December 17, 2009
Some second language learners dislike reading. After all, it can be a little frustrating trying to comprehend words written in a language you don’t quite yet understand. Sometimes, you’re just too damn slow. Other times, annoyance just gets the best of you.
How can you make reading less of a distasteful activity, all while you’re still catching up on your language learning software lessons?
Vary your reading pace. If you usually read slow, trying to comprehend the text as best as you can, try going faster for a change. If you don’t understand certain parts, let it be. You can do a second reading afterwards if you need to go over some of the details again in order to complete the picture. Most of the time, though, you can understand infer the meaning of those areas you glossed over.
Vary your exposure. If you’ve been practicing with books on the second language, look to vary your reading materials. Try blogs, newspapers and small pieces of writing, such as advertisements and blurbs. Some forms of writing may prove simpler to understand, apart from being more suited to your tastes.
Mark your reading materials. Underlining and highlighting items in what you’re reading, together with writing notes on the margins, makes the experience less passive and more participatory. As such, it’s usually a great antidote for those who find themselves easily bored.
December 16, 2009
Being able to converse in an informal and relaxed setting is one of the best ways for language learners to gain confidence when using their newly-developed skills. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done.
When you go out and endeavor to speak to natives using their tongue, few will really have the patience to listen to your broken attempts. After all, those people are likely just as busy as you are in your home turf – things to do, places to see and people to meet. As such, being able to relax enough to communicate clearly is easier than done. For the most part, your most comfortable conversations will likely take place with fellow students who are on a similar path as you.
That’s one advantage of classroom style language learning methods – you get an immediate set of people to practice everything you pick up with. While it will often lead to a case of the “blind leading the blind,” it creates an environment where you can use the language free from social pressures – one of the most ideal ways to gain a good deal of speaking confidence.
What do you talk about when plunged into these learning-conducive situations? Most language trainers suggest talking about topics that are easy enough to talk about, while being able to help you learn more about each other. The safest subject is usually material from each others’ home countries, including local life, national festivals and tourist spots.
Once you get the hang of such “dependable” topics, you can move on to more difficult subjects. Personal stuff, such as those you hold near and dear to you, will usually push you to the limits of your speaking abilities, compelling you to use facets of the language you would otherwise stay away from.
December 15, 2009
Looking for a way to boost your language learning speed and success? Here are a two ideas that I think everyone should embrace.
- Stick to short study sessions. Scheduling six 20-minute lessons scattered throughout the week will net you more results than one two-hour session on the weekend. The regular exercise you give your faculties will help things stick, apart from giving everything time to sink.
- Invest in good tools. Every student, whatever subject they’re looking to master, can benefit from the use of proper tools to help them succeed. It doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg either. A good language-learning software, along with a few small reference materials, can prove a terrific set of tools to get by on.
- Make time for practice. Whether you get your practice time by going through lessons with fellow learners or diving into a crowd with native speakers, you need to find an outlet to use what you’ve learned. Without that, you’ll like find a difficult time integrating it into your natural skillset.
Those three things sound particularly simple and basic. Yet, you’ll be amazed at the number of language learners who aren’t doing them. In my opinion, they’re the foundation of every successful language training endeavor. Get them done and you give yourself a bigger chance of coming out on top.
December 14, 2009
When writing in English for a global audience that consists of both native and ESL speakers, choosing the right words takes on a more important role. Your readers aren’t likely to be as well-versed in the language as you are, so you will need to help them cope. That burden, unfortunately, rests solely on your shoulders.
The use of verbs is one area that you should pay particular attention to when writing with ESL readers in your audience. It’s a common sticking point and can lead to terrible misunderstandings if they’re not able to keep up with the action words you employ.
Strong Verbs
Many writing coaches will recommend using strong verbs and the same holds true for your efforts to serve the ESL members of your audience. While using modifiers to strengthen weak verbs can be acceptable English writing, it’s bad practice for second-language speakers who may not have the vocabulary depth to be able to put its actual meaning together. In fact, you should steer clear of adjectives and adverbs as much as you can, choosing to use the more familiar “very” to amplify anything that requires the extra push.
Simpler Words
Avoid “big” words. While it’s impressive to demonstrate your vocabulary faculty by throwing around phrases that can make your college English professor proud, it’s the very type of language audiences still using a second-language software aren’t likely to appreciate.
December 13, 2009
It’s a well-known fact. Reading a lot helps build your vocabulary, especially when you’re learning a second language. Of course, you have to be smart while you’re doing it – you can’t just passively go through text and hope that it sticks.
Because of that, you should always keep the guidelines of active reading in mind when you’re doing it to support your language software studies – read slowly, take time to understand what you’re reading and highlight items you want to recall. When you come upon words or passages you can’t understand, look for context clues, rather than simply moving on and forgetting about it.
Most authors always include context hints about the meaning of potentially unclear passages, whether consciously or unconsciously. Rather than take the literal interpretation, you can use those to come about the real meaning of a specific passage.
1. Definitions. Some authors overtly include a definition to help the reader arrive at the actual meaning of potentially unclear terms. Of course, it will likely be integrated into one of the succeeding statements, rather than laid out like in a dictionary.
2. Synonyms. You can also look for parallel ideas that use a synonym to reinforce the passage.
3. Antonyms. Similar to their use of synonyms, some authors will use the opposite of the word to clarify its meaning.
4. Descriptions. Look for succeeding passages that describe the previous statement.
5. Summary. In this one, the author shows examples that summarize what the unclear passage means.
6. Visual. This one’s mostly done in reports and features, using visual elements such as pictures, charts and graphs to help you arrive at the intended meaning.
December 11, 2009
Do you take notes when you get your language learning lessons? You really should. They’re a great way to keep track of what you’re supposed to be learning, as well as an excellent future reference when you need to brush up on past topics.
Why is it better? Your notes are usually written in words that make sense to you. As such, referring to it often gets you better results than rereading the same chapter on a book or even running the same language software module.
When writing notes, you will need to take down as much as you can. There are several reasons for that. Taking notes forces you into an alert state, getting you to pay more attention along with keeping you from dozing out. The more you put down, the less you also need to remember, since you have something to look back on when you need to review.
To write as much as possible, use abbreviations and notations that you can understand. That way, you don’t have to waste too much time stringing long lines. Forget about making your notes look clean – neatness counts, but not that much. Given the choice between being thorough and being neat, always pick the former.
In a haste to take down notes, you will sometimes fail to understand some of the concepts. You can either keep on writing (if you’re on a schedule) or just rewind the software to repeat the parts you missed.
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