To truly gain fluency in a language, a person needs to actually use that language with other people. In traditional classes, that was normally only possible with other classmates. Unless you had other people in your family or neighbourhood who also...
Human language is our primary form of communication throughout the world. Most of us learn what becomes our native language from our parents and the people around us so that we can communicate easily. However, for some, knowing just one language is...
The Question Of Practice - An International Language Is Possible
Editor's note: This article is a reprint from "International Language - Past, Present & Future" By W. J. Clark. It was originally published in 1907.
The man who says a thing is impossible without troubling to find out whether it has been done is...
This article was published by Olly Richards in his blog "I Will Teach You a Language" in January, 2015 and is reprinted with his permission. The original post can be found here:
http://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/wasting-money-on-language-classes/...
Chatting in Languages Online - Part 2: Voice Chats
Young girl using a voice chat to talk to someone online
Last issue, I wrote about how text chats can be utilized on the internet to help language learners interact with each other for practise. While communicating in real-time through typing can really...
When I first started learning English as a child, my motivation was always linked to wanting to have a tool that would enable me to communicate and make friends with people from other countries. Back then, I didn't realise that this goal was completely...
Competition. It drives people to do better. In sports, we want to beat the other team. In business, we want more people buying our products or services. Online, we want more people visiting our web sites and blogs. Competition makes everyone else your...
How Do You Say It? - A look at sound notation systems
When you learn another language, everything about it is new and fresh. You need to learn an entirely different set of words for everything there is. The grammar is foreign, literally, and even the writing system might pose a challenge.
But perhaps...
Of Pidgins and Creoles - A look at how some languages are born
There are several thousand living languages in the world, most of which have evolved over long periods of time rather naturally. Some of these became isolated and developed very differently from their related languages. Other were influenced by the...
Before getting into the article, let me propose some scenarios:
Studying languages nowadays is a very popular thing, we have lots of free or paid programs and apps, from the famous ones like free Duolingo to the controversial and expensive Rosetta Stone....
Polyglot Events All Around The World - You Are Not Alone
When you think about Berlin, you may think about the Second World War, organization, or polite and organized people. But, for me and for many polyglots in our growing community, it is the city of friendship. Yes, every year, we meet over 300 people...
One of the current ideas being put to use in learning systems online is that of gamification. That 5-syllable word essentially means taking something which is normally a lot of work to do and making it fun, like a game. The idea isn't new. People have...
One out of every six Americans is Hispanic. Professionals in the workforce need to know how to interact positively with this rapidly growing population.
Traditionally, law enforcement departments, hospitals, school districts and organizations have...
Many people involved with languages are concerned about endangered languages. When too few people speak a language natively, that language is at risk of becoming extinct. Once the last speaker of it dies, there is no one left to speak it, and so it...
You are going to learn a new language. You have talked with others, done the research, and made the choice of which you want to tackle. That is the first part of the process. Now you need to start gathering the various materials and resources you are...