The Linguist - language learning should be fun

In praise of passive vocabulary

I have heard people say that they can only learn a word if they use it. I do not agree. I know far more words passively in my foreign languages, than I use actively. There is nothing wrong with that. I enjoy my listening and reading and feel that understanding what I hear and read is essential. I do not mind struggling to find words when I speak. I find that the more I listen and read, and review my words and phrases, the greater my passive vocabulary, and therefore the greater my potential active vocabulary. When I have more opportunity to speak, I find these passive words gradually migrating over into the active category. Here is the podcastDownload Passive vocabulary

Beginner language content, introductions and the like.

What kind of content do we need when we start learning a language? Can we learn how to introduce ourselves, or what to say in a restaurant, at the train station and other such situations?

I do not think so. I do not think this kind of content is necessary, although there is nothing wrong with it. It really depends on what the learner is interested in. The point is that the learner needs to get used to the language through a lot of exposure. The learner is unlikely to remember a set of phrases for different situations. As soon as a real person talks back, the learner is usually lost. So what to do?

Download Introductions or watch the video.

Comparing different language learning systems.

Pimsleur, Assimil, Teach Yourself, Michel Thomas,Colloquial, Berlitz, Hugo, Rosetta Stone and many more. There is no shortage of language learning systems. What do I think of them? Here is a podcast on Learning systems

Here are two videos.

1)

Cultural weightlessness and language learning

Download the podcast
In my book The Way of the Linguist, A Language Learning Odyssey, I talked about the need to get outside your own culture and not resist the language you are learning.  Here I get into more detail on this subject, so important for language learning success, much more important than having an "ear" or "talent" for languages.

So here is a video about lazy language learning

Download Lazy language

I did not mean the post on advice for lazy language learning to be demotivating. Here is a video on it.

Noticing in language learning.

Noticing is an important part of language learning. For input based language learning to work, for Krashen's language learning hypotheses to be true, we have to notice what happens in the language. We often do not notice things in the language unless they are pointed out or unless we make a special effort to notice. Here I talk about noticing in language learning. I look forward to hearing about your own experiences.

How long does it take to learn to speak a language well ?

How long does it take to learn a language well. How do we get from reading and listening to speaking? How long does it take? This is in answer to Emilio and also others who have asked similar questions.

I refer in my video to this collection of three articles on language learning. Skim through parts and A and B and please read, near the bottom, C: The three stages of language learning.

Bilingual texts and language learning

Bilingual texts, how useful are they for language learning. I think it is a matter of personal preference. They are very popular with some learners at how-to-learn-any-language.com. Ilya, regluarl commenter here, is less keen, and prefers computer generated translation to more literary translations of the language he is learning. Ii have used them but am not a fan. They are a part, but not a big part, of my language learning activities.

Here is my podcast on this.

A little plug for this blog

Here is the podcast

I am trying to create a little more interest in this blog and have posted another video cast on youtube. I would appreciate anyone going there to view it, or suggesting their friends do so. I look forward to your feedback. Here is the link.

The Linguist nerve centre

Jill, Mark and Steve. on video I am really getting a kick out of this new device. There will be more and we will get better at it. The question is what we should do with this. What will help our learners?