Stories play an important role in our lives. Much of our communication with others is through stories. By exchanging stories with others, we connect with them.
Stories interest us. They tell us about the struggles and achievements of others and help us create our own identity. They are a way of making sense of our lives.
Stories are also tools for processing and remembering information. Narratives help us structure and organize content and give meaning to facts.
In a story, words come up again and again, sometimes in various contexts. Having the context of a story, you can often guess the meaning of new words. Especially when words show up several times in different sentences and combinations, their meaning becomes more accessible.
Each time you see a particular word again, it becomes more solidly lodged in your memory. Guessing the meaning of words from the context of a situation is a useful skill. If we practice it, we become better at it - something that helps enormously when learning a language.
Yes, you can learn words in a list by repeating and recalling them often enough. But there's a "boring" factor attached to that. Its also frustrating to keep forgetting words repeatingbecause we don't connect them to a memorable context.
A list of words is pure memorization. The words stand in a vacuum. Besides, once you've memorized a word in your new language, you still have to understand and learn how to use it. That happens when you recognize that particular word in context. For that a story is perfect.
Can you learn new vocabulary you going through a series of unrelated sentences? Yes, that can be fun for a while. Each sentence gives you a limited context, which is helpful. But, it's a different kind of challenge for your brain from learning with a story.
The core of Duolingo courses is to translate sentences. For me, the random (often weird) sentences are like "language sudoku".But I don't use such sentences for communication. For example, I had to puzzle out the following sentence in Danish:Hun elsker at ve bjørnen lide. (She loves to see the bear suffer.)I'll never use this sentence in real life.
So, why do I prefer learning vocabulary with stories (rather than with word lists or series of sentences)? I just find that seeing and hearing words and phrases in the context of a narrative helps me remember them. I can picture a situation or an event and that will trigger my memory.
2. Stories Make Grammar Intuitive
Grammar is the glue that holds language together. But for most people grammar rules are not that memorable. I'm not at all opposed to learning grammar. I taught college German for a number of years and the textbooks I used had plenty of grammar.
But that's not what got my students excited. What they loved was to use German as much as possible and figure out patterns. When I learn a new language, I feel the same way. I look up a grammar issue only when I want to figure out how the language works.
When I started with Danish, I quickly understood that there are two noun genders (common and neutral) and that the definite article is normally attached to the end of the noun (rather than stand in front of it).
But understanding a grammar rule is quite different from really knowing how it works.
It took me some time to internalize that a Danish word like "katten" means "the cat" and not "cats" (whereas in German "die Katze" multiplies to "die Katzen").
As we become more and more familiar with a language, we get good at recognizing such "grammar elements". Not to forget, though, that seeing a grammar pattern is a different skill from hearing it.
When we communicate, we use a variety of sentences. Each is made up of various grammar elements. Depending on our message or narrative, we resort to simple statements, questions, requests, commands, and if necessary, different kinds of complex sentences. The sentences are, of course, not in a random sequence. They are connected in a meaningful way.
Conjunctions and other connecting words are important elements in a narrative. Beyond "and" and "but", there are other useful words and phrases that link actions, events, ideas, etc.To name but a few in English: "if, because, however, in case, in spite of, even, even though, neither nor".
Stories are a good tool for understanding the different ways actions and ideas connect. By paying attention to how a narrative unfolds, we train our mind to pick up and internalize such grammar clues.
Beyond gender, case, and connecting words, there are other grammar elements in a language that carry meaning. Just think of pronouns, including formal and familiar forms of address, prepositions, and negation.
Just as you can guess the meaning of words, you can also internalize grammar patterns from the context of a story. The more you read and listen to stories, the more you become aware of the characteristic patterns of the language.
3. Stories Teach You About Present, Past and Future
Drilling verb forms is always quite boring, and then you still have to learn how to apply them. In some languages this can get pretty complicated. When, for example, do you use the simple past versus the present perfect? Not to mention the conditional, or the subjunctive mood.
Yes there are rules. But they don't help much unless you've already internalized some verb patterns in a meaningful context.Stories help. They move back and forth easily between present, past and future actions and events.
Context provides you with various time markers and clues. As you follow a story, you remember earlier events or what was said previously and how this fits into the present situation, etc. You also notice how future events are anticipated and talked about.
Your brain is constantly figuring out what's going on, the causality of events, when something happened in the past, or what future possibilities are triggered by present actions.
That's what our brain does in everyday life: We remember thoughts and actions, we make decisions about what actions to take, and conjecture about the future. Why not practice doing this in the language we're learning?
4. Stories Help You to Stop Translating
People often ask me: How do you stop translating when you hear, read or speak another language? Yes, it's a dilemma. When you're beginner at your target language, you need to know what words and expressions mean in your native language. Pictures can help. But learning a language just with pictures doesn't get you very far.
So, in my mind it's okay to build one's basic vocabulary with translations as they are needed. But it's easy to get into the habit of translating everything. That's where stories come in. They can teach you to stop translating. Stories (even brief anecdotes) have a narrative sequence with meaning.
At first you may need some help with translation, but the meaning itself will stay in your mind. So, by listening to a story several times, you can train yourself to get the meaning without translation. By doing this often enough, you can create a new habit: understand what you see and hear without translating it.
I'm currently listening to Luca Lampariello's travel stories in Italian on LingQ to keep up my Italian. (You may be able to listen to his Viaggio in Russia if you register for free on LingQ).
Luca reads the stories himself and his natural speed is very fast. So fast, in fact, that there's no way I can do any translation at all. While my Italian is good enough that I don't have to look up many words, this is not the case with Danish.
Listening to Danish stories on LingQ, I do read through the text one time (after listening a couple of times) and click on any words I don't know. But then I listen to the story several more times and make a point of not translating. Each time I understand the story better just by hearing it. As with any skill, you have to practice, and with regular practice you get better.
5. Stories are a Creative Tool You Can Individualize
Stories give you a lot of material to work with as you're learning a new language. You can create your own stories in a target-language journal. Make up stories or write about thoughts, experiences, or encounters in your daily life.
Stories for language learning have become very popular. You can find stories for various levels and in many languages (on Amazon, on Pinterest, on LingQ, etc.).
Take a simple story and retell it from another point of view (first- or third-person), with other details (a different setting, place, people etc.), or change the time (from past to present). Tell the story aloud or write it out. Brave souls can make a video of themselves and post it in a social media language group.
I used stories a lot to teach our sons German. When they were very young, I recorded little stories I made up and played them when the boys were falling asleep at night.
When they were a little older, I read stories to them in English, with certain words and phrases repeated in German. Later, I read stories to them, and translated every sentence into German.
Finally, I just used German, or we played German stories in the car: Tim und Struppi (Tintin), Asterix und Obelix, or the popular stories of Enyd Blyton: Fünf Freunde (the "Famous Five" series).
For ourselves as adult learners, we had another idea. We love to travel, and especially like traveling in a country where we know the language. Because we were eager to spend time in Italy and Spain, we wanted to learn Italian and Spanish.
To get us started, one of our sons set up a site for us, which we called GamesforLanguage. Together with a team of native speakers, we created simple, gamified travel stories. These we then used to learn our two new languages.
It's been great to combine language learning with travel. Our Spanish course writer and speaker lives near Seville. We had found him online.
Once we had finished our Spanish story and we had used it for learning and practicing Spanish, we traveled to Barcelona and Seville. We stayed in both cities for a month. And we met our story writer in Seville in person, over a wonderful lunch of special local dishes.
We love to tell our story of why and how we created GamesforLanguage. It works in every language that we know. What is your story?
Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of GamesforLanguage.com. She is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitterand Instagram, and leave any comments with contact or below.
Traveling can be a great motivator for learning a new language. As you're making your travel plans, don't forget the language(s) you may encounter.
Obviously this does not work so well for trips such as “Europe: 6 Countries in 7 Days” or similar offerings. (All you need in this case are the 10+ essential greetings and polite phrases of many European languages you can practice for free with Lingo-Late.) But if your plans include a stay of a couple of weeks or so in one country, or even in one city, learning at least the basics of the local language should be part of your preparations.
(As readers of previous posts will know, after our [first] retirement we enjoyed longer stays in several European cities and countries, see also Learning Spanish..)
Our three-week trip to Denmark in 2017 motivated us to learn Danish with Duolingo and Pimsleur. (We'll report about our experiences with Danish in a future post.)
Did You Learn a Language in School?
Learning a language in school is a very different experience from learning one outside of the classroom. What is a "school subject" on the one hand, becomes a "hobby" when you're no longer in school. It becomes a way of trying new things and discovering new places.
A school subject includes daily homework exercises, classroom lectures and drills, tests, exams, and grades. And who likes to be called on in class? All that can be a chore and may well put a damper on your enthusiasm.
On the other hand, learning a language as a "hobby" puts you in charge of your own learning. It's an adventure. Not only do you learn new skills, you explore other cultures and make new friends. Language learning can be a perfect tool for self-discovery and self-development.
And, who knows what new doors a second language will open in your work life, or even in your planning for retirement?!
A Motivator: Your Imagination!
If you drop the "school-subject mindset", learning a languagecan be a fresh and fun experience. One way to do this is to tie language learning to planning a trip.
Often, as we plan and organize a trip, we anticipate being there. We imagine touring the Reichstag Dome in Berlin; enjoying a caffè macchiato in Trastevere, Rome; strolling through the Marché Mouffetard in Paris; taking a night tour of the Alhambra, in Granada.
Or as we did before our trip through Denmark: picturing ourselves strolling through the streets of Copenhagen, ordering an "øl" in one of the harbor-side bistros on Nyhavn (picture), exploring the Hamlet castle in Helsingør. We made your imagination the motivator for learning Danish!
In Visitors' Shoes in the US
Why does knowing the local language matter? Imagine yourself coming to the US without knowing any English. You would certainly experience the country and its people as a tourist, from the outside.
Imagine having to ask everyone, every time: Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Parlez-vous français? Parla italiano? Or, Habla español? If you stayed a little longer, you would of course pick up a few words.
But if you had learned some basic English phrases ahead of your trip, your interactions with us locals would be more meaningful. I bet you'd enjoy your stay so much more.
It's the same for us when we travel abroad. The better we speak the local language, the more deeply we experience the place and its people. Being able to communicate allows us to go off the beaten track and feel confident about doing so.
We try to go with the idea that not everyone speaks English. It's something we actually have found to be true in many cases, especially if you venture off the beaten track.
The Beginner's Conundrum
However, in countries like Denmark where nearly everybody speaks English, it is often hard to practice your new language: Danish people switch immediately to English when your Danish does not seem to be authentic.
I (Ulrike) was therefore quite pleased, when a woman in a small town, whom I asked (in Danish) for directions to a bank ATM, answered in Danish. However, I also experienced the “Beginner's Conundrum”: When her answer came back in rapid fire Danish, I was lost. She switched to English, but I just asked her to continue in Danish and to slow down.
We indeed found the Bank with an ATM and could replenish our travel funds. That early success encouraged us to use our Danish as much as we could: when ordering food, buying tickets, asking for information, etc.
Why did we persist, even though English is so widely spoken and Danes themselves tell us not to learn Danish because it's too difficult. Yes, why?
When you're in another country, you're in a totally new environment. Everything's different, the way people interact, the look of the countryside, the bustle of the towns, the taste of the food, and obviously, the sound of the language.By using the local language, you're no longer experiencing the country just from the outside.
So, if you have a travel destination on your bucket list, add learning the language to your preparations. Give yourself, let's say three months, like we did with Danish. And then see how much of the language you can acquire in that time.
Use whatever resources you enjoy (flashcards, songs, films with subtitles, etc.) and just keep going, a little bit every day. As an added benefit, you'll sharpen your memory and train your ear.And when you arrive in the country you're visiting, challenge yourself to speak up whenever you can! Try to experience your visit as a mini-immersion.
Peter's Confession
I have to confess that I have developed a love-hate relationship with Danish. Even though Danish is a Germanic language and there are many words I can decipher when I READ them, I'm still a long way from SPEAKING Danish, or rather – pronouncing it correctly.
Why is that? It's because Danish spelling is not phonetic in many cases: Not only are many endings not pronounced at all, but certain vowel and consonant combinations produce very unfamiliar sounds, at least to my German ear.
Examples of Danish pronunciation as I hear them: • jeg (I) - <yigh> • mad (food) - <melth> and spelled differently but sounding very similar to • meget (much) - <melth> • det er ikke nogen (there isn't anything) - <de ehr igge noarn>
Nevertheless, I am continuing with Danish using Pimsleur, Duolingo and Memrise lessons at the moment, and hope to be able to listen soon to some LingQ mini-stories. (as Ulrike is already doing). The Pimsleur audio course for Danish lets me focus more on listening and pronunciation, without getting confused by the non-phonetic spelling.
Why am I continuing with Danish when our travels are behind us? Because I want to figure out at least the most common Danish pronunciation rules and I won't stop until I do. What started out simply as preparation for a trip to Denmark now has become a personal challenge as well as a way to keep my brain sharp.
And what keeps motivating me to continue are my memories of our wonderful trip - and my determination to figure out the Danish pronunciation rules. I'll keep you updated about my success (or failure)!
So, pick a travel destination and, yes, jump into your new language. This too is an exciting adventure. Do it with enthusiasm and with imagination, and find your motivation to stick with it. Then go there and speak up!
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
Until recently, I did not focus much on deliberate listening practice for the languages I learned in the past.
I said “deliberate”, because I must certainly have listened when I learned my first language growing up in Austria. We now know that babies spend most of their first year just listening and then trying out some basic sounds.
And anybody who has watched babies knows that they pick up the meaning of gestures, names of objects, etc., long before they can even pronounce their own name.
When I learned my second language, Dutch, while attending school in the Netherlands, I must also have listened to the language around me. Within three months, I was fully participating in my 4th grade class.
The same was probably the case when I picked up English in Canada as a pre-teen.
French, my fourth language, I learned in high school and college. While I remember the required “language labs”, I did not enjoy them because they consisted mostly of grammar drills. I speak it quite fluently by now, only because I often have to speak French when we visit my husband Peter's family.
Italian and Spanish I started to learn as an adult, just a few years ago. And so, I'm discovering that focused listening practice with audios and videos can make a huge difference.
The Beginner's Dilemma
You may have been learning a language for several weeks or months. You feel good about your ability to understand most of what you read or hear in your course lessons.
Perhaps you feel confident that you'll be able to order a meal in a restaurant or make yourself understood buying this or that, and even negotiating a price. Then you travel to a place where the language is spoken and are eager to jump into conversations with locals.
It doesn't take long for you to realize: The other persons may understand what YOU say, but you don't understand them, unless they speak slowly and with simple sentences. It's hard to have a real conversation that way.
Active Listening Practice in Rome, Italy
During a five-month stay in Rome, Peter and I faced the “beginner's dilemma” certainly more than once. But we also noticed that our listening skills improved dramatically.
In the evening we often watched TV. Even though we had prepared ourselves with Pimsleur audio courses before our arrival, the fast Italian on TV just came at us like a stream of rapid-fire sounds.
After a couple of weeks of daily listening practice, the stream started to slow down. I started to recognize some words, and could hear when the words started and ended. After a while, I also began to understand phrases and short sentences.
I certainly knew then that practicing listening is essential for understanding conversations. So now I'm making a deliberate effort to practice listening with Danish, my seventh language. Below are the six techniques that I use and recommend.
6 Techniques for Listening Practice
1. Do a lot of "listen and repeat" with words containing sounds that are difficult for you.
Babies are born with the ability to hear all sounds and they start learning their first (or second) language by just listening.
By the time we're adults, we can hear mostly just the sounds of our own language or the languages that we hear in daily life. However with focused listening practice, adults can both learn to hear and to produce sounds that are not familiar.Sometimes it helps to understand how the sound is produced.
Although Danish is a Germanic language there are certain sounds that don't exist in German, Dutch or English.A good example for Danish is the soft "d" sound, as in the words "mad" (food), "flød" (cream), "rød (red). At first the final soft "d" sounded like an "l" to me.
But while we were in Denmark a woman explained that it's actually like a very soft "th". She showed me that you can make the sound by putting your tongue against your front teeth. Once I knew that, I even heard the sound better. (Go figure.)
Some time ago we wrote a post about "Mouth Mechanics", and for many languages learning HOW to produce certain sounds is essential.
2. Pick a Level of difficulty that challenges you, but not too much.
A good guideline is that you'll want to understand at least 80% of what is said. In order to make progress, start out at a level that's right for you. Then keep building on the vocabulary and grammar patterns that you know.
If an audio is too difficult and keeps sounding just like gibberish, it's easy to get discouraged and give up. Finding the right level is not always easy. It will take a little experimentation and trying out different sources.
For some beginning learners, Slow German, Slow Spanish, etc. is helpful. But you should listen to natural speech as soon as you can.
For German, French, Spanish, and Italian, GamesforLanguage has natural-speed audios of each lesson, and Podcasts of each level. We recommend that you listen to the audio AFTER each lesson or level you completed and challenge yourself by listening to the podcast of the NEXT level.
Also, Steve Kaufmann's LingQ has many excellent audios of different length and difficulty.
3. Start with short audios and build up to longer ones.
Practicing sounds and individual words, of course, is not enough. Speaking is a stream of sounds, and you need to practice by listening to words-in-a-stream.Start with (very) short audios. As you increase the difficulty and length of the clips, you'll also increase your vocabulary.
When you listen to full-length audio books, you'll hear the same vocabulary and grammar patterns come up again and again.
Each time they'll lodge a little deeper in your memory. A great source for foreign-language audio books is Audible.(And, yes, it's like putting money in your language bank...!)
4. Listen to topics that interest you.
Why would you want to listen to something that does not interest or concern you?You don't have to, once you have gone beyond the basics of a new language and have acquired enough vocabulary.
There are two important reasons why finding topics that interest you is important: When you choose topics you know and like, you'll be motivated to listen often.
The familiar context will make it easier for you to guess the meaning of unknown words. If you have many interests, your vocabulary and listening comprehension will grow exponentially.
5. Listen to audios more than once.
This works best, of course, with shorter audios or with passages from longer ones. I have found that every time I re-hear a clip, I understand more. Sometimes I "shadow" what is said, i.e. repeat what I heard just a second or so behind the speaker.
If there's an option, listen to a slow and a fast version of the audio. This is also a good practice technique. I like it because it makes me more keenly aware of the sounds, and how the isolated sounds (slow) become part of the natural sound stream (fast).
6. Listen to the audios WITH and WITHOUT reading the text.
When you listen without text, you're totally focused on sound and meaning. That's like being in a conversation where you can only hear what is being said.
When you see the text as well, you are also aware of the spelling of words and how they look. For me, hearing and seeing the text helps me to remember the words and phrases.
For languages that have phonetic spelling, seeing and hearing reinforce each other. I'm thinking of German, Spanish, Italian.
Danish, on the other hand, is phonetically quite challenging. So it takes extra effort to correlate sound to text.As English speakers, we often forget that the relationship between sound and spelling in English also has its challenges.
Understanding without Translating?
When I listen to a passage in French, or even Italian, I'm aware that I'm not translating at all. I just understand what is said. That's my goal also for Danish, but I'm not there yet.
I'm actually not sure whether that can be practiced or if you just automatically stop translating when the language becomes familiar enough. I'd be interested in the thoughts of anyone who has experienced the same.
Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of GamesforLanguage.com. She is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitterand Instagram, and leave any comments with contact or below.
Langfest 2017 in Montreal brought together over 300 language enthusiasts from all over the world. Its speakers highlighted many language learning tips that we and others often blog about.
It's the second year of this event, which last year was called “North American Polyglot Symposium” or NAPS.
LangFest is a perfect new name for this three-day event. The conference aims to be inclusive, you really don't have to speak a lot of languages to benefit.
At LangFest you'll hear many different languages spoken throughout. For most languages, it's typically easy to find conversation partners.
Again this year, the talks covered a large variety of language topics. Many of the speakers shared ideas on how to make learning a new language more interesting and efficient.
Learning a language is not a task with a quick recipe. It's a personal process that changes as you go along and as you improve. It involves discovery, commitment, self development, patience, and a type of discipline that you enjoy and can sustain.
We're avid language learners ourselves. Besides running our GamesforLanguage site, we're always eager to learn more about how to learn languages better.
Our participation at LangFest 2017 was a way to spark up our own motivation and to connect with other language enthusiasts.
The language learning tips below are from the talks we listened to and from our conversations from the speakers we met.
Over the coming weeks, you can go on LangFest's YouTube site where the individual talks will be uploaded. Some of the interviews done at the conference are already available. If you're using self-teaching language programs, you'll certainly recognize one or more of the names below.
Joey Perugino - Language Learning with Music
Together with Tetsu Yung, Joey Perugino is one of the organizers of LangFest Montréal.
In his talk,“Relations inter-culturelle - Cross cultural relationships”, Joey described how he learned Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese as a child and as a young man.
He listened to songs, read children's books, and watched telenovelas. A particular fun experience was when he acted as interpreter for his Italian friends on a visit to Cuba.
The key for Joey early on was music. He would listen to songs many, many times. He was especially fond of the Italian pop singer-songwriter Toto Cotugno, the Spanish child actor and singer Joselito, and the Venezuelan singer-songwriter Franco de Vito.
Tip #1: Music is a powerful tool for internalizing the sounds, rhythms, and vocabulary of a new language.
(For me, pop songs definitely boosted my English, which I learned as a teenager.No wonder then that at Gamesforlanguage, we also advocate learning with songs. Blog posts that review some of our favorite Spanish, French, Italian, and German songs are among our most popular ones. Joey mentioned that he's struggling a little with German. I'm on the lookout for some more catchy German songs for him.)
Last year we came across a program called Language Zen, which uses songs in an innovative and fun way to learn Spanish. (Language Zen is now one of our partner sites.)
Stephen Krashen: Comprehensible Input
A linguist and Professor Emeritus of the University of Southern California, Dr. Stephen Krashen is the dean of the “input hypothesis” for second language acquisition and headlined the evening session of the first day.
His humorous and informational talk, entitled “Polyglots and the Comprehension Hypothesis”circled around the idea that language acquisition is gradual, and that it requires regular and substantial input.
In his studies about 'comprehensible input', Stephen also found that teaching explicit grammar has limited effect and that using grammar consciously during a conversation is very hard.
Most importantly, input has to be so interesting that you forget you're in another language.
Tip #2: Read and listen to material that really interests you and find a level where you can understand about 80%. Don't agonize about perfection. Note Stephen's quote of Kató Lomb: “Language is the only thing worth knowing poorly."
(GamesforLanguage's travel story courses apply this input comprehension theory for early learners: the initial dialogue of each story-lesson is broken down; unknown words are practiced, so each sentence becomes comprehensible by the lesson's end.)
Mark Pentleton: Start with Short Spurts
The founder of the Coffee Break Conversation series (Coffeebreakacademy.com),Mark Pentleton, reviewed the origin of the idea to fit language learning into the short time of a “coffee break”.
Starting in 2006 with the Radio Lingua Network, when podcasts were still not well known and faced technical problems of device memory, bandwidth, etc., Coffee Break Conversations have now come into their own. The format is a short dialogue between a teacher and a student.
Tip #3: Mini-lessons are a great way to get started, and to keep going even if you're too busy for 'real learning.' With mobile technology, we can read or listen to the language we're learning even in chunks of minutes at a time, and that may keep us engaged and motivated in the language.
(For those learners who don't have time for a full lesson, GamesforLanguage's “Quick Language Games” provide a quick and fun option.)
Steven Kaufmann: Forget and Relearn
Canadian diplomat turned polyglot plus language teaching theorist, and founder of LingQ.com, Steven Kaufmann also insists, like his friend Krashen, that 'comprehensible input' is key. Stories with audio - at the right level - provide excellent materials.
In his talk, “Meaningful and Compelling Input”, Steven focused on some specific details of how we learn with interesting and understandable materials.
For one, language learning means learning to notice how the same words show up in different contexts and in various grammar patterns. Every time we see the same word or phrase in context, we're relearning it. As a matter of fact we're constantly forgetting and relearning all the time.
For learning a language with comprehensible input, Steven's guideline is 70% audio and 30% reading. Speaking is extra.
Tip #4: It's okay to forget words, and seeing them again and again is a natural (and painless) way to learn. By the same token, reviewing endless lists of words and grammar drills can be boring, which may ultimately be counter productive.
Shannon Kennedy: Use Outside Skills for Language Learning
Saxophonist and singer-songwriter Shannon Kennedy is also a traveler and language lover. On her Blog Eurolinguiste.com she shares her adventures and language learning tips.
Shannon's talk “Applying Outside Skills in Language Learning” was about building on the skills that you know. As a musician, she's used to performing. And quite rightly, she equates conversations in a foreign language with performances.
By the same token, music theory has its equivalent in grammar. Then there's passive and active listening, which applies both to music and language.
If you do sports, you'll know that a little bit of training every day makes a big difference. And, you'll also know that training with others who are better than you will improve your performance.
Parenthood brings with it the skill of approaching things from different angles, and the knowledge such an approach gives you is essential.
Science focuses on testing and fieldwork. A good investor accepts uncertainty, takes calculated risks, accepts mistakes, and does his or her own research. The list goes on.
Tip #5: Because learning a language involves many daily tasks, applying any skills you know well can be very helpful.
Grégoire Lahaie: Learn Some of the Local Language
A native of the Province of Québec, Gégoire Lahaie is a freelance translator for English-French and Spanish-French.
Grégoire's workshop “Atelier sur la langue québécoise - Workshop on Quebec language”, was a fun introduction to québécois.
He covered pronunciation matters, such as diphtongization ('père' is pronounced 'paèr'); how consonants change before u and i (d is pronounced 'ds-', as in 'dsurant'); and typical contractions ('je suis' is contracted to 'j'su'). He also mentioned a handful of québécismes, and explained a couple of swears. I speak French, but as I walked around Montreal, it took me a while to get used to the local language. Grégoire's explanations actually helped me understand some of the local pronunciation patterns. I'm not able to speak Québecois, but my ear is now better tuned to understanding when I hear it spoken.
Tip #6: It's really worth tuning in to the local language of the place you're visiting. You don't need to be fluent. Learning some basic phrases, and learning how to pronounce the language makes a visit so much more enjoyable.
Richard Simcott: Talk to People
A life-long language learner, Richard Simcott is founder plus co-organizer of the International “Polyglot Conference" - which is now in its 5th year and is meeting in Iceland end of October.
Richard has done much to bring language enthusiasts together. (Yes, it's Richard and me on this picture.) In his talk, “Language Learning Worlds”,he shared stories from his own life and how he discovered his love for languages. Languages, he realized, are “what got him up in the morning.”
We all live in many worlds where languages can play an important role: family, friends, city, region, country, continent. Once we open our eyes and hearts, we can find lots of opportunities to bring languages, and friends with them, into our lives.
So far, Richard has studied 40 languages and is fluent in quite a few (find out more on his site, speakingfluently.com). Many of us were able to try out some of the languages with him at LangFest. It was a pleasure to chat with him on several occasions and it was obvious that he had my languages well covered.
Tip #7: Talk to people when you're ready to talk in your new language, and choose low anxiety situations. (That includes LangFest!)
These are just a few insights from some of the talks we attended. But, of course they don't do justice to the richness of ideas and the enthusiasm present at the conference.
During the three days of LangFest and the Sunday night picnic in Parc La Fontaine, we found many opportunities to talk with other language enthusiasts. We also met many of the speakers in person, and connected with old and new friends, some of whom we had known only online until then.
Here I should mention Kendal Knetemann, founder and co-owner of the free language learning site LingoHut.com. We started our collaboration online two years ago and celebrated our friendship in person with a dinner in Montreal!
In all, LangFest was enormously fun and inspiring. And you sure can't beat the setting - the cafés, bars, and restaurants, and hearing French all around.
Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of GamesforLanguage.com. She is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact or below.
As we are continuing to develop our gamesforlanguage.com program we are encouraged by the many comments we are receiving from the players of our story-based courses and Quick Games.
We know that most of our scenes (i.e.lessons) can be played in less than ten minutes, and we recommend that a player not play more than 1-2 scenes per day.
We are also well aware that stops and starts are pretty common for people who are learning a new language. Setbacks happen, and the reasons are legion. But a successful return doesn't have to be hard.
So, how do you get back?
Our 7 Ways
The simple answer is: You have to find a way to develop a daily habit - like doing your morning exercise, or brushing you teeth, or having your coffee - even it it's just a few minutes a day.
1. Get yourself motivated again. Unless you already have specific travel plans, pick a great travel destination (Barcelona, Sevilla, Rome, Venice, Paris, Corsica, Berlin, Salzburg ...) google some pictures, and see yourself there. Even if your trip will be sometime in the future, imagining yourself going can be a huge motivator. It's been that way for us: Traveling and Language Learning - They Go Together.
2. Adjust the bar. Don't aim for perfection or high proficiency right away. Aim for starting to speak in the language, having simple conversations, asking direct questions; aim for beginning to understand basic conversations, start to read headlines, short dialogs. Do baby steps, but do them steadily.
3. Set a modest goal. Make it an attainable, short-term goal, for example 15 minutes a day for 21 days. The idea is to set a goal that you can reach and feel good about. Once you're there, you can always set a new goal, if you want.
4. Schedule a daily reminder. Put your reminder on your PDA, Phone, Laptop, Mac/PC for a time when you can actually spend those 15 minutes. We're all busy, so is a great way to not have to worry about forgetting.
5. Identify the skills you need to work on. Focus especially on the skills that need attention. Learning a foreign language means that you are working on several skills at the same time.
You are training your ear to distinguish between sounds that may be foreign to you; you are intuitively processing grammar structures; you are training your mouth to produce sounds that may be unfamiliar; you are learning a new spelling; you are challenging your brain to make new associations between sound and meaning, etc. Focusing on a couple of specific skills makes it easier to notice progress.
6. Trust yourself. You know you can learn this new language. You learned your mother tongue pretty well, didn't you? If it's English, congratulations! For many foreigners, English is hugely challenging because of its idiomatic structure and difficult spelling! Be patient with your own language learning journey, persistence is key.
7. Push your limits. From time to time, push your limits a little, stretch your mind: It may be listening to a foreign radio station, tape, CD, Ipod, a story you know already in English; do this on your way to/from work, or some time after dinner in the evening. Find a soap on the Internet in the language you want to learn, write an e-mail to a friend, say and act out a few foreign words to a friend, to a sibling, or to your kids.
Combine Daily, Steady Practice with Having Fun
No matter what you want to become proficient in: math, reading, yoga, karate, basketball shooting, writing, meditation ... the key seems to be - any way you google it: "daily, steady practice."
The continuous improvement idea, introduced to the west as "Kaizen" by Masaaki Imai for improvements of processes in organizations, can also be applied to your language learning: Small changes over time will bring noticeable results.
Daily language practice will give you a regular connection to the language. Steady practice will strengthen your self esteem. It'll help you develop a small discipline that could easily spill over into other things.
You'll improve a little every day, and eventually that will show up big time. Be loose. Be patient. Have fun!
Learning a language generally involves learning four skills: listing/comprehension, reading, speaking and writing. We typically learn our first, native language by listening and speaking and then add reading and writing later in school.
When we learn other languages as adults we typically do so with "comprehensible input," by listening and reading, and we practice some writing early on as well (unless we use audio-only methods like Pimsleur).
When we learn a new language, we often neglect to truly develop our writing ability in that language.
Our language-learning efforts often focus only on trying to understand what others are saying and trying to be understood when we speak. As we advance, many of us strive to be able to read the newspaper in our target language.
When it comes to writing in another language, though, we often only reach the level where we are comfortable writing text messages, emails and short notes.
The Writing Challenge
There is a lot a language learner can gain by taking the time to practice writing. Obviously beginners will not be able to practice writing essays and articles yet. At the early stages, it is best to focus on writing simple sentences and paragraphs.
It is easy to receive feedback on short writing samples by using the app or website Hi Native for single sentences or the website Lang-8 for entire paragraphs.
When you are at the intermediate level, you can start to write longer texts. Composing an entire article requires a lot of thought. The task becomes less daunting when you start with an outline. One of the drawbacks of writing in a foreign language is that it is harder to find native speakers to offer quality feedback.
Native speakers themselves are often not highly skilled at offering constructive feedback on long texts, because they themselves may not have studied essay-composition skills and article-writing and editing skills. That means you may need to rely on a professional language teacher for feedback.
Your Language Learning Motivation
It is a good idea to consider your motivations. Some language learners will be more motivated to become skilled writers in their target language, while others will not.
Those who wish to study at a university in a foreign language, work at a professional level in a foreign language and integrate into society in a different language will be highly motivated to reach the highest level possible in their writing abilities.
Although those who do not have such ambitions will be less inclined to spend the time to improve their writing skills, that doesn’t mean that they should ignore writing practice altogether. After all, there is a lot to gain from writing practice.
The Benefits of Writing Practice
When you practice letter writing and article writing in a foreign language, you get a clearer picture of your limitations in grammar and vocabulary. As you revisit the texts you’ve written in a foreign language, it is easy see the progress you make.
Your past mistakes get cemented in time and you see at what point you learn to overcome certain mistakes that you habitually make. There may be a certain word that you continue to misspell, or a particular verb that you never seem to conjugate correctly.
Perhaps you notice a common trend of mixing up two words that sound alike or sound similar, such as it’s and its or affect and effect. By conquering these differences, you build a stronger grasp of the language you are learning.
Writing also allows you to focus on how to organize your thoughts and how you seek to logically draw arguments and conclusions. This is a challenge enough in our native language(s).
The extra challenge of doing so in a different language helps build up your skills in that language in ways that can spill over to your other abilities in the language, such as improved conversational skills and better reading ability.
Bio: Dimitris Polychronopoulos is the founder of yozzi.com, where he welcomes guest posts and guest interviews in his eight strongest languages: English, French, Greek, Italian, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Yozzi is a platform where you can offer feedback to help others improve their writing skills in their target languages.
Yes, learning a new language is a fun and exciting opportunity - not only to grow in a very useful skill but also for feeling great for many years to come!
In the last few months research has found that bilinguals enjoy many practical advantages: Being bilingual can help you find higher paying jobs, improve your ability to perform mental tasks, and slow down symptoms of aging.
We have linked various articles and posts about such research in the past.
TakeLessons Bilingual Infographic
Recently we became aware of an informative infographic by TakeLessons, which summarizes those benefits quite succinctly. You'll find Take Lessons' sources at the end of the graph.
(And if you're not quite ready yet for language lessons, just click on the link below the graph and play a few fun games!)
Bilingual with Gamesforlanguage Quick Games?
No time or not ready yet for language courses? No problem. Just play a Quick Language Game or two, when you have a minute. (No registraction required.)
We can't promise you that you'll become bilingual that way, but just maybe, you'll develop a taste for (re)learning and a habit of practicing a foreign language.
And, if you keep at it, YOU can become bilingual as well!
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Disclosure: Gamesforlanguage has no business relationship with TakeLessons, other than using its infographic.
My (first) retirement is now already a few years behind me. I was very lucky when we were able to sell the consulting firm I had co-founded. I was still in my fifties.
However, while I was looking forward to a less stressful life, I was also aware that retirement can have its own challenges.
I had read the usual books about retirement, how to stay busy, get or continue with a hobby, etc. Yes, I also had the typical list of house projects I never had time to complete earlier. But during the months leading to the day when I didn't have to go to work anymore, my wife Ulrike and I made plans for an extended stay in Italy.
Preparing for Italy
Both Ulrike and I already spoke several languages: German, English, French, and she also Dutch. These were languages we had either learned as children or young adults living/working in the respective countries. Italian was to be the first language we were going to learn as mature adults.
A few months before my retirement and our travels – my wife was working as a development editor at Pimsleur International at that time - we began using Pimsleur's self-teaching Italian language courses and completed all three levels of the program, 90 lessons in all.
This was an accomplishment. We felt quite smug about being able to understand basic Italian, but we also knew that the real test would come upon our arrival in Rome.
First Impressions and Lessons
We were picked up at Fiumicino by our landlord's driver. When we tried out our Italian on him it became clear immediately that his English was much better than our Italian.
Our first apartment was in a narrow street above a grocery/bakery in Trastevere (see picture of Romand and Guiseppe), and located just across the narrow street from a wonderful little restaurant, Le Mani in Pasta. (This restaurant is now listed on Tripadvisor as #27 of 327 restaurants in Trastevere.)
We became regulars there, and as the owners and waiters spoke very little English, it was great place to practice our Italian.
Seeing “Le Mani” everyday when we left our building, it was easy to remember that “la mano” (the hand) is one of the exceptions in Italian, as most nouns ending in an “o” are masculine. Other feminine nouns ending with “o” are: àuto (car), mòto (motorcycle), dìnamo (dynamo), ràdio (radio), mètro (subway), libido (libido), etc.
Fluency Realities
We also quickly realized, however, that we were far from being fluent in Italian. Yes, we had completed maybe 45-50 hours of learning with the Pimsleur audio courses. While we got compliments for our pronunciation, we still had to rely a lot on pointing and gesturing for buying groceries in our grocery/bakery or local market (see picture).
For several weeks, our vocabulary clearly continued to be insufficient. And to our dismay, at the beginning, the Italian on TV was an incomprehensible garble of words for us.
We were lucky to find a tutor who discovered quickly via a first test that our Italian spelling was atrocious. With Pimsleur's Italian audio course we had not learned how to read and write, and our spelling was automatically based on the French we knew.
The daily 2-hour lessons with required homework kept us busy learning for half the day. The other half we spent exploring Rome and its surroundings. We tried out our Italian wherever we could.
After a few weeks, the Italian TV garble dissolved into individual words that we began to distinguish where they started and ended. While we still did not know a huge number of words, we started to guess what words meant from the context. That accelerated our learning further.
Over the next months, as our tutor worked with us and monitored our progress, our confidence grew. We started to understand and enjoy Italian TV and movies, and increasingly conversed with shopkeepers and people we encountered during the day.
Language Learning during Retirement
There have been many research findings about the benefits of mental exercises for older adults. And learning a foreign language is near the top of that list - ahead of playing Lumosity games or solving crossword puzzles.
Learning a new foreign language as an adult takes effort and discipline. But our brain is certainly able to acquire new vocabulary and new grammar patterns through practice. And yes, we also experienced - although still far away from a Golden Anniversary - what a friend described facetiously in a guest post,French in Dijon:Fluency Realities with no "Lover Option"
In his words: “When younger people are sitting in bars discussing politics, love, and pop music with passion, we are getting ready for bed. Since my wife and I've been married more than fifty years, neither of us can go out and find a lover! In short:The quickest avenues to fluency are now closed to us.”
Acquiring fluency in a foreign language is certainly harder when you don't speak it all the time with your partner. That's true even if you stay in the country where the language is spoken. However, there are also many opportunities today to Progress Faster to Language Fluency.
If you can take advantage early on of one of retirement's key benefits: Planning your day and doing activities that YOU like – you'll never be bored. Then, if language learning is on that list, you'll open a new world to explore: articles to read, conversations to have, movies or TV shows to watch, planning a trip to a place where your new language is spoken.
Beyond Retirement – “Un-Retiring”
For me personally, learning Italian (and later continuing with Spanish and Dutch, see my post about P.M Tools.) also led to our starting up Gamesforlanguage.
Using my interest in languages and my project management skills, plus Ulrike's background in teaching and course development has given us a wonderful way of combining our passion with a purpose: Helping others practice languages we have learned as well, and sharing our experiences about language learning, culture and travel on our Blog.
And when we get a Thank-you note such as this one from a 80+ year old woman, who had completed both our German courses, we also know that it's never too late to learn and practice a new language:
"Thank you for such an interesting way to practice and learn German. I have really enjoyed doing this each day and am hoping to go to Austria in the Fall for a week at a spa. I liked the way you varied the learning process, also that you had a score at the end of each lesson, which, if not good enough, you could redo. Thank you again, M."
So who knows – once you start learning another language during your retirement – you may also discover reasons to “un-retire” again.
Bio: Peter Rettig is the co-founder of Gamesforlanguage.com. He is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact or below.
Setting easy goals helps you stay on track with any project. Here are 5 tips for your foreign language learning goals that you should try out.
It's crucial to keep going, especially at the beginning. And there's some good news: A survey published by the Boston Globe in 2014 showed that 76% of the people who keep their resolutions through February 1, will keep going.
You have at least a three-in-four chance to reach your language learning goal by year end. So, what should you be taking into account?
“Learning a Language isn't always easy”
Languages Around the Globe blogger Brian Powers recently pointed out in a post with the above title that “for most of us learning a language from scratch isn't always a walk in the park.”
For many language learners that may even be an understatement. Based on school experiences, some may feel that they are “just not good at learning a foreign language.” Others get discouraged when they don't progress fast enough. And some just give up because they get bored and can't stay engaged.
While you may have some strong beliefs about learning a foreign language, you should keep the following in mind: • If you were able to learn your native language, why shouldn't you be able to learn another language? • Were your expectations for fast progress unrealistic? • Couldn't you overcome boredom with more interesting and engaging methods?
Motivation
Surveys show that “keeping up the motivation” and “not enough time" are the two principal difficulties that learners listwhen learning a foreign language.
The excuse that there's “not enough time” may also hide other reasons. Most adult learners are usually quite motivated at the outset, only to realize that real progress is slow and takes more time and effort than they had anticipated.
Also, there are different levels of motivation. The need to understand and speak a new language may be different for someone who has a new job assignment and career in a foreign country, than for someone who intends to travel there for a short vacation. But “keeping up the motivation” is certainly a difficulty that cannot be underestimated.
There are few things (if any) in life we can learn half-heartedly. As children we seem to learn many things playfully. Still, it takes us quite a few years to fully acquire our first language. The same is true for complex skills such as playing an instrument or doing various sports.
One's motivation to learn is likely both genetic (“wired” for language, music, walking, running, winning, etc.) and environmental (copying, competing with, encouraged by siblings, friends, parents, teachers, etc).
As adults, the goals and challenges we set ourselves arise from various sources, family, friends, jobs, as well as our own feelings, interests, desires, fears, etc.
Being aware of our motivation for achieving a goal is often not as simple as it sounds. But for any long-term project - as learning a new language clearly is - knowing your motivation is essential.
If you want to “spark” your language learning motivation, have a look at an earlier post of ours HERE.
Engagement
What does "engagement” mean in this context? To be “engaged” implies that you do more than just attend a language class once a week, listen to a couple of CDs, take online lessons once or twice per week, or open a vocabulary app or a course book from time to time.
It means that you have been hit by the language bug and are getting involved with the new language in many different ways. Maybe at the start, you'll watch a foreign movie with subtitles or read dual-language books. Then you'll graduate to reading newspaper articles and books on topics that interest you. You'll watch TV and movies (without subtitles!), regularly listen to audios and podcasts, and meet people to talk to, either in person or online.
(Talking with native speakers is really the best way, and many believe the only way, to practice speaking and to improve your fluency.)
There are lots of ways to make language learning more interesting. If you're planning a trip to a country or region where the language is spoken, you can start learning about its culture, history and politics. If you love the country's food and wine, great – there's another entry point for making new discoveries.
Just think how engaged you are with any activities you enjoy. The more you can connect the target language with those aspects of life that are fun to you or you feel passionate about, the more engaged you'll be, and the more fuel you'll add to your motivation. If you've read this far, you may already know what my five tips are about:
Tip #1 - Know exactly, WHY you want to learn a new Language!
The reason for learning a foreign language has to be strong enough to keep you going when things get tough, as they invariably will.
It's no secret that the stronger the need, the stronger the motivation to keep learning. So take a good look at WHY you really want to make it a 2017 goal.
Write down the reasons and the benefits and attach them to your fridge or somewhere else where you can see them daily.
People's reasons are always quite personal. They differ from individual to individual: A job opportunity and/or moving to another country, a new partner or family member, exotic travel plans, etc. all will bring different urgency and time considerations with them.
Tip #2 – Determine what engages – or what bores you!
Determining what engages or what bores you is essential. This has both to do with the way you learn and with what keeps you interested.
For some,attending live language classes, being motivated by peer pressure, etc. is the way to go. Others learn well on their own, with language books, CDs/DVDs, apps, online programs or tutors.
The earlier you find ways to connect your learning and practicing method with your areas of interest, the better. That's also why the first few months of learning will be the hardest. Without knowing the language basics and having sufficient vocabulary, your choices will be more limited.
Finding the right venue or program will take some careful consideration and will also depend on #3 and #4 below.
Tip #3 – Research what's offered online and in your neighborhood
What is offered in your neighborhood or community in language learning resources will depend greatly on where you live.
In person language courses will often only be available for certain languages, but you may be able to find private tutors if you can't find any courses.
Many public libraries have language courses on CDs or DVDs, or they may have online courses for download.
Even many fee-for-service online programs have free trial offers. Take advantage of them until you find a program that's a good fit for you.
One note of caution: Don't get caught by the marketing hype. Learning a new language as an adult takes work and effort. But the right teachers and tutors can make a huge difference in how you learn. That's also true for online learning programs that keep you learning and practicing.
Take your time, if you can, and find one that keeps you going and engaged.
Tip #4 – Determine the time/resources you can commit
If you're setting a goal for this year, you may already have a deadline or a commitment. You may even have a budget and/or time allocated for learning.
If you can spend 3-4 weeks in an immersion-style course in a language school, good for you. You'll make great progress.
If you learn best in language classes and you can find one in your community, great as well. (You'll certainly want to figure out what extracurricular language activities you should add.)
If you're a self-learner with a limited budget and/or time, you should plan when and how you're going to learn.
Experience has shown that daily exposure to the target language is key: 15-20 minutes every day will be more effective than 2 hours once a week.
So, whether learners are taking classes or using CDs, DVDs, apps or online programs, they should allow for daily connection with the language they are learning.
During the early stages, this may be just learning 5-10 new words a day, playing a language game (such as GamesforLanguage offers), doing a lesson, reading a page in a book (ideally aloud), listening to a song, recording yourself reading, etc.
Later, with the basics behind you, you can plan reading online articles, books, and watching movies and videos, etc. of topics that interest you.
Tip #5 - Set some reasonable expectations
Depending on the language you're learning, basic fluency should take between 500 and 1000 hours of study.
This is according to the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). For further opinions, read up on a discussion on Quora.
So, unless you plan to study 10 hours a week for the easiest language, you're not likely to reach conversational fluency by the end of the year.
What about Benny Lewis' promise “Fluent in 3 months?” The answer is: if you use his single-minded approach and immersion strategies, you could get there.
And indeed, all of his techniques and hacks are very useful – IF YOU PRACTICE THEM REGULARLY AND CONSISTENTLY.
However, most of us will not be able to do so. We therefore need to tone down our expectations and set goals that we can really achieve.
Here are some realistic goals that may work for you: • Take a class and complete it, with all the required homework, etc. • Learn with an app or online course, and plan the number of lessons you want to complete each week, and the number of words you want to learn and review daily. • Read an easy novel in your target language after three or four months. • Be able to watch and understand a foreign movie without English subtitles after 9 months.
It's very easy to be too optimistic at the beginning. Don't overestimate the time you have available or are willing to commit. Start slowly and get into a learning habit. Then add practice time.
Eventually you want to do something in your target language DAILY - learn/review vocabulary, play a language game, do a course lesson, read a chapter of a book or article, listen to a podcast, watch a movie, etc. - anything that really interests and engages you.
And, if you do so, your language skills will certainly grow (as the acronym above implies!)
Learning a foreign language as an adult is a big challenge. You need to stay motivated and put in the time.
Your efforts will show best if you have regular and frequent exposure to the language. To do that, engage with the language in as many ways as you can. Start making it part of your life!
Bio: Peter Rettig is the co-founder of Gamesforlanguage.com. He's a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
Maybe you've already traveled this summer and regretted that you didn't understand the language(s) spoken in the countries you visited?
If you can capture that feeling, it'll motivate you to start learning before your next trip!
Or you're planning to travel to a foreign country this fall and believe that it's too late to even begin? Not so. I won't tell you that you'll be fluent in 30 days. But practicing some essential phrases and sentences is a good start.
Listen and repeat what you hear. That way you'll become familiar with the sounds and the rhythm of your new language. Doing some of this regularly for even just a month will go a long way to make your trip more enjoyable.
If you keep your goal in mind, learning a new language can truly be an exciting project. Besides boosting your confidence and improving your memory, it'll open up a new world to explore, a new way of looking at life.
Blue Latitudes and Captain Cook
While recently reading Tony Horwitz'sBlue Latitudes - Boldly going where Captain Cook has gone before,I was vividly reminded how different traveling was then: No phrase books, no tapes, no CDs, no online audio, no apps with which to prepare for encounters with the various native peoples of Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Cook's three epic journeys between 1768 and 1780 count among the last great voyages of discovery. (image: replica of Cook's "Endeavour" in Whitby Harbor)
The book makes for fascinating reading, not only because it tells of the explorations Cook made (as well as the damages, health problems, diseases he and his men left in their wake) but also because it recounts the difficulties of communication he and his men encountered.
An example from Cooks landing in Botany Bay in Australia in 1770 (page 151): “Most of the natives fled as the English boats came close to land. But two men stood their ground. They called to us very loud in a harsh sounding Language of which neither of us or Tupaia [a Tahitian native who had wanted to sail on with Cook] understood a word,' Banks wrote. 'Parkinson recorded their words as 'Warra warra wai'. Cook, meanwhile, attempted his usual peacemaking, throwing 'nails, beeds, etc. ashore.' ... Englishmen aboard the First Fleet would later learn that 'warra warra wai' meant 'Go away'."
Traveling Today – an Opportunity to Learn
Yes, we travelers today are in a different category than the great explorers of the past. We mostly follow well-traveled paths. But we are explorers in our own right. We want to experience new cultures, discover new vistas, meet new people.
From that perspective, learning a new language can be a fresh and fun experience. It should stretch our mind and engage our whole person. One way to do this is to tie language learning to planning our trip.
As we map out and organize our trip, we anticipate being there. We imagine walking through the old parts of Berlin; gliding through the Venice canals in a vaporetto; looking at the stunning view of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro hill in Paris (see left picture); taking a night tour of the Alhambra in Granada.
School Memories?
Some of us remember our school experience. As a teenager, learning a foreign language sometimes seemed "tedious" and totally unrelated to our lives.
Why memorize lists of strange sounding words and learn phrases we would never use? And, give me a break, why learn the grammar rules of a foreign language?
Worst of all, we had to stand up in front of the class to give a presentation in the language we were learning. Lots of anxiety there.
Now we have numerous options as self-learners to refresh a school language or acquire a new one. If we do it right, it can be both fun and relevant.
A Running Start
Have you ever encountered visitors to the U.S. that don't speak any English? Their experience of America is bound to be limited to looking at sights and taking tours in their own language.
If they're traveling on their own, of course, they would pick up some English along the way. But if they had learned some essential words and phrases before their trip, they would have had a running start.
It's the same for us when we travel. Not everyone in another country speaks English (or wants to). The better we speak the local language, the more deeply we experience the country and its people. Being able to communicate allows us to venture off the usual routes and engage in conversations with those we meet.
New Ways to Learn
The internet has opened a whole new way of learning a foreign language. Sure, whenever available, it's great to attend classes and take private lessons when offered in the community.
But, language apps, online learning programs, and online tutors, are quickly supplementing and even replacing books and live classes.
Self-learners have access to a large variety of resources in many foreign languages: You can listen to language audios and podcasts, read e-books and hear the audio version at the same time, watch videos or movies, read news online, participate in language groups and forums. The list goes on.
So, when you have a travel destination, get started on learning some basics in the language that's spoken there. It's a fun adventure in itself. At the very least, buy yourself a travel guide and study and practice the key phrases it provides.
We'd also encourage you to learn the numbers from 1-100, as they will prove very useful for shopping, making an appointment, paying at a café, etc. (For French, German, Italian, and Spanish, you can practice numbers and many common words and expressions with our Quick Games.)
Don't wait! Start learning and practicing today. Do it with enthusiasm and with imagination. Find a way to motivate yourself to stick with it. Then travel and speak up!
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
Disclosure: Some links above are to a partner's program with revenue sharing, if you decide to buy or subscribe.
Stories play an important role in our lives. Much of our communication with others is through stories. By exchanging stories with others, we connect with them. 
because we don't connect them to a memorable context. 
When I started with Danish, I quickly understood that there are two noun genders (common and neutral) and that the definite article is normally attached to the end of the noun (rather than stand in front of it). 
Stories help. They move back and forth easily between present, past and future actions and events. 
At first you may need some help with translation, but the meaning itself will stay in your mind. So, by listening to a story several times, you can train yourself to get the meaning without translation. By doing this often enough, you can create a new habit: understand what you see and hear without translating it. 
![15 Stats That Prove Being Bilingual is Awesome [Infographic]](http://takelessons.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/15-Stats-That-Prove-Being-Bilingual-Is-Awesome-1.png)
