Archive for March, 2010
Mar
Mar
The Days of the week, in Italian
When learning the days of the week, I find it helpful to understand where the names come from. (In Russian, this ended up being super-easy.) In Italian, it’s a little different, but I still think it’s helpful, and it’s also fascinating to learn a little about the Italian language’s Roman roots.
Mar
Mar
The days of the week, in Russian
In spite of the fact that I’m focusing on Italian, I wanted to take a break for a moment to talk about one of the many things I love about the Russian language. When learning the days of the week, I find it helpful to understand where the names come from. In Russian, this ended up being super-easy!
Mar
Mar
The days of the week, in German
While we are discussing days of the week, and since I have decided to deviate from my target language on the weekends, I have chosen to discuss the names of the days of the week in German! While not as logical as Russian, German should be just as easy — or easier — just for its resemblance to English.
Mar
Mar
What the heck is a reflexive verb?
While the concept of reflexive verbs is mostly unused in English, it is a vital concept in almost all other languages. If you dont understand it or have never heard of it before, then today is your lucky day because we’re going to quickly look at what reflexive verbs are.
Mar
Mar
Conjugating reflexive verbs in Italian
Yesterday, we took a moment to understand reflexive verbs, and various ways in which they might be used. Today, we’re going to figure out how to do that in Italian.
Mar
Mar
What's done is done: Il Passato Prossimo
Last week, I showed you just how much you can actually say in a foreign language after only one month of study. It’s actually quite a lot, but one of things that held me back the most as I was writing was my desire to use the past tense. So today, we’re going to learn how to talk about things that are in the past.
Mar
Mar
Connect with the language in order to learn it better
I often insist that I’m not any more gifted than anyone else. It’s easy to excuse away my success by just saying I’m gifted, because it takes the responsibility off of yourself when you fail. But it’s self-delusion.
The ease with which I learn a language is a direct result of my curiosity. I don’t have a better memory than anyone else. But what I do have is a genuine curiosity about how language works — I am fascinated with how people communicate.
Mar
Mar
Use your shopping list to practice!
When learning a new language through a program or a book, sooner or later you start getting new words for food. It starts with things that you might order in a restaurant, which are hard enough to remember. But before long you’re learning words like peppers, onions, garlic… and eventually you’re wondering what real use you’ll ever have for these new words, why you should learn them, or how you’ll ever remember them. The solution is simple: write your shopping list in Italian!
Mar
Mar
Finally understand those Russian prefixes!
Perhaps one of the most exciting facets of the Russian language — and one of the many reasons why it is my favorite language — is the logical construction of words using prefixes and stems.
Mar
Mar
10 Reasons why Spanish is the best first choice of second language!
If you want to learn a foreign language, but you don’t know which one to learn; or if you want to learn several languages and you don’t know which one to start with; or, if you think learning a foreign language is too hard, and you want something that will be easier, the Spanish is definitely the best choice.