“Language Teachers hate him…” “The secret to learning a language in only 10 days!!..” “literally fools your brain into learning….” Sensational claims made by The Pimsleur Approach’s advertisers have lurked awkwardly and often eerily on the sidelines of linguistics articles, blogs and other language related web pages for years. Appearing in much the same fashion…
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Cultural identity is realised through language and it is more than a cliché. Language is the most intimate, the most unmediated access to culture. After all, why do we want to learn a foreign language if we are not drawn to the culture it will unlock for us?
When it comes to language learning few things are more important in the grand scheme of your project than the ability to listen. It’s arguably the most difficult of the three primary aspects of language learning – speaking, listening and literacy – and in my opinion requires the most time and energy to master. One…
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Are you looking for a language exchange app for your iPhone or iPad? I recently discovered Tandem, a really awesome little app for meeting people all over the world ready at a moment’s notice for real, in person language exchange. I recently wrote a review of Tandem for Parrot Time, an awesome independent magazine dedicated…
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Update Jan 2019** If you’re wondering what happened to WeSpeke, as of about a year ago, the service appears to have stopped offering non-English language learning opportunities, has removed its exchange feature (which was the point, right?) and is now partnered with CNN to offer news-based content for English learners. I’m extremely disappointed. I’ll keep…
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Most of us would most love to become polyglots or at least very fluent in a certain language. Naturally, becoming a polyglot is no easy task and involves thousands of hours of exposure to input in the target language and/or more formal study. If we look at some of the best-known polyglots in the world…
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