November 4, 2011
Want to surround yourself with a target language even though you’re not living immersed in a country that speaks it? Use it more frequently.
Most learners use their target language only during the time of their lessons, distancing themselves from it the rest of the time. As such, their use of the language stays constrained to the hour or so each day that they sit down for their training.
Here are some of the ways you can bring more of the target language into your everyday life:
- Use it in your computer. Change your computer’s settings into the target language. If that’s a little too big of a jump, you can start with your Facebook or Google Reader settings to get comfortable.
- Write your short notes in the target language. If you regularly create a to-do list or write yourself reminders, do it in the target language.
- Think in the target language. We process multiple thoughts everyday. If you can do some of those in the target language, you could end up getting practice time in.
- Play foreign music. Instead of piping your usual playlist on the headphones while you work, why not get a bunch of new songs recorded in the target language and have those playing instead?
November 3, 2011
Language learning programs are great for getting your dose of daily lessons. Most of the time, though, they aren’t all that great for practice. That part’s still best done interacting with other speakers.
One of the best ways to get regular practice is to join (or form) a language group in your area. That way, you can practice what you’ve learned individually during meetings, giving everyone a low-pressure way to use new skills they’ve picked up.
If you want to make sure meetings are spent doing actual practice, though, it pays to make programs that can spur them. Without it, meetings could easily devolve into casual hanging-out sessions that leave everyone no closer to their fluency goals. Here are some ways you can structure meetings to do that:
- Create role-play scenarios. Here, you make people enact common scenarios where they will need to use the language. For instance, you can have one person act as a Spanish-speaking waiter, serving a table of four.
- Create content in groups. You can have groups design promotional materials in the target language, like posters and billboards. Even if they talk in their native tongue the entire time, they’ll still have to access their knowledge banks to come up with the stuff to write on the materials.
- Book readings. Hold a book reading, where the group reads a novel written in the foreign language. This will allow the group to practice their reading and pronunciation skills, maybe even their listening skills.
July 1, 2011
Practice makes perfect. The truth behind that statement is impossible to deny. More important than practice, though, is the value of planning and preparation so that you practice sessions becomes more than happenstance.
Some people call it deliberate practice. By that, they refer to carefully thought-out practice activities, designed to improve your skills in a systematic manner. This is in contrast to the just-dive-in approach to practice, where results may be more uneven.
With deliberate practice, you specifically go out to hone an aspect of your language skills that need to be worked on. Say, you’ve got survival phrases down pat, but would now like to be able to interact with people in the market on the fly. Ask yourself then: what kinds of speaking activities should I focus on to improve in this area?
Notice that you will start out all deliberate practice sessions being incompetent in that particular skill. As such, you need not worry about falling flat on your face and all that jazz — you can rest assured that they will happen. Because of its deliberate nature, though, you can be sure that you’ll see improvements if you stick to it.
The practice sessions available in many language software are designed with such types of gradual skill acquisition in mind. Think of it like basketball. If you go down to the park everyday for a year to play pick up games with other kids, you might or might not get better. If you work with a coach who will drill you step-by-step for six months, you’re almost always guaranteed to be a much-improved player at the end of that.
May 25, 2011
As good as your language software might be, anyone studying a language can derive immense benefits from actual, real-world practice. In fact, some argue that you can’t truly learn a language if you don’t get to practice it in face-to-face interactions with people.
Finding opportunities for practice will abound when you’re in a country that speaks the language. Just befriend a couple of locals and you can likely practice your heart out. Things get a little more dicey, however, when you’re not. It’s not easy to find opportunities to speak Italian when you live in the middle of Nashville, after all. Or Russian when you’re living in Mumbai. And so on.
When you’re in a country that doesn’t speak the second language you’re learning, you’ll want to find ambient opportunities. By that, we mean throwing yourself in situations with slightly higher chances of being around people who speak it. That way, you can engage in small talk, chit-chat and even just a few greetings as a form of practice.
Here are some ideas:
- Cultural centers. If there’s a cultural organization in your area that caters to the nationality who speaks your target language, getting involved with them could really help you. Call them up and ask if they have any events coming up that you can attend, such as art exhibits and theater performances.
- Expat hangouts. Many hotel lobbies and bars are filled with expats of various nationalities. So will certain establishments that cater specifically to foreign clients. Hang out there and you might chance upon potential people to practice with.
- NGOs and volunteer groups. Many volunteer organizations are closely tied with specific nationalities. Do note that you will likely have to volunteer and do actual work for free.
- Ethnic restaurants. These types of establishments are regularly patronized by people from the foreign country the establishment is tied to. If you want to be around many Indians, try an Indian restaurant. Same goes for Japanese, Vietnamese, German and others.
May 19, 2011
You’ve done your homework and found yourself a quality language software to study French (or Chinese or Dutch or whatever language you want to learn). You drew up a plan, created a schedule and stuck to it — you’re progressing along quite well.
There’s just one problem: you’re scared as hell to use the new language.
We all feel scared at various points in our lives. But if you let your fears get the better of your language acquisition, your progress will be all that much slower. Here are some ideas to help you get over this hump:
- Start small. Practice the language in small doses. You know, like going to Chinatown and engaging the store clerk with a question in the Chinese (if you’re learning that); or hitting a local ethnic restaurant and greeting the owner in the target language.
- Stick to scripted lines. Canned lines make it easy to use the language in the real world, since it saves you from having to think on your feet (and if you’re afraid, freezing up when trying to think is not uncommon). Memorizing a bunch of phrases to use eases you into conversations until such a point that you’re comfortable enough to improvise.
- Practice online. Find people to talk to online. The lack of face-to-face pressure helps some people go into interactions much more relaxed, allowing them to use the experience as a first step towards real-world conversations.
May 3, 2011
There are two main aspects to studying a new language: learning and practice.
Learning refers to taking language lessons. When you listen to a classroom lecture, read through pages of material or sit through a language software, you’re “learning” the language.
Practice involves actual use of the language, either through speaking, listening, reading or writing. When you practice, you go beyond simply memorizing new phrases and understanding the theories behind using them. You get a feel for how those lessons are applied in the real world.
Think of learning a new language in terms of playing basketball, for instance. A coach can show you how to dribble, layup and even make a crossover. Until you play a practice game with other players, though, it’s difficult to get a realistic feel of how things are going to be in a real game.
Practice doesn’t have to involve jumping into a table full of native speakers and chatting them up. There are other ways you can get practice in. You can spend 30 minutes a day speaking the new language by yourself, for instance, pretending you’re having a conversation. There are other things: you can write your shopping lists in the target language, think in the target language and even record a spoken audio diary in the target language.
The important thing is to treat both aspects of the language training process as equals, so that you appropriate sufficient amounts of time for each them.
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