Tips & Tricks

 

Learning a language can sometimes present us with challenges that seem 'insurmountable' to some.

For example, learning English is much easier than learning 'Chinese' (Mandarin or one of the many dialects).

There is also the question of the native language of the learner.

For example, does a Chinese learner learn German, or a German learner learn Mandarin?

 

While many Chinese, especially the younger generation, learn English intensively, the number of Chinese learners in Europe is much smaller. This is not surprising given the much smaller population in Europe.

But in general, more Chinese are looking to Europe or the US than vice versa.

 

If I'm English and I want to learn French or Chinese.

Or if I'm Russian and want to learn Spanish or Arabic.

Do I also want to learn the foreign written language (Mandarin, Cyrillic, Arabic, etc.) or do I just want to learn the standard spoken language?

 

Do I need a specific dialect? For example, do I live and work in London and want to learn local English?

Do I have no previous knowledge of languages with a different script (Arabic, Cyrillic, ...) or am I learning a language that is identical to my script (e.g. an Italian learning French)?

 

 

My main goal is to be able to speak and understand the language:

 

A) Do you already live in the country whose language you would like to learn?

Yes, I am!

 

 

Tips

 

For beginners:

1 - You need basic vocabulary and phrases. You can either take a class or use the Internet for beginners.

 

2 - If you prefer to work with a physical book, there are beginner books (A0 - A1) with downloadable mp3 material.

 

3 - If you are a good autodidact and manage to study (relatively) regularly, use this skill.

 

4 - If you prefer to work in a group or class, sign up for a beginner's course. You will be motivated by the group and work together. Side effect: You will meet new people!

 

 

Advanced:

1 - Try to watch the news or another local program on your local TV station for 10 to 15 minutes at least three times a week. It's better to watch less but regularly than to watch infrequently and for long periods of time. Set small milestones instead of big goals that you keep missing.

 

2 - Join a local club and participate in its activities. This could be a sports club, music club, cooking club, etc. Think of your interests or hobbies. Or start a new hobby that you have been meaning to do.

Make sure it is a club whose main language is the language of the country you want to learn.

 

3 - Start reading a book that is roughly at your language level. Look for a book of short stories or a short book of 20 to 30 pages.

 

4 - Start with audio books, preferably short stories or divided into smaller chapters. Listen to the audio book regularly for five to ten minutes, two to three times a week. Listen to the audio book over and over again.

 

5 - Also, choose an audio book that is at a higher language level than yours. Why?

An important part of language learning is repetition. This means that you hear the words/vocabulary over and over again and your listening comprehension increases. You begin to understand the context, even though you may not know all the vocabulary. And that's a good thing!

Over time, your confidence will grow and you will learn even faster and easier.

 

After all, we do exactly the same in our everyday life: We use the same words and phrases over and over again!

 

As with all learning, your psyche and self-confidence play an important role in language learning!

 

Language learners who have a learning block, or believe they have a learning block, are blocking themselves simply because they believe they have a learning block. It sounds strange, but it's true. You should change your beliefs and work on them.

 

Imagine in your mind that you could learn the language you want easily and quickly! Make it a regular exercise:

Imagine for three or four minutes that you can learn the language you want faster and faster and that you speak it fluently and well. See yourself in a movie: speaking and acting well and fluently in that language. This regular inner picture/movie will help you get rid of old thought patterns about yourself. You can do this with some calm music in the background.

 

Or record a short audio with your smartphone, three or four minutes is enough: Say the following sentences, for example "I speak French fluently! I can have a relaxed and easy conversation in French! I understand everything people say! I enjoy speaking French."

(If you don't like your own voice, ask a friend to record it for you). Listen to the audio over and over again. For weeks and months. You will see the effect.

Here as well you can add calm music in the background.

 

 

What keeps you from learning the language you want?

 

- Your own lack of confidence, your fears, negative beliefs, people who try to convince you that you can't learn the language.

 

- No commitment to learning the language: you don't take the time or make a plan.

 

- People who are very much guided by their mind and do not trust their feelings, perceptions and cognitive abilities; they do not take good advice and do not follow it; people who constantly see themselves as 'victims' and that it is the fault of others that they cannot learn anything themselves.

 

- People who blame the language for its inability to learn. (Typical statements: "the grammar is too difficult; why is it done this way in the language and not that way?; why is the verb on a different position than in English? etc., etc.)

 

- People who believe that the language trainer / teacher is to blame for their failure to learn the language.

It may well be that you don't get along with a language trainer, but be careful! Nevertheless, the student has the following options:

 

a - switch to another language trainer

 

b - use your own learning activities before or after the course

 

c - talk to the trainer of the current course about why you are struggling with the course

 

d - take a close look at yourself; ask yourself the following questions: What is my part in not liking / understanding / getting along with the language trainer? 

Look for your own mistakes and weaknesses, you will be surprised how much you can change yourself.

 

 

Learning like kids!

 

Children are the best and quickest language learners!

 

Children learn their native language by constantly listening to their parents, siblings and social environment. Again, repetition of sentences and words plays an extraordinary role.

 

Everything children hear, see and later read in their environment contributes to the expansion of their language skills.

 

Children have few or no "can'ts" like adults - at least as long as their environment does not confront them with them ("you can't do that", "you'll never learn"...).

Therefore, in the early years, children simply absorb what they see and hear.

 

Children's "strategy" is to simply imitate and repeat everything they hear and see around them.

This makes them brilliant language learners. They can also learn a second language quickly if, for example, their parents move to another country. Then it is usually the children who learn the new language faster.

 

And we adults can do the same!

 

This is exactly what audio books, or programs on local TV stations, etc. are for. This creates an environment that reflects the language being learned in a natural setting.

 

 

How do you use audios and audio books?

 

Very simple: While you are doing routine tasks at home or on the road (cooking, cleaning, tidying up, or: traveling by train, bus, plane, etc.), listen to your audio mp3s. Two to four times a week for 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient.

 

Consistency is important. You should create a regular and short time slot to do this. It's good n o t to focus on what you're listening to, but just let it flow and run in the background. Just like children!

 

Even children don't concentrate on everything that is said, they just hear it in the background, without concentration.

 

And this is the effect! Our cognitive and mental abilities are still registering and storing what is being said.

 

 

What is the effect of Audio Speech Training?

 

After a short period of 2 to 3 weeks of regular but short listening, you will start to reproduce what is said automatically, using the correct vocabulary and grammar - without numerous grammar exercises!

 

And it saves time!

 

What takes you months, if not years, of purely written exercises online and in a textbook, can be done in weeks and months with regular audio exercises. BUT: It has to be done regularly!

 

Make yourself independent of apps when you speak!

 

Do you want to be able to speak directly to others in the foreign language, or do you feel comfortable using a translation app all the time?

Depending on the answer, there are always ways and means!

 

 

Advantages of the translation app:

- You don't need any language skills and you can communicate with others in the foreign language immediately.

- No need to learn a foreign language

- You use the app as needed and don't need to do exercises to improve or maintain your language skills.

 

Disadvantages of the translation app:

- You will not be able to pursue a professional career with a translation app because you do not have the required language skills of the country.

- direct communication with colleagues/partners is expected in professional meetings

- If the battery of your mobile device is empty, no app will help you.

- Communication via an app is tedious and time-consuming, because you have to record first, the other person has to listen to it, then, if they want to reply, they have to record again, etc. etc.

 

 

Learning German

 

The program for German offered in my shop covers all language levels, from beginner A0/1 to advanced C1/C2. 

 

Each level has its own grammar review with mp3 audios. All example sentences from the PDF are on the mp3.

 

There are also special topics:

 

- Article training (der, die, das)

- Dative, accusative and genitive cases

- Adjective declension

- Phrases Formal Form

- Word order / Sentence order

 

The article training (der, die, das) in particular offers exercises with audio texts, which can be done several times and repeatedly until you feel more confident.

The texts of these exercises cover A1 to C2.

 

Formal phrases for dealing with business partners and people you address in a formal manner.

 

 

Learning English

 

The English material is all at the C1 / C2 level. 

 

I found the difference between American English and British English interesting as a listening exercise. The program in my shop offers customized material.

The same text on current topics (artificial intelligence, social distancing, work-life balance, etc.) is spoken once by an American speaker and once by a British speaker - each text is also included as a PDF.

 

These listening texts help students with listening comprehension if they want to live in one of the countries.

 

Over 400 phrasal verbs can be heard via mp3, combined with the same list as a PDF.

 

The complete English C1 grammar is available in English and Chinese versions, so the explanations are either in English or Chinese.

The audios as mp3 are only with the English example sentences.

 

 

Learning Arabic

 

In my Arabic program, I have focused on the Arabic dialects of different countries rather than spoken Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Why is that? 

 

Because in the more than 20 Arabic-speaking countries, no one speaks MSA on the street, in the supermarket, at the gas station, or in the family.

Only on television (and then only for the news or similar programs) and at some (!) public events do people switch from dialect to MSA.

 

If you really want to talk to people in a particular country, because you live and work there, or because you spend a lot of time there, it makes much more sense to learn the general local dialect.

 

For example, the dialect from Cairo (Egypt) is very well known in all other Arabic speaking countries, so this dialect is also understood in other countries and this way you ensure that you can communicate with the Egyptian dialect from Cairo in other Arabic speaking countries. In other words, added value for the learner!

 

The same is true for the dialects of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.

If you learn one of these dialects, you can use it in the other countries.

 

It is more difficult with North African dialects (Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian, Hassani (Mauritania)). These are not so common in the other Arab countries, but they are in the countries mentioned.

 

 

Big difference between dialects and MSA

 

If you listen to a spoken sentence in dialect and the same sentence in MSA, you will often notice very strong differences in word choice and pronunciation. (The dialects of the Gulf States, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, etc., are closest to Standard Arabic, but also sound different when spoken from the written Standard Arabic language).

 

For this reason, a dialect should be learned with the same effort as the standard language. Audio recordings are especially important for this, because you can only learn a dialect by listening to it. It is not necessary to learn the written language. 

 

Even illiterate people learn the language of the Koran without being able to write a letter, because the Koran is heard in mosques, schools and on the streets, and is also taught and learned very much by listening.

 

Even the verb conjugation in the dialects is very different from the standard language.

 

Regular listening to audios and mp3's, podcasts and similar audio materials is therefore essential. In order to understand a dialect better and better, it is important for listening comprehension to work with repetition - just like in normal life! Or do we always use new words in everyday life? We usually use a series of phrases and expressions in turn, but mostly the same ones.

 

This makes sentence structure and grammar accessible at the same time. This is the great advantage of audio materials:

They cover pronunciation, vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar, all in one form!

 

 

The Arabic Written Language

 

Learning the Arabic script is 99 percent associated with MSA, as the dialect script is usually only used in social media and all such platforms.

 

Learning the script is especially useful if you need to be able to understand and visually recognize texts, words and phrases for professional or other reasons.

 

 

 

Learning Chinese

 

The Chinese phonetic and tonal system is extremely complex. 

The grammar is simple compared to the grammar of European languages. 

Neither declension nor verb conjugation is required. There are no articles (the, der, die, das, le, la).

 

There are, however, four tones or pitches. Each syllable is pronounced at a specific pitch, and only the combination of syllable and pitch makes clear sense. The syllable "gao" can mean both to do / make and to inform / report, depending on the pitch.

 

Therefore, audio training is crucial in recognizing and practicing the different tones in order to „hit the right note“.

 

The components within a sentence, i.e. the arrangement of words or syllables, are crucial for aural comprehension of a context. 

Recognizing a word within a text alone does not guarantee the ability to speak Chinese.

 

The concept of audio training exercises works with sentence structures whose individual elements vary. The constant elements are trained and complemented by the variable elements. The constant element is recognized even better by the changing element. A simple example:

 

I feel better because my health problems are gone.

I feel better because my family came to visit me.

I feel better because the weekend is coming.

 

 

The Chinese audios are available in Chinese-English and Chinese-German, as well as Chinese-Only, without the other language, if you only want to listen to the Chinese.