Here are a few other foreign language related blogs and sites that I have found useful. If anyone knows others that would be of value to the LeTutor community feel free to add your comments.
http://learnaforeignlanguage.blogspot.com/
http://journals.worldnomads.com/language-guides
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/newsletter/
http://www.language-learning-tips.com/
http://aspiringpolyglot.wordpress.com/
http://www.thelinguist.blogs.com/
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html
http://polyglottery.wordpress.com/
These are just a few of the sites that write on language learning. Some of them are more advanced than others so check them out and tell us what you think.
When you are learning a foreign language whether it be Spanish, Japanese, or Hebrew you need to start at the beginning. Although the alphabet may be completely different or similar to your native language you should always know the alphabet and the sounds that each letter makes. You don’t have to know it perfectly at first you should work towards having it memorized by heart.
While you are learning the alphabet make sure you are learning the correct pronunciation and accent for each letter. If you do it right from the beginning you will avoid larger problems in the future. It is much harder to unlearn a bad habit than to start with a good one. Once you have learned the alphabet by heart then you can start more difficult exercises.
Once you’ve mastered the alphabet try using flash cards or writing them out of order. Anything to build your reflexes so that when in a real life situation you don’t have to go through the entire alphabet to in order to recall one letter. Doing these exercises will make the alphabet like second nature and you will simply react instead of thinking it out.
Review:
1. Learn the Alphabet
2. Memorize the sound of each letter
3. Practice the Alphabet out of order
These seem like rather simple exercises and you’re right they are. However they work and work well.
To learn more about private language lessons or business language training visit our site
When learning a foreign language you need to have goals and to stay organized. This is not always the easiest thing to do because learning a foreign language is not usually done sitting at a desk, it’s done out talking to people. So here are a few things you can do to keep you language studies organized.
1. Make Goals: Think about the things you would like to learn and the things you would like to do in your foreign language. Then list them in order of priority. This seems simple enough but give this some good thought and make sure you are not getting ahead of yourself. If it is a difficult skill or subject make smaller goals to build up to it.
2. Write it Down: Don’t just keep your goals in your head write them down. Write your goals down and give yourself a deadline. If you are like me I have trouble keeping things organized. In fact my friend Adam has created a great tool to help you keep all of your to do lists or goal lists in our case organized. It’s called iPrioritized.
Get a FREE account at http://www.iprioritize.com .
This tool allows you to list and organize all of your goals and to do’s in order of priority. Once you completed one you can just erase it or rearrange goals in order of priority as your studies change.
3. Evaluate: In section two I said to give yourself deadlines. The reason for that is so that you don’t procrastinate and two this gives you the important time to evaluate your progress when you’ve reached those deadlines. You should take a look at your goals and rate yourself on how well you improved in those areas. Also, depending on the results that you see or if your goals change you can take this time to redirect your efforts and priorities.
No matter what you do to organize yourself, just get organized. You will find that you will progress much faster if you have specific goals in mind and make a plan to achieve them.
Don’t forget, if you would like private lessons or need language training for you or your business Le Tutor Language Services is your source for effective language training. http://www.letutor.com/lessons 480.626.7622 info@letutor.com
Le Tutor Language Services has many great native level French instructors available in the Phoenix valley. If you are interested in learning real life French or need a French tutor for your classes please contact us because we can help you. Our French teachers can also help you and your employees learn to speak French so that you can impress your foreign clients with your language skills. We have helped many businesses in the valley improve their abilities to communicate in French with their employees or customers.
Strengths:
- Native French speakers
- Lessons for Real Life
- Effective
- Fun
- Valuable French lessons
- Improve your grades or expand your business opportunities
If you have a questions or would like to schedule French lessons just give us a call.
480-626-5180 / info@letutor.com / www.letutor.com
Foreign Languages are Fun
That’s Right Languages are Fun!
Lets get one thing straight learning a foreign language is hard work, but it’s fun. Yes I said it, it’s both. Although there is not currently a magic formula that will make instantly fluent it is possible to become fluent if you are willing to work. One thing that we advocate at LeTutor is responsibility on the part of the student and that is the key to your success. Am I using to many unfun words? Hard, Work, Responsibility. Well don’t go away yet.
First of all our definition of hard work is a consistent and conscious efforts focused on accomplishing a goal. By our definition hard work does not mean sweating and an aching back. Students simply need to be realistic about their goals and committed to putting forth the time and effort necessary on a regular basis to achieve those goals Now for the fun part. Although languages require work and dedication you must make your learning experience fun. This doesn’t mean that there will not be subjects you that you will have to buckle down and learn or that won’t be boring and monotonous. It does mean that you should be creative with your learning and exercises. Especially by trying to make your lessons as natural as possible they will seem less like work and more like fun. Here a few things you can do to make your lessons more interesting.
1. Carry a Dictionary: This is a fun way to learn new words without having to sit down and memorize boring lists. When you are walking around and you see something that you don’t know the name for look it up and write it down. Writing it down is important, it increases your memory retention.
2. Listen to the Radio: Listening to the radio is a great way to work on your ability to distinguish words. You can find foreign language radio stations all over the Internet that allow you to listen from your computer. Also, Sirius and XM radio have some foreign language channels available.
3. Be Social: After all that’s what languages are for. Get out and visit with friends or make new ones that speak the language you are learning.
These are just a few ideas to make your hard work fun. Be as creative as you want with your studies and if it works for you then keep on doing it. I would recommend that if you are not attending a language class or seeing a tutor that from time to time you schedule a lesson or two with a language teacher to make sure that you are learning everything correctly and are on the right path. The worst thing you can do is learn something the wrong way only to find out a year later. Wouldn’t it be horrible if you we were trying to ask someone how they were doing and told them that their breath was kickin like Bruce Lee?
I must first begin by reiterating, as I always do, that online, software, or CD language lessons have there place in learning a foreign language but can never replace a live person. With that said BBC has made an exceptional online language program to help you with your language studies.
BBC Language Lessons
The BBC has created rich lessons for French, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, German, and Greek learners. The free online lessons take you step by step through the lessons and include video and audio tracks to help you with your listening and speaking comprehension. I would recommend this program to anyone who is wanting to experiment with a new language to see if they are really interested and committed or for those who want to supplement their studies with some great lessons that cover grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and common mistakes.
Especially if you are considering buying some expensive software that can cost upwards of three or four hundred dollars I would recommend that you first check out this FREE language learning guide by the BBC.
Best of luck and work hard.
One of the most difficult things for any foreign language student to master is the accent and pronunciation of the foreign language they are learning. I learned French and speak it fluently. Although I speak fluently and have good pronunciation and accent I am still far off from sounding native. So while thinking about what has contributed to my success I made a list of things you can do to improve or reduce your accent.
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
1. Be a Copy Cat: So everyone knows that game you played to annoy your siblings where you repeated everything they said, well now before it was really annoying but now it’s a really effective learning tool. Purchase, beg, borrow, or steal some foreign language tapes, cd’s, or movies and start copying the native speakers accents, pronunciation, and rythm. * Two words of advice. If you are a guy don’t mimic the female voices and vice versa, this will only develop bad speaking habits. Secondly, choose a voice that you think is pleasing, if possible and if not choose anyone, then mimic that one voice. I isolate a short segment, about 10 seconds, and play that snippet over and over until I’m burnt out or feel very comfortable with it.
2. Sound Groups: Identify the sounds that different letter combinations make. This will allow you to immediately know how to pronounce any new word you learn.
For Example: The word COU CH ER in french has three main sound groupings, OU, CH, and ER. If I know that OU always makes the sound like in Boo, CH makes Shhh, and ER makes the sound Hay the I will know that COUCHER sounds like Cooshay.
Once you learn the way different letters sound with each other then you can apply those sounds to any knew word that you learn in that language and will save you a lot of time. *You can apply this to almost all latin, germanic, and slavic languages.
3. Exagerate: Often times when reducing our accent or improving our pronunciation in a new language it is difficult because the sounds are entirely new to us. So while learning these new sounds exagerate them. So if you are learning Spanish really roll your Rs or for french speak heavily in the back of your throat and threw your nose. Although in the beginning you will sound like a larger than life spaniard or frenchmen you will lay a foundation for a solid accent. After you are able to easily make those sounds you can then rope in your accent and give it a softer touch.
If you consistently apply these accent reduction and pronunciation improving exercises you will see measurable improvement in your speaking ability. Work hard and best of luck.
Why should you learn Spanish? First off Spanish is a beautiful language with a wonderfully diverse culture and people I would recommend learning it to everyone. Although that may be the reason some of you want to learn Spanish I’m sure that each of you reading this have your own reasons for learning Spanish. That is precisely why I am going to break up this piece into three sections so that you can see the benefits of each reason individually: Economic, Travel, and Cultural Enrichment..
Let’s Start off with some basic facts:
Statistics
Number of Countries that Speak Spanish: 22
Number of Spanish Speakers Worldwide : 334,240,000
Number of Spanish Speakers in the USA : 31,000,000 *based on 2000 census
- The USA has the 5th largest speaking population in the world.
The Latino Community in Phoenix, AZ is approximately 1 million and they spend $5 billion per year.
- That is a very large economic market
Language Background
Spanish comes from Spain and it’s original name is Castilian, which is the official literary language of Spain. Spanish is known as a romance language that derives from latin, but is also influenced by Arabic. The spaniards were essentially colonized or invaded by the Arabic speaking Moores from 711 bc to the 1500’s. Spanish was then spread across the America’s, Africa, and the Caribbean through colonisation.
All right so now that we’ve got some basic background information about Spanish let’s talk about why you want to Speak the langauge.
1. Economic Incentive: Whether you want to work abroad or locally there are thousands of business opportunities that are waiting in this underserved market. You can increase your effeciency at your current job by communicating better with clients and fellow employees, or increase your chances of getting a new job or promotion. Also, if you are a business owner increase your share of the local market by increasing your presence in the latino community.
2. Travel: Spanish countries are home to some of the most beautiful natural wonders, architecture, great food, rich culture, and amazing people. There are 22 countries, including Europe, Africa, The Caribbean, and the America’s, who’s official language is Spanish and many more that speak it fluently. Think of all the places that one language will allow you to go. You could even go to the Phillipines and get by rather well between Spanish and English.
3. Cultural Enrichment: First let’s recognize the people. The latino people have a wonderful personality, sense of community, and are very generous. Not to mention their contributions to the Arts which have been more than significant. Although some may be over shadowed at times, by more prominent latin writers, painters, and scholars, their works are just as poignant. Some of the major painters are Picasso, Dali, Kahlo, Botero, and Diego Rivera. Musicians: Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Enrique Inglesias. Ok so maybe not the most convincing list but you and I know that great music comes out of the latin world. Besides my horrible list of “musicians” there is so much culture to absorb in the latin world. That’s because although all of the countries speak the same language they all have very unique cultures and personalities that you get to discover one at a time.
So no matter what your interests are there is a reason and valuable benefit to learning Spanish. Now Take advantage of todays wonderful resources that simplify learning a new language and start today.
If you’re saying well all of that is great but I’m not good with languages. Then I’d say that languages are only foreign because you don’t use them.
Best of Luck!
Now that I have your attention let me explain what I mean. There are many programs and gimmicks out there that claim to have the magic answer to languages. Unfortunately it doesn’t exist, at least not yet. So let me list a few reasons why Language Software and Programs are horrible.
1. Blind Memorization: Most programs have you memorizing tons of vocabulary without teaching you how to use it. It’s like giving you oil paints without teaching you the art of painting. Yes, you need vocabulary but computers are not yet able to create real life speaking situations that a human teacher can. You have to speak with natives in order to learn how and when to use certain words
2. Predictable: All of these programs are predictable and give you the same questions and answers every time. If you try to speak with someone and they don’t ask or answer the way you have memorized you are up a creek. Humans are not predictable therefore you need to learn languages in a manner that will prepare you for spontaneous situations. Practicing and building your comfort level, confidence, and intuitive understanding will you gain the agility of a native speaker.
3. Out Dated: These programs take years to develop and after being on the market for a couple of years they are no longer relevant to today’s vocabulary and subjects. To overcome this you must read current materials in the language, like newspapers, and speak to natives.
4. You Don’t Advance: You do learn new words and concepts but your ability to use them in an actual conversation does not change. You do increase the depth of your knowledge but not your skill. This can only be done by seeking out opportunities to use your new found understanding.
After making my point I would like to say that if you have realistic expectations of your language software it can be helpful, but it will only teach you the basics. These programs are good at what they do, but are not the answer to learning to speak a language fluently. Language learning is a life long commitment that will take a combination of different learning tools and efforts to achieve your goals.
Keep in mind that you can apply this type of learning to any exercise or activity that you do. Make sure that you keep it simple, observe, and practice like a kid does while growing up, Trial and Error. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and ask a lot of questions. Why Why Why Why? * for all of you who have kids or was one of these kids you’ll get the joke.
1. Attend a Cultural Activity Kids are always with their families and their families are the ones that teach them to speak their language. So find local cultural activities and try and attend one or two a month.
Benefits: Observe and mimic natives, interact and speak with native speakers, feel the rhythm of the language, and see the mannerisms of natives while they speak. Just like a kid would with their family.
2. Watch TV Depending on when you were born you watched more or less TV as a kid. No matter what your opinion is on TV watching it can be an amazing tool for learning a foreign language. So rent or watch: Cartoons, Kids programs, Movies, and TV shows. Now depending on your level you can choose more advanced programming but Kids programs are a great way to learn a foreign language because they follow the always popular K.I.S.S. method. Keep It Simple Stupid.
Benefits: Learning effective communication skills at their most basic level, Improving your listening ability, feeling the sentence structure and rhythm.
There will be more regarding Natural Learning coming soon.
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