Where would the human race be without our cultivated knowledge of language? Language is what binds us together as a whole and enables us to thrive as a race. Here are some completely random facts about world language to help put things in perspective: 1. There are between 6,000 and 7,000 languages/dialects in the world - spoken by 7 billion people...
Hint: Not North America! There are more speakers of English in Asia than anywhere else in the world. In most Asian countries it is the first foreign language taught to children, and it is the bridge language (what linguists call a "pidgin" language) used by people from different backgrounds to communicate. We could split hairs on this issue (there are probably more...
Learning Italian: Let’s start with the fun stuff first: The following movies are contemporary classics, all of which should be findable on Netflix. They are also all movies without too much dialect. If you are a beginner or low-intermediate student of Italian, you should probably watch them with subtitles first and then watch them again without subtitles. If you are a high-intermediate...
Learning French: The following movies are contemporary classics, all of which are available on Netflix. They are also all movies without too much dialect. If you are a beginner or low-intermediate student of French, you should probably watch them with subtitles first and then watch them again without subtitles. If you are a high-intermediate or advanced student of French then you...
Learning Spanish: The following movies are contemporary classics, all of which are available on Netflix. If you are a beginner or low-intermediate student of Spanish, you should probably watch them with subtitles first and then watch them again without subtitles. If you are a high-intermediate or advanced student of Spanish then you should watch them twice each without subtitles. - Maria Full...
In an article just published by Robert Lee Hotz in the Wall Street Journal (link below), diverse findings are shared that prove more benefits for speaking an additional language. I will highlight the five main points: 1. Speaking more than one language might change the physical structure of the brain in a favorable way. 2. Bilingual speakers can hear sounds that monolingual...
Raising a Bilingual Child As I am now a new parent (see pic!), I am ready to put the following research-proven theories to work: 1. Children can learn multiple languages at the same time. The human brain is wired in such a way that a child can learn multiple languages and not realize he is learning them. The learning truly comes "for...
If you are a beginning or intermediate student with a new language, pick up a newspaper or magazine in the target language, and choose one article that looks interesting. Slowly work on reading that article and learning the words that you didn’t know. Similar to my points in other posts about movies or music, choose a style of magazine or newspaper...
Listen to music in your target language. Whatever your favorite style of music, it is practically guaranteed to exist in your target language. Invest some time researching your preferred style of music in the language you are learning and you will find an artist or two that you like. Once you start listening to their music (and reading their lyrics), the...
Language Learning Tips: Watch movies, and try to watch them at least twice each. It is very important to suspend your total comprehension. You won’t understand everything, but you will absorb valuable expressions from every movie you watch. Once you are somewhat familiar with the cinema industry in your target language/target country, you will have favorite actors/directors to look for. And...