Lingo-Late.com recently published 12 Gamesforlanguage travel blog posts. They include experiences and advice staying in the cities of Barcelona and Seville for a month, as well as learning and practicing Spanish. Spain is a wonderful country to visit and to live in.
During their stay in Barcelona, the authors realized that knowing Spanish in Barcelona is not enough, as they studied and solved the mysteries of Catalan menus in their favorite restaurants; they experienced first hand how the conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish government in Madrid plays out in friends' comments, such as : “When I go to Spain...” or “The taxes we are paying to Spain...”. Many Catalan people don't see themselves as a part of Spain. In Seville they experienced the “Semana Santa” with often scary-looking procession participants; they were often challenged by the local dialect, a typical experience of many who learn the “standard” language. The experience with a local ATM and bank in Seville made it clear to them that English is not spoken everywhere.
Several posts also describe the benefits of traveling off-the-beaten track. In addition to visiting “must-sees” like Cadiz, Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, Toledo, visits to Carmona and Almagro offered particular experiences and insights.
For those who plan traveling to Spain or staying in a city for longer these posts can serve as a resource and guide.
Ulrike Rettig, Co-Founder at GamesforLanguage.com, is featured in an interview in French at Yozzi. Dimitris Polychronopoulos, the founder of Yozzi.com conducted the interview. Neither Dimitris nor Ulrike are native French speakers, so they took this opportunity to practice their French. The idea behind Yozzi is for people to practice their target languages at an advanced level, beyond what you find at Lang-8.
Yozzi also has a comment system which makes it easy to point out ways to help advanced language learners improve in their target languages.
Here is the beginning of the interview in French:
Aujourd’hui j’ai le plaisir de publier cette entrevue avec Ulrike Rettig, co-fondatrice de GamesforLanguage. Si vous connaissez quelqu’un qui veut apprendre le français, son site a des matériaux avec pour ceux qui veulent des fondations dans la langue française.
Bonjour Ulrike et merci pour participer à cette entrevue.
Vous parlez plusieurs langues: l’allemand, l’anglais, le français, le néerlandais, l’italien, et l’espagnol. Est-ce que vous pouvez raconter votre histoire pour nous dire comment vous avez appris les langues que vous parlez?
In July/August last year we were interviewed by Erik Zidowecki of Parrot Time. We answer questions about how Gamesforlanguage.com got started, what we tried to achieve and what our future plans are.
Here is an excerpt:
How did your website, GamesforLanguage, get started? Is there a particular message or goal with it?
The idea of GamesforLanguage came out of our own experience with Italian, a few years ago. We were planning to spend six months in Rome. To prepare for our stay, we learned Italian from scratch with Pimsleur's audio courses (3 Levels, 90 lessons), by squeezing 30 minutes of audio learning into each day. When we arrived in Rome, we found we could use basic everyday language and had a pretty good pronunciation.
However, we had great difficulty with reading and writing Italian. That was a real handicap. We could not even write simple sentences as our French interfered with the Italian spelling. It seemed to us that all four language skills should be practiced.
Ulrike was recently interviewed by Brent Sverdloff for Flexyourmemory
Here is an excerpt:
Brent: Ulrike, it’s terrific to reconnect with you! When we worked together more than 20 years ago, it was always fun to indulge our passion for languages. Now we’re doing it in the context of memory.
Ulrike: It was great to hear from you! The role of memory in language learning is a complicated and fascinating one. I'm fluent in four languages and on an intermediate level in two more. For the thousands of words I know in each language, I think I've consciously memorized only a fraction.
Brent: For centuries, the preferred method of language teaching was rote memorization. Do you still think that’s relevant?
Ulrike: Obviously, we acquire much vocabulary and grammar in other ways than by rote learning. Still, deliberate memorization through repetition and practice is important for learning a language, especially if you're an adult.
Brent: Learning a foreign language means reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Do you think they can be prioritized in order of effectiveness?
Contrary to some popular marketing slogans (“Learn a foreign language like a child”), adults cannot really do that.
Because they have already learned their native language and are able to read and write it, adults cannot acquire a foreign language like a child.
As adults, we have to take a different – our own – path for learning a new language.
For a starter, we should pay attention to our likes and dislikes.
In addition, being aware of HOW we learn, can make learning interesting and ultimately quite effective.
LEFT AND RIGHT BRAIN
Research on left brain (logical, verbal, auditory, sequential) and right brain functions (creative, visual, spatial, emotional) has been ongoing for decades, and new imaging techniques have greatly enhanced our knowledge of how the brain works.
It’s no mystery that learning a language involves many functions of the brain for everyone.
For example, we now also know, that new words are “encoded” in our brain and once they are “consolidated,” they start shifting from short-term to long-term memory.
You can read more about LingoHut where you’ll find free language lessons, activities and articles on how to make language learning easier, or visit LingoHut’s Facebook page.
Gamesforlanguage's FREE online, story-based Courses and Quick Games for French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Inglés make learning and practicing fun.
After hearing a dialog of “The Story” at the beginning of each Scene, players then learn the words, phrases, and sentences in easy games.
Players practice their listening skills with the Podcasts before or after they have completed a lesson; they focus on speaking and pronunciation by repeating after the native speakers in the “Say It” and “Record It” segments.
Learners can practice with Quick Gamesand Podcasts without even registering or logging in.
Weekly Blog posts cover language learning, travel, and cultural topics to keep users engaged and motivated.
3 Easy Tips for Accelerating Your Language Learning
You started learning a foreign language some time ago, maybe in high school or college; or, maybe, you took a course at a language institute.
This was a few years ago and you haven’t really kept up with the language.
But recently, you got interested again.
Maybe a friend suggested an online course and you even subscribed to it for several months; or you signed up for a course at a local community college; or someone gave you a some language CDs; or maybe you even joined a language community on Facebook.
Whatever the tools or methods you’re using to start again, remember these tips:
You can read more about LingoHut where you’ll find free language lessons, activities and articles on how to make language learning easier, or visit LingoHut’s Facebook page.
In 2016 GamesforLanguage.com is partnering with language learning companies that have a unique method or a game and context approach similar to Gamesforlanguage's.
To date we have established links with the following partners:
“Fluent in 3 Months” and other products – offer learning methods that will accelerate your learning immensely. Benny Lewis himself is the best proof that his methods work!
Lingualia – The gamified lessons for Spanish and Inglés adapt to your skill level and let you connect with a social network for corrections and interaction.
Lingohutoffers a variety of languages and an extensive vocabulary list to practice with.
LanguageZen - offers Spanish for English Speakers with an algorithm that keeps track of what you've learned. Also let's you learn with Spanish songs.
Italki - let's you become fluent with 1-on-1 online lessons with native teachers and connect to people around the world.
Mosalingua lets you learn languages with your smartphone apps.
We recently published this Guest Post on Lingohut.com :
Six Popular Approaches to Foreign Vocabulary Learning
We’re huge fans of using multiple resources for learning a language! We’ve found that different programs and approaches work well together and tend to fill in each others gaps.
From learning individual words and phrases with spaced-repetition, to learning a language in larger contexts, here’s a sampling of programs.
Many online language learning sites (and apps) we’re familiar with, start out with teaching basic vocabulary and/or grammar topics. Others provide a larger context and give you tools to master the details. However, there’s a huge diversity in presentation, which is made possible by the Internet and the various technologies that have become available – audio, text-interactive, visual, etc.
Learning Vocabulary with Spaced-Repetition Flashcard Programs
Memrise is a community-driven site with courses that are based on an elaborate flashcard system. Many of the words have mnemonics (which some find very useful) and there’s spaced repetition... (read on)...
You can read more about LingoHut where you’ll find free language lessons, activities and articles on how to make language learning easier, or visit LingoHut’s Facebook page.
In May 2015, Speaklikethem mentioned Gamesforlanguage courses as a fun way to get started with learning a foreign language:
Where to begin when learning a new language?
As you know, Speaklikethem.com is a platform to improve language skills, not to start learning a language. Beyond the well-known e-learning sites, there is a site we’ve just discovered for those who want to learn the basics fast and in a fun way: on www.gamesforlanguage.com you’ll dive right into language learning with its effective play-and-learn method.
Why do we like GamesforLanguage? First of all, it’s a smart set of games to feed the learn-by-playing methodology. Maybe we like above all the creativity behind the games. Maybe you’ll start with one of the Quick Games or Tests. And then, when you play one of the courses (currently French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Inglés) you’ll look forward to the next Scene of “The Story” or the next level of the game!But beyond the games, you’ll also discover other surprises. If you surf the site, you’ll soon bump into podcasts, dictionary databases, and blogs with learning tips, travel experiences, or cultural topics. Moreover, GamesForLanguage offers 100% of their services for free, with no up-sell or limited time functionalities!!
Developing one’s own practice path
Obviously, practice is essential for improving your foreign language skills. It is also one of the founding ideas of Speaklikethem. Read on...
Lingo-Late.com recently published 12 Gamesforlanguage travel blog posts. 
