Posts Tagged ‘how to learn’
Feb
Feb
You’ll never be fluent by translating in your head
When thinking about learning a new language, it’s common to think about it in terms of “what’s the word for this” and “how do I say that“, as if all that differentiated one language from another was the words they use to say things. This is a very common fallacy. It’s also wrong.
In reality, there’s much more involved. It’s not just knowing the words, but also knowing how they are pronounced. How they sound. How they are combined. Grammar. Usage. Implications. Subtleties.
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.
May
May
Language is music!
Last week, it was my great honor to receive a copy of Language is Music…, a captivating book written by Susanna Zaraysky, about learning languages that seemed to steal the thoughts from my head and the feelings from my heart and pour them all out far more succinctly than I ever could.
About the
Jul
Jul
Word pattern recognition
Have you ever thought about what’s actually going on in your mind when you listen to someone talking? If so, you may have already noticed that your brain is guessing at the words to come next before you even hear them!
It works with reading too. If I write “six of one…“, I
Oct
Oct
Don’t study a foreign language!
I’ll bet a few of you never expected to see that headline from me. But this isn’t a joke post, and it’s not reverse-psychology. I’m absolutely serious… if you’re studying a foreign language, you need to stop.…
Nov
Nov
Why I don’t use flashcards (and you shouldn’t either)
I know that this post is going to upset a lot of people, but if you believe in something strongly, you can’t worry about what other people think. So in spite of the fact that SRS is the hottest thing in language learning right now, I’m going tell everyone to stop using it.
Stop using…
Dec
Dec
Language is not a fact
I imagine that’s a confusing title. In fact, that was intentional. My goal was to catch a few of you assuming that the opposite of a fact is a fiction. Maybe it worked. Maybe you even got a little angry and thought, “good heavens, is Randy suggesting that language isn’t true?…”
No. That’s not
Feb
Feb
The triune brain
In the 1960′s, a neuroscientist named Paul MacLean formulated an idea called the Triune Brain…. To tell it in over-simplified terms, the idea describes how the human brain has formed as a result of evolution. Triune Brain Theory describes the brain in three parts: the reptilian brain, the mammal brain, and the human brain.
May
May
Set the tone
An interesting phenomenon that has often frustrated me as a language learner, and I’m certain is also frustrating to many of you, is how hard it often can be to get people to speak with you in the language you’re learning.
Unskilled conversation isn’t very fun
Let’s say, for example, that you’re learning Spanish. You’ve…
Jun
Jun
How do you keep languages separate?
One topic that seems to come up often in conversations I have with language-learners is the subject of mixing up languages in your head. Often people ask me “how do you keep all those languages separate?” and others ask, almost in disbelief, “don’t they all eventually blend together?”
But they don’t blend together, and it’s…