Kerstin Cable's Blog, page 44
October 21, 2013
Language learning with Yabla
Today I want to write an article introducing you to some software that might really go some distance to keeping you learning languages online. It's called Yabla, and online at Yabla.com.
What I like about Yabla is that the system is not in a specific learning method or a big method that you have to learn first. Instead, their special software is designed to make that target language video world accessible.
Here's how it works
The materials come from TV, film and music videos in the original lang...
October 18, 2013
Finally! Language Festival and 1000 words for everyone
I have recently noticed that the UK Newspapers Independent and Guardian have started running more stories about language learning in schools and universities than I have seen before. Both of them are reacting in really great ways to language promotion "activism" from associations like the British Academy (whose report about the State of Languages in the UK I wrote about earlier this year) and Speak to the Future.
Language Festival
The British Academy and the Guardian have in fact teamed up to...
October 15, 2013
What's the bigger world language - Mandarin Chinese or English? by Teddy Nee
In today's blog article, I'm proud to share a personal account from the other side of the world. Teddy Nee is from Indonesia, studies in Taiwan and has high ambitions to be speaking 6 languages: Fujianese, Indonesian, English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and Esperanto. Teddy says on his website that learning languages mostly requires discipline and commitment, and in his article today he'll talk more about how English and Mandarin compare.
English and Mandarin from Personal Experience
What comes...
October 11, 2013
Learn German with YouTube's most popular high school teacher: Levi Antrim!
I'm so excited about today's article, which has a new format that I am trying out for you guys: It's a podcast (in your RSS readers this shows up as podcast, though no artwork or intro have been created yet)! The first interview features a great guest: Mr Levi Antrim from Learn German with Herr Antrim. Levi is a German teacher in a US high school, but he's doing excellent work with a brand new approach to the classroom.
Listen to the interview below:
Here's what Levi and I discussedHow this s...
October 7, 2013
Translation Challenge: Oscar Wilde from English to German
My Facebook page reached 300 Likes today and to show my appreciation of so many people liking Fluent Language Tuition, I decided to give a price to number 300. As it turns out, the honour went to my own student Emma Armitage who didn't miss the chance to set me a challenge. Here is her chosen line:
"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
It is a quote from t...
October 3, 2013
How to make school subjects really relevant, by Sally Holmwood
British language tutor Sally Holmwood from Indigo Languages is back today with a new guest article for my blog. I always love having Sally contribute to Fluent Language's blog because she's so perceptive and smart about the school system. In today's article, Sally talks about what works and doesn't work in the world of school curriculums.
TheTelegraphrecently cited German as being the most sought-after language by employers, yet the number of pupils studying languages has dwindled in recent ye...
September 30, 2013
My take on "Speak from Day 1" by the Irish Polyglot (Plus: What I do on Day 1)
If you are a frequent internet visitor to the homes of language learning writers, you may have come across Mr Benny Lewis. Dubbing himself the Irish polyglot from Fluent in 3 months, Benny writes about his way of studying new languages and travelling the world. One of the important mantras to take away from his work is a dedication to using newly acquired language in conversation straight away. Benny calls it speaking from day 1, and today I thought I'll give you my take on it.
Here's what I d...September 27, 2013
Best of the Week in Language Learning
Some weeks deserve a snapshot that lives on forever in the photo album of your life, and for me this week has been one of those. On Monday I was proud to share my audio bonus for "How the Shiny fall" with you lovely blog readers. Did you like it? There was also a good amount of productivity in the work on the new language learning book and some fun online and offline lessons. With all of this, I thought today I would share a slightly different post with you, a look at the Best Of this week.
If...
