Despite lifestyle changes, organization methods, personal goals, or study methods, sometimes life gets in the way of language learning. As I’m writing this blog, I am in Chicago visiting family. This is a trip I make semi-regularly, especially this time of year, and it being what it is, I haven’t had much free time for … Continue reading Studying While on Vacation
This is the second part following up on last week’s blog about the American school system failing to teach foreign languages in a way that results in fluent students. I ended the introduction with the statement that it isn’t the fault of the students, but rather with the method in which they’re taught, so first … Continue reading Why Foreign Language Classes Fail: Teaching Methods
While I don’t normally preface these blogs with the disclaimer I gave in the very first one, this blog feels like it’s especially important for me to open with the statement that I am not an expert on language learning. I am not a professional tutor, I have no formal education in teaching languages (or … Continue reading Why Foreign Language Classes Fail: Introduction
It’s been about two weeks now that I’ve spent a portion of each day using Spanish to answer questions about English on the Duolingo forums. English is a subject I know quite a bit about and have long held a fascination for, in all its weird, nonsensical guts and conventions, and explaining some of its … Continue reading Idiosyncrasies Between Languages
(This blog is the English translation of this week’s primary blog, which was originally written in Spanish.) A few months ago, almost a year, I wrote a blog about how difficult it is to listen to a new language instead of reading it. I’ve improved a lot since then. At that time, I watched kids … Continue reading The Two Spanish Languages
(This blog entry is written in Spanish. There will be an English translation available tomorrow morning / Esta entrada está escrito en español. Habrá una traducción de inglés disponible mañana por la mañana.) Hace unos meses, casi un año, escribí una entrada sobre cómo difícil es escuchar a un idioma nuevo en vez de leerlo. … Continue reading Los Dos Idiomas Españoles
After spending a while paying attention to the online language learning crowd, at a certain point all the advice starts repeating itself. Not everyone says exactly the same thing, as different people talking on the subject have different favored methods, but there is a sense that the amount of advice that can be given on … Continue reading The Finite Nature of Language Learning Advice
I can hardly believe that I’ve been running this blog for a full year now. A lot of the time I’ve spent has really flown on by, between real life and putting in the hours to work at improving my Spanish. I’ve come a long way in the year, from my stumbling first few steps … Continue reading Looking Back on a Year of Progress
When doing anything for a protracted period of time, it’s inevitable that some weeks are going to be good weeks, and some are going to be bad ones. You could probably manage to do something for a month, or even six months, and manage to stay consistently on top of the ball and be feeling … Continue reading Good Weeks and Bad Weeks
Repetition is a common language learning topic. It’s something that a lot of people who spend time talking on the internet about language learning are constantly arguing in favor of. Listen to or read something over and over again, keep going back to those same things over time, and keep doing that week to week. … Continue reading Repetition’s Role in Listening Comprehension
