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June 30, 2011
Getting feedback about your language skills isn’t hard. Just ask a teacher or a native speaker what they think, and you’ll usually get an answer. What’s hard to get, however, is real, honest feedback that you can use to get better.
Native speakers can be the worst persons to ask. Since they know you’re a second-language speaker, they tend to simply assume you’re going to suck. As such, when you speak and you only suck a little, they’ll actually tell you that you’re doing amazingly well.
Here are some ways to get useful honest feedback if you’re looking for them:
- Ask for just one thing. Asking people to give you “any feedback” may sound like you’re giving them space to tell you everything. What usually happens, though, is it leaves them uncertain about what to tell you. When you ask them something specific, they can focus their mind on exactly one thing, increasing the likelihood that you’ll actually get a useful answer.
- Ask people who know you. It’s hard for someone to make a decent assessment of your skills if they’ve only known you for an entire 30 minutes. As much as possible, seek feedback from people who can actually take your background into account in their assessment, such as a teacher, a friend or a learning partner.
- Ask groups of people. If you want to get lots of feedback, don’t ask people one by one. Instead, ask them as a group. All you need is for one person to start the critiques and the rest of the crew will start cracking your head with their own.
June 28, 2011
Many people say they want to learn a new language at a serious pace. Few, however, put in the serious time to see those kinds of results.
The word “serious” can mean many different things to many different people. For our purposes, though, we’ll take serious strides in language learning to be fluency without having to put in the years. Let’s say, you’ll be conversant enough to interact freely in the streets within 6 to 12 months — that’s a significant enough turnaround without being unrealistic.
If you want that kind of progress, you’ll have to put in the time. That means, increasing the length of your daily lessons, practice and overall exposure to the target language. If you’ve been getting by on an hour of language training a day (30 minute lessons, 30 minute practice), then blow it up to two or four times.
With a language that carries close proximity to English (e.g. Spanish, French), you’ll need an estimated 600 hours of lesson time to be fluent. On a Monday to Friday schedule over 6 months, that means you’ll need to clock in at least 5 hours of pure classroom or language software training. That’s not including active independent study, such as practicing by yourself or listening to monologues online.
Consider that if you’ve been hoping to learn in a fairly short time, while slacking in the amount of time you’re investing. Language learning isn’t a walk in the park — you need to put in some serious work and serious time.
June 25, 2011
Yesterday, we brought you five common mistakes that beginners tend to commit during the early stages of learning French. Here are five more you’ll be well-served watching out for:
- Que. French for “that,” the word is required in sentences that involve a subordinate clause, with “que” being the conjunction that joins the two clauses. Emphasis on “required” is often necessary, given how many English speakers now drop “that” from their use.
- Auxilliary verbs. Passé composé (the most common French past tense form) needs to be conjugated with an auxilliary, either avoir or être. Confusion often arises about which of those two to use. The solution is to simply memorize the short list of verbs that use être and use avoir for the rest.
- Tu versus vous. The French use two words for “you,” tu and vous. At their most basic, the former is singular and the latter is plural. Don’t mix them up.
- Capitalization. Days of the week, months of the year, and a whole load of other things that are capitalized in English aren’t done so in French. Best learn them if you’re training to write in the language.
- Plural cette. The plural of cette is not cettes, it’s ces. That’s all you need to know.
June 24, 2011
Any time you start learning a new language, you’re going to make mistakes. And when you’re studying French, these are the most likely things you’re going to get wrong early on.
- Gender. This is one of the hardest concepts for English speakers to understand. In French, every noun is either masculine or feminine, and you have to use it accordingly, as the meaning of some words can change along with its gender. Masculine and feminine nouns exist in English, too (such as actor and actress, host and hostess), so you can use those as starting point to wrap your head around the idea. There’s no neutral in French — all nouns fall in one gender or the other.
- To be. The verb “to be” has three equivalents in French: être (the literal translation), avoir (to have) and fair (to do). Make sure you study all three and learn the right context in which to use them.
- Accents. When writing in French, accents are crucial. They are required, not optional, so learn how to both write and type them.
- Contractions. In English, contractions are optional (and, many times, ill-advised). In French, they are required whenever a short word (je, te, la) is followed by a word that begins with a vowel.
- The letter H. There are two varieties of the letter H in French, called aspiré and muet, respectively. Both are pronounced silently, although one acts as a consonant and the other acts as a vowel. As such, they follow the rules of grammar relating to their classified use.
June 23, 2011
In general, learning to write in a foreign language is much more difficult than learning to speak it. If you’re looking to develop in both areas, it’s usually a good idea to learn speaking first before starting on writing lessons.
Why? Largely, because that’s how language facility is naturally formed. Think back to when you were a child. Did you learn to speak first or did you learn to write first?
Additionally, think about what goes through your mind every time you write in your native language. Don’t you “speak” the language mentally as you commit it to a page? How will that be possible if you can’t speak verbally?
Written language is also more complex than spoken language. Even in your native language (English, we assume), written material is typically more lexically dense than spoken ones. Plus, spoken language gives you the benefit of gestures and body language — communicative elements you don’t get to enjoy when putting text to a page.
If you’ve been trying unsuccessfully to learn reading and writing in a target language, consider your currently ability to hear and speak it. Perhaps you need some more fluency as foundation before moving on to those more advanced language skills.
June 21, 2011
If you’re still getting your language lessons using audio CDs, books and traditional classroom teaching, you may want to reconsider your approach. It’s 2011. Isn’t it time your language instruction reflected the times?
Language Software
We’ve made huge strides in learning software. So much so, in fact, that you can dependably rely on it as your primary instruction source for language learning. While software-based language programs admittedly weren’t up to par 15 years ago, the strides in the space make a whole lot of difference now.
Many old language software relied on ineffective teaching styles, like rote memorization (repeating new phrases randomly) and strict grammar study. In contrast, most new software take a more strategic route, integrating both vocabulary memorizing and grammar into a far more natural approach that involves learning the language the way it is used. As a result, it feels more like an active speaking practice than a tired lesson.
Mobile Technology
With mobile technology now a ubiquitous part of everyday life, it’s a good idea to utilize them in your language studies, too. Use your iPod to listen to songs and monologues in the target language. Download electronic flashcards, dictionaries and other educational apps into your smartphone, so you can use them during downtime on the road. Keep your lesson notes on a computer, instead of an old-school ledger — that way, you can access the files from your phone, laptop and other electronic gadgets.
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