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[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

What should you be reading to maximize your language learning?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of literature we can learn from. Baby books bore you, but you’re not ready for any type of novel, so what’s left?

Here are some tips 

For beginner/A1/A2 learners

Watch a YouTube video in your target language, then read the comments

you’ll already have vocabulary from watching the video, most of the comments will probably use that vocab

it’s a short enough text that you won’t get fatigued

the only downside is that sometimes people utilize abbreviations and slang terms, but even these are good to know

Read news headlines and if you find one you understand almost fully, try to read the full article

sometimes the vocabulary used is not common in everyday usage, but it’s a total win for an A1 learner to fully read and mostly understand any text

while vocab is not used everyday, it will give you the ammunition to talk about that particular topic

Watch Netflix in target language with subtitles in the same language

believe it or not, you will learn to read better, especially because you don’t have to understand written description of visuals (usually uses very niche vocab) or emotion

and now you can slow down or speed up 

I watched DARK in German before I felt like I could read a book, and I understood 85% of it. This is because I looked up some vocabulary in the first episodes and they continued to use it throughout the show so it really cemented in my head to the point where I don’t even think about it. Now, I had to rewatch some conversations the characters had, but that’s much better for understanding than switching it to English or looking up full phrases and sentences. 

For intermediate/B1/B2 learners

read fanfiction

it’s ALWAYS good to read about something you’re interested in so if you like any major movies, books, television, this is the perfect option for you

most people use relatively basic language and you can choose the length 

find a comic book or graphic novel

like watching tv, that visual aid really helps with understanding of the plot without all those tricky descriptions

read a book in your target language that you’ve read and loved in your native language

this is by far my favorite way

you don’t have to worry about trying to understanding the bigger picture because you already know what’s happening/what will happen, you really have to discover the meaning of each sentence and then you begin to picture the scene using only your target language

Check out my other post for methods of how to get the most out of reading !

[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

Two weeks of the course - done!

The fact that I'm constantly talking about linguistics makes me feel weird

[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

So I finally decided that I want to know more about linguistics.

Recently I finished "Through the Language Glass" by Guy Deutscher which was really interesting but I've heard most of that information in my Linguistic Anthropology course.

And today I started a course "Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics" on Coursera.

Why are there so few linguistic courses there? I am particularly interested in phonetics and and could hardly find anything on that topic.

[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

An article about the sounds in Spanish

[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

abecedario

a - like russian [a] b - at the beginning or after m and n - like english [b] - otherwise [β] c - before e, i - like english [θ] - otherwise [k] d - at the beginning or after n, l - like english [d] - in the middle of the word - something like english [ð] - at the end - really weak [d] e - like russian [э] f - like english [f] g - before e, i - like russian [x] - otherwise - like russian [г] h - always mute i - at the beginning: like russian [и] - after vowels: like russian [й] - before vowels: close to russian [й] j - like russian [x] k - like english [k] l - something between russian [л] and [ль] m - at the end - like english [ɲ] - otherwise - like english [m] n - at the beginning - like english [n] - at the end and before c - like english [ɲ] - before v - like english [m] ñ - like russian [нь] o - like russian [o] p - like english [p] q - like english [k] r - a bit harder than russian [р] s - before deaf consonant - like english [s] - before sonorous consonant - like english [z] t - like english [t] u - like russian [у] - do not pronounce it in que, qui, gue, gui - pronounce it in güe, güi v - at the beginning or after m and n - like russian [б] - otherwise [β] x - before a consonant - like english [ks], [s] - before a vowel - like english [gz] y - between two consonants - like russian [и] - near vowels - like russian [й] z - like english [θ]

diptongos

ai - [ай] ei - [эй] oi - [ой] ia - [йа] ie - [йэ] io - [йо] iu - [йу] ui - [wи]

triptongos

iai - [йай] iei - [йэй] ioi - [йой] uai - [wай] uei - [wэй] uoi - [wой]

combinations of consonants

ch - like russian [ч] ll - like russian [ль] or [й]

[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

Just downloaded a self-study book. Today I need to begin a first chapter and start to learn the alphabet

[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos.  You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.

American Sign Language

ASL University

Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change

Arabic

Arabic Without Walls

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Armenian

Depi Hayk

Bengali

Learn Bangla (Register to see course)

Catalan

Parla.Cat

Speak Cat

Chinese (Mandarin)

Beginner

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters for Beginners

Chinese for HSK 1

Chinese for HSK 2

Chinese for HSK 3 I & II

Chinese for HSK 4

Chinese for HSK 5

Mandarin Chinese Level I

Mandarin Chinese Essentials

Mandarin Chinese for Business

More Chinese for Beginners

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Intermediate

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Mandarin for Intermediate Learners I

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Online Courses here

Resources Here

Faroese

Faroese Course

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Elementary French I & II

Français Interactif

Vivre en France - A1

Vivre en France- A2

Intermediate & Advanced

French Intermediate course B1-B2

Passe-Partout

Travailler en France A2-B1                    

Vivre en France - B1  

German

Beginner

Deutsch im Blick

German Project

German at Work

Goethe Institute

Gwich’in

Introduction to Gwich’in Language

Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew

UT Austin

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Irish 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian I

Introduction to Italian

Intermediate & Advanced

AP Italian Language and Culture

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced Italian I

Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Japanese Pronunciation

Marugoto Courses

Tufs JpLang

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Introduction to Korean

Learn to Speak Korean

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Norwegian

Introduction to Norwegian I, Norwegian II

Norwegian on the Web

Persian

Easy Persian

PersianDee

Polish

Online Course

Portuguese

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

A1 Course

I speak Russian

Intermediate

B1 Course

B1+ Course

B2.1 Course

B2.2 Course

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish I, Spanish II

Spanish for beginners  

Spanish for Beginners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Spanish Vocabulary

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

Leer a Macondo

Swahili

Online Course

Turkish

Online Course

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Speak Ukrainian

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Yoruba

Yorùbá Yé Mi

Multiple Languages

Ancient Languages

More Language Learning Resources & Websites!

Last updated: May 2019

[i-want-to-learn-spanish]

From Beginner to Intermediate: an intense plan for advancing in language

Introduction

I've studied Spanish at school for 3 years and now I'm at a low B1 level. I can actually understand pretty well while listening or reading but I can't communicate fluently.

This plan will include vocabulary build up, some grammar revision, a lot of listening, reading and writing. And could be used for the most languages, not only Spanish.

Plan

Every day:

Conjugate one verb in present, past and future tenses

Make a list about 10 - 30 words long

Create flashcards with them and start learning them (I use Quizlet for flashcards)

Revise yesterday's set of flashcards

2-3 times a week:

Read an article or a few pages from a book

Write a few sentences about anything in your target language

Listen to one episode of podcast (at least one)

Once a week or every two weeks:

Watch a movie in your target language, preferably animated movie as the language used there is easier. You can watch with subtitles

Grammar exercises

Translate some short text

Once a month:

Write something longer, like an essay or report, on chosen topic

Additionally:

Talk to yourself, to your friends, to your pets

Text with someone

Look at the transcription while listening to the podcast for second time

Repeat what you hear (in podcast or movie)

Check words you don't know from the listening and reading

Read out loud

Listen to music in your target language - you can even learn the text and sing along

Watch YouTube in your target language

Change your phone language to the one you're learning

Think in you target language!!!

***This is very intense plan for self-learners, you don't have to do all of these things in the given time. Adjust it to your own pace. I'll try to stick to this, if I have enough time.***