Posts
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Learning to Learn Languages is a Journey
There’s no single way to learn a language, and as I continue to try and learn languages over the years, how I learn languages has dramatically changed. For several years, probably ever since I discovered AJATT back in undergrad, I’ve been convinced that learning language in context is the... -
Listen Repeat Flashcards
Despite not posting for the last months, I’ve still been regularly studying and practicing (most all of) my languages. In this post, I’ll detail both a new-ish type of flashcard that I’ve been working with over the last few months. The “listen-repeat” flashcard description: On the frontside, play a... -
What should you be reading?
One of the best ways to improve your vocabulary in any language is to read more. I’ve never heard anyone disagree with that. It’s a highly recommended way for kids to improve their vocabulary, and the same goes for an adult learning a second language. The challenge then comes... -
Ending the Triangulation Experiment
I’ve decided that I’m going to be ending my experiment to learn Mandarin, Italian, Cantonese, and Spanish simultaneously. It was a rather ambitious project, and as I’ve come to learn, a complete abuse of the triangulation packages that Glossika offers. After I started my project, Glossika responded to the confusion... -
Glossika Days 45-60
I’ve definitely gotten into a groove in doing my Glossika lessons at this point, having made it to day 60 without having missed a day. Not so say that I’ve been perfect so far, there have been two days where I ran out of time and had started my lesson,... -
Learning a New Writing System
One of the daunting this when learning a non-Western European language for the first time, is that the new language is probably written in something other than the Roman alphabet. Depending on the writing system, it might look familiar like “Кириллица” (Cyrillic) or completely alien, like “الأَبْجَدِيَّة العَرَبِيَّة” (Arabic abjadiyah).... -
Glossika Days 18-44
In the 26 days since my last blog post about Glossika (sorry about the huge gap), I’ve quit a job, visited family over 2,000 miles away for Christmas, and started a new job. Somehow, despite all of this, I’ve still managed to do my GSR files for Glossika... -
Lwitaxo
Lwitaxo (also: Lwitakho, Luidakho) is a Bantu language from South East Kenya which I had the opportunity to study back in 2010. I, along with about 15 other Indiana University linguistics students, had the chance to work with a native speaker of Lwitaxo who was attending IU for grad school.... -
Learning to hear tones
One of the more intimidating things about starting to learn one of the Chinese languages is getting a grasp on tones. As a native English speaker, or pretty much any other Indo-European language, tones are a rather foreign concept, but are definitely not impossible! What are tones? Mandarin and... -
Glossika Days 14-17
Since the last post, I’ve done GSR files 14, 15, 16, & 17, as well as GMS-A sentences 151-200. You might remember me discussing when the last GMS-A file was due, that I wasn’t going to do these files anymore (post), but I’ve changed my mind in the... -
Glossika Days 12 & 13
The GSR files go by much faster when you do them while playing tetris. It’s the perfect combination of distracting and mindless to keep your attention squarely focused on repeating after the recordings. Despite the tetris distractions, I’m definitely feeling like the GSR method has at least some benefits. I’m... -
Glossika Days 9, 10, & 11
On Friday, Glossika updated their self-studying schedule guide. Among other things, one of the things that they updated was giving a better explanation as to how they intend the daily GSR files to be used. Turns out that my statement in Day 1 was incorrect, they do intend for... -
Learning Through Audiobooks
For the longest time, one of the parts of language learning that I had the hardest time with was improving my listening skills. I might get to the point where I could read a language just fine, maybe even write or speak it with a pretty high level of confidence,... -
Glossika Days 7 & 8
Day 7 Did GSR file 7 in my car on the drive home from work today. Doing it on the drive home works out pretty well, considering how bad traffic tends to be around here in the evening. No breakthroughs or anything today, but felt like I understood some... -
Glossika Day 6
Today was the 2nd day that Glossika had me following along with the GMS-A audio files with the text in the ebook. If you don’t remember me discussing this in the Glossika Course Received and Glossika Day 1 posts, the GMS-A (Glossika Mass Sentence, type A)...
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