December 31, 2011
If you’ve been studying a language for a few months, you might want to volunteer some of your time to teaching beginners learning the same language. Teaching others is one of the best ways to really internalize everything you’ve studied of the language so far.
Not sure where you can volunteer for this? Here are some ideas:
- Local language learning schools. Get a list of the local language classes in your area. Contact each one and ask if there’s any opportunity to volunteer in any capacity. Whether as a teaching assistant or a practice group facilitator, you could really hone your language skills doing this type of work.
- Form a practice group. If you don’t have an existing practice group, you could form one and recruit fellow learners. Welcome even absolute newbies in if you’re serious about tutoring. Got an existing group? Ask other members for permission to recruit newer learners.
- Teach online. You can join an online forum for language learning and teach by helping out other posters there with their questions. You can also teach others by starting your own blog and writing for many online outlets. Granted, you’ll need to refine your writing skills a little if you want to be effective, but it’s another excellent way to internalize what you’ve learned.
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 1, 2011
Students who first learned a language using printed sources (e.g. books, web) often develop their reading abilities faster than their listening skills. If you’re one such person and you’re looking to even out your language development, you can put those reading skills to use in order to help raise your comprehension of spoken conversations.
The idea behind the technique, called Shadow Reading, is that you can use those reading skills to fill in the gaps in your listening ability by engaging in both activities at the same time. Doing so will help build the connections in your brain between the written elements of a language and their spoken counterparts.
How do you do this? You need two thing: a spoken recording in the target language and its accompanying transcript. There are CD sets and online downloads available that offer this type of combination (audio monologue and a transcript) as a learning tool for, as far as I’ve seen, the more popular languages out there.
If you can’t find material like this available for what you’re studying, you can go to YouTube to find a video in your target language, record the audio (there are plenty of software for that) and transcribe the audio (again, there are plenty of speech-to-text software for that, although you might need to do some searching to chance upon one that supports your target language).
Once you have the materials, you can then set aside practice time to do them. Just remember to focus your attention on the audio, all while using the transcripts as a reference tool for when you can’t figure out what the recording is saying.
May 20, 2011
Can you build language skills using online practice? Some people seem to think so. While I personally would recommend taking baby steps in the real world, going online is probably worth the try. At the least, it wouldn’t hurt.
If you’re looking at online practice as an option, here are some things to consider:
- If you’re living in a country that speaks the target language, online practice might not be your best path of action. I mean, all you have to do is leave the house to get conversation practice, so sitting in front of a computer just isn’t that good of an idea.
- Using online tools is a great way to learn reading and writing in the language. Most online language tools are text-based and will have you conducting your conversations using typed messages.
- Voice and video chat are excellent ways to get speaking practice. While they’re not as good as real-life conversations, these mediums are excellent approximations for how real life interactions can go as you’re forced to process what the other person is saying and come up with responses on the fly.
- Consider an online tutor. If you’re willing to spend extra, an online tutor can be just as helpful as a live, in-person private tutor, all while charging rates that are just a tad lower.
November 12, 2010
Picking up language skills is one thing; retaining them is another. Going through your software language lessons and doing the prescribed exercises is good for acquisition. What it doesn’t guarantee, however, is being able to keep what you learned two years into the future.
So, how do you keep your language skills in tip-top shape? By regularly sharpening it, just like a tool.
According to some scientists, the brain regularly goes through processes that can best be described as “pruning.” That means, some pathways that have been made are kept, while others are eliminated. The older and less used a pathway is, the higher the likelihood it will be among those permanently banished.
So, how do you keep your language abilities adequately utilized?
- Speak it. Obviously, this is easy when you’re regularly around people who speak the language, such as a foreign country or a workplace with plenty of employees from the target language’s country.
- Practice on your own. When active use of the language in your regular day isn’t easily available, there’s nothing stopping you from practicing at home. You can pretend to have a conversation with yourself, watch a movie and mimic the actors, or compose an entire speech in the target language.
- Keep a close relationship with the language. Subscribe to blogs and RSS feeds, listen to songs and watch web videos in the target language. Don’t let your software lessons be the end of your relationship when you’re not using it in your immediate surroundings — there are many more ways to keep up.
July 8, 2010
Tried your hand a conversing with native speakers, but can’t figure out a lick of what they’re saying? Don’t worry, it’s normal. It usually takes much more than couple months of language lessons to get your listening skills down pay. Why is that?
- Your vocabulary’s just too weak. It’s possible that you just don’t have enough stock of a language to be able to comprehend what people are saying. The solution is straightforward: beef up your vocabulary.
- They speak in an accent different than your own. Even if you can identify words and phrases, accent can complicate the language heavily. This is why we recommend teaching be done using the target language’s accent – doing so helps familiarize you with their speaking patterns, so you can easily recognize them in real-world situations.
- They bring their own cultural biases into the language. The way native speakers use the language often bring idioms and cultural elements into play that sound perfectly natural in their local environment. Learning more about the local culture should help you on this end.
- They use slang that isn’t taught in formal classes. Slang, especially plays on words, are near impossible for non-natives to make out. Unless you befriend locals and spend time in their company, chances are, they’ll remain a mysterious parlance.
- They talk too fast. Since they’re perfectly familiar with the language, most native speakers will plow through their speech and pronunciations patterns quickly. Your limited time with the vernacular isn’t likely to help you much with regards to keeping up. The solution? Spend more time listening to native speakers, either through actual conversation, watching movies or listening to speeches.
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