of the languages I’m using, how many repetitions are due, how many repetitions I’ve done, and how many are left before I’ve completed the course. You can see this within each course, but I’d love to be able to see this at a glance in a personalized dashboard.

How Much Does Glossika Cost?

At the time of writing, for non-enterprise users, Glossika currently has two payment plans. The Free plan gives you unlimited access to their free languages and 1,000 reps with standard languages. The paid plan gives you full access to all languages and premium features for $30/month (or $24.99/month when you pay for a year in advance).

In Conclusion

Glossika is an excellent course with high-quality audio, tons of useful material and is a treasure trove for those learning languages with few resources. The price is amazing considering the fact that you get every language within Glossika. Recommended.

Try Glossika

What about you?

Have you tried Glossika? What did you think?

What’s your favorite audio resource? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

The post Glossika Review | Audio-Based Learning at the Sentence Level appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

Language Learning Reading Challenge 2022

It’s once again that time and the votes are in! The Language Learning Reading Challenge community submitted their requests for this year’s challenge and here are the themes for the 2022 Language Reading Challenge.

What is the Language Learning Reading Challenge?

Each month in the LLRC, we’ll tackle one book covering a topic related to language and share our experiences as a group. Please feel free to join us. You can participate by commenting on the posts here at Eurolinguiste or by joining the group on Facebook (we have a Goodreads community, too).

As part of the challenge, we will be read books that cover everything from culture, language learning, general learning techniques, history, and more. Plus, we’ll be reading both in our native languages and target languages.

If you’re at a more advanced level in your target language, feel free to read any or all of the books (not just the ones indicated as target language only) in the language that you’re learning.

If you’re still just getting started, that’s okay, too! You can read along in your native language, discovering more about the cultures and histories tied to the language(s) that you’re learning, opting for lower-level or graded readers for books in your target language.

Please note that you don’t have to pick just one language for this challenge. If you’re learning multiple languages, feel free to mix and match. The challenge is pretty flexible. I’ve planned it this way so you can get the most learning possible out of it over this next year.

The 2022 Language Learning Reading Challenge Prompts

Jan: Read a book written by an author from a country that speaks your target language (it doesn’t need to be a memoir)

Feb: A book in your target language (reader’s choice!)

Mar: A memoir from your target country

Apr: A book about a language or linguistics

May: A book set in the country of your target language

Jun: A book about someone who learns a language

Jul: Read something about a language you’re not learning

Aug: A book about a minority language (thank you, Angela Quine, for this one!)

Sep: A children’s book

Oct: A graphic novel or comic book

Nov: A magazine (print or digital)

Dec: A book written by a language blogger (like Benny’s books, Olly’s books, Kerstin’s book, Lindsay’s book, or even shameless plug: my book)

A Few Notes Regarding the Language Reading Challenge:

The challenge doesn’t have to focus on one language, if you are studying multiple languages (or have an interest in languages you’re not studying), feel free to go for books in or about those languages.

You are absolutely welcome to read books of any level. Graded readers, children’s books, academic books, or any other genre are acceptable for the challenges that require you to read in your target language(s). And for topics that indicate you read a children’s book, you can also explore YA (young adult).

You do not need to participate every month to be a part of this challenge. You can choose the months that align with your interests.

If you do not complete the book you take up in any one month of the challenge, that’s okay! You can still join in the conversation and share some of what you’ve learned from the sections of the book you were able to get through.

Language Reading Challenge Rules:Share your post discussing the book that you’ve read this month. Submissions unrelated to the theme or links to your homepage will be deleted. You can share in the comments or use the link below to join us on Facebook or Goodreads.Follow the host: Shannon from Eurolinguiste.OPTIONAL: Join us on Facebook or Goodreads.

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8 Best Language Learning Apps to Download This Holiday Season

This post originally appeared on the Drops blog.

With the holidays right around the corner, there’s a lot to prepare for. It’s a time when we reconnect with family, when gifts are exchanged, and sometimes even when we meet new family members for the very first time.

Perhaps this year is the year when you finally learn enough of your grandmother’s native language to surprise her. Or maybe it’s the reverse, and you’re about to fly out to meet your grandkids who are raised in another country, speaking another language. What about impressing your hard-to-please in-laws or your cousin’s new spouse?

Any one of these seven apps can help set you on the path to accomplishing just that. Plus, they make excellent gifts if you’re looking for something to give someone who loves languages.

8. Duolingo

Languages: 32 languages including French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Czech
Price: Free, $9.99/month for Duolingo Plus

You can’t have a post rounding up the language learning apps without mentioning Duolingo. With more than 100 million users, it’s certainly one of the most popular learning tools out there. Despite it’s often quirky practice sentences like “the snake drank the milk”, the app does a good job of teaching learners the basics of vocabulary and grammar. It features many gamified elements–everything from points to scoreboards to help keep learners motivated.

Try Duolingo

7. FluentU

Languages: 9 languages including Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, German, French, and Korean
Price: $10-20/month

FluentU helps learners dive right in to native content like tv ads, music videos, and short films by offering interactive subtitles and exercises. They curate content from Youtube, adding interactive subtitles that allow you to look up words you don’t understand in real time. You can also do review sessions and exercises to better understand the language used in the videos you watch.

Try FluentU

6. HelloTalk

Languages: 150+ supported languages
Price: $4.99/month

If you would love to practice your new language, but have no one to speak with, HelloTalk has you covered. This app helps you connect with native speakers of the language you’re learning. You can chat with them via text, voice notes or even video calls. Plus, the app has a lot of built-in features that help you learn while chatting. There’s a translation, romanization, and several other options to help your conversations go smoothly.

The app also has a wide selection of filters, so you can make sure you’re connecting with the best partners. You can select gender, age range, location and more.

Try HelloTalk

5. Clozemaster

Languages: 59 languages including Afrikaans, Croatian, Breton, French, Italian, and Spanish
Price: Free, $8/month for Pro

Learn new vocabulary through context with Clozemaster. This app uses close, or fill-in-the-blank, to help you master words in your new language. The app has a retro video game aesthetic and is intended for students who already have some understanding of the language they’re learning.

Try Clozemaster

4. Babbel

Languages: 14 languages including Polish, Swedish, French, German, and English
Price: $12.95/month

Babbel is a language course. It teaches you the basics of a language by introducing both vocabulary and grammar. Its exercises combine listening, reading, and writing to help you get started with a new language. It also offers explanations for grammar points introduced in the app.

Try Babbel

3. LingQ

Languages: 14+ languages including French, Russian, Slovak, and Greek
Price: Free, $10/month for Premium

If you enjoy reading, LingQ is a useful way to do just that in your new language. This app is an assistive reader–that means you can dive right into reading with this tool. As you read, you can mark words as “known” or “unknown” and then any study new words with a variety of review exercises. It features a tagging system, integration with several online dictionaries, an import tool, and tons of user-generated content.

Try LingQ

2. Youtube

Languages: Countless
Price: Free, $11.99/month for ad-free Premium

This recommendation may feel out of place on this list, but with the YouTube app downloaded to your phone, you have instant access to hundreds if not thousands of lessons for almost every language.

Try Youtube

1. Drops

Languages: 31 languages including French, Hungarian, Hawaiian, Icelandic, Korean, Japanese, and Thai
Price: Free, $9.99 month/Premium

This list wouldn’t feel complete, of course, without including Drops. With Drops, you can play your way to a new language with stunning visuals, engaging games, and short study sessions. Drops helps you build the 3 C’s of language learning–confidence, comprehension and commitment–by focusing on vocabulary.

Try Drops

What about you? What language apps do you recommend? Any you plan to gift the language lover in your life this holiday season?

The post 8 Best Language Learning Apps to Download This Holiday Season appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

Dual Language Reading | Beelinguapp Review

Once you figure out how to get started, the beginning stages of learning a language are a breeze. You make huge leaps forward with your language learning and you really get a quick sense of accomplishment from the time you spend studying.

The intermediate stage, however, is an entirely different beast.

If it isn’t plaguing you with frustratingly difficult grammar, you’re stuck in the doldrums of a learning plateau, at a complete loss as to how to break through and finally arrive at that upper-intermediate or advanced stage.

Lately, in an effort to avoid getting stuck at the intermediate level, I decided to make extensive reading a greater part of my language learning approach. In the past, for languages that are close to my native language – French, Spanish, Italian, and German – I found extensive reading to be effective. It was relatively easy to understand quite a bit of what I was reading by doing just a bit of deduction.

And when I started to apply the same method to more distant languages – Russian, Korean and Chinese – I discovered that the same rules apply, even if required looking things up more often.

Meet Beelinguapp

For new learners, a book in one’s target language can be quite intimidating. There are a lot of things that might be too foreign all at once – pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, etc. – and so the task seems overwhelming.

When this is the case, my first suggestion is to invest in dual language books (not children’s books!). There are many different options when it comes to dual language books, but they can be hard to find for certain languages and even pretty expensive.

With Beelinguapp, however, dual language reading becomes more affordable and convenient than ever.

Beelinguapp is currently available for Android and iOS.

Things Beelinguapp Does Well: Features That I Like

It is available in 14 languages and you can use any language combination you wish. // Currently, Beelinguapp is available for learners or speakers of Arabic, English, Turkish, Hindi, Russian, French, Portuguese, Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, and Spanish. You can choose to read the selections in any combination of languages, so you can learn Portuguese through French or just study Russian using your native language.

There are several ways you can filter the available titles. // Language, level, and category are a few of the ways that you can view the titles available. You’re sure to find something you like with all the ways you can filter the results.

The amount of free content. // At the time of writing, there are several free stories available. This is a nice selection of material for those not ready/sure about investing in the app. You’re likely to find something you want to try out and read for free rather than force yourself through reading on a topic that doesn’t interest you.

There is audio available for each of the readings. // For those interested in improving their listening comprehension or just curious about how the words they’re reading actually sound, there are recordings from native speakers of each of the texts.

You can use the audio as a standalone feature. // You don’t need to have the app open and viewable on your phone to use the audio feature. If you’d like to use the readings as an audiobook in your car or while on the go, the app still functions when the screen is locked.

You can turn off the side by side reading feature. // If you want to increase the challenge, you can turn off the side by side reading feature and just work through the texts in your target language.

Features I That Were Improved Since My Original Review

Since my original review, many of the features I thought could use improvement have, in fact, been improved. For example:

Before, the accompanying images didn’t match the content quality. // There are now custom images for each story that suit the app very well.

There were too many ads. // This has been reduced significantly and you can upgrade to Premium to remove ads.

The karaoke-style cursor doesn’t always move in sync with the audio. // The timing on this has been improved significantly.

The audio is only available at one speed. // There are now three speeds available: 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0.

Features That I Still Think Can Be Improved in Beelinguapp

For me, the power of a language learning tool really comes from my ability to tailor it to my own needs and create custom content. While there’s a wide selection of content available in Beelinguapp, there isn’t an option to add your own content to the app.

Being able to use this incredible reading tool with my own content would be amazing, and as I said, my preference.

Conclusion: My Thoughts on Beelinguapp

Overall, I really enjoyed using Beelinguapp. Since I’m incorporating reading into my learning strategy more and more, I see a lot of potential for something like this – especially for those interested in tackling more than one language.

The reading selections are short, which makes them feel much less intimidating than taking on a full book. Plus they’re on an interesting assortment of topics – everything from history to culture, fiction to science.

Beelinguapp was developed by David Montiel, a programmer from Mexico who now lives in Germany. He used texts and audiobooks to learn the German language, which is why he sought to develop Beelinguapp – it filled a gap he felt was missing from his learning tools.

You can learn more by visiting the Beelinguapp website.

Beelinguapp: Facebook | Twitter

What about you?

What are your thoughts about extended reading?

Do you have any apps or books or dual language books that you’re digging into at the moment? Or that you enjoyed in the past? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

The post Dual Language Reading | Beelinguapp Review appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | December 2021

The holidays are here! How are you spending your last month of the year?

It’s time for a new analysis of my language goals as a part of Clear the List, but also a new Quest as a part of Language Conqueror!

And this month… it’s all about meditation, which is an incredibly effective tool for both improving your language studies and habit-stacking with your language studies!

I share different techniques for using meditation as a language learning tool and so much more. So if you’re looking to take your language learning to the next level, this month is for you.

What is Language Conqueror? It’s a course I work on with a monthly Quest focused on passion-driven learning. You can learn more, get a feel for my teaching style, and download our free PDF here: Get the Free PDF

And if that’s not enough, you can also get a feel for my teaching style with Snack-Sized Language!

Snack-Sized Language is a free podcast where we teach you snack-sized language lessons. So far we have episodes teaching general language learning tips, Japanese, French, Mandarin and Korean. Plus, we recently added Russian, Spanish, and German. Not to mention, more languages are coming soon!

You can subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform.

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Google Podcasts

And if you enjoy Snack-Sized language, we would absolutely love it if you left us a review!

And now, on to #clearthelist …

Wondering what #clearthelist is? Let me clear it up for you (see what I did there?). #CleartheList is a linkup where we share our monthly goals, and by we, I mean myself, and you!

We’d absolutely love for you to be a part of our community. You can join us by adding a link to your own goal post in the comments below.

So let’s get started, sharing our goals and motivating one another to #clearthelist!

Please feel free to tag your posts or photos with either #clearthelist on your favorite social media channels!

Last Month’s Highlights on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shannon Kennedy (@eurolinguiste)

Last Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // I’m still working at creating more consistency with this. Now that the kids are school-aged it’s a little more difficult to fit in.

Maintain my vocabulary learning streak + maintain my Duolingo learning streak. // I’ve done this with Drops, Memrise, and Duolingo.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // Same as last month — I have been working on this, but it is still impossible to catch up. At the end of last month, I had 2,000 videos queued up, and between what I’ve watched and what I’ve added, that’s still about where I’m at this month.

Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // Yes, I’m still making steady progress here.

Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // Same as above.

Start getting into course book study again. // This really is the most challenging thing for me to work into my schedule, so I didn’t manage this during this month.

This Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // As usual, I’d like to continue to incorporate this more and more until we’re an OPOL household. It’s fallen off slightly, so it’s something I want to bring back.

Maintain my vocabulary learning streak. // This has been a great way to rebuild my language routine, so it’s staying on the list indefinitely! I share my stats over on Instagram in my stories nearly every day, so if you’re ever curious where I’m at, you can check out my stories. I was learning Persian, Hungarian, Croatian, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese and have gone on to add Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // As always, there’s a lot I need to get through. I hope to continue working at this in order to make consistent progress.

Keep reading Game of Thrones in Russian. // Same as usual.

Keep reading Eye of the World in Hungarian. // Same as usual.

Continue getting into course book study again. // This. hopefully, will finally be the month!

Resources I Used This Month

A quick recap of the materials I am using.

What I Am Using to Learn Chinese:

LingQ – my favorite tooliTalki Lessons – I have weekly Chinese lessonsMemrise  Drops

What I’m Using to Brush Up/Improve My French:

LingQListening to French radio/podcasts/musicDuolingo

What I am Using to Learn Russian:

Colloquial RussianLingQiTalki LessonsDropsPimsleurMemrise

What I am Using to Learn Persian:

LingQPreply LessonsDropsPimsleurTeach Yourself Complete PersianMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Japanese:

Genki IDrops – they just added hundreds of new culture-specific words for Japanese!iTalki LessonsPimsleurMemriseDuolingo

What I’m Using to Learn Croatian:

Colloquial CroatianiTalki LessonsLingQ – they added Croatian, woot woot!DropsMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Hungarian:

Colloquial HungarianiTalki LessonsDropsLingQ – they added Hungarian, too!Memrise

What I’m Using to Learn Korean:

Memrise

What I’m Using to Learn Spanish:

DuolingoMemrise

What I’m Using to Learn Portuguese:

DuolingoMemriseComplete Portuguese

Not Currently doing any study for: German, Hindi, Norwegian, Hebrew, Italian

What I’m Using for Little Linguist

Lots of booksDay-to-day interactionitalki LessonsDuolingo ABCDropletsMovies in ChineseGus on the Go Chinese

Resources That Aren’t Language Specific

Fluent in 3 Months ChallengeTodoist (to keep all my language lessons and to-do’s organized)Notion – my new favorite app for taking notes (I just set up a template for the way I use Notion to take notes if you’re interested in duplicating it for yourself)The Biggest Lesson I Am Taking Away from This Month

Personally, this month has been one of the most challenging months of my life. There is a lot going on and consistency/discipline has helped me maintain my studies through the month. I’ve been able to fall back on my discipline and count on it to help me keep my studies up through this last month.

Because of my background in music, I’ve always known the power of discipline, but this month has truly allowed me to see it in practice.

Don’t forget that I would love to hear all about your goals for this month!

The post Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | December 2021 appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

Get By in Croatian Season 1 Episode 2

Listen to the Podcast for Free

You can listen to the Get by in Croatian podcast for free on Apple Podcasts. Get instant access by subscribing to the podcast here.

You can also hear Get by in Croatian on: Spotify | Google | Apple

Episode Summary:Learn how to ask someone how they areHow to reply when someone asks you how you are/li>Purchase Options

Get the exclusive bonus audio and PDF lesson worksheet:
Download this Lesson’s Bonuses

Any questions about Croatian?

Don’t hesitate to leave me your Croatian learning questions in the comments below. It may be featured in an upcoming episode!

Also, please subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts to get automatic updates.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Get By in Croatian!

If you’d like to help out, then I’d be honoured if you’d take a moment toShare the episode on social media with your friends (click here for Twitter or here for Facebook)Leave an honest review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts

I’ll see you in the next episode of Get by in Croatian!

The post Get By in Croatian Season 1 Episode 2 appeared first on Eurolinguiste.