It seems one can hardly mention the topic of language-learning without Rosetta Stone being brought to the forefront of the conversation. It's as if it somehow unlocked a major secret allowing anyone, anywhere, to master a language. But there are a few things you should be aware of before you go spending your money. Here are some pros and cons: Pros: Rosetta...
According to an article in The Independent, research shows that the benefits of being bilingual start at an incredibly young age, as young as six months to be exact. Researchers from the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences worked collaboritevly with surrounding hospitals to take an in-depth look at the effects of bilingual exposure at a particularly...
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...
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...
I'd like to write about some of the ways linguists talk about motivation in language learning.To break it down into the two main categories, we have: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. Of course, these two types of motivation can exist in the same person but in order to separate them in your mind, here are their traditional definitions: Integrative motivation: when you...
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...
Learning a second language can be an incredibly psychological endeavor. For every person, this experience will be different but we have all certainly experienced some of the doubt, panic and fear that come with the task of really speaking in a second language. In Second Language Acquisition (the scientific field that studies such things), an important term regarding psychology is "individual...