I knew the Amish spoke their own language but I’ve never taken the time to find out more about it. This short video tells you about the language and how kid are taught at school. Pretty Interesting.

What language do the Amish speak? The Amish speak Dutch or Pennsylvania Dutch which is a dialect of German. I’m sure since they’ve been isolated for near 200 years now that the language has evolved in to a creole of sorts.

I found these videos on childhood foreign language learning. Let me know what you think.

Early Childhood Language Learning video 1.

Early Childhood language learning video 2

Although it seems that the teacher isn’t extremely fluent herself it is good to see a school district placing priority on foreign language learning for young students. As long as the school maintains foreign language education throughout the students school life they should graduate with functional language skills.

Our latest language learning tip video teaches you how to improve your accent and pronunciation in a foreign language.

Beginners will not want to focus heavily on these techniques but should definitely be aware of them and be using them as they progress. You can also use these techniques to simply build speaking fluency. A large part of speaking fluency is recall and muscle memory. You may have the words but stumble when it is time to speak because you have not developed the muscle memory or habit.

1. Alphabet and Compound Sounds - Make sure that you know all of the alphabets individual and compound sounds so that you can say them without thinking. It needs to become second nature.

2. Go Slow - When you practice take your time and sound out each syllable. I know natives don’t always pronounce each syllable but learn it correctly first and then you can adjust later. Your speaking abilities will sound more polished and natural. When you do start to drop syllables or to speak quickly like a native you will sounds even better.

3. Be a Copy Cat - I know that your mom told you that it isn’t nice to be a copy cat but when learning a foreign language it pays. Pick a subject and study them. Imitate everything they say and how they say. Choose someone who’s accent and pronunciation you enjoy and do your best to speak like them.

Let me know what you think and if you have any of your own tips. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog by clicking on the green counter at the top right and please rate our videos at YouTube.

Here’s a language learning tip that is a personal favorite. Leave a comment or subscribe to our blog and let us know what you think or what has worked for you.

A brief synopsis of the video:

Making language studies convenient and easy is very important. It is important for 2 reasons.

1. When the going gets tough - When language learning becomes difficult or a chore students often give up or move on.
2. Natural is better - Language learning is more natural when it is extemporaneous and in the moment.

How to make language learning more convenient:

1. Plan ahead - Make sure that you think ahead about how you can make your language studies more natural. For example if you are in the car and you have satellite radio tune into one of the foreign language stations. Watch the news in Spanish. Make daily activities that you would do normally into language learning opportunities.
2. Use Convenient Tools - Make sure that you have the tools necessary to help you make language learning convenient. A small notepad always at the ready. A very small pocket dictionary. Foreign language music or podcasts on your ipod.

Alright so here’s another update on the construction of Le Tutor Language School located in Tempe, Arizona. You can drive by and check us out if you like we are almost open. We are having a small delay with some permit issues that weren’t taken care of but we are hopefully getting fixed. The store looks great and will be all but finished as of Wednesday of this week.

1855 E Guadalupe a-104 Tempe, Arizona 85283. We are located on the North East corner of Guadalupe and McClintock on the North side of the Fry’s Shopping center.

Tempe, Arizona Language Classes start August 4th.

Most people who are studying foreign languages will have a whole library of books about their language of interest. However, there a few that you just can’t do without. I show books for different languages but you can find the books I show in almost any language easily with the exception of my extremely small French only dictionary.

List of Books:

1. 501 verb books: When I was learning French I chose the 6 most common conjugations and learned the different verb types. Er, Ir, Oir….. I started by writing them hundreds of times each until I could recite them without thinking. Then I progressed to reciting them by memory. Next I created sentences and used all of the conjugations for each pronoun in each tense until is was second nature.

2. Standard Dictionary: Although there are lots of dictionaries out there very few do it well. Look for a dictionary with precise, up to date and adequate definitions. It also helps if they have examples of how the word is used contextually or idiomatically.

3. Theme Based Dictionaries: I personally really like Mastering “Language” Vocabulary by Barron’s but I’m sure there are others that are very good. The books gives you a lot of vocabulary words that are important in certain subjects but you may have not have thought of because they are more idiomatic or technical words that are uncommon.

4. Uber Tiny Pocket Dictionary: I found this dictionary while living in France and fell in love. I literally carried it with me everywhere I went for 1.5 years. At anytime I wanted to find out what a word meant that someone said in a conversation or while reading I instantly looked it up. This dictionary is French only so I only started using it after I was conversational. However, it is the most important book in my collection because it makes language learning convenient and immediate. Often times you’ll think of a word and then forget it because by the time you get home and can look it up you’ve completely forgot.

I hope this helps you get started learning your desired foreign language or improves your current studies.

I’m not one who believes that people are limited. I don’t think that we have supernatural powers but at the same time feel that what holds many back are our own minds. Fear, Doubt, Apprehension, Suspicion, Laziness and Preconceived notions about how something is. I think that language learning is the same way.

I often get asked by adult students if it is too late for them to learn a foreign language. My response is always that anyone can learn a foreign language. You may learn faster or slower than the next but if you work hard you will learn the language.

Adults are no different than kids in our ability to learn except that we have this intellectual or emotional baggage that tells that we can’t do something or that it is too difficult and not worth trying. Kids just do it because it is part of their life.

I’ve been thought about this for a long time and these are just some of my personal rantings about Kids vs Adults in language learning. Here’s the blog post that reignited this subject for me.

I’m not sure that it is an easier for younger children to learn a foreign language but it does seem that the end result is a more fluid and natural speaker of the 2nd language. Adults can achieve the same results but it takes time and hard work. Work that kids just saw as part of life and occured “naturally” for them in their daily activities.

I think that part of the reason that we think that kids learn easier is because they don’t remember how hard it was because it was just part of life. Do you ever think about 2nd grade and say history, math or English class was hard? Probably not.

As adults we build up language learning too much in our minds as something hard or think it will be easy and then get discouraged when we don’t speak fluently in 30 days.

It takes kids 7-8 years before they speak their native language extremely well. Even then they will be learning it for another 8-10 years depending on their education. Adults learning a foreign language think it is hard because they are more conscious of the effort they are exerting in order to gain this new skill and knowledge. Additionally, adults have become accustomed to learning new thing quickly with their increase intelligence and experience.

Language has a humbling effect and probably takes the same amount of time to learn as an adult as it does as a child. So do I think that it is easier for kids to learn a foreign language than adults. NO! Adults are just more aware of all of the hard work it takes to learn a language.

Alright everyone has been asking for some footage of our new school opening August 4th. It took some figuring out but now I now how to edit and format videos to be able to upload them to YouTube. Its my first attempt so be kind. This is about 2 weeks ago when the builders had already gutted the location and had just put up the framing.

I know some of the future posts will be out of order but oh well. I’ve some picks on the demolition and pre demolition stages. I’ll also be doing a video tomorrow on site of the progress. Everything is really coming a long and is starting to look really good. I’m personally anxious for the carpet to get put in because I think that it will really bring things together.

More coming soon……

A lot of Arizonans visit Mexico for summer vacation, but travelers beware. People who speak Spanish have a strong advantage when it comes to getting the better deals on purchases when traveling.

Translation: Jugo de Naranja means Orange Juice in Spanish. So if you don’t speak Spanish then you have to pay $1 more for the same juice everyone else gets for $4. Ouch.

Le Tutor Grand Opening. On July 21st Le Tutor will open its doors to the public. Le Tutor Language School will offer Kids and Adult conversational group and private lessons. Spanish, French, English as a Second Language, Chinese, German and Russian will be offered. Stay tuned to our blog for more information and announcements.

We will have our grand opening party on Saturday July 19th starting at 7pm. Anyone in the Phoenix, Arizona area who reads this blog is more than welcome to come and meet our teachers, hang out, play games, eat our food, win door prizes and sit in on some language class demonstrations.

Stay tuned for more announcements and photos of our locations remodeling process.

We are currently accepting pre enrollment for our group classes and expect them to fill up quickly as we have 3 years worth of contacts who will be interested in our group classes. If you are interested please call or email us and we will help you get registered for our classes.

480-626-5180
info@letutor.com

Kids Classes: Spanish, French and Chinese - $285 (-$35 off for pre enrollment)
Group Classes: Spanish, French, English as a Second Language or ESL, Chinese, Russian and German - $385 (-$50 off for pre enrollment)

Our new address:
Le Tutor Language School
1855 E Guadalupe a-104
Tempe, Arizona 85283