So, are there easy and hard languages - or not?

​Today I want to share a Youtube video created by Richard Simcott, a native English speaker who has studied an inspiring 16 languages!

Richard is a helpful language learning speaker, consultant, and also one of the founders of the Polyglot Conference (see you there next year?). The video he presents guides viewers through a great summary of why a language is considered hard or easy to learn for native English speakers.

​But wait, you said there are no hard languages!

​If you rewind a little bit through the archives of this blog, you will see that I have happily proclaimed "There are no hard or easy languages!" So before I go contradicting Richard's very valid points, let me explain what I mean:

The reason why you will find a language easy or difficult to learn can vary. There are the tangible factors of grammar, pronunciation, writing system and how familiar the words are. Those can't be ignored, they'll make your life easier or harder every day. But there is another attitude, much closer rooted in your own mind: The learner makes his or her learning easy (or difficult).​

You are in charge of what's easy

​Positive thinking is highly effective in language learning. If you believe that you're tackling a language that is difficult to learn, you may have a harder time. Instead, look at your motivation, consider why you're on this adventure and make yourself look at the bright side.

• An unfamiliar writing system - did this attract you to the language in the first place?​
• A completely foreign vocabulary - could you consider this your new secret code, a fresh way of looking at the world?​
• When you catch yourself dwelling on the difficult parts of your new language, try going back to something you're already good at until the confidence returns.​

Okay, so I admit this won't make Korean any easier than Spanish, but hopefully it can help fend off any big worries if you find your language in a class 1 or 2! Which language are you learning these days?

Fluency Masterclass, Part 3: Listening

Welcome to the next part of the Fluency Masterclass. These four articles feature my best tips on ​how to boost your proficiency in the four core skills of language learning. I believe that balanced core skills are the best way to become fluent and confident. These Masterclass articles are designed to give language learners of any level new inspiration, and a focus on the core skills

​Language Learning Core Skill: Listening

​I'll let you in on a secret: My listening skills aren't really world famous. I have a tendency to guess ahead in conversations and get excited, cut in, intterupt and so on. Hey, it keeps life interesting! But as with all weaknesses, it's good to work on them a little. So my tips are in fact good advice for listening in any situation. I have found them helpful for improving my attention span and communication skills.

​1) Listen from Day 1

Listening is so important in language learning. It's closely connected to the learner's comfort level and pronunciation skills, and in addition to that it presumes NO language knowledge at all! There is no pressure on learners to respond or produce language, no rule that says you have to pay full attention all the time, and it can be pretty entertaining too. So my advice really is this: Listen from day 1. In fact, make that day 1 about learning your new alphabet and copying the sounds you're hearing. The BBC, for example, has some excellent alphabet resources.

2) Make notes, repeat and summarize

This is such a simple and effective exercise. I recommend you start working on it in your native language before moving on to foreign language situations. Next time you find yourself listening to someone talking at length, especially in a face-to-face situation or on the phone, get out the notepad. Make notes of the most important points of what they are saying, and ensure you don't miss any. If a real notepad and pen are likely to come across just a bit odd, try and make mental notes.

This technique is in fact part of a communication approach called active listening. It emphasizes that it is important to identify the message. In language learning, this means: Don't get stuck on words you don't know. As long as you know what the main message is, stage 1 is complete. Repeat the audio a few times to fine tune every word.

3) Use a transcript - or make your own

A big part of language learning success is in recognising which sounds correspond to which letters on a page. Click to Tweet this

Remember that we are not focusing on one core skill in order to block out the others. Listening is easily combined with other skills. You can read along using a transcript. Or in order to improve your writing skills, write your own version of the transcript and then compare it with an official one. You'll be training your spelling, listening comprehension and speed all in one go!

4) Bring back the music

I wrote about the many benefits of making music a part of your language learning on the Fluent Language blog last year. If nothing else, it's fun! Music is such a great and obvious place to start for learning a language. You can work with specific materials aimed at language learners like the Teach Me Everyday series, or just get right in there and work with songs. Why not read up on how to do it on this blog article.

5) Use a really wide range of sources

Your target language has many sub-sets of language groups, and in real life situations you may never know which one you are going to encounter. So especially when you work on listening skills, it's important to cast the net wide. Take turns listening to the news,​ rap songs, local dialects and whatever you can get hold of. To get you started, note that many news services do a simplified language version of their own news casts, for example DW in German, RFI in French or ​Sveriges Radio for Swedish.

There is a wealth of further materials out on the web all about this topic, for example the following articles:

• Andrew Weiler: Improving Listening Skills
• ​WikiHow: Learn a language while listening to the radio
  
• Foreign Language Teaching Methods: Listening Skill
  

Got more tips? Comment away, I want to hear it!!

And while you're here, don't miss what's new on my blog by joining the Fluent Language Learning Newsletter.

Fluency Masterclass, Part 2: Writing

​Hey all, welcome to the second instalment in my series of articles looking at practical techniques for mastering each of the four core skills in language acquisition. Let's have a closer look at..

Writing

Yes, writing skills. That's that thing people did with pen and paper before screens and keyboards. Ideas for simple exercises to get started with might be writing your shopping list, packing list, postcards or recipes.

Using colours to mark word types, and to annotate my notes.

A word about writing and typing

In this article I do recommend you focus on old-school pen and paper. For the language learner, this provides a really important benefit: kinaesthetic (tactile) learning. This means that the movements of putting letter-shaped lines on paper in new combinations will help you remember.

There are also psychological benefits. I'm currently studying Russian - a new challenge with new letters! Putting them onto paper in my own handwriting and with my own hands gives the whole undertaking a stronger sense of achievement. It really is me mastering letters like л, Ф, and я!

If you do feel that you want to get typing, there are advantages to doing it online. Websites like Italki have journaling functions that invite native speakers to answer your questions or correct your entries, which can be excellent practice. Make sure you re-write everything after it's been corrected.

Steps to improve your writing skills

Play with colour, shape and paper

​Now that you are hopefully signed up to pen and paper, or at least stylus and paper app, you should use them to their full potential. Use different coloured pens, highlighters and crayons. Doodle. Mark up your sentences in a way that makes sense to you. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Colour each word differently depending on its gender
• Underline every verb, then shade in every object, then use another colour for different cases
• Write out the sentence in one tense, then re-write it in another
• Draw tables, boxes, diagrams, or whatever you need to illustrate your thoughts

Sound out the letters, syllables and words

While breaks and gaps in a conversation are so obvious they're bound to make you nervous, writing is something you can do in your own time. Languages have a script in order to document the sounds you make when speaking out loud, so make sure you engage fully when you are writing things down: Sound out each letter, add the sounds to make a word and really get to know them. Yes, it sounds silly. That probably means you are doing it correctly.

Listen and Write

Combining your language skills is the key to fluency. When it comes to writing, this means your integration should go both ways. Remember dictation tests from school? Find a simple audio example. Listen first and write down what you hear - this will work on your comprehension, spelling and most importantly teach you the connections between spelling and sound. Then compare your notes to the transcript to see what you got right. This exercise should be a weekly drill, because its benefits are bound to build up your skills significantly.

Writing was part two of the Fluency Masterclass. Catch up on Part 1 (Reading), and if you enjoyed this article why not subscribe to my monthly newsletter here:

Fluent Language Learning Newsletter

Other great articles about reading in language learning

• Omniglot: Want to speak a foreign language better? Learn to write first!
  
• ​The Everyday Language Learner: Five reasons you should write as part of your language learning
  

The 6 Best Techniques for Learning Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the pillars of language learning and especially significant for the advanced learner. Once you are familiar with the basic structures of your target language, you'll want to start saying and understanding more words! One of my students recently asked me:

I'd like to get some system for vocab learning in place. Have you any recommendation?

..and I thought this makes an awesome blog topic. So here are my top techniques for learning vocabulary.

1) Write, Look, Cover, Repeat (WLCR)

This is the ultimate classic. For me, vocab learning has always been a notebook and pen type exercise. The physical motion of writing something down is very useful as it satisfies the needs of haptic learners. Take a pad, draw a vertical line in the middle and write the word on one side in your native/source language and on the other side in your target language. Memorise the list, then cover one side and tick off all that you remember. Then repeat.

Supercharging your WLCR

• Add another Write step for all the words you couldn't remember first time round, then start again. And repeat. The list of words you can't remember should get smaller every time.

• Satisfy your aural learning style through the version write, mumble, cover, repeat - speaking out each target language word every time. Or record them all and listen back to the vocabulary list a few times.

• Colour code your list, for example to highlight different genders or word types. (Thanks to David Casey on Facebook for this tip!)

2) Get them all

This technique is very well suited to learning by immersion. You acquire new words by carrying a dictionary everywhere (anything electric has them on these days) and then making a note of new words wherever you come across them. These form your daily vocabulary list. Learn the words, revisit the source, move on to a related text or video for repetition. Keep going until you remember all (or 80%, 70%...it's your choice!) of the words from your list, then find a new source. Your memory will build the connection between source and vocab, allowing you to remember the word by where you learnt it from.

3) Flashcarding

Flashcards are great for learners who work very well with visual clues. You can either make sets combining an image with a word in the target language, or just write the words in source and target language. Different colours come in handy here, and many online products also offer to make life easier for you (e.g. Anki and Quizlet).

What makes Flashcarding different from WLCR is that you cannot rely on memorising words by order - they come at you at random and you must be ready for anything. Personally, I perceive this as a hurdle and it's never been my thing. But on the other hand, what better way of preparing for real life?

4) Work in a Context

Memory research tells us that building links between data helps us remember things and the way to make sense of that is to put the vocab into use. A classic memory technique would be to connect every word with a strong image (imagine the grumpy ticket clerk huffing and handing you два ьилета). Alternatively, come up with a story that includes all your vocabulary.

Tried to get the partner involved with bilingual vocab stickies.

I also like to to work in blocks of different topics, for example you can focus on cookery for a few weeks. That way, the most common words will reoccur and you learn not only the word, but how to use it.

Again, immersion is key here and make sure you produce language in context. Write a full sentence using your new word. Update your Facebook in the target language. Use it 5 times in a conversation. Whatever it takes, just make sure you have satisfied both repetition and context.

5) Stickies Everywhere

Sticky notes were made to serve as reminders, so we shall use them for that! Put contextual vocabulary in strategic places, or write yourself little messages in the target language. After a week of "Guten Abend, Gute Nacht" on your mirror, it might just sink in.

If you have flashcards or prefer larger pieces of paper, why not put your pieces of paper into a clear plastic envelope and stick them in the shower?

6) Study Linguistics

Many words are made up of parts of other words. So this one requires a bit of study, but it will make your vocabulary learning the smartest it has ever been. Become familiar with prefixes and suffixes, word roots and common sources of target language words. For example, many European languagesare Latin-based and their words change through little add-ons. James at EngVid has a great way of explaining the concept through "Vocabulary Pyramids". The results can be staggering: one simple root can change in 10 ways, yet you only have to learn half of a new word.

Finally, how do you know which words to learn?

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with my free PDF guide to the essential vocab topics for beginners. This guide is your handy checklist to help you have successful conversations in any language. Download it right here!