Yearlyglot Blog (Page: 17)

I admit that I was completely wrong about flashcards. Apparently, they're really awesome, and I just needed to be more open-minded.

As the flashcards holy war rages on, I continue to be amazed at how far people will go to defend a bad idea — even after admitting that it's bad.

Today I'm going to briefly discuss ways to learn a language that are better than flashcards.

In summary, Pimsleur Mandarin is interesting, helpful and it's challenging for a person whose language experience is mostly Indo-European.

Don't try to put your mouth around the hose. Just sip enough to satisfy your thirst. And later, when you're thirsty again, come back for more.

Figure out what you do and how you use language, and then just find ways to switch those activities into your target language.

Productivity is a bunch of bullshit. We're not robots. We're not machines. You can't keep doing more and being more and expecting more, without eventually burning out.

Language learners rigidly follow lesson plans, course books, or flashcard decks expecting those things to lead them to fluency, only to find out they don't know the words they need the most.

Last week, I was contacted by a representative from Pimsleur, who offered me a free copy of their language learning materials in Mandarin.