#glossika challenge

[rigelmejo]

Language Study Challenges I've been contemplating, but I just do not have the time to do it all. ToT I think some of these could result in some good progress over a few months, as a period to see how much the challenge is helping you improve in your specific goals.

Glossika: attempt to study 2000 new sentences in the course in a month, doing reviews only if you have spare time. May require 1-2 hours of study time a day, but the studying can be done as just listening, so you can do it while also doing other things. Getting through 2000 new sentences in glossika will take around 40-60 hours (I think it took me 40 hours). If the method is working well for making progress on your improvement goals, then keep doing for 3 months and you will cover 6000 sentences, then the 4th month study the last 400 sentences in the course and finally start prioritizing reviews. Spend end of 4th month reviewing, and do a final 5th month of reviews if desired. (Do reviews more than me if you prefer that, do speaking practice with course if desired for your particular goals, do reading practice with course sentences of desired for your particular goal). This can be completed in ~3 to 5 months, so you can make some significant progress and see how well (or not) it worked for your goals in a somewhat shorter amount of time. (I'm doing this challenge now).

Listen to an audiobook: find an audiobook you like (I'm using SCI), attempt to listen to it in as short a time period as possible (that's possible for you), aiming for at least 1-2 hours of listening a day (on average). Since its just listening, it can be done while doing some other activities. If you pick an audiobook shorter than 60 hours long, pick a few audiobooks so that listening 2 hours a day would result in eventually listening to 60 hours in a month. If desired, the next month you can pick to re-listen to the same audiobooks again (for repetition and to see if you understand more the next time around). For me, the goal with this is to INCREASE practice listening to a LOT of dense speaking. So for me, perfectionism will try to kick in and I'll try to re-listen to the same chapter over and over. So for me, this goal is to FINISH listening to an audiobook. The SCI audiobook I'm listening to is around 60 hours. Guardian by priest is around 50 hours. A lot of Chinese webnovels will easily be 40 hours or much longer, if you want something long to keep listening to the same word choices and grammar patterns and plot of one author. If you pick shorter audiobooks, picking the same author may help keep the vocabulary and grammar more familiar to you over time. (I'm doing this challenge).

Comprehensible Input Challenge (for total beginners): Dreaming Spanish gives an estimate of 50 hours to learn 300 words, and 150 more hours (so 200 hours total) to learn 1,500 words. 1,500 words is a great foundation to starting to try shows if you are okay looking key words up every few minutes, novels for kids if you're willing to look key words up, graded readers, simple conversations, videos for learners which don't have as many visual aids for understanding, and the broader world of being able to learn more new words with SURROUNDING words as your context for guessing, instead of only or often primarily visual clues. Dreaming Spanish labels that as Level 3, 1,500 words learned, can watch Intermediate Dreaming Spanish videos. (From their site "Now you can listen to videos or classes in which the teacher doesn't use as much visual input, and may even be able to take advantage of really easy audios and podcasts that are catered to learners at your level. Crosstalk is still the best way to spend your time. At this level it becomes easier than before to do crosstalk over the internet using video call software, so you won't need to find native speakers where you live anymore. Reading is still not recommended if you care about your final achievement in pronunciation, but it starts becoming possible to understand lower level graded readers"). So for a total beginner the challenge would be to get through 50 hours of Comprehensible Input lessons for Superbeginners/Absolute Beginners/B0 (depends on the youtube account for what the first beginner videos are labelled). Just plan 1-2 hours of video lessons per day. Then for months 2, 3, 4, keep doing 50 hours a month and you'll hit that approximate 1,500 words known level. At that point, you should find non-comprehensible input made lessons such as beginner learner podcasts and graded readers become somewhat understandable, and media in the target language may in some cases be understandable if you're willing to look up key words and feel the initial "very tired/drained from focusing hard" part that always happens at first.

Comprehensible Input Challenge (for upper beginners): Assuming you know 1,500 to 2,000 words - or skill wise, you can handle understanding beginner graded readers and some beginner dialogues in learner materials, and can handle some content in the target language for native speakers IF it's on the easier side and you can look a key word up for meaning every few minutes (so for example: you can follow a Peppa Pig episode, or a Spongebob episode, aka a cartoon for kids, if you look up key words every few minutes - alternatively, if you can watch a simple romance daily life show and follow the main plot if you look up key words). Your goal as an intermediate learner: watch 300 hours of Comprehensible Input Lessons labelled "Intermediate." 300 hours will take you from that upper beginner area you're at (1,500 words learned) to 3,000 words learned. That will get you to the point of (from Dreaming Spanish site): being able to talk to patient native speakers and may be able to make friends and lamguage exchange partners, get through daily life stuff like shopping with words although it may be a struggle, can learn new words mainly from surrounding word context now (so picking up new words from things you engage with is going to start picking up more so listening to stuff and watching stuff outside of lessons will result in learning more words - shows, podcasts, entertainment), graded readers will still be more comfortable but you can wade into more books for native speakers (especially if you're willing to look up key words for main idea). At 3,000 words, media for native speakers will still feel difficult but it should feel significantly LESS difficult than it did when you knew 1,500 words. When I knew 1500 words I could start watching cdramas with no english subtitles, but I looked up key words every 1-3 minutes and felt exhausted within 5-20 minutes. Once I had studied 3000 words, I could watch simpler romance slice of life cdramas for 40 minutes (episode length) without feeling drained, and look up key words once every 5 minutes. (Although keep in mind: the first time you watch shows or read novels, it will feel Exhausting until you get used to it, even if you know many thousands of words... you have to practice reading/listening stamina, even if you have a bigger vocabulary). So a 300 hour study of intermediate level lessons, should give you a significant boost in your language skills. You could do 50 hours a month, 1-2 hours a day, and finish in 6 months. You could do 60 hours a month (2 hours a day) and finish in 5 months. You could do 90 hours a month (3 hours a day - probably more than the average person has time for but this is a challenge after all lol!) and finish in 3.3 months. A huge jump like that in 3 months would be awesome! (I did that kind of jump in 6 months... when I started chinese I cram studied 2000 words and 1500 hanzi in 6 months, then reviewed for 2 months by watching shows and graded readers, then for 4 months I read a TON of webnovel chapters and picked up another 1000 words and ~500 hanzi). So yeah, 1.6 hours to 3 hours a day of study for a few months, aiming for 50-90 hours of Comprehensible Input Lessons for Intermediate Learners on youtube per month for 3.3-6 months.

Comprehensible Input Challenge (for intermediate learners) : This is where I am (for Japanese). 600 hours to go from the last level to this, to learn 5,000 words total. (As you know... I'm attempting to use Glossika japanese to learn 5000 words instead, so I'll report how that goes). 600 hours unfortunately cannot be done in 3 months with a comfortable study plan - I think, for me at least, a comfortable study plan I know I can commit to is going to need to be 2 hours a day or less (on average). 600 hours would take ~10 months to go through at 2 hours a day. Now granted, 10 months isn't so long in the grand scheme. But if you, like me, can motivate yourself to read novels or watch shows at this point, then 600 hours of youtube lessons sounds so boring. Although... I guess for my japanese level, watching shows still feels exhausting (podcasts for learners feel okay though, like Nihongo Con Teppei, so maybe I should listen to hundreds of hours of that?). Find the intermediate/advanced video comprehensible input lessons on youtube for the language you're studying, and go wild. It should take 10 months unless you study more hours per day then I can. (I think this is a sobering realization, right as I type, that it probably is going to take 600ish hours of SOME form of Japanese study to get me to the level I want to be at... maybe I'll try to just slog through a japanese novel ebook... I can sometimes motivate myself to read for 4 hours a day, I like reading...). Note: if I do this challenge later, it'll be with Comprehensible Japanese youtube videos for Intermediate and Advanced. Significant progress you should see once you've learned around 5,000 words (from Dreaming Spanish): You'll be able to understand more advanced materials for learners. Listen to audios and podcasts daily if you want to learn fast. Crosstalk is still as good as always. You may start feeling you are not getting much out of getting input about daily life topics. Try getting input about new topics. Easier TV programs and cartoons should be accessible too. The purists who want to get really close to a native speaker and get a really good accent may still want to hold off on speaking and reading for a little more, but if you do start speaking and reading it's not a big deal by this point. You'll still end up with better pronunciation and fluency than the vast majority of learners. If you want to start reading, by this point you'll be able to understand books targeted at children of lower grade levels, and you can skip over graded readers. From me: if you're looking key words up for the main idea when watching shows, you should now be able to watch many shows in familiar genres and just look up 1 word every 5 minutes or so. If you've got a decent ability to guess, and practiced getting used to media for native speakers already, then like I was in Chinese - you will probably feel comfortable watching MANY shows in genres you're familiar with, without looking up anything. You will feel especially comfortable with easier shows like cartoons and romance daily life stuff, and things you've watched before. If you've been practicing reading before this, then once you know 5000 words you will find you need to look key words up less often and can focus more on enjoying stories, and looking words up because you desire their specific meaning/to fully understand details, not necessarily because you need the words meaning to grasp the main idea (I did a LOT of intensive reading around this period in Chinese because I could finally extensively read for plot, so I'd look up every unknown word I saw to grasp the other details and increase my vocabulary... and because the amount of unknown words to look up was now manageable).

[tamartia]

Glossika Challenge - Update 1

Indulging myself in the influencer lifestyle to take advantage of a 30 day free trial to Glossika, a language learning platform which I hadn't heard of until about 2 weeks before the challenge started. In exchange for 3 social media posts, you get a 30 day free trial and a challenge to complete 3000 "reps" in a single target language during the month of October. People often ask me for language learning app recommendations, so if I find an ADHD-friendly (and free!) context to try one out, I'll happily take it.

I was excited about Glossika because it not only uses spaced repetition as a core learning strategy, but it actually uses the phrase "spaced repetition" to describe itself! An email I received today says:

Glossika strengthens your memory in 3 ways: 1. Glossika recombines chunks of phrases into new phrases 2. Each sentence progresses with similar patterns 3. Spaced repetition review means you'll get just enough review to not forget.

After just 100 reps on the first day, I have not seen any of the recombination (unless you count reuse of subject pronouns) promised, but I'll hold my judgment on that front until I have more experience on the platform.

My three main complaints after a single day of 104 reps are:

Recall versus review - this is by far my biggest complaint, and it's a huge piece of how spaced repetition is supposed to work. The difference between recall and review is that when recalling, you don't see the answer you're supposed to provide. A single Glossika "card" shows you the English sentence, the target language sentence, and the TL IPA. None of these go away with increased repetitions of the card. I worked to increase my memorization by manually turning off alternately English audio and English text halfway through a set, but this is unintuitive and cludgey. I did a few review reps after about 97 reps of learning new sentences, and the reviews were formatted exactly like the new content. We'll see if this changes.

No grammar explanation- you'd think basically every language learning platform would have learned from Duolingo's mistakes by now and would at least try to provide grammatical and cultural context to complement their language content. Glossika does provide IPA, which is great, but memorizing whole sentences as a single memory "chunk" feels simultaneously overwhelming and infantilizing.

I would love to see a program successfully integrate such contextual information into its lessons, but I don't think that integration is a requirement. It'd just be nice to have a mouseover icon or even a separate page where I can see explanations of formality, context, and alternate translations-

Whether I think a platform must provide such context depends on the platform's goals and advertised use cases. Memrise, for example, does not claim to be solely responsible for teaching you a language the way Duolingo does. I'm not sure where Glossika falls along this spectrum, but so far it feels like the clunky whole-sentence memorization of Duolingo with the lack of context and set dressing of a pure spaced repetition system. And I can't even upload my own content!

Marking as easy - when I marked a sentence as "Easy" because I'd seen it already many times, it just reduced the overall number of reps in that session from 25 to 20 rather than introducing new vocabulary. This isn't necessarily bad, but it bothers me personally.

[marissalearnslanguages]

Glossika Challenge [Extended]

So, I ended up winning the Glossika Challenge last month. What did I win? 3 free months of Glossika!

Last month I managed to reach 3000 reps in one month with Italian. it was nice review for me and I feel like shadowing the native speakers did help with my pronunciation a bit. however, I did not have time to explore the other languages and the other courses. So, I want to take these next three months to explore some of the other languages they have to offer. 

Here’s a rough idea of how I plan to use Glossika:

Italiano (A2+) - Doing the Glossika Challenge with 100 reps of Italian a day was good. The only problem that I had was that I did not maintain 100 reps a day, so I would play catch-up every few days. I don’t want to do 400 reps of just Italian in a day again. I started from zero with Italian instead of doing the placement test. The sentences were pretty much all review but I did shadow along with the speakers and I think that helped my pronunciation a bit. I’ll just continue with the course and continue with shadowing. I’m not sure what my Italian level is. I feel like I can read more than I can produce (write/speak).

中文 (A2) - Why not? This is supposed to be a focus language for me right now anyway. I do have plenty of resources for Mandarin outside of Glossika so I may not keep up with their Mandarin course.

日本語 (A1) - I keep pausing and restarting my Japanese studies. As a result, I feel like nothing really sticks in my brain. Maybe having a small Glossika habit can help me to solidify some Japanese basics and keep a more consistent study routine going until I reach a higher level.

Türkçe (A0/A1) - I don’t know how Turkish found its way into my language studies but I’m having fun with it right now. Might as well do a bit of Glossika while I have it.

한국어 (A0) - I started the Korean course at 25 reps (5 new sentences) a day because I wanted to test out if Glossika could help me solidify Hangul in my mind. Now, I just want to continue to slowly learn Korean.

Irish (A0) - How many resources are out there for learning Irish? Not as many as more popular languages. I plan to learn irish in the future. I plan to take in person classes next year if possible. There’s also the future learn course. But, while I have the next three months of Glossika for free, I want to try out the Irish course.

[meichenxi]

Benefits of watching target language media without subtitles!

Or: why watching media without subtitles is not limited to advanced learners, and why you should incorporate it into your routine!

SO this is prompted by a personal anecdote: Yesterday I watched an episode of my favourite show (the untamed, go and watch it, heathens, it's gay and pretty and has beautiful sword fights and necromancers and revenge and insane character development and), and rather than keeping the subtitles on, I rather dubiously turned them off.

So no subs in Chinese or English.

And lo and behold - I could understand most things! Not everything, especially not specialised vocab or formal speech, but enough (with good knowledge of the plot already) to comfortably follow most conversations. Yeah, this was a surprise.

Watching media in your target language without subtitles is something that a lot of people think is restricted to advanced learners - learners at the stage where they can understand almost everything wihh subtitles in the target language (henceforth TL) itself, and is just used to train listening practice.

If you wait until you're at that stage to incorporate this into your language learning routine, though, you're missing out. And here's why.

Firstly, personal-situation specific: I usually learn best via reading, but my Chinese reading ability is much worse than my listening ability (immersion yay), and so turning on the Chinese subs just makes me annoyed and frustrated because I can't follow them quickly enough. I realise that for many people this may be the opposite way around, but for heritage speakers of languages that use an unfamiliar alphabet, or those (like me) who are not heritage speakers but because of various factors have had intense spoken immersion and little formal education (and thus some - SOME - of the same difficulties), subtitles can be a hindrance rather than a help. There are many posts targeting improving listening skills, but not so many looking at it the other way around, so it's important to remember such learners exist.

I found to my surprise that I picked up significantly more vocab with the subs off than with them on. Firstly, if you know the general plot and know enough to pick up the outline of the conversation, you contextualise any word automatically at the same time as using the context to provide clues for what the word could be - the example sentence defines the word, and the word comes automatically with an example sentence, which cements it in your memory far better than if you heard it in isolation. This fits nicely into the functionalist approach to language learning (which systems like Glossika try to utilise to varying degrees of success), where vocabulary and different variations and pronunciations of different words serve as individual instantiations of a particular token - in this case, it could be the vocabulary word itself, but that's not all the information you're getting. You're also getting instantiations of the actual SOUNDS of the language, as well as the grammar.

You're picking up information on the permittable pronunciation of certain phonemes and phonological patterns, to inform your brain how much variation is acceptable within native speech. So for example the finals <n> and <ng> in pinyin are notoriously difficult in Mandarin, with some native speakers doing away with it altogether. What the input tells you is how much like an /n/ the <ng> is allowed to sound whilst still being perceived as an <ng> by speakers - and thus what the range of permissable differences is, that you, as a non native speaker, can play with.

As I've already written about, one of my first hills to die on is the tone/intonation interplay. And listening to audio without subs is fantastic for teaching you how intonation works not only on an emotional level, but also how it helps people understand sentence structure - it teaches you which parts of an utterance to pay attention to. Even if you don't understand the word itself, you will gradually learn what is the focus point of the sentence and what is peripheral information. Why is this particularly effective without subtitles? Especially in languages that have differing sentence structure (like Chinese in longer sentences), you need to rely on the intonation to guide you towards finding the focal point of the sentence. With subtitles, you get lazy and you don't utilise your ear in the same way. And again, again, you're drumming these patterns into your head. Frequency = success!

Thirdly, by training your ear to listen for intonation, you are necessarily listening for grammar patterns that give you a clue about who is playing what role in the sentence. Our brains are fundamentally lazy (effecient)- they only pay attention to what is necessary to complete the task. Have you seen that video where you are asked to count how many times a basketball is passed? And then at the end they ask you if you noticed the bear? There is a lot of linguistic debate about what role exactly attention plays in the process of language learning, but for our purposes it suffices to say that both actively noticing a pattern and hearing it confirmed again and again when you are not specifically looking for it help us hugely when it comes to not only memorising, but also internalising, that grammatical pattern.

Going back to the attention thing, let's talk about another problem no subs solves: if you are reading subtitles in your native language (and even more so in your TL), you are much less likely to bring the full force of your listening abilities into play. Why? Well, because the answer is right there in front of you. Listening without subs forces you to use context, social cues like smiles or frowns, as well as supra segmental factors like tone of voice or volume, to determine what exactly is being said - in other words, the same social interaction and outside stimulus that many functional linguists believe is absolutely critical to the development of the language faculty in children. Of course, you're not actually interacted with the media, but being actively forced to pay attention to these things makes it a much more holistic process. Suddenly, your brain is fired up: it needs to pay attention to everything in order to understand. In other words, the vocabulary and grammar and intonation you're hearing has suddenly become relevant.

And what happens when it's relevant? We learn it - sometimes without even knowing that's what's happening.

For all of these reasons, then, whatever your level, I'd suggest listening and watching media in your target language without subtitles. The expectations you have at each level, from beginner to advanced, should not, however, be the same. Unless you find incredibly good targeted media, or the language is sufficiently similar to one you know, you're unlikely to understand even what's going on when you first start out.

That's ok. Your brain is processing things - it's learning how to recognise nouns, verbs, questions, declarative sentences, the way the language expresses surprise or fear or love. It's learning that some phonetic distinctions that you don't have in your native language are important in your TL. It's heading patterns of vocabulary and grammar and phonology again and again and again. Don't expect to understand everything - but try copying it, out loud, if you can. It will help you get an ear for word boundaries, which is crucial for parsing the boundless speech-stream that's suddenly presented to you.

If you're at an intermediate level, enjoy spotting common verbs and watching the action, even if you don't know 100% what's going on. Even more than the beginner level, you're getting used to the speed of the language and its rhythms, as well as challenging yourself to understand more.

If you're at an advanced level, this is perfect for you. You'll understand more than you suspect. And if you don't, who cares, it's meant to be difficult. I never would have thought that I could understand and comfortably enjoy most of an episode of my show. And there were certainly conversations where I was totally lost!! But that's ok. You don't need 95% comprehension to survive - 50%, while incredibly frustrating, is good enough - as long as it's the right 50%! All you need is one key word - especially if you're watching media you're familiar with, which I recommend - and then click! You've got it.

加油！

[amareteur]

100 Days of Productivity • 2 + 3 / 100

This weekend has been eventful. In the short bursts of time I’ve had to dedicate to this challenge, I focused on learning Italian and improving my Spanish fluency. Yesterday I travelled to North Carolina with a few friends and bought a Spanish novel at a local book store. During the car ride back home, I spent some time learning Italian vocabulary through Duolingo with my native language set to Spanish (I highly recommend doing this if you are fluent enough). Today I spent around half an hour reading my new book, Solo Quedó Nuestra Historia, out loud to practice my diction and to quicken my speaking rate. I will spend the rest of the evening planning the upcoming week, which includes updating my bullet journal and finally setting a date to reach out to some people to interview for my project. Then I’ll do Italian lessons on Glossika, Clozemaster, and Duolingo before watching a movie with my roommate.

I’m tagging some blogs for motivation & accountability purposes:

@study-with-wastel @billichat @teaandbiscuitstudies

@immortallycelestial @meichenxi

[o-bella-cia0]

10·15·21

☠ mi diario / 내 일기 ☠

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Been busy with papers these days, almost at the finish line though! I love the feeling of randomly searching obscure references on your school library website without any hope that it'll be there, only to find out they have multiple versions?! Having the physical book in my hand will always feel better than scrolling through some slow-loading PDF online (even if it's a reprint...). Also don't tell anyone but I've been hyperfixating on new languages recently... how does adding Russian and Persian to my language repertoire sound, eh? I've been using this cool website called Glossika to get in little bits of speaking and listening practice with these new languages because I can't read or write with them at all yet, although I'm still a bit confused on how the site works. We'll see how long it takes for me to get burnt out on them this time :) Maybe I'll even start posting in my other languages again lmao

(Bro what how are we already halfway through October???)

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@myhoneststudyblr의 Autumn Challenge

Day 14: What are your favourite songs to listen to in autumn? I don't really tend to sort my songs into certain times of year/the day, etc. I don't even really sort them by feeling. All my playlists are organized by genre, and sometimes language. However, autumn is when some of my favorite bands like to go on tour, like Teenage Bottlerocket and The Menzingers, so I'd say they're my most beloved autumn bands.

Day 15: If you could magically get rid of anything about autumn, what would it be? Perhaps all the wind. My hair is hopeless in the wind, no matter which direction it's blowing, it somehow always ends up in my face. I guess that can also be solved by shaving my head again...

[angelsproductive22]

08/20/21 • 100 days of productivity (19/100)

today was almost identical to yesterday except it felt much shorter and me not getting anything done went, like, in a blink of an eye.

i did start reading Glossika Swedish 1, and i read 8 more swedish children’s books. and i planned a timetable for my course. tomorrow i’m hoping to get most of the basic exercises done, and i’ll probably take a couple days to really memorise vocabulary and then move on to the more challenging exercises in listening, speaking, reading and writing!

i also spent the morning reading for fun. the progress is slow when you’re reading 5 books at a time but i’m getting much out of it 😅

[sherlynjulianne]

So I saw someone on r/gaeilge talking about Glossika

It’s a language learning website that offers 7 day free trials and me being the owner of an irish language blog I had to see if it was any good. Well. In a word, no. 

The Irish placement test had a fair few spelling errors ("buus" for bus lmao and a few others I actually can't remember unfortunately but some were really confusing) as well as one question that had no right answers (the Irish question contained "na daoine seo" ("these people") and the "correct" English answer said "...three people...". 

That, combined with the fact that I tested out of it I think 19/20 (a whoops moment on like A2 level I believe), 20/20, 19/20 (the “na daoine seo” question), and 20/20 I don’t think they had a whole lot more to offer me as I never got to questions where I felt challenged at any point? At the end they said basically, great, we’ll start you off at B2. 

Also worth mentioning at this point that the placement test never got to a C1/C2 level, so I’m doubtful they teach up to C1/C2. I’m really disappointed tbh I thought it’d be something big and shiny to feature in my Irish blog. 

[fluentlanguage]

No More Stutters! Improve Your Speaking Skills In Any Language

Do you remember your first sentences in another language? You'd come away beaming like a kid at Christmas after creating pearls like "I do not like pizza, I like eating salad".

As you learn more in your new language and increase your levels, you want to go deeper, talk about future, past, conditionals, things you've read and things you've thought.

It's like in this Bible verse (oh yeah! Quoting this big book is a Fluent first!):

When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do. But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways. (1 Corinthians 13:11)

In language learning, it can feel just like that: You want to talk like a grown-up, your self-assured and intelligent self. And what's more frustrating than the reality, where we stutter and stumble over words, and leave....lo o o o o ng...um....gaps in sentences?

This week on the show, I'm answering a listener question from Elisabeth who is stuck in that dilemma. She says:

My tutor says I'm very close to B2. I've been hit with a puzzle though. (..) I have a lot of vocabulary but there seems to be a disconnect between my thoughts and my speech. (..) I stutter and pause a great deal when I speak in my target language.

Will this go away as I continue my speaking practice or should I be concerned? I just assumed that B2 would feel easy breezy beautiful when I talked and while I'm not there yet, I can't believe I'm close with all this difficulty connecting word bank to mouth.

Listen to my language speaking tips on the podcast:

Let's start by looking at what's causing you trouble.

The Causes Could Include:

1) Through your reading practice, you are acquiring a lot of new vocab, storing it, but not using it quickly enough after it goes in. This can lead to the word getting very comfortable in your passive vocabulary store, but locking the door behind walking into there so it can't come out when you look for active vocabulary.

2) As you are speaking, you may also be letting your mind freak you out with unhelpful thoughts. Maybe you slow down or pause, just to hear yourself slow down and pause, then to think "Oh no! I'm doing that thing again! I'm so much worse at this than I thought!"...which then affects your focus.

3) You're trying to speak about a wider range of topics than you expected before you start, so you're hitting unknown areas of vocabulary a lot quicker.

4) Your practice is lacking sentences and complex constructions, so you can understand a sentence with conjunction and three objects, but making one still grinds every single gear in your brain as if someone just dropped a bucket of sand in there. This is often where learners say they're "translating in their head".

It's helpful to remember this is just the level you're at and consistent practice will improve things.

But if you want to focus on strategies for your speaking skills, here are three ideas:

What To Do So You Can Improve Your Speaking Skills

Strategy 1: Say Way More Sentences

Practice and activate a set number of words IN SENTENCES. Write sentences about them, for example defining their meaning or finding five different ways of using the items you have learnt about. In those sentences, focus on one new way of saying something and transform your sentence.

You can do this yourself, even make a prompt sheet:

Sentence

"I heard that.." + Sentence

Last week I met my sister in the shop and she said that + "sentence"

"Next weekend" + Sentence

Question + Neg/Pos Sentence

"Would you...?" + Neg/Pos Sentence

I'm loving Say Something in Welsh for this type of practice, and the mass sentence methods of Glossika and Speechling will also help.

Strategy 2: Target Your Negative Thoughts

Before you start your language exchange or tutor session, have a word with yourself about pauses and decide what they mean. Your thoughts determine how you see the world and also how you perform, and so your thinking strategies can help you get through the uncomfortable gaps.

For example, consider whether a pause could be a great sign that you're about to remember a word, or a signal to try and approach the topic from another side.

Some learners find it helpful to practice filler phrases like Hang on, let me consider this..., It's on the tip of my tongue, or I want to summarize

Strategy 3: Go Deep With One Topic

It's easy to get lost in a conversation if you're entering it without clarity about the topic. Luckily, most tutors and exchange partners are pretty obliging and will allow you to steer them towards what you want to talk about. So the key is: Prepare! Look up all relevant words relating to your topic, write them down in advance, practice what you might want to say.

You don't have to script a whole conversation, but even bullet points will make a huge difference.

If you feel like a challenge, practice a 5-minute presentation on a topic you care about...don't script it, just work from your bullet points! You'll feel the boost from speaking for so long, and your tutor can give you valuable feedback and work on improving your phrases.

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Episode Links

1 Corinthians 13:11 — Bible Quote. Boom.

Accelerate Your Speaking Skills with Speechling: In-Depth 100% Honest Review by Fluent Language

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Have You Felt Stuck When Speaking Another Language?

Share your thoughts in the comments, and of course don't forget to support this blog and podcast with a review or mention it to a friend. Thank you!

[thatskepticalbitchcara]

Nooo you’re still light years ahead of me with the french! ☺️ I’m not even trying to be modest at all, I have a lot of work to do, but I love a good challenge and it’s a great motivation for getting me to visit France this summer. It sounds like we may have complimentary skills, and I’m willing to put in the work if you’re willing to have your ears potentially bleed 😂. Are you more of an auditory learner?

My community college offers a beginning course 6 week course that starts in two weeks (topics intro/pronunciation, conversation basics, numbers, airport, hotel, restaurants, currency/communications, shopping, entertainment, culture, in case of emergency, putting it all together)😆 Is there a French program that you have used in the past that you recommend?

+

omg no i seriously doubt it! i feel like we’d make good learning/conversational partners. im sure youre nowhere near as bad as you think! and tbh idk if i’m an auditory learner. i think i’m probably more visual / kinesthetic but who knows? not me!

no way! that’s so cool! i don’t think there is a community college near me?? at least as far as i know. i’ve used pinsleur before which isn’t bad and i’ve heard good things about glossika

[eurolinguiste]

In April, I wrapped up my second Add1Challenge, this time for Japanese (the first was for Croatian). I also started my third. This time around I’m doing it for…

*drumroll*

Korean.

And Russian.

I couldn’t decide between the two. Russian is a language I’ve studied pretty lightly up until this point and I’ve never really gone deep with it. I recently had a lesson that made me realize that wasn’t how I wanted to study the language, so I decided to get it in gear and commit to it the way it deserves.

But before I had that realization, I had already committed to doing the challenge for Korean. A language that I once tried my hand at, but things didn’t really work out. I’m hoping that the second time makes a difference.

  On to #clearthelist

If you’re new around these parts, #clearthelist is a linkup where we share our monthly goals, and by we, I mean myself, and Lindsay of Lindsay Does Languages.

We’d absolutely love for you to a part of our community. You can join us by adding a link to your own goal post below.

So let’s get started, sharing our goals and motivating one another to #clearthelist!

Please feel free to tag your posts or photos with either #clearthelist on your favorite social media channels!

Last Month’s Highlights on Instagram

A post shared by Shannon Kennedy (@eurolinguiste) on Apr 25, 2018 at 8:03am PDT

Last Month’s Blog Highlights

Travel

9 Things to Do in Seminyak, Bali  // A list of a few of things I enjoyed most on my recent trip to Bali.

Raffles Hotel // A gorgeous colonial style hotel in Singapore that serves the well-known mixed drink the Singapore Sling.

  Language Learning

How to Learn More than One Language at a Time // Why I don’t want to focus on just one language and what I do to learn more than one at once.

Why Vocabulary and Grammar Aren’t Enough // Plus an announcement about a new course from Lindsay Williams and I officially opening.

  Last Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // Yes! 

Read the next Language Reading Challenge book on my list. // Yes! I’m posting about it soon.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // Yes! I made it through a ton of Russian lessons in my queue.

Continue to meet my daily goal on LingQ for Japanese. // Yes! And I even started to dig in with Russian again.

Add1Challenge Day 90 Video // Done!

This Month’s Goals

Continue filling the gaps in my Mandarin vocabulary I’ve noticed since Little Linguist’s arrival. // A permanent item on my monthly list.

Read the next Language Reading Challenge book on my list. // In May, we’re reading a tutorial, recipe or lesson in your target language.

Keep working through my YouTube Queue.  // I’m still aiming to get through as many lessons as possible. I’m super done being not that great at Russian. Plus, I have tons of great Korean lessons in my queue.

Continue to meet my daily goal on LingQ for Japanese and Russian. // I’m still a ways off from being able to comfortably read in Korean.

Add1Challenge // I’m really pushing myself doing two languages in the challenge because it’s an intensive project (plus I’m not dropping my Japanese while I’m doing it). I’ll need to dedicate a lot of time to languages the next three months. 

Resources I Used This Month

A quick recap on the materials I am using.

What I Am Using to Learn Chinese

LingQ – my favourite tool

iTalki Lessons – I have weekly Chinese lessons

Memrise – I do 18,000 points minimum per day 

What I’m Using to Brush Up/Improve My French:

LingQ

Immersion (we speak franglais at home)

Reading books written by French authors

Listening to French radio/podcasts

Lingoci

What I am Using to Learn Russian:

LingQ

Perfectionnement Russe

iTalki Lessons

Memrise

Pimsleur

What I am Using to Learn Korean:

Memrise

iTalki Lessons

Pimsleur

Glossika

What I am Using to Learn Spanish:

LingQ

What I am Using to Learn Italian:

LingQ

What I’m Using to Learn Japanese:

Lingualift

Memrise

iTalki Lessons

Pimsleur

Glossika

What I’m Using for Little Linguist

Pooh Bear and Baby Bear

Little Pim

Finding Dory, Cars and other films/tv shows

Day-to-day interaction

Resources That Aren’t Language Specific

Add1Challenge

The Biggest Lesson I Am Taking Away from This Month

That the materials and strategies you use to learn one language may not do anything for you at all with another language. 

As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t my first time trying to learn Korean. I tried a while back with Lindsay, but nothing stuck. This really bothered me, so I decided to give it another go. I couldn’t bring myself to let the language go. 

The mistake I made was that I tried to learn Korean the same way I learned Chinese, thinking that what I did for one would work for the other. But it didn’t. Plus, it didn’t help that I didn’t have a tutor (this time around I plan to).

I’m definitely going to keep a close eye on how things are working for me with Korean this time around.

Don’t forget that I would love to hear all about your goals for this month! Please join us by adding your post to the linkup below! 

Clear The List Linkup Rules:

1. Share your goal post whether it includes your aspirations for the month or year. Submissions unrelated to the theme or links to your homepage will be deleted.

2. Link back to this post. You can use our button if you wish.

3. Follow the hosts: Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages and Shannon from Eurolinguiste.

4. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Please visit the site of the person who linked up immediately before you and leave them an encouraging comment! By hosting this linkup, we’re hoping to create a positive community where we can all share our goals. If you do not do this, you will be removed from the linkup.

5. Share on social media using #ClearTheList

An InLinkz Link-up

<div align="center"><a href="http://eurolinguiste.com/tag/clear-the-list" title="Set your language learning goals as a part of the Clear the List Link Up hosted by Shannon Kennedy of Eurolinguiste and Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages"><img src="http://eurolinguiste.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/clear-the-list-sidebar-1.jpg" alt="Set your language learning goals as a part of the Clear the List Link Up hosted by Shannon Kennedy of Eurolinguiste and Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

The post Clear The List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies Update | May appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

[thedwarrowscholar]

One of my problems is the pronouncing the various words. I know the kh in Khuzdul makes a sorta "ku" sound. Put when using in words such as Khazâd, Kharm, and even Kakhf. It just becomes difficult to say.

Thank you for that question leannymorte and apologies for the delay in answering it.

In other words, “what is the difference in pronunciation between the “k” and “kh” in Neo-Khuzdul?” For those not familiar with the problem, we are talking about the difficulty in pronouncing the [h] sound that follows the [k] sound in some Neo-Khuzdul words (making it [kʰ]), transcribed as “kh”.

Many languages like French, Dutch, Italian, Russian or Spanish do not have such sounds, called “phonemic aspirated consonants”. So I can imagine for those that are used to speaking those languages it might be a bit of a challenge.

English however does have such sounds; though, because they are not written as such, many people are oblivious of the fact that they sometimes pronounce a [k] as a [kʰ] in English. For instance, for most native English speakers when a “k” is at the start of a word they will pronounce it as [kʰ], as in “kiss”. As opposed to a word like “Alaska”, where there is no trace of any aspiration.

If you are having trouble hearing the difference in aspiration between these two words in English, then put your hand in front of your mouth (about an inch from your lips) and pronounce both “kiss” and “Alaska”. Normally you should have felt a breath of air on your hand when pronouncing “kiss”, yet none when pronouncing “Alaska”. That breath of air when you said “kiss”, that is the aspiration we’ve been talking about.

Here’s a little video from Glossika Phonics that shows you how this sound is formed.

Now, the [kʰ] in English isn’t entirely identical to that in Neo-Khuzdul sadly, it comes down to the duration of the aspiration. In other words, how long to you pronounce that breath of air? In English this usually is about 60 to 80ms (fairly short), while in Neo-Khuzdul this is almost double as long. Meaning that you should notice the aspirated sound in Neo-Khuzdul, even if you have trouble hearing it in English.

The easiest way to know how to pronounce this correctly in Neo-Khuzdul is remembering the kh-sound in the English word “backhand”. As Tolkien himself wrote (in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E): “In Dwarvish.. th and kh are aspirates, that is “t” or “k” followed by an “h”, more or less as in “backhand”,“outhouse”.

The usage of the word “backhand” is an easy trick to remember this sound, just remove all other sounds until you are left with only the “k” and h” sound of this word. The remaining sound is not only the correct kh-sound, but also the correct length of aspiration in Khuzdul (as you can notice, considerably longer than the aspiration seen in the English “kiss” for instance).

On a side note, the above Appendix information also means that pronunciations of “Kh” as [χ] or [x] (like “ch” in the Scottish “Loch”) - as seen in almost all Semitic languages, surprisingly do not apply to Dwarvish at all. An example of this incorrect pronunciation can be heard here in this fantastic video fragment (at exactly 4:12, near the end), uttered by the late great Sir Christopher Lee - where he pronounces Khazad-dûm incorrectly as [xɑzɑdu:m] instead of [kʰɑzɑd.du:m]. So mind you don’t fall for this “classic mistake”.

Any reason to watch this clip again is a good one… right, where were we…

Now that we’ve established what we are talking about, let us look at some practical examples in Neo-Khuzdul. In English, if someone were to pronounce the word “kiss” without this aspiration, it wouldn’t be much of an issue, everyone would still know what you are talking about after all. In Dwarvish however it would be a BIG DEAL, as you could very easily say something completely different. The letters “K” and “Kh” are NOT the same letters and should be treated as differently as one would treat the letter “t” and “d” for instance. The same goes for other letters that also have aspirated cousins, such as [t] and [th] (never pronounced as “th” in “things” mind you), or [g] and [gh].

Some Neo-Khuzdul examples:

thark (staff) vs tharkh (road) vs tark (button)

nukhda (colourful) vs nukda (well dressed; fashionable)

For those that need a bit of practice, try the following line (added as a separate audio segment - link HERE).

“Makhahmi thark ra tark ai-tharkh.” (I found a staff and a button on the road.)

In addition I’ve also recorded the words “kharm” (brother; kinsman) and “kakhf” (faecal matter; excrement), as you asked in your question.

Remember, the key to getting this down is…

Remember Tolkien’s “backhand”-trick (see above) 

Practice, practice, practice.

I hope that clarifies the difference between the voiceless velar stop [k] and the aspirated voiceless velar stop [kh] in Neo-Khuzdul, and how one best goes about pronouncing them.

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[language576-blog]

Learn Hebrew for Free: 42 Resources and Classes to Learn Hebrew Online

New Post has been published on https://languageguideto.com/awesome/learn-hebrew-for-free-42-resources-and-classes-to-learn-hebrew-online/

Learn Hebrew for Free: 42 Resources and Classes to Learn Hebrew Online

Looking for resources so you are able to learn Hebrew for free?

There are loads of Hebrew courses out there, so if you’re learning to speak Hebrew, it can feel like you expend more day trying to figure out what resources are good quality than you are learning the language!

Ready for some good news? I’ve put this article together because I’ve done the work for you. I’ve tried out several Hebrew learning tools to find the best ones out there. And the best part? You can use any of them to learn Hebrew for free.

Let’s take a look at these online Hebrew language resources and class so you are able to learn Hebrew online. Learn Hebrew Online with Hebrew Audio and Podcasts Listening comprehension is often a challenge for language learners, which is why I recommend get lots of listening practice. But where do you find good quality audio lessons in Hebrew?

To start, podcasts are a handy way to learn Hebrew. You can take them with you wherever you go — they can accompany as you wait in line, as you commute, or even while you go out for a walking. Anytime you have a spare moment, you are able to fit in some speech learn.

There are many Hebrew language podcasts out there, but just a few offer a complete Hebrew course. I opt podcasts that provide a step-by-step Hebrew class. I also think it’s good to listen to Hebrew as it’s spoken in real dialogues

Here’s where to start with Hebrew language audio:

HebrewPod1 01 is free to sign up for and is a favourite of the Fluent in 3 Months team. It has an impressive amount of Hebrew content available at every level from complete beginner to advanced. You get a one-week free trial to test out lessons at all skill levels. After that, you do have to pay for the most advanced lessons and premium material, although it’s very much worth it.

TuneIn: Listen to radio in Hebrew on TuneIn. Test out a few stations based on the subjects you’re interested in, consider what catches your attention and enjoy. Download the app to enjoy radio on your mobile device.

Forvo: If you come across a new word, especially with Hebrew which has its own writing system and vowels that were traditionally unwritten, Forvo is a great place to listen to terms spoken by a native speaker. It has a large database and is a good reference for accent.

Streetwise Hebrew: In each episode of Streetwise Hebrew, a specific word and its different utilizes are featured. It’s great for picking up everyday Hebrew as it is spoken on the streets of Israel.

YouTube: Free Hebrew Video Lessons YouTube is an incredible place to find free Hebrew classes and resources. The following channels give you hours of Hebrew lessons in an entertaining format. Plus, video has the added benefits of giving you access to facial expressions, body language and other non-verbal facets of the Hebrew language.

HebrewPod1 01: In addition to their free podcast lessons, HebrewPod1 01 also has an excellent YouTube channel with hours of free content.

Easy Hebrew: I love the Easy Languages channel because it gives you a look at the local culture and offers you context. In this series, the hosts go out into the streets and interview the people they meet. It’s spontaneous and a fun route to hear the route people truly speak the language, pick up useful conversational language, and improve your listening comprehension.

Rosen School of Hebrew features several “word of the day” videos and many other Hebrew language lessons.

Hebrewpodcasts: Another great channel with many free Hebrew lessons.

Miiko Shaffier has posted several live videos packed with Hebrew language learning tips. And while the channel doesn’t appear be active at the moment, but there’s still a lot to be drawn from her video archive.

Hebrew for Beginners: This channel is true to its name – it has two or more videos for beginner Hebrew learners encompassing everything from the writing system to basic vocabulary and grammar.

Learn Arabic with Maha: I featured Maha in my post of the best free Arabic learning resources, but her channel also has several helpful basic Hebrew lessons.

Free Online Hebrew Courses, Systems and Tools If you’re interested in guided lessons, there is a good selection of free online Hebrew courses and systems available. Here are just a few websites that offer online Hebrew lessons at no expense, plus some Hebrew tools you’ll find useful:

Glossika is an audio speech course and the first 1,000 repetitions are free. It utilizes spaced-repetition to help you learn useful Hebrew phrases.

Pealim is a free Hebrew verb conjugator and reference site.

Goethe Verlag has 100 free lessons for Hebrew language learners. They encompass everything from numbers to preparing for a journey and running errands.

Live Lingua: There is one free FSI Hebrew course on Live Lingua, a database of Peace Corps and FSI coursebooks and audio materials.

Wikibooks offers Hebrew language learners a free online coursebook.

Hebrew Podcasts has dozens if not hundreds of lessons available on their site. You can browse the lessons by level and learn everything from how to get out and about on the town to culture tips-off.

Teach Me Hebrew has a wide range of free Hebrew language class. It has modules on everything from grammar to sungs you are able to learn with.

Your Daily Dose of Hebrew features free vocabulary lessons. Each post features a word and offers you both audio and context.

Teacher Mike’s Blog offers Hebrew learners short video lessons with text notes.

Loecsen has almost twenty beginner lessons available to Hebrew learners. They encompass everything from basic greets to phrases you can use if you find yourself in need of help.

BBC Languages: Appearing for a fantastic introduction to the Hebrew language with video and tons of accompanying material? The BBC’s Hebrew course has it all.

Free Hebrew Language Apps Apps are a handy route to learn a new language, especially for those who like to study on the go.

Memrise or Anki( for iOS, for Android, and for everyone else ): These are flashcard systems that you can use to create your own Hebrew vocabulary decks or download those already created by other users. The desktop version of Anki is free, as is the basic version of Memrise.

Duolingo is a popular language learning app that introduces you to both Hebrew vocabulary and grammar. It’s a gamified platform, so it’s fun to use and addictive, so you’ll keep coming back to learn more.

Drops helps you build your Hebrew vocabulary in merely five minutes of study hour per day use gorgeous visuals and spaced-repetition.

Clozemaster is a language learning app that uses cloze( fill in the blank) to help you master new vocabulary in Hebrew.

NEMO on iOS and Android are right to download and it offers you the chance to record yourself speaking Hebrew and then compare it against native speakers.

Free Online Hebrew Language Resources for Advanced Hebrew Learners Take a Free Online Course in Hebrew MOOCs( Massive Open Online Courses) is not merely offer Hebrew language courses, but they also offer courses on other topics, being implemented in Hebrew. If you’d like to use Hebrew to find out more about something you’re passionate in, taking an online course in Hebrew can be a useful way to do two things at once.

Class Central is an online portal that indices free online courses from various categories of sites( including Coursera and EdX ). Currently, they have six courses taught in Hebrew listed on their site.

Ted Talks in Hebrew: Ted Talks are a powerful route to learn new things in bite-sized chunks. Most talks are between 10 -2 0 minutes and are presented so that they keep your attention from start to finish.

Watch Hebrew Vloggers on YouTube If you’re looking for native and relevant material for your Hebrew language learn, YouTubers are a good place to start. Hebrew vloggers encompass everything from slapstick to beauty to food, so you’re sure to find a YouTube personality who encompasses a topic that you’re interested in.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Top Geek is ruled by Karin and Nimrod Aldea and they vlog about entertainment, science, and technology. Their channel includes gameplay and other fun videos, too.

GameGems is a Hebrew vlogger who reviews games and shares gameplay videos with new content every few weeks.

OldSchoolil includes gameplay videos and may be of special interest to those who enjoy vintage games on some of the older game systems.

Ashley Waxman Bakshi: Searching for a Hebrew speaking beauty vlogger? Seem no farther. Ashley posts makeup tutorials, beauty tips, and commentary videos.

Free Hebrew Language Reading Materials Finding reading material appropriate for your level in the language can be a challenge. Thankfully, there’s a decent selection of Hebrew reading resources available to you as a learner online for free.

Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia to read short articles in Hebrew. You can switch back to your native speech to check your comprehension.

LingQ is a popular online learning system that enables you acquire new vocabulary through its read interface. It’s free to sign up, though if you want to use it long-term you’ll need to opt for a pay plan.

Google News: Read the news in Hebrew with Google News.

What Free Online Hebrew Resource Do You Use? It’s amazing just how many incredible resources there are to learn Hebrew at no expense online. Though I’ve featured 42 places you are able to learn Hebrew for free, I’m sure there are many more. Is there anything you feel that I’ve missed? Let me know!

Want More? Check out Benny’s favorite Hebrew resources.

The post Learn Hebrew for Free: 42 Resources and Class to Learn Hebrew Online seemed first on Fluent in 3 months – Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Read more: fluentin3months.com

[roseateglow]

Korean^^

Korean - Easy Conversationalhttps://hangukgongbu.wordpress.com/category/korean-culture-lifestyle/easy-conversational-korean/ http://learnkoreanflashcards.tumblr.com/cards http://www.ryanestrada.com/ebooks/Learn%20to%20Read%20Korean%20in%2015%20Minutes.pdf

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I’ve been learning Korean for the better part of the past 7 years, and in 2014, I became the Grand Prize Winner of the first KBS World Korean Speaking Contest. The contest saw applicants from 44 countries around the world showcase their Korean skills through three rounds of elimination. As the Grand Prize Winner, I was invited to spend a week in Seoul in September 2014, where I participated in various broadcasting events, including on national radio, to showcase my knowledge of the Korean language and culture.

So how did I manage to reach a relatively high level of spoken fluency in Korean, and how can you do it too? If I were to reduce the “secret” to 2 words, it would boil down to motivation and technique. Motivation, because Korean, after all, is ranked by the Foreign Service Institute of the US Department of State as one of the hardest languages to learn for native English speakers (along others such as Japanese and Mandarin Chinese). This means that learning Korean is a considerable investment of time and effort, so you’ll need to be in this for the long-run. You’ll inevitably go through motivation peaks and troughs, but what’s important is not to give up and to keep progressing. And finally technique, because even you do manage to keep going for a long period of time, you’ll need to have the right tools in your toolkit to avoid plateauing and to improve your skills to a fairly high level. But beyond this, how exactly do you go about learning Korean?

In this article, I’m going to guide you through the exact steps I would recommend you to go through to begin learning Korean from scratch, and to eventually reach a high level of proficiency in it. I’m not going to tell you it’s easy, but it is, without an ounce of a doubt, absolutely worth it. Enjoy the post, and if you find it useful or interesting in any way, please share it!

An overview of Korean: What, Why, and How?

Korean is the official language of South and North Korea, and it’s one of the two official languages in China’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. It’s spoken by an approximate 80 million people around the world (including large overseas communities such as in Los Angeles and Toronto).

If you speak some Chinese, you’ll have a good starting advantage over other learners of Korean, since approximately 60% of Korean vocabulary is derived from Chinese (i.e. Sino-Korean words). If you speak Japanese, you’ll also have a considerably easier time learning Korean, since both languages—and up to a certain point, cultures—share many similarities, such as a similar order of words (subject-object-verb) and grammar. While many linguists classify Korean as a “language isolate” (i.e. not part of any other language family), some also consider it to be part of the Altaic language family.

So why would anyone want to learn Korean? Well, for starters, the language has gained a tremendous amount of popularity in the past decade, not least thanks to the so-called “Hallyu” (한류), or “Korean wave” as it is known in English.  The Korean Wave evolved from a regional development (mostly Southeast and East Asia) into a global phenomenon due to the proliferation of Korean dramas (TV series) and Korean pop (K-pop) music videos on YouTube, of which Gangnam Style is but one prominent example.

So, in earnest, let’s look at the steps you’ll need to take to effectively learn Korean.

1. Set clear goals, a timeline, and a schedule

Here’s the secret to a successful start, in 3 simple bullet points:

Your goals must be specific. Vague, sweeping goals are too broad to be acted upon.

Your goals must be believable. If you don’t believe you can reach them, you won’t.

Your goals must be challenging and demanding.

A lot of language learners fail to reach a respectable level of fluency because they lack any clear goals and direction, and they have no regular study schedule. Don’t fall into this trap. Even before purchasing any learning materials, set yourself some very clear goals and a roadmap to reach these goals. More importantly, strongly believe in them and do whatever it takes to reach them.

Having goals helps you to track your progress and gives you a sense of direction. This in turns helps to increase motivation, and reduces your chances of giving up. Make your goals ambitious but realistic. I wrote an entire post dedicated to the importance of goals, so have a look through it for a more in-depth look at the importance of setting goals.

2. Get a good textbook/method

Getting a good textbook with which you’ll be able to work with for the next couple of months is a crucial step is the long and interesting voyage that learning a language is. I’ve seen a LOT of Korean textbooks and learning materials out there, and I’ve tested more than my fair share. Below I’ve listed what, in my opinion, are easily some of the best ones out there. Pick one or two (but no more), and go through them in a consistent, regular manner. It’s as easy as that.

Top picks:

Elementary Korean, Second Edition, by Ross King and Jaehoon Yeon Korean Made Easy for Beginners, by Seung-eun Oh Korean Made Simple: A beginner’s guide to learning the Korean language, by BillyGo Living Language Korean, by Living Language and Jaemin Roh Spoken World: Korean – A Complete Course for Beginners, by Living Language Glossika Korean (Mass Sentence Method – for intermediate learners), by Glossika

3. Learn Hangul

Now that you have your newly purchased, glossy shiny textbook, it’s time to learn Hangul (한글). Yep, it’s one of the very first things you should do before getting too absorbed in your studies.

So what is Hangul? Very simply put, Hangul is the Korean alphabet and the official script of both South and North Korea (don’t confuse “Hangul” with the name for “Korean language” in Korean, Hangukeo (한국어)). For over a millennium and up until the first half of the 20th century, Korean was written with adapted Chinese characters called hanja. However, Koreans now almost exclusively use the Hangul alphabet. You can easily live in Korea without knowing a single Chinese character, although it’s always helpful to know a few (or many), especially if you wish to learn Korean up to an advanced level. For example, in many news headlines Chinese characters are still used for brevity’s sake, and characters are also often used in between parenthesis to help clarify the meaning of a word that has many different meanings.

Hangul is composed of fourteen consonants and ten vowels, in addition to having double consonants and “clustered” consonants. Because of this, Hangul is in fact really easy to learn. You should NOT learn Korean by reading the romanized script. It’s a bad habit and simply not a smart thing to do. If you put one or two hours learning Hangul for the next couple of days, I guarantee you that you’ll be able to read by the end of the week. Even if you’re planning a short trip to Korea no longer than a week or two, I would still highly encourage you to learn the script.

4. Find a bunch of awesome tools online

These days it’s amazing the amount of great language learning tools and resources that you can find online. One of the first things you’ll need along with your textbook and newly-equipped Hangul reading skills, is a good online dictionary. Here are three very good ones (the last is for beginners but in Korean only):

Naver

Daum

한국어기초사전 (Korean Dictionary for Beginners)

Here’s a bunch of awesome websites and podcasts:

Talk To Me In Korean

Korean Champ

KBS World (check out their radio programs)

Lingholic

Here are news websites that are available both in Korean and English (and/or other languages):

Korea Times (this resource is great because it often contains the English AND translated Korean version of the article)

Korea Joongang Daily (look for the “bilingual column” on the right)

Yonhap News (available in multiple languages)

TED Talks (read the transcripts of TED Talks in English first, and then try your hand at the Korean translated version! There’s also TEDxSeoul and TEDxBusan, which are entirely in Korean)

5. Get exposed to as many sentences and dialogues as possible

Now that you’ve developed a solid and consistent daily study routine, you’ll need to get exposed to as many sentences and dialogues as possible. For example, if you’re working through a textbook such as the Living Language Korean series, you’ll get the chance to go through dialogues in every unit. Go through them repeatedly and ensure that you review each unit regularly.

It’s important, when working with learning materials, to repeat loudly the sentences that you read (unless you’re in a public place!). This will get your tongue and ear slowly used to pronouncing and hearing the language properly. Also, do bi-directional translation exercises in which you work with the Korean dialogue only during one day (and translate it into your native tongue), and do the opposite any other day.

6. Learn as much about the culture as possible

You may well have the largest vocabulary in the world in any given language, but if you’re clueless about the culture, you won’t know which words to use in any given situation at any given time. Unless you’re from East Asia, chances are that Korean culture is significantly different from yours. From my point of view, that’s exciting news, and discovering an entirely new and different culture is an enriching experience that really adds a lot of spices to your life.

So how can you get to know about Korean culture? For starters, find a good history book and start learning a bit about the country’s history. One of my favorite book is by far Bruce Cumings’ Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History, but there are literally thousands of good books on Korea out there. Next, and I’ll come back to this at point #8, as you’ll watch Korean dramas and movies and listen to Korean music, you’ll inevitably get exposed to the culture. Pay attention and takes some notes!

7. Find a tutor or a language exchange partner

Wherever in the world you find yourself right now, you’re reading this because you have access to the internet. Whether at home or in a library or café, internet brings you an amazing array of wonderful resources and technologies to help you practice your target language.

Once you’ve learned a bit of Korean, you’ve gotten to know more about the culture, and you’re eager to practice your speaking skills with an actual human being, it’s time to make the great leap forward and start chatting with natives—the sooner the better. If you don’t live in Korea or in a place where many Koreans live, you’ll probably have to fall back on finding tutors or language exchange partners on the internet.

Not to worry, though, because there are amazing websites that do just that. One that I can recommend, since I’ve tried it a number of times, is Italki. at the time of writing this article, 8 Professional Teachers and 40 Community Tutors are teaching Korean on the site. Prices vary, but for around 10 to 15$ an hour, you can have a private tutor who will help you practice and develop your speaking skills in the language. If you don’t feel like spending money, don’t worry, you can always find language partners for totally free and practice over Skype, but then you would usually be expected to also teach your native language in return.

8. Get exposed to as many engaging materials as you possibly can

As you progress through your Korean learning adventure and reach a level that allows you to access and understand a wider array of materials, it’s time to give your textbook a break and get exposed to as many engaging materials as possible. I’ve written an article that introduces people to Korean Indie music, so if you’re eager to discover interesting Korean music, check it out.

These days it’s also easy to watch Korean movies and dramas online. YouTube is of course a very useful resource, but if you wish to actually download stuff, check out websites such as Dramaload. A quick search on your favorite search engine will yield hundreds of other good sites. Finally, use Amazon’s awesome “language” filter and look for popular books in Korean and get them mailed to you directly at your doorstep.

9. You’ll feel like you’ve reached a plateau. Don’t give up

Almost everybody, no matter how experienced they are at learning languages, feels like they stop making progress in their target language at one point or another in time. That’s normal. I’ve written a detailed post about reaching plateaus, so you might want to have a look at it.

Essentially, a lot of us feel like we reach plateaus at a certain point in time while in fact all what’s happening is that we simply learn at a slower pace. At the beginning when you start from a blank slate, you feel like you’re making a lot of progress quickly, since it’s easy to see how many new words you can now recognize compared to the previous day or week. However, as time goes by, the same amount of time invested in learning a language will yield smaller returns; in other words, our learning curve is not linear, but rather round-shaped (see the graph below). Don’t worry about it and remind yourself that it’s absolutely normal to feel this way. Just keep enjoying the language and don’t give up!

10. Make the language part of your life

Think about this for a moment: what are the things that you do every day in your native tongue? Just how many hours a day do you spend watching TV, reading the news, and talking with friends? Once you’ve reached a low intermediate level in the language, it’s time to really make it part of your life.

Whatever you enjoy doing in your native tongue can be enjoyed in a foreign language.Don’t see Korean as something you have to “study”, but rather something you can enjoy. Plus, make an effort to really immerse yourself in the language, by, for example, changing your language settings to Korean for things such as Facebook, YouTube, or even on your cellphone.

11. Plan a trip to Korea

That’s it, you’ve made it all the way up until here. You’ve kept your motivation high, consistently for a long period of time. You had clear goals when you started and you feel like you’ve reached a lot of them. In fact, maybe one of your goals was to visit Korea. Well now’s the time to actually do it!

If you want to work in Korea, you might want to considerteaching English there. Otherwise, why not travel around the peninsula for a few weeks and practice your newly-acquired Korean speaking skills? This will sure turn to be a memorable trip.

12. Find more engaging material, and keep going

Language learning is a lifelong journey with no clear destination. After all, you’ve begun this journey to enjoy the trip itself, didn’t you? Once you’ve reached an intermediate to high level of proficiency, just keep doing what’s worked for you up until now. Read interesting blogs, watch more movies, find literary gems, and, who knows, you might one day call Korea home!

Conclusion

That’s it. I’ve just shared with you what well over 7 years of experience learning Korean has taught me. Has this been useful to you in any kind of way? I sure do hope so! If you have any questions, remember that I always love to help others and I would be more than happy to respond to whatever you have in your mind. Let us know in the comments below why you’re interested in Korean, and if you’ve been learning it for some time, how your studies are going!

[alexstrick]

Master Arabic: What's in the Premium Edition?

Master Arabic is the book I wish I'd had when I got the end of my university programme studying Arabic. I'm really happy with how it's turned out, especially the resource list. I discovered all sorts of new books and online materials that I'll be using in my own studies going forward.

I've updated the page for Master Arabic to more accurately reflect the differences between the basic and premium edition. Here's what you get when you order the premium edition.

13 Expert Interviews - You'll receive a link to download MP3 files for you to listen at your own convenience. I chose people who have been through the challenges associated with intermediate learning plateaus, and they each offer unique tips to break through to more advanced levels.

Discount Codes - Exclusive discount codes from some useful language services and publishers. Language learning can be expensive; these codes offer some respite.

Online Resource List - I've scoured the web and physical bookstores to pick out the best resources available for the intermediate language learner. This is a 'living document', continually updated as I come across new materials. The resources are organised into topics / areas, and there are dialect-specific sections as well.

Cheat Sheet - Most Common 1000 Words - learning this list will make more of the things you read and listen to comprehensible.

Cheat Sheet - Tim Ferriss' Deconstruction Dozen - Twelve sentences that reveal the core grammatical structures and principles at work in the Arabic language.

Cheat Sheet - Tool Overview - An overview of some of the main tools and tricks you can use to work on specific skills or areas of your study.

Cheat Sheet - Goal-Setting Worksheet - a one-page chart to help you think about the goals you set. (Corresponds to a section in the book on goal-setting.)

Cheat Sheet - Arabizi - a one-page quick reference chart for the symbols and letters used to type unique Arabic letters using English script. Essential for txting and chatting with friends!

Access to the exclusive Incremental Elephant forum to discuss language learning and your Arabic progress

Sample Study Plans - I've included suggested activities you can use to customise your own plan. Includes samples for those who only have 30 minutes each day as well as someone working on an intensive study programme (either in-country or at a university)

Spread the Learning! - Buy the premium edition and I'll send a PDF copy of the book to a friend, free of charge!

Lifetime updates - Receive lifetime updates to the book's text. I continue to work on the text and when a new release is available, premium customers can download the update for free.

You can view a list of the thirteen people I interviewed here.

There are also six discount codes offered with the premium package:

Bliu Bliu - Get 3 months Premium for free when you enroll in the Arabic Challenge.

iTalki - Get $10 of language classes for free with your first purchase and the exclusive premium code. (PRE-ORDER ONLY)

Glossika - 25% off for purchases in their online store

Foreigncy - Get a 10% discount on six-month and annual subscriptions with the exclusive premium code. (PRE-ORDER ONLY)

Talk in Arabic - Discounted subscriptions.

Beeminder - Get a 20% discount on all premium plans with the exclusive premium code.

(Note, two of the premium codes are only valid if you pre-order the book.)

[tamartia]

Update:

I've started getting things wrong (ofc) and it's frustrating me that there's no way to redo a card once I've hit the record button. Once you press record, you get about 30 seconds and then it moves on automatically. A huge part of the efficiency of spaced repetition is that you review something more or less frequently depending on how well you remember it. Without a scoring method, how is it optimized at all??

There is ostensibly a feature to type the answer instead of speak it, and according to @gabriellemeantime it does correct what you type, but this just isn't working for me. Oops?

I tried some French sentences, thinking maybe a language I'm not a beginner in would be better served by the whole-sentence diet, mais non. I couldn't test out of anything higher than B2 (and the "test" was only matching listening with an English translation) so the sentences were uselessly easy.

Maybe tomorrow I'll try Spanish.

Glossika Challenge - Update 1

Indulging myself in the influencer lifestyle to take advantage of a 30 day free trial to Glossika, a language learning platform which I hadn't heard of until about 2 weeks before the challenge started. In exchange for 3 social media posts, you get a 30 day free trial and a challenge to complete 3000 "reps" in a single target language during the month of October. People often ask me for language learning app recommendations, so if I find an ADHD-friendly (and free!) context to try one out, I'll happily take it.

I was excited about Glossika because it not only uses spaced repetition as a core learning strategy, but it actually uses the phrase "spaced repetition" to describe itself! An email I received today says:

Glossika strengthens your memory in 3 ways: 1. Glossika recombines chunks of phrases into new phrases 2. Each sentence progresses with similar patterns 3. Spaced repetition review means you'll get just enough review to not forget.

After just 100 reps on the first day, I have not seen any of the recombination (unless you count reuse of subject pronouns) promised, but I'll hold my judgment on that front until I have more experience on the platform.

My three main complaints after a single day of 104 reps are:

Recall versus review - this is by far my biggest complaint, and it's a huge piece of how spaced repetition is supposed to work. The difference between recall and review is that when recalling, you don't see the answer you're supposed to provide. A single Glossika "card" shows you the English sentence, the target language sentence, and the TL IPA. None of these go away with increased repetitions of the card. I worked to increase my memorization by manually turning off alternately English audio and English text halfway through a set, but this is unintuitive and cludgey. I did a few review reps after about 97 reps of learning new sentences, and the reviews were formatted exactly like the new content. We'll see if this changes.

No grammar explanation- you'd think basically every language learning platform would have learned from Duolingo's mistakes by now and would at least try to provide grammatical and cultural context to complement their language content. Glossika does provide IPA, which is great, but memorizing whole sentences as a single memory "chunk" feels simultaneously overwhelming and infantilizing.

I would love to see a program successfully integrate such contextual information into its lessons, but I don't think that integration is a requirement. It'd just be nice to have a mouseover icon or even a separate page where I can see explanations of formality, context, and alternate translations-

Whether I think a platform must provide such context depends on the platform's goals and advertised use cases. Memrise, for example, does not claim to be solely responsible for teaching you a language the way Duolingo does. I'm not sure where Glossika falls along this spectrum, but so far it feels like the clunky whole-sentence memorization of Duolingo with the lack of context and set dressing of a pure spaced repetition system. And I can't even upload my own content!

Marking as easy - when I marked a sentence as "Easy" because I'd seen it already many times, it just reduced the overall number of reps in that session from 25 to 20 rather than introducing new vocabulary. This isn't necessarily bad, but it bothers me personally.