Helping yourself to learn a language
Before launching into an ‘only teacher knows best’ tirade, which would sound incredibly biased as I am a language teacher myself, I would like to open with the statement that self-study is an essential part of learning a language. What happens in your classroom or with your private tutor is a good start, but anyone who tells you that this is all you have to do to learn a language is telling you a lie. Sorry about that.
Classes are a great experience, yes, but like any new skill you want to learn, it is best to approach learning from many angles. There is no point having one lesson a week and then doing nothing at all, or, even more sinful, leaving that homework you promised yourself you would do until the night – or hour – before your next lesson. You are wasting your time and money, and yes. Us teachers can tell.
Having gone down the self-learning route myself, I’ve come across some resources I’d love to share with you.
Take for example things like Livemocha. A good all-round resource that is set up to partner you up with other language learners through language exchange, short online lessons, and lots of forums. It’s interactive, there’s always something new, and it’s free. What’s not to love?
If you don’t want to concentrate specifically on language learning and are looking for more of a language exchange/international vibe, Interpals could be the place for you. This site is a bit like a mix between Facebook and InterNations, so treat it with the same joy or disdain you do either of them. There are amazing connections to be made out there but then again there are also many to sever. Choose your friends wisely and never be afraid to use the block button with flair.
Not sure you’re ready for full-on instant message conversations just yet? Something like mylanguageexchange.com might be what you need. While both text and voice chat options are available, what I really like about this is the penpals who are happy to write either by email or even by traditional snail mail. Gifts in the post. Need I say more?
Another tool that is well worth trying is EuroTalk’s interactive series, Talk Now. This is a really easy way to pick up a good vocabulary base and I like the exposure to a lot of different accents. Yes, it is ‘staged’ because it’s a course, but if you’re concerned about who you’re speaking to out there or want to get confident first so that you can tell those with ulterior motives to ‘go away’ with perfect pronunciation, it really is a good investment.
As far as mobile apps go, I like Memrise for its simplicity. It’s sort of a drip-feed method of learning: you learn a series of words and there are ‘helpful’ memes sent in by users – I say ‘helpful’ because some really are helpful, some are hilarious so they just make you giggle, and some make you question the human race.
Finally, there’s uTalk. This is a great time killer. All those moments sat waiting for the metro or in my case, waiting for students to finish their meetings when our lessons are due to start, can now be filled with quick and easy games to help you learn your desired language. Put down the Candy Crush, step away from the Jurassic Park Builder and pick up some new words!
Now, all these resources are tailored specifically towards learning a language. But there are other, more natural ways of learning.
Watching films in your target language but with English subtitles is an excellent way to learn, as is listening to real local radio – TuneIn is fantastic for this as it lets you search by locations the world over.
Find out about typical newspapers. In my case I used Helsingin Sanomat and found this from a quick Wiki search for ‘popular newspapers in Finland’. There will likely be an online version of your chosen paper and if you get stuck with translating you can either translate the entire page depending on your browser choice, or copy and paste the article directly into Google Translate.
Translate Eurovision entries, listen to commentary of your favourite sport in another tongue, embrace the possibility that there are songs out there in other languages that you will love – then translate and learn them by heart.
Changing the language of your social media and phone will also help, but that is for the brave and sure. Do this only if you’re confident you know enough of the language to avoid embarrassing mistakes.
Last of all, if you get the opportunity to speak, speak. If you overhear someone talking in the language you are learning, don’t be afraid to go over and say hello. Yes, perhaps you’ll startle them. But in my experience, it is just shock that a native English speaker has taken the time to bother to learn their language at all. Their first question to you will probably be ‘why are you learning…..?’
There are a million ways to learn. Try some 🙂
Kelly
uTalk Election: a guide to political jargon
It’s General Election Day here in the UK, and as (hopefully) everyone heads to the polls to cast their vote, we’ve been considering some of the strange vocabulary associated with politics. Sometimes it can seem like a whole new language, so we’ve put together a little guide to a few of our favourites. Has anyone got any more examples to add?
Psephology
The scientific study of historical voting and voting patterns. The word is derived from the Greek psēphos which means pebble; the ancient Greeks used pebbles in voting.
Gerrymandering
When the borders of an electoral constituency are changed, resulting in an increased number of people in that area who’ll vote for a particular party or candidate.
Manifesto
From the Italian word meaning ‘clear’ or ‘obvious’, in election terms a manifesto is a public statement of a party or candidate’s intentions and promises, should they be elected.
Chiltern Hundreds
Members of Parliament aren’t officially allowed to resign their seat, so in order to do it they have to go through a legal procedure known as ‘taking the Chiltern Hundreds’. This involves them being elected to an ‘office of profit’, which means they can’t be an MP any more. The procedure was invented by John Pitt in 1750, when he was appointed as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds in order to resign his seat and take another.
Hung Parliament
This is what happens when no party gets a clear majority and therefore can’t form a government, so one or more parties may form a coalition – as happened in the UK in 2010 – or another election may be necessary.
Red Lines
The promises made by a party that they won’t change and on which they’re not prepared to negotiate, even if they find themselves part of a coalition government.
Landslide
When one party wins by a large majority: a landslide of votes.
Purdah
The period immediately before an election, usually six weeks. During this time, there are restrictions on the announcement of new government initiatives or policy decisions, which could give one party an advantage over others.
Floating voters
People who haven’t quite made up their minds yet on who to vote for – and who are therefore a target for campaigning candidates.
Swithering
Much like a floating voter, this is someone who switches their allegiance from one party to another in the run-up to the election.
Canvassing
Nothing to do with tents, this is when a candidate and their team speak to voters face to face (or sometimes by telephone) before an election. The main purpose of canvassing is to find out how people intend to vote and identify supporters.
If you’ve got an interesting word or phrase to add to our list, let us know in the comments!
Are you ever too old to learn a language?
As a small child, I was practically a real-life Harry Potter. Without the magic. Or the mean Aunt and Uncle. Okay, well really, the only similarity is that I spent a lot of my days in the cupboard under the stairs. Now, before you call the authorities, don’t worry. It was my favourite place! I had a comfy chair and my own TV and all the VHS tapes of awful 90s cartoons that a toddler could ever ask for!
Why is this relevant to EuroTalk I hear you ask?! Well, it was here, sat watching Tots TV, that I accidentally taught myself French! My parents had no idea, until one day I casually said to my Mum ‘Bonjour, Je m’appelle Codie! That means “Hello, my name is Codie”, Mummy!’. She was in shock. After all, what would you think if your three year old daughter started spouting French? Once I’d explained that I got it from Tilly (sorry to anyone born too early/late to understand the references here, YouTube it!), I was inundated with French books, tapes and excited relatives. Even the nurse at our local GP practice heard about my weird knowledge and insisted on making me count to ten in French whilst she gave me my injections. I was essentially a performing monkey – but I loved it!
Fast-forward a few years later and I’m in the second half of Primary School. We have a super cool substitute teacher who plays guitar and teaches us German. It takes him less than half an hour to teach an entire class of children to count to ten in German and 15 or so years later I still know it.
Fast-forward a few years even later and my adorable four year old nephew is counting to ten in Japanese! Something they learn at pre-school through the use of cute mnemonic devices (with even cuter actions!). Languages are being taught younger and younger and suddenly, my toddler French seems a whole lot less impressive.
So that leads me to wonder, am I too old to learn a language? I’m led to believe that the older you are, the harder it is to learn an instrument (well, at least I can sort of play the recorder, right?), so does this apply for other skills? I can’t do a cartwheel, so I figure that boat has sailed, but I did recently learn how to knit… badly. Do different things have different cut off points? As knitting is usually for old ladies, was I only able to learn it because I’m cracking on a bit now? (Maybe a slight exaggeration, I am only 23 after all.) Most importantly am I the right age to finally start learning a language? As I’m currently childless, I know it’s my biological clock I should be worried about, but I genuinely think it is being drowned out by the voice in my head that is yelling ‘What happened to the girl who was learning French before she could tie her shoes? What are you doing with your life?!’.
And that, my friends, is the existential crisis that has inspired me to try and learn Japanese, with the help of EuroTalk. Maybe I’ll shut myself in the cupboard under the stairs for old times’ sake!
Codiekinz is a twenty-something blogger from the South, currently masquerading as a Northerner. She makes YouTube videos and posts about life, books, travel and her bearded dragon, over at www.codiekinz.co.uk. She’ll also be using uTalk to learn Japanese, so keep an eye on her blog for updates!
You can also follow her on Twitter @CodieKinz
Photo credit: codiekinz.co.uk
Quote of the week: 2 May 2015
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein
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Teenage Kicks: why language students aren’t listening
Today we welcome back language teacher Kelly, with some advice on engaging teenagers in language learning. Have you tried thinking outside the box with students? Tell us about it in the comments…
Another Brick In The Wall
Musicians have been flogging this particular dead horse for years: stop treating teenagers like an alien species that we have no relation to. Language teachers: take note.
Textbook learning: a one-trick pony
It doesn’t matter how much you enjoy language learning. Even the most enthusiastic learner will want to escape to a blanket fort at the prospect of studying purely from a textbook. And with good reason. Language textbooks, no matter the effort put into making them interesting, are one of the dullest resources to use when learning a language. And, incidentally, to teach one.
In my day…
Cast your mind back to your own time in school. Who doesn’t remember the tattered books on our desk with the rude scribblings in, the out of date ‘modern’ pictures and the stale, dated language that was being taught? There’s no easy way to jazz up your role play ordering of a baguette if you only know the standard fillings. Cheese? Ham? Tomato? Teacher: ever heard of Subway? We want to choose our own bread, avoid the olives, embrace the jalapeño and yes, of course we want it toasted.
If you can relate, pity the poor teenager in school as we speak.
Cue eye roll…
Being a teenager is an eventful enough time in your life; where’s the motivation to learn a language if all you get to talk about is school work and pets? Do you imagine that these are the only things teenagers discuss on Snapchat, Whatsapp or Kik? Have you never been on Tumblr?
Teenagers are just, as we are, feeling their way in the world. And what they are not feeling is the urge to learn languages when the methods of teaching are so out of touch. The issues that bother us are the same ones that bother them. So why not use that to a teaching advantage?
Attempting to change
A recent Guardian article looked at the ways in which an English exam board is planning on overhauling teaching languages using realia that teenagers can relate to and have a part of. Tattoos and tweets, authentic material foreign literature: things that are happening today.
For any ESL/EFL teacher out there, we hear you. We know. We have been saying this for years. If you use something relevant to the world around you to teach that your students can actively engage in, you’re going to get effective results. If you’ve ever taught at a language school with zero resources and had to make lessons out of nothing but your imagination, you’re probably looking down on the efforts being made to make language interesting in schools with well-founded ‘told-you-so’ disdain.
Teaching what matters
Teenagers – all students – want to learn about real, useable language, not tired, formal words and phrases that are technically correct but make you stand out like you’ve gone to a Slipknot gig in your preppy finest. There is nothing controversial about teaching people how people really speak; even within your own language you can learn something new every day. From colloquialisms to slang, language is a constantly evolving beast and we speakers are merely along for the ride. Digging our heels in and clinging on to the old ways is only going to result in hair (fur) pulling.
True learning comes from learning the basics and putting them into practice. Imagine learning the theory behind driving but never sitting behind the wheel of a car. Pointless and uninteresting. And while the theory is important – in the case of language, grammar and vocabulary – what is more important is putting it into practice. Role play how to find the post office all you want; what use is it if you’re needing directions to Primark on Oxford Street and you’re trying to navigate the Underground?
Kelly
