Posts Tagged ‘motivation’
Feb
Feb
You can be fluent in one year or less
Hello, and welcome to my new blog “Fluent Every Year…“. I am creating this web site in order to share my experiences and learning techniques. After having studied Spanish, German, and French in high school, and later reaching fluency in Spanish I thought I had learned a lot about languages. But my proudest accomplishment
Feb
Feb
You already speak a foreign language!
Remember that knowing what you’re saying doesn’t matter; you’ve only just begun. The goal is to be fluent in one year, not in one day. Though it may not sound like much, you’ve got time. A whole year. What’s important is that you’re already speaking in a new language!
Mar
Mar
Stop trying to learn a foreign language
Stop trying to learn a foreign language. I’m not kidding. Stop trying. If all you’re willing to do is try, you’ll be happier and better off if you just stop now. There was a cute little muppet once, who famously said in his signature zen-like way, “Do, or do not. There is no try.” No one has ever said it better.
Mar
Mar
How much Italian can you learn in one month?
Okay, so what if you still don’t think it’s possible to be fluent in a new language in one year? Or, maybe you believe it’s possible, but just not possible for you. Or, maybe a year sounds fine, but you think anyone who claims to do it in two months is a pure genious… or just crazy. Right?
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
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.
Mar
Mar
Why should I learn a foreign language?
It seems I am constantly being asked why I learn foreign languages. Every time I chat with somone online in their language, their first question is why I learned it. Every time someone finds out about my web site, they want to know why I’m doing it. If you think it’s hard explaining one language, try explaining a new one every year! Although I have a feeling it will make a handy conversation starter at the holidays.
Apr
Apr
Language learning is not a race!
I often see learning advice based on lists, flashcards, progress meters, etc., and it drives me crazy, because these things are encouraging bad learning habits! Always remember, it’s not a race. This is very important to keep in mind, because you can’t take your test scores with you to a conversation. You can’t show an Italian your successfully completed stack of flashcards and expect that to help you communicate. You can’t fly into Russia and show the taxi driver your progress chart. You can’t order a meal in Spain by pointing out how far back your bookmark is in the lesson book.
May
May
The new "About Me" page
Things are off to a good start here, but I think there’s something that’s still missing. Learning all of these languages is neat for a web site, but it’s not the reason I do it. The real goal has always been to travel the world, and the point of the languages was to make new friends and enjoy new experiences in all of the places I want to go.
May
May
What do I want out of life?
In addition to sharing my tricks and methods for language learning, and my progress as I learn a new language every year, I have decided to also share with you my reasons for doing so. Today, I want to give more substance to that, but sharing my “Bucket List”.