I’m supposed to be studying some Italian, but instead, I was googling in my computer how to learn a new language (no, googling how to learn will not teach you shit, you have to sit down and learnyour target language not how to do it, I know but I’m lazy.) and I came across LingoHut, and I have to share it.
I don’t know if someone ever talked about this page, but if they did is worth mentioning again.
So basically you go to the website and in the Home Page you have to choose what is your first language and what language are you trying to learn.
Once you choose it’ll take you to another page in which you have tons of lessons, for ex. In Italian, there are 109 lessons.
I haven’t checked every lesson yet but for example, the first one is greetings and such. You click that lesson and you have 16 flashcards that will show you the word in your target language and the translation, at the same time that someone pronounces the words.
Below the flashcards, you have this ⬇️
And basically is a bunch of game, an easy matching words kind of game, some kind of tic tac toe with words, a memory game do you know the one that kids play in which they have to find the matching pictures? Same but with words and lastly a listening and matching game.
Below the bar of the games, we have the vocabulary list of the words we are taught in that lesson, and you can click the word and listen the pronunciation.
In the end, you have a bunch of the next lessons.
The lessons vary from the content it can be greetings, numbers, health stuff, office words, computer terminology, etc.
The website doesn’t have every language in the world, but it has a lot of them. choose your target language, in my case Italian, and enjoy, is fun and simple if you want to practice or do something related to your target language but you don’t have the willingness that day to study something more consistent like structure.
And the best part is that as far as I went looking around in this page it’s fucking free. Sure, you won’t end the one hundred and something lessons speaking like a native from whatever target language you’re learning, but it can be useful to expand your vocabulary.
So, you want to learn a language: 6 tips from a language teacher
Here I am, trying to explicate how to make it easier lerning other languages. I’m not an expert, but I’ve got some experience.
First of all, I’m a polyglot. I’m Albanian born but I’ve been raised in Italy. I speak both languages but my Italian is better. I also speak fluent English, even if I often commit grammar errors; I speak some Spanish too, but my listening skills are far superior to the writing/speaking ones in this case. I’m also living in Poland right now and I’m studying the language.
I’m not writing this post because I think I’m an example you must follow but the think is that part of my current job here in Poland is to run Italian lessons for adults. I also help my two two flatmates (Turkish and Georgian girls) improve their English since mine is better so far.
If you an think of other tips, add them reblogging and help a fellow language student!
1. Have your keyboard help you
Smartphone keyboards comes in multilanguage format so download your target language keyboard so it starts suggesting you words or correcting you when you write in that language. Sure, it won’t correct all of your errors, but it helps greatly for vocabulary and basic language. And yes, your keyboard may be a bastard and also betray you from time to time (stupid autocorrect).
2. Dear Dairy
You probably don’t know who Heinrich Schlieman is. Well, he was the guy who discovered Troy and one of the fathers of archeology. He was also a proficient german businessman and merchant who traveled a lot and knew more than a bunch of languages. He wrote his diary in the language of the county he was in that moment, so his diary is basically written in 6-7 languages. The thing is, this really helps. No one is gonna correct you diary writings, no one’s gonna judge you. You can start with simple sentences and actually see your advancement through time. It’s also great for vocabulary building. You can also merge this with point 1, having a digital diary.
3. Post-that-shit-it
May seem banal but yes. Use post-it. Use a lot of them. Also, remove them for time to time and go around the house naming the things that had a post it aloud. Then write all the names you remember and attach the post-it when you think they belong and check if you were right or not. Here, you auto-tested your self in 10 minutes or less.
4. Mama Disney
Now, who doesn’t love Disney? Well, even if you do if your trying to learn a language Disney is your new BFF. Why? Because their cartoons are translated in a ton of languages and, since they target are children, the language they use is not super-complicated. Start with your favorite cartoons. You know the plot by heart by know, so you won’t relay excessively on subtitles. Dawnloand the songs of the movies in your target languages and sing them. Disney loves you. Disney is your friend. Hakuna Matata.
5. 1st grade literature book
If you can put your hands on literature books of the elementary schools, choosing the class of reference depending of your knowledge level. Especially the ones of the 1st and 2nd grade are very helpful for beginners who already know simple words and are trying to put them together to make sentences. Children books are generally very helpful.
6. Foreign music and Musicxmatch
It’s a common thing listening to music in your target language. Now, the next step is using some karaoke app like musicxmatch or any other app that has the lyrics so you can sing the song along with the right words. It improves your pronunciation greatly. Try also to translate your favorite songs from one language to another. Not only from the original language to your native one, try also finding and already translated song and re-translate it from n your native language back to the original one. Obviously, try not to ‘cheat’, even if you know the lyrics by heart, try to translate how you think should be translated. That helps your vocabulary and your use of synonyms.
Everyone has moments when they can’t do anything for their goals but they don’t want to take a break either so let’s see what you could do.
Read about your area of interest. - regardless of what interests you, can find some kind of book, article, blog etc. You can learn new things by reading.
Watch movies. - this is quite relaxing because a movie is usually around an idea/plot so it doesn’t feel overwhelming and you don’t have to focus 100%.
Watch some tutorial on YouTube. - You can always learn something new from others and you just need to watch a video.
Listen to a podcast. - just listen to some tips or stories and do something else, quite passive
Get a piece of paper or agenda and write about your goal. - personally I prefer to do this usually because it motivates me to write why I have certain goals and how I can improve my ideas
Do something different but similar. - For example, if you learn languages but you feel sick and tired of studying, you can go and research how to memorize better. If you draw digitally, you can learn how to animate. Etc. Doing something new can be refreshing.
Make a motivational board, digitally or irl. - save quotes, drawings, images etc. Anything that triggers you to be motivated.
Give yourself feedback for what you did already. - taking a step back and looking at your progress is also productive because you can think how to improve.
Talk to someone you trust. - sometimes, just talking to someone else about your goals can motivate you and also give you new ideas and new goals; that’s why it’s important to have someone you can talk to about your goals and you know they will support you
Think of your past achievements. - this is called the “cookie jar” because you use your emotions to get energy again and just thinking of what you managed to do is enough to feel refreshed.
Flewent- translates a certain % of your article in your target language ReadLang - translates the words you click on and adds them to a flashcards deck Linguarana - same as ReadLang but it also translates expressions
Read as much as possible daily. Try to set a certain amount of pages daily/weekly.
When you listen to music, find the lyrics and follow the singers while they’re singing.
Use wattpad if you like fanfiction. The site/app allows you to receive stories in a certain language if you look at the settings. Bonus:if you add the story to the library, you can read offline on your phone.
When you watch movies, find subs in your target language; regardless the language of the movie.
Find an app/site with manga. Many apps/sites have a pretty large selection when it comes to languages and if you are a fast reader, you can read quite a lot in 10-15 minutes. Bonus:many apps allow you to read offline.
Beelinguapp is an app with fairytales in different languages. It’s pretty useful for beginners or for people who don’t feel confident enough to try something else.
Use audiobooks. If you want and have time, try reading the book at the same time. If you listen and read at the same time, you have more chances to remember the words and their spelling, pronunciation.
Choose a song in your target language. Read the lyrics and their translation once or twice. Then sing the song trying to remember the lyrics. Optional: listen to the song with the lyrics. I wouldn’t really recommend this because you might focus too much on the spelling and less on the pronunciation at some point.
Many movies and videos. It will be frustrating at first but after a while, you will get used to it and focus on what you know so you can guess what’s the meaning of what you don’t know.
Try using audiocourse or courses that focus a lot on interaction and listening like Pimsleur.
Use apps like HelloTalk, Tandem, Skype, the audio messages on Facebook etc. if you want to practice with natives.
When you learn vocabulary, try to find the pronunciation on Forvo or just choose resources with audio.
Apps/Sites like 50languages, awabe, duolingo, memrise, busuu, babbel, lingodeer etc. have audio for most of their languages so they are worth your time.
Change the speed of the videos you are watching. Youtube has such a setting.
Writing
Read a lot. When you read you pay attention to what kind of structures are used in a text and the more you read, the more you get a “feeling” if the spelling of a word is right or if the strutcure makes any sense. If i ask an advanced learner why they write “i think of” they won’t be able to explain why “of” is there and not something else but they will know at any time that it’s a construction that need to be like that.
- if u have an oral exam lead the conversation and offer up information, this way they can’t stump you as much with words you don’t understand cause ur the one saying all the words, only say what you know, not what u dont -this ones a bit dorky so more for actual language lovers than jus ppl trying to pass an exam but keep notebooks where u write down all turns of phrases, to the left in ur first language and to the right the one ur studying for, this is mostly also gonna give u the image of being really well read and spoken since u know a few of these turns of phrases that they don’t just give u in the vocab lists
-he gave me this little scheme of like things that are vital when forming a sentence -> writing a text: 4 things to pay attention to:
the gender of the word (un/une, le/la)
the amount (like is it singular or plural)
the conjugation of the verb with the subject (if its feminine plural the verb must be too) and the adjective with its subject)
the tense
thats it, thats like all u need 2 know to make a text work.. also personal tip from me if u dont know a word, you have plenty of knowledge to work around it. if its a text on a written exam, they’re not gonna hear ur umming, and u can jus change the sentence. - most people know and do this one but read news stories in ur target language, and then here the notebook w turns of phrases can be helpful -FIND A VOCAB LIST THAT IS RELEVANT TO YOUR INTERESTS AND HOBBIES if you are going to be doing an oral exam where they ask u to introduce urself, dont waste too much time on words that aren’t relevant to you personally. im not going to learn too many words about fixing cars, but im gonna learn all the art words. - relevant in every language but if u have to write a text based on something they give u, write from the bottom up, by which i mean form an opinion of whatever they’ve given you (which is ur conclusion) and then find ways to get to that conclusion
i think thats all i got for now if i remember more ill tell ya, also i might post some more pics of things hes given me and also my actual workbook cause its really good and useful
In linguistics, a filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but is not yet finished speaking. These are not to be confused with placeholder names, such as thingamajig, which refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown.
InArabic, يعني yaʿni (“I mean”) and وﷲ wallāh(i) (“by God”) are common fillers.[2][3][4]
InAmerican Sign Language,UM can be signed with open-8 held at chin, palm in, eyebrows down (similar to FAVORITE); or bilateral symmetric bent-V, palm out, repeated axial rotation of wrist (similar to QUOTE).
InCatalan,eh/ə/,doncs(“so”),llavors (“therefore”), and o sigui (“it means”) are common fillers.
InCzech,takortakže(“so”),prostě(“simply”),jako (“like”) are used as fillers. Čili (“or”) and že (“that”, a conjunction) might also be others. A person who says jakoandprostě as fillers might sound a bit simple-minded to others.[5]
InDutch,eh,ehm, and dus are some of the more common fillers.
InEsperanto,do (“therefore”) is the most common filler.
InFilipino,ah,eh,ay, and ano are the most common fillers.
InFinnish,niinku(“like”),tota, and öö are the most common fillers.
InFrench,euh /ø/ is most common; other words used as fillers include quoi(“what”),bah,ben(“well”),tu vois (“you see”), and eh bien (roughly “well”, as in “Well, I’m not sure”). Outside of France, other expressions are tu sais (“you know”), t’sais’veux dire? (“you know what I mean?”), or allez une fois (“go one time”). Additional filler words include genre(“kind”),comme (“like”), and style (“style”; “kind”)
InGerman, a more extensive series of filler words, called modal particles, exists, which actually do give the sentence some meaning. More traditional filler words are äh/ɛː/,hm,so/zoː/,tja, and eigentlich(“actually”)
InHebrew,eh is the most common filler. Em is also quite common.
InHindi,matlab (“it means”) and “Mah” are fillers.
InHungarian, common filler words include hát (well…) and asszongya (a variant of azt mondja, which means “it says here…”).
InIcelandic, a common filler is hérna(“here”).Þúst, a contraction of þú veist (“you know”), is popular among younger speakers.
InMandarin Chinese, speakers often say 这个 zhège/zhèige (“this”) or 那个 nàge/nèige (“that”). Another common filler is 就 jìu(“just/precisely”).
InNorwegian, common fillers are øh,altså,på en måte (“in a way”), ikke sant (literally “not true?”, “no kidding”, or “exactly”), vel (“well”), and liksom (“like”). In Bergen, sant (“true”) is often used instead of ikke sant. In the Trøndelag region, skjø’ (“see?” or “understand?”) is also a common filler.
InPersian,bebin (“you see”), چیز “chiz” (“thing”), and مثلا masalan (“for instance”) are commonly-used filler words. As well as in Arabic and Urdu, يعني yaʿni (“I mean”) is also used in Persian. Also, eh is a common filler in Persian.
InPortuguese,tipo (“like”) is the most common filler.
InRomanian,deci /detʃʲ/ (“therefore”) is common, especially in school, and ă /ə/ is also very common (can be lengthened according to the pause in speech, rendered in writing as ăăă), whereas păi /pəj/ is widely used by almost anyone.
InRussian, fillers are called слова-паразиты (“vermin words”); the most common are Э-э(“eh”),это(“this”),того(“that”),ну(“well”),значит (“it means”), так(“so”),как его (“what’s it [called]”), типа (“like”), and как бы (“[just] like”).
InSerbian,znači (“means”) and ovaj (“this”) are common fillers.
InSlovak,oné(“that”),tento(“this”),proste (“simply”), or akože are used as fillers. The Hungarian izé(orizí in its Slovak pronunciation) can also be heard, especially in parts of the country with a large Hungarian population. Ta is a filler typical of Eastern Slovak and one of the most parodied features.
InSlovene,pač (“but”, although it has lost that meaning in colloquial, and it is used as a means of explanation), a ne? (“right?”), and no (“well”) are some of the fillers common in central Slovenia, including Ljubljana.
InSpanish, fillers are called muletillas. Some of the most common in American Spanisharee/e/,este (“this”), and o sea (roughly means “I mean”).[6], in Spain the previous fillers are also used, but ¿Vale? (“right?”) and ¿no? are very common too.
InSwedish, fillers are called utfyllningsord; some of the most common are öhm,ja(“yes”),ba (comes from “bara”, which means “just”), assåoralltså (“therefore”, “thus”), va (comes from “vad”, which means “what”), and liksomandtyp (both similar to the English “like”).
InUrdu,yani(“meaning…”),falan falan (“this and that”; “blah blah”), umm, and aaa are also common fillers.
InTelugu,ikkada entante (“Whats here is…”) and tarwatha (“then…”) are common and there are numerous like this.
InTamil,paatheenga-na (“if you see…”) and apparam (“then…”) are common.
InTurkish,yani(“meaning…”),şey (“thing”), “işte” (“that is”), and falan (“as such”, “so on”) are common fillers.
InWelsh,deorynde is used as a filler (loosely the equivalent of “You know?” or “Isn’t it?”). Ym…andY… are used similarly to the English “um…”.
Remember that this stuff is really important for fluency of speech. I’ve encountered a bad attitude among language teachers before: “we don’t teach filler words, because that’s not “normative” vocabulary, and it encourages students to sound unsure.” But that’s so, so wrong.
All people use filler words in conversation and even in formal settings. It’s a way to keep the flow of speech when the train of thought pauses; it holds the audience’s attention and actually helps maintain clarity of thought. What’s more, these words are instrumental for language learners, who need to pause more often in their speech than native speakers. Allowing them to pause without breaking into their language (saying a filler word in their language) or completely breaking the flow of their speech allows them to gain fluency faster.
My high school Japanese teacher did it right: “etto” and “anou” were in the second lesson. Teach filler words, people!! And if you’re studying a language and don’t know them, look at this list!! It has a lot!
Important because now I can be a dumb bitch in more than one language. Thank you!
Quebec French additions: fakorfa’que (contraction of “ça fait que”, meaning so) and tsé (shortened, differently-pronounced version of the French “tu sais”, meaning you know).
Hey langblr friends! I recently discovered an amazing podcast about language and I thought I’d share it with you! It’s called “The World in Words” and it’s completely free (like all podcasts? I found it on the podcast app on my iPhone) There are a huge variety of topics - from language revitalization to emoji and beyond - so I’m sure everyone could find at least one episode they like! I’m sure there are other podcasts like it but I especially enjoy this one :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
recently i finished second stage of linguistic olympiad, which focuses on translating rare languages based on logical analysis, basically you don’t know the language but there is a logic rule you have to guess to translate things, yeah, its fun, now im waiting for the results of the second stage.
the thing is, after practicing, doing many problems from previous years, i found myself understanding languages’ rules easier. i’ve always been convinced that to learn language is not to learn the rules by heart, but to understand them, so here are my tips based on that:
1. native speakers are your best resource. some may disagree due to them often not being aware of certain grammar rules, but thats the point. learn the usage, not the rules.rules will come naturally to you when you analyse them for yourself based on using the language.
2. ive been learning russian for almost 2 years now and my teacher has been focusing on remembering the rules, as if thats the best way to learn the language. so we didnt have much access to any context, not to mention poorly made textbooks. but now that ive become familiar with lots of usage, i dont need to stress about the rules, but base the grammar on previous, similiar contexts.
3. you dont need the rules unless youre majoring philology. for real, i understand that its not your native language, but whats so bad about treating it as one? learn it just like kids would. use it.
4. about using it, put yourself in native speaker’s position, change the language of your fav sites, talk to people even if you dont know much yet, stop stressing about grammar. imagine people talking to you without using cases, conjugations - youre still gonna understand them, so why not start with that yourself?
summary:
-analyse the grammar yourself instead of learning written rules (thats also gonna make you remember it better)
-vocabulary > grammar
-make friends with native speakers
-embarass yourself, make mistakes, talk bullshit - its all a way to success
