Archive for January, 2011
Jan
Jan
It’s a new year and I have an exciting announcement!
Today begins the new year, and that means it’s time for me to finally reveal a secret I’ve been keeping for a few months. As you already know, with the arrival of a new year, my attention will be shifting to a new language.
My year of Italian is over, but that doesn’t mean I’m…
Jan
Jan
A brand new plan for this year
This year, I’m going to take on the task of learning a new language in a brand new way. I’m going to try something that I don’t think anyone has tried before. Or perhaps it has been done, but not in a way as public and visible as this blog.
Just as I did last…
Jan
Jan
Why learn Turkish?
Before I get into the details of how I’ll be learning Turkish this year, I want to first take some time to explain why I made this choice. People often have no idea why they should learn a language or which one they should learn. Maybe after seeing my reasons for this choice, perhaps some…
Jan
Jan
Why no language-learning products?
Judging by the number of page views and retweets I’ve had, this year’s exciting new plan for language-learning has got a lot of people interested! However, judging by many of the comments and emails I’ve received, I haven’t done a good enough job of explaining my intentions and my purpose. I will try to clear…
Jan
Jan
Setting clear expectations
Just as I did last year, I am going to get my year started by setting some goals and laying out a clear set of expectations with the language. It is always important to do this with big projects, and learning a language is definitely a big project.
Saying you want to learn a language…
Jan
Jan
Discovering a language with my iPod
This year started with me settling into a new apartment, frantically working to finish my Italian eBook, and then leaving the country! I’m away from home, away from my computer and all the things that I use to learn, but that’s not stopping me. I’m already learning some interesting things about Turkish, thanks to my…
Jan
Jan
At last, the Italian eBook is here
There were a few occasions when I thought the moment would never arrive, but it’s happened. The Italian e-book is available.
This is my first time writing any kind of book, and as a perfectionist it was hard to ever reach a point where I felt like it was “ready.” But after a lot of…
Jan
Jan
Discovering a new language from afar, part 1
I’ve spent several hours this week on planes, in airports, in stations, and on trains, but during all that time I’m already learning Turkish. And I’m doing it without and language books or lesson CDs, and without access to the Internet.
How? I’m glad you asked!
I did several things in preparation for my trip,…
Jan
Jan
Russian vowel reduction
A few months ago, I showed you how easy it is to learn the Russian alphabet. If you’ve been through that, you should already be able to read Russian text, sound out words, and even recognize several cognates. Today, I want to take a look at the really interesting phenomenon of Russian vowel reduction.
In…
Jan
Jan
Discovering a new language from afar, part 2
I’ve already told you how I’m getting myself accustomed to the Turkish language by watching videos of narration while reading along. Today I’m going to share another thing that I did in preparation for my trip, so that I could be learning Turkish even as I’m wandering through Italy.
Okay, so I’ve shown you a…