Watching television shows and movies in the target language is a great way to learn the (real) language, but it is even better if you can read along with the subtitles while watching and listening. Most linguistics studies and language students agree, but someone needs to tell the producers of DVDs this. I am still [...]
Full Story »From Annecy to Bassano del Grappa: Taking Grandma to Her Parents’ Birthplace in Italy
David’s grandmother was born in France in 1932. Her parents are from the towns of Bassano del Grappa and Solagna, in the region of Veneto, Italy. Her father, Antonio Tosetto, came to France in 1929 to escape le camicie nere (the blackshirts, or Fascists) while her mother, Maria Todesco, stayed behind in Bassano until he [...]
Full Story »Traveling through Germanic Languages and History
I’ve been traveling for the past week through Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne and Munich. I have been trying to listen to as much Dutch and German as possible and collect all sorts of realia to learn more vocabulary. Of course I’ve also been going to educational places like Mini Europe, which I highly recommend for learning [...]
Full Story »Multilingual Goodness of the Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is going on this week in Oslo and even though I’m not watching it, I am using the unofficial website to learn languages through song lyrics. It is called the Diggiloo Thrush and it includes the lyrics and translations into English of almost all of the songs ever performed for the [...]
Full Story »Using Realia Resources in Language Teaching & Learning
Realia is everyday, authentic objects, such as photographs, menus, brochures, receipts, maps, movies, television shows, commercials, etc. that are used to teach and learn languages. Some researchers include any items that can be used to prompt conversations or role-play, such as telephones, but those are generally meant to be employed in the classroom with other [...]
Full Story »The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages
The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages by Frederick Bodmer has always been my favorite book about learning languages. I first discovered it on F.X. Micheloud’s Learning Languages site about 9 or 10 years ago when I was still an undergrad and much more interested in learning languages on my [...]
Full Story »Learning the Language AND Cultural Vocabulary Online
How do you learn proper nouns, place names, brands, acronyms or other culture-specific vocabulary if you aren’t immersed in the culture? Before I moved to France, I knew that Carrefour was one of the largest stores and so I used their online ads to learn vocabulary for everyday objects that I would need when I [...]
Full Story »Language Learning Articles, Software, Websites (Link Collection from Twitter)
A collection of language learning articles, software and websites that I’ve tweeted/retweeted/discovered on Twitter over the past few months for those who don’t use that site: Popling. Hack your Brain. Learning, Without Studying. A website + desktop app for people who want to learn, but lack motivation. Lingoversity Learn languages with your vocabulary trainer. Rhinospike: [...]
Full Story »Review of Some Language Learning Communities: Busuu, Livemocha, LingQ, and Hello-Hello
Lately I’ve been using several language learning communities online to see what they offer and how expensive their pay materials are. Personally, I was most interested in finding sites that offered free audio flashcards for learning vocabulary (preferably with pictures) and less so in finding a teacher or language exchange partner. I just wanted to [...]
Full Story »An Example of 21st Century Vocabulary
How many textbooks do you think include vocabulary words like this? If you don’t speak either German or French, the vocabulary word is “homosexual couple” and the sample sentence says “The homosexual couple is going to adopt a child.” If only that were true in more than 2% of the world… The next word is [...]
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