Hi, welcome to the place you go to be dissapointed

I like video games, swimming, cartoons, and anime I guess and if you like those too then cool

[themanwhomaygobydan]

I was walking to my house in the suburbs, ready to greet my wife and kids with my fedora, suit, coat, and shoes the color of a distinct brown leather when I see from the corner of my eye a group of youths approaching me. I knew to be calm, younglings like them were at the time of their lives where they love and crave attention and just did things to get reactions out of people. One of the boys had approached me, in his ragged clothes. With a smile on his face he asked me "Hello sir, have you watched Gaylords Say No?" I had not, so I replied without better judgement "No." the youths burst into laughter as I had realized what I just said. They had emasculated me with clever wordplay and had subsequently made this an attack on my heterosexuality. I sunk my head in shame and walked to my home, the suitcase on my left arm feeling heavier than my entire house, hoping everyone involved would forget this as the laughter of the boys filled my ears.

[themanwhomaygobydan]

I love how I keep seeing people who are studying languages while eating fresh fruit with sleek laptops in a cafe while I'm using a hand me down chromebook from my sister and drinking orange soda in a dark room wondering what the difference is between ses, se and son

[mirai-studies-languages]

How to practice speaking in a foreign language

Hi! I’m learning many languages, including French and Spanish, and I wanted to perhaps share some advice for practicing speaking, because it can be a very daunting task.

Listen! I know I sound like a broken record saying this, but input is everything. Listen to podcasts and watch TV shows and youtube videos. Listen as often as you can, and if you have a conversation coming up with a native speaker, then try and listen to your target language for half an hour or so before.

Shadow! This means listen to a recording of a native speaker, and repeat what they say after they say it. You could try using Easy Languages videos, as they usually have subtitles.

Keep on working on your vocabulary and grammar! For this, an extra tip would be to focus on your weak areas. For vocabulary, immerse, and look up words that you don’t understand, and maybe put it in a flashcard app if you think that it would be useful. Grammar-wise, just drill the rules into your head, and say correct sentences out loud. Try to understand them rather than just memorise them.

Make a native speaker friend! This is the best advice I can give. You can find a buddy on language discords, or apps like HelloTalk and Tandem. If you are a beginner to intermediate student, then just talk about whatever comes up. If you’re an upper intermediate or advanced student, then make an active choice to speak about difficult subjects like literature, music or politics. Make sure to look words up as you go!

Speak to yourself all the time! Narrate your actions, and try describing what is going on around you. You can also just talk about your thoughts and feelings about things.

Keep a notebook of words you don’t know when practicing, and look them up later! This is pretty self-explanatory. If you are speaking and forget the word for ‘toaster’, then write it down and look up the meaning later on.

Learn set phrases and fillers! This is very important if you are learning a language for an exam, because then you can find ways to use advanced phrases above your level. Try lifting them out of books, conversations, podcasts and TV shows, and put them in a flashcard app like Quizlet or Anki to memorise.

Avoid your native language! Using your native language as a crutch won’t serve you, as much as it will make things easier in the short term. Try to speak around words, using the words that you already know. You could say “a place where you do exercise” instead of “gym” if you forgot the word for it. Try doing stuff like that and eventually your speaking will become more fluid.

Be brave! People aren’t as judgmental as you might think, so put yourself out there!

Thank you for reading this post! I hope it was useful to you!

[theunaestheticstudyblr]

My 20 Favorite Language Learning Tips

Use small phrases when talking to pets/inanimate objects/ yourself etc

Kid books!!! Especially ones you know like cat in the hat or something similar. These are amazing especially if you are a beginner. It helps build fluency, literacy, pattern (different languages have different speaking patterns and flow), etc. There's a reason they push the books on kids.

Do translations! Take those books and mark them up. Find news articles, research papers, etc and translate them.

Keep a diary in your target language

Find people who are native speakers and tell them to talk to you in that language more than your native language

WRITE. When I formally studied Spanish, one of my teachers made us write EVERY WORD 10 times with their meanings. If it was a phrase, we would still do it word by word. I HATED this so much but after 4 years of not speaking or hearing the language, those were the words I still knew.

Change your phone language or an app language to your target language

Watch shows in your language. Use subtitles. If you're trying to learn to read better, put subtitles in your target language. Trying to pick up words? Use your native language for subtitles and listen to the show in your target language.

Describe your actions, feelings, etc to yourself in your target language

Find signs in public that are multilingual and read them

Play your favorite songs in your target language and sing along

Play your favorite songs in your native language but sing along to them in your target language

Follow comic artists (or other people) on social media. Comic artists are great because they tend to use slang, colloquial language, jokes, etc that build a more fluent speech. Makeup artists and influencers are good for this too

Go to shops. Where I'm from we have mercados and taquieras everywhere so going to places like that can help a lot

Reach out to people and learn with them! Find someone that studies the same language or someone who's trying to learn your language but speaks your target language. Talking with non native speakers can help you learn study and language tricks that helped them

Flash cards!

Apps that help you learn a new language are great! But only if you practice outside the app

Find recipes written in your target language

Rewrite class notes in the language!

Say at least one word a day in your target language

[mirai-studies-languages]

How to self study a language without a textbook or course

Hi! I have a very short attention span, and I rarely find it in me to enjoy using only one resource to learn a language, so I often rely on immersion and actively using the language right from the beginning to learn languages. I’ve done this with pretty much all my languages, and it has worked out pretty well for me so far, especially with French! This is heavily inspired by this article on the medium, which changed my whole outlook on languages. I hope I can offer some helpful advice!

Starting off (A0 –> A2)

First of all, you’re going to have to set your goals in the language. What do you want to do in your target language? Do you want to be conversational or fully fluent? Do you want to focus on all the skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking), or only a couple? Which accent/dialect do you want to choose? Set your goals, and give yourself some habits to start sticking to.

In most cases, I would advice learning the alphabet and the pronunciation at first. For the alphabet, find a guide online and learn the stroke order. Keep on writing it over and over again. For languages like Mandarin Chinese or Japanese, where you have to memorise characters, try and memorise the most common characters. Also, find a pronunciation guide on YouTube or somewhere online, and immediately start working on it. Once you have a general idea of what the sounds are, start speaking and try to shadow natives (i.e. repeat what they say after them with the same intonation - you can do this with YouTube videos, or beginners exercises online).  To practice both of these at the same time, you can try reading out loud, and maybe try dictating what you hear sometimes.

Start listening to the language a lot. Try and listen to YouTube videos and podcasts, and get used to the sound of the language. You might even want to watch a TV show or anime in your target language with English subtitles. I’d also recommend reading and listening at the same time, so if you have subtitles in your target language, then that could be great too. The more exposed you are to the natural use of your target language, the less unintelligible they will seem. 

Memorise some basic vocabulary and phrases. There are loads of articles online that have basic vocabulary lists and phrases in different languages (there are even some on this website). Try memorising a few of them. In terms of what exactly you should learn vocab for, I would recommend learning vocab lists for these: numbers, subject pronouns, common greetings, the most common verbs (the first 100 should do) and their most common conjugations, days of the week, months, seasons, years, how to tell the time, how to talk about the weather, family, colours, house vocab, food, money and shopping phrases, common adjectives, common places,  adverbs, parts of the body and medical vocabulary (I got all of this from this post). It’s a lot, but it will give you a strong foundation. You can then start learning vocabulary for your interests specifically. You can do this using multiple methods. First, you could use flashcards, like anki, memrise and Quizlet. You could also play around with apps like Duolingo or Lingodeer. Also, you could write them down, and keep testing yourself on them until you have them memorised (both target language to english, and english to target language). Make sure that you have audio, and that you know how the word/phrase sounds, and the pronunciation.

Start speaking with someone online. I recommend apps like Tandem and HiNative. Start trying to have conversations of basic topics straight away, and make sure you get corrections. Look up the words as you go.

Memorise a few basic grammar structures. This is especially important for languages like Korean or Japanese, which have extremely different grammar structures to English. Learn basic present, past and future tenses, along with basic articles and determiners, agreement, reflexive verbs, basic particles, negation and gender.

Immerse. I would recommend starting off with posts and videos that offer advice about things, since the language used in these tend to be simplistic, but topic specific. You can also use apps like LingQ. When practicing listening and reading, you can use the advice in these two posts (listening, reading). Don’t memorise every word you come across, and slowly try to ease yourself in.

Making the leap to the intermediate stage (A2 –> B1)

Vocabulary: I’ve already talked about methods of memorising vocabulary earlier, so I won’t talk about it again. As for what you should be memorising, I would suggest basing it on your interests and topical issues. When you immerse, and come across certain interesting words, then memorise them. You can also explore the tag for your target language on tumblr, and try and memorise some of the in depth vocabulary lists on here.

Grammar: I would suggest finding a specification, or list of grammar structures for the intermediate level, and learn all of them using articles and youtube videos. Then, try and use the rules regularly in your speaking and writing and receive corrections. Also, do practice questions. 

Listening: I have gone in depth on how to practice listening in the post I mentioned earlier, so I won’t elaborate too much. Overall, I’d say that it is better to make sure that you are listening to the language a lot, and that what you are listening to is comprehensible input. 

Reading: Find some learners exercises online, and keep doing them. You can also just generally try to read more, based on your interests. I would also suggest to apply the methods from the post I mentioned earlier.

Writing: Try and write a few sentences every now and then, and use your new grammar structures and vocabulary as much as possible. Make sure that you receive corrections. I have gone in depth on this subject in this post.

Speaking: Find a speaking buddy online, and try and organise meetings, where you just try and practice speaking. Look up words you don’t know, and be brave: most people are kind, and won’t mind if you make mistakes, so keep trying to move forward.

Going from intermediate to conversational (B1 –> B2)

Vocabulary: Focus on your interests, and areas that will be useful to you. Make sure that you actually use the words that you are memorising while writing and speaking. 

Grammar: I think the same advice as the beginner to intermediate stage is applicable here.

Listening: Listen to both intermediate podcasts and YouTube videos in the target language (innovative languages, iyagi, dreaming spanish, a piece of french, InnerFrench etc.), and also to native material (youtube videos, films, TV shows, vines, tiktoks etc.) that you find interesting. Use transcripts or subtitles (in the target language) to memorise new vocabulary, and then keep repeating the audio until you understand everything. 

Reading: Read whatever you can get your hands on, as long as it is reasonably simple enough. I would recommend kids books, and also translations of books that you have already read in your target language.

Writing: Try starting a journal in your target language, and also try writing letters/e-mails to people, and maybe write some essays on topical issues. Once again, make sure that you get corrections. 

Speaking: Continue having conversations with people in your target language. Let yourself make mistakes and be corrected, because that is the only way to improve. For your accent and pronunciation, shadow native material (I use Easy Languages for this). 

This is as far as I have gotten in terms of my self-study journey, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to offer much more advice. When I eventually reach an advanced C1 level in a language, then I’ll definitely make a post about that. Thank you for reading this post! I hope it was useful to you!

[mirai-studies-languages]

How to self study a language without a textbook or course

Hi! I have a very short attention span, and I rarely find it in me to enjoy using only one resource to learn a language, so I often rely on immersion and actively using the language right from the beginning to learn languages. I’ve done this with pretty much all my languages, and it has worked out pretty well for me so far, especially with French! This is heavily inspired by this article on the medium, which changed my whole outlook on languages. I hope I can offer some helpful advice!

Starting off (A0 –> A2)

First of all, you’re going to have to set your goals in the language. What do you want to do in your target language? Do you want to be conversational or fully fluent? Do you want to focus on all the skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking), or only a couple? Which accent/dialect do you want to choose? Set your goals, and give yourself some habits to start sticking to.

In most cases, I would advice learning the alphabet and the pronunciation at first. For the alphabet, find a guide online and learn the stroke order. Keep on writing it over and over again. For languages like Mandarin Chinese or Japanese, where you have to memorise characters, try and memorise the most common characters. Also, find a pronunciation guide on YouTube or somewhere online, and immediately start working on it. Once you have a general idea of what the sounds are, start speaking and try to shadow natives (i.e. repeat what they say after them with the same intonation - you can do this with YouTube videos, or beginners exercises online).  To practice both of these at the same time, you can try reading out loud, and maybe try dictating what you hear sometimes.

Start listening to the language a lot. Try and listen to YouTube videos and podcasts, and get used to the sound of the language. You might even want to watch a TV show or anime in your target language with English subtitles. I’d also recommend reading and listening at the same time, so if you have subtitles in your target language, then that could be great too. The more exposed you are to the natural use of your target language, the less unintelligible they will seem. 

Memorise some basic vocabulary and phrases. There are loads of articles online that have basic vocabulary lists and phrases in different languages (there are even some on this website). Try memorising a few of them. In terms of what exactly you should learn vocab for, I would recommend learning vocab lists for these: numbers, subject pronouns, common greetings, the most common verbs (the first 100 should do) and their most common conjugations, days of the week, months, seasons, years, how to tell the time, how to talk about the weather, family, colours, house vocab, food, money and shopping phrases, common adjectives, common places,  adverbs, parts of the body and medical vocabulary (I got all of this from this post). It’s a lot, but it will give you a strong foundation. You can then start learning vocabulary for your interests specifically. You can do this using multiple methods. First, you could use flashcards, like anki, memrise and Quizlet. You could also play around with apps like Duolingo or Lingodeer. Also, you could write them down, and keep testing yourself on them until you have them memorised (both target language to english, and english to target language). Make sure that you have audio, and that you know how the word/phrase sounds, and the pronunciation.

Start speaking with someone online. I recommend apps like Tandem and HiNative. Start trying to have conversations of basic topics straight away, and make sure you get corrections. Look up the words as you go.

Memorise a few basic grammar structures. This is especially important for languages like Korean or Japanese, which have extremely different grammar structures to English. Learn basic present, past and future tenses, along with basic articles and determiners, agreement, reflexive verbs, basic particles, negation and gender.

Immerse. I would recommend starting off with posts and videos that offer advice about things, since the language used in these tend to be simplistic, but topic specific. You can also use apps like LingQ. When practicing listening and reading, you can use the advice in these two posts (listening, reading). Don’t memorise every word you come across, and slowly try to ease yourself in.

Making the leap to the intermediate stage (A2 –> B1)

Vocabulary: I’ve already talked about methods of memorising vocabulary earlier, so I won’t talk about it again. As for what you should be memorising, I would suggest basing it on your interests and topical issues. When you immerse, and come across certain interesting words, then memorise them. You can also explore the tag for your target language on tumblr, and try and memorise some of the in depth vocabulary lists on here.

Grammar: I would suggest finding a specification, or list of grammar structures for the intermediate level, and learn all of them using articles and youtube videos. Then, try and use the rules regularly in your speaking and writing and receive corrections. Also, do practice questions. 

Listening: I have gone in depth on how to practice listening in the post I mentioned earlier, so I won’t elaborate too much. Overall, I’d say that it is better to make sure that you are listening to the language a lot, and that what you are listening to is comprehensible input. 

Reading: Find some learners exercises online, and keep doing them. You can also just generally try to read more, based on your interests. I would also suggest to apply the methods from the post I mentioned earlier.

Writing: Try and write a few sentences every now and then, and use your new grammar structures and vocabulary as much as possible. Make sure that you receive corrections. I have gone in depth on this subject in this post.

Speaking: Find a speaking buddy online, and try and organise meetings, where you just try and practice speaking. Look up words you don’t know, and be brave: most people are kind, and won’t mind if you make mistakes, so keep trying to move forward.

Going from intermediate to conversational (B1 –> B2)

Vocabulary: Focus on your interests, and areas that will be useful to you. Make sure that you actually use the words that you are memorising while writing and speaking. 

Grammar: I think the same advice as the beginner to intermediate stage is applicable here.

Listening: Listen to both intermediate podcasts and YouTube videos in the target language (innovative languages, iyagi, dreaming spanish, a piece of french, InnerFrench etc.), and also to native material (youtube videos, films, TV shows, vines, tiktoks etc.) that you find interesting. Use transcripts or subtitles (in the target language) to memorise new vocabulary, and then keep repeating the audio until you understand everything. 

Reading: Read whatever you can get your hands on, as long as it is reasonably simple enough. I would recommend kids books, and also translations of books that you have already read in your target language.

Writing: Try starting a journal in your target language, and also try writing letters/e-mails to people, and maybe write some essays on topical issues. Once again, make sure that you get corrections. 

Speaking: Continue having conversations with people in your target language. Let yourself make mistakes and be corrected, because that is the only way to improve. For your accent and pronunciation, shadow native material (I use Easy Languages for this). 

This is as far as I have gotten in terms of my self-study journey, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to offer much more advice. When I eventually reach an advanced C1 level in a language, then I’ll definitely make a post about that. Thank you for reading this post! I hope it was useful to you!

[cinnamon-sticks-and-coffee-cups]

bon matin! c’est tôt pour moi, hmm? today I’ll be sharing some online resources for learning french ranging from vocab lists to full on courses! i hope you find these useful - the internet really is precious when learning languages! <3

⁎⁺˳✧༚ frenchtoday.com

this website threatens to put me out of business and I couldn’t be more delighted! vocab lists galore, free lessons, tips to work on your pronunciation, articles on french culture and even stories and poetry. i haven’t looked at everything available on there, but from what I’ve seen, it’s pretty useful!

⁎⁺˳✧༚ frenchpod101.com

this is a free course you can take, with options for absolute beginners and those already a little familiar with the language. it looks to be good for conversational french and is an easy, no nonsense starting point for beginners, who i know from experience are often easily overwhelmed.

⁎⁺˳✧༚ coffee break french

this is one I’m not quite as familiar with but has come to me highly recommended. it’s a podcast that covers the basics as well as providing dialogues and example role plays. give it a try and let me know how you find it!

⁎⁺˳✧༚ innerfrench (chaîne de YouTube)

this is a really interesting channel! you get to learn french through a variety of different topical discussions and he speaks slowly enough for you to get most of what he’s saying even if you’re a relative beginner, which can make you feel super smart :)

bien, c’est tout! i hope these recs are alright, and I hope we meet again soon~ a bientôt!

[mirai-studies-languages]

How to study grammar in a foreign language

I have studied grammar in French, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese and Russian, so I’m basing this off of my experiences with that. I’m going to preface this by saying that in order to study grammar fairly quickly and effectively, you’re going to need to put the work in. Yes, you can learn grammar through conversation and making mistakes, but frankly, it will take a lot longer, and will be a lot more confusing. Grammar is hard and often boring, but it’s necessary.

Do practice questions! This is honestly your best option. Get a workbook (you can probably find loads of PDFs online, like on Z-library), and work through the questions without checking your notes.

Make your notes as minimal as you can! Just write down the essentials, which is usually the structure, when you use the structure and some example sentences. It’s tempting to write down what the textbook says word for word, but it’s a waste of time.

Make your own example sentences! Use your own vocabulary, even if it’s limited, to make your own sentences in the language. If you can do this accurately, then that’s a sign that you do know the structure.

Get corrections! You can use HiNative, or ask a native speaker. It’s important to know where you’re going wrong, so you can target your weaknesses later.

Write! This is the best, honestly. Writing is a fairly complex and necessary way of demonstrating your understanding of grammar, and it’s easy to see where you are going wrong when you write. You can use a site like Journaly to get corrections.

Do translations! Get an article or short story, and try translating a paragraph into your target language (make sure to get corrections). Look up vocabulary you don’t know, as that isn’t the most important thing in this exercise.

Drill your irregular verbs! Use flashcards, write them over and over again, however you do it, just get them stuck in your head.

Make a cheat sheet! I did this with French and it worked wonders. I recommend just doing it to review rules that you at least have a vague idea about. 

Ask questions! If you have a teacher, or a native friend, ask them for help understanding grammar. You can also use online forums. 

Use formulae! If you have a fairly logical brain, then it might make sense for you to write your notes using this format.

Read more! Input is EVERYTHING. Reading more books and articles in your target language will expose you more to grammar in it’s natural state, and that will really improve your grammar.

Be aware of when you use certain grammar rules! Ask questions, make your notes and practice loads. It’s really important to be solid in your knowledge of the usage of a grammar rule.

Regularly review! You can look at your notes, or do some online quizzes. Just make sure you’re regularly refreshing your memory.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope it was somewhat useful to you!

[studyblr]

how i study languages on my own 💬

1. grammar, vocabulary, immersion. the three pillars of language learning. in the beginning, choose one trusty resource for each. taking korean as an example, i use the amazing “howtostudykorean” website for grammar, the corresponding memrise course for vocabulary and my favorite k-dramas and podcasts (like talk to me in korean) to immerse myself in the language. there are so many blog posts with resources out there on *all* the languages.

2. collect your resources in a spreadsheet, and indicate exactly how often you want to use them in a week. the more concrete your goals are, the more likely you are to actually do them. writing down the exact time for self-study in your time table/calendar is even better!

3. once you’re gradually building up your language skills, think about getting in touch with natives, through sites like hellotalk. actually using the language is the best way forward, so even if you’re insecure, just try it out! in my experience, natives will be happy to help. language-tandem, where your language partner is studying your native language, is also a very cool method.

4. find like-minded people who also self-study languages! it’s great to have a network to motivate each other, share struggles or tips.

💭 reblog with the language(s) you are studying/want to study, i’m sure you’ll find someone to keep in touch with :)

[mirai-studies-languages]

Learning by doing: my approach to self-studying languages

Hi! I have a very short attention span, and I have never really been able to make it through a course or textbook without giving up straight away, so I have never really been able to learn languages in the traditional way. I also very easily get bored with learners material, so I mostly stick to native material to consume my target language. Here is how I do it at the beginner level! 

I usually start off with an app to learn the basics of the alphabet,  vocabulary and grammar. Most of the times, I use Duolingo. I rarely get past the first few units before I jump into native material. Still, this is a good jumping off point.

When I start with native material, I usually use YouTube videos (with subtitles in the target language), and focus on spoken language, because spoken language is less overwhelming, and involves less complex language and grammar. At this point, I find that books are far too dense and complex for me to handle. Others might enjoy the challenge. My current favourites for this are LingoPie (for French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian) and Viki (for Korean, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese).

I learn the most important words and phrases as I go. I do NOT look up every word, unless I can understand at least 70% of the language. For this, I will try and write the words and phrases down, and memorise them. I might use a flashcard app too (Anki is my fave, but Quizlet and Memrise are good too). For languages like Japanese and Chinese that have lots of characters to memorise, I will use an app (wanikani and chineasy are my faves). I always make sure that I know how to pronounce and understand each word or phrase.

I will start texting native speakers in my target language on apps like Tandem and HelloTalk. I look up words as I go, and will ocasionally try speaking.

I start shadowing (i.e. repeat after native speakers, imitating the intonation and pronunciation). I use Easy Languages for this.

After a while, I start reading. I’ll usually start with wikihow articles, or fluentu articles in my target language. I’ll write down new words, test myself on them until I get them correct, and then put them into anki to review.

After a while, I’ll formally study some grammar. I’ll usually use a textbook for this. However, I don’t necessarily do it in a traditional way. I go through the entire textbook and make a cheat sheet which condenses all the information in it to a few pages. I’ll review it regularly, and do LOTS of writing practice. For irregular verbs, I’ll just use flashcards, and write them down repeatedly.

Then, I’ll get a speaking buddy (I usually find one on discord) and speak with them a few times a week.

After a while of doing all of this, I start reading fanfiction (usually translations of my faves). It’s difficult, but I try to read intensively (i.e. look up every word).

At this point, I start journaling, and posting on the website journaly.

I’ll listen to podcasts like innovative languages, coffee break languages and language transfer. These are usually good for learning about grammar.

I start intensively reading serious content once I feel like I’m at a confident B1 level. I would suggest using proper newspapers (like le monde for French or BBC for English) and try studying one article daily. After a while, you can start reading a YA book (try something you’ve never read before in any language). Study it chapter by chapter fairly intensively, and then reread it again and again until you understand the story. After you’re finished with a chapter, put the new vocabulary into an app and review fairly regularly.

At the B1 level, listen using two sources: intermediate podcasts and native material. Intermediate podcasts are usually labelled as such, and are IN the target language, but about various topics, like culture or history (innovative languages have some, for french there is inner french, piece of french, news in slow french and RFI:Savoirs, for Spanish there is dreaming Spanish and news in slow spanish, and for Korean there is Iyagi). For native material, continue watching youtube videos about topics that interest you, and consider watching both the news and films/TV shows.

At this point you should be able to construct gramatically correct (mostly - if you still have problems then go through a grammar course, or work through a textbook) and fairly complex texts. I would suggest now learning some essay phrases and writing an essay. You’ll be terrible at first, BELIEVE me, but the more you practice the better you get. You could also start trying to write fanfiction (tip: use full phrases you have found in other books or fanfiction).

Continue doing what you are doing (reading intensively and widely, speaking with your buddy, listening, writing essays and short stories) and I think that after a while you will be able to say you are conversational in another language.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope it was useful! (Also haha ig my break from langblr is over lol).

[soulbutterlanguages]

How to build a language self-study plan

So I’ve noticed, upon combing through pages and pages of youtube videos and google blogs, that rarely does anyone ever actually tell you what you should be studying. There’s a reason for this ! Everyone is different and at a different level, different motivation. It’s impossible to create a study plan that is perfect for everyone… which is why it can also be agonizing to make one for yourself. 

“How am I supposed to know what’s important to study, if I don’t speak the language?” 

Well that’s a good question! You need to gauge how far you’ve come so far and how far you’d like to get. It’s easiest when you are starting from zero because you can learn the alphabet, numbers, basic phrases, and basic grammar. Easy peasy. You can go cover to cover in a text book. 

Here’s a check-list to create the perfect study plan special to you. 

1. What do I know already? What do I need to work on?

- is it worth starting a textbook, if you feel like you already know half of it? It might be worth completing the given exercises and if you achieve an 80% or higher (or you could give that lesson to someone else) then you can move on from that specific point.

- create a list of the points that you still need to master

2. What do I need to include in a study session?

- naturally there needs to be a focus or a few different focuses of a study session, whether it’s a specific activity or a grammar point. I recommend creating a list of things you want to get done (a.) every day, (b) every week, and © every month. These goals must be quantifiable. For example, every week I read two news articles in German. As a reflection, I then write a summary of the event of the article as well as a personal opinion. That’s an easy box to check.

- you need a reflection. It’s important to really take time to reflect on how you feel about the time spent and the materials used. What could you do better next time? What went well? 

3. When is the best time to study? 

- are you more active/focused in the morning or in the night? The key is consistency. If you have a routine, you’re far more likely to adhere to it. I know that my own schedule is highly changeable and that can make it very difficult, but I’ve found if I wake up in the same period of time every morning, brush my teeth, make my bed, and then sit down to my work, I feel far more productive. 

- how much should I study at a time? The recommended period is 25 minutes from the Pomodoro Method with a five minute break. You can research time-management techniques but ultimately it comes down to you. 

4. How do I take notes ?

- IT”S ALL ABOUT YOU! What I do is take messy notes in classes or on my own and then I transcribe the finished page to my Notion page. It gives me a chance to make the notes neater and also to review a little bit. I will say though statistically, you will remember better if you write by hand. 

- I like to have a column on each page for words I didn’t know

[michelle-languages]

how to speak any language fluently

Today I wanted to share with you some tips that you can apply to every language, but I experimented with them all personally to effectively improve my speaking skills in English

slow down:

A common problem among learners can be to speak too quickly. But rushing your words can often lead to confusion and miscommunication, so try to slow down and keep what you say simple

In the beginning, you may sound robotic, but you can speed up with time, once you feel more confident

work on emphasis:

The same sentence, said with different emphasis has very different meanings. Think about the point you want to make and use emphasis where needed to help clarify your meaning

Pro tip: take a sentence from a video or a show you like and repeat it out loud stressing each time a different word of the sentence!

keep going:

If you make a mistake, keep going. Understand that very few people, even native speakers, speak the language flawlessly and we all make mistakes

If you get embarrassed or shy once you’ve made a mistake, this is probably what people will notice, not the mistake itself! So keep going!

practice makes perfect:

There are so many options that now can help you improve your speaking skills without problems!

The best thing is recording voice notes when doing language exchanges, or recording yourself longer notes to receive feedback from other learners or natives on language learning apps!

[linguistness]

Learning a language = learning a culture

To truly understand a language and the people speaking that language, you also have to make a conscious effort to learn about the culture and history of these people. I know that the cultures of the countries where a language is spoken can be very different (e.g. Mexico vs. Spain, France vs. all African states where French is spoken, and even England vs. Ireland vs. Australia), so these suggestions work best if you have a specific target country in mind.

Here are some ideas on where to start: 

look at the political system of your target country/culture: how does it work? Who are the most important people right now? Is there a monarchy? 

look at the (broad) history of your target country/culture: since when is it an official country? Has it been in any wars? If so, with who and why? Was this country ever colonised or a coloniser? 

research the most popular TV shows from the last 20 - 30 years and watch some of them

find out the most popular sport of this target country/culture and the culture surrounding it 

research the holidays and how they are celebrated and whether there are any special holidays & what they mean to your target country/culture

watch some movies and TV shows that were made in your target country/culture, so you can get insights into the everyday lives of these people and how they interact

watch/read some news of your target country to find out what’s happening there right now & what the most important topics are for them

research how the school & education system works

research how the healthcare system works

research the typical cuisine of your target country/culture

find out whether there is some kind of traditional wear, its history, and what it means to the people

find out whether there are any indigenous people living in your target country, what their history is, and how they are perceived/treated in the country’s society nowadays

are there any stereotypes about this country/culture? Research whether or not they are true and why they exist in the first place

find out whether there is some kind of traditional folk music. Listen to it and find out its history and what it means to your target country/culture

what are the main religions of your target country/culture and how incorporated are their practices in society?

are there any social divides in your target country/culture? If so, what are they based on?

how is your target country’s relationship to its neighbouring countries?

.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions, feel free to comment or reblog!

.

[linguistness]

Best language learning tips & masterlists from other bloggers I’ve come across

(these posts are not my own!)

THE HOLY GRAIL of language learning (-> seriously tho, this is the BEST thing I’ve ever come across)

Tips:

Some language learning exercises and tips

20 Favorite Language Learning Tips

what should you be reading to maximize your language learning?

tips for learning a language (things i wish i knew before i started)

language learning and langblr tips

Tips on how to read in your target language for longer periods of time

Tips and inspiration from Fluent in 3 months by Benny Lewis

Tips for learning a sign language

Tips for relearning your second first language

How to:

how to self teach a new language

learning a language: how to

learning languages and how to make it fun

how to study languages

how to practice speaking in a foreign language

how to learn a language when you don’t know where to start

how to make a schedule for language learning

How to keep track of learning more than one language at the same time

Masterposts:

Language Study Master Post

Swedish Resources Masterpost

French Resouces Masterpost

Italian Resources Masterpost

Resource List for Learning German

Challenges:

Language-Sanctuary Langblr Challenge

language learning checkerboard challenge

Word lists:

2+ months of language learning prompts

list of words you need to know in your target language, in 3 levels

Other stuff:

bullet journal dedicated to language learning

over 400 language related youtube channels in 50+ languages

TED talks about language (learning)

Learning the Alien Languages of Star Trek

.

Feel free to reblog and add your own lists / masterlists!

[michelle-languages]

How to use Notion for Language Learners - a masterpost

So, I have been learning languages for a while now, and one of the things I have always been struggling with is having a space that could gather all the info I need, the spreads I used to make on my bullet journal, and maybe even something more.

Notion has become my best friend all over the last couple of years, but as I am a pretty sick perfectionist, I am still mastering the art of creating efficient templates, but I am slowly overcoming this problem of mine… In the meantime enjoy my favorite YouTube videos all about Notion x Language Learning:

how to make the best language learning plan | notion templates | AD by Anna Lenks

ULTIMATE LANGUAGE PLANNER IN NOTION FOR POLYGLOTS by me :)

How to make a language learning plan that WORKS ✨ Notion for language learners by Elysse Speaks

How To Make A Sentence Mining Database in Notion | Language Learning | Tutorial + Free Template by Leafling Learns

How I Created a 30-Day Language Study Plan That Works! by Shea Jordan

Create a language learning schedule that works + Notion Template! by Jusuf

updating my language learning notion 🖊 by Jo Renee Languages

Language Learning: Notion, RemNote And Reverso (French) by Red Gregory

How I plan and organize my life and languages | Notion tour 📝 by Lindie Botes

Hope you enjoyed this post, in the meantime I'll go and create the best language-learning hub you will ever see