5 Reasons to Learn an Endangered Language
Five reasons to learn an endangered language, from connecting with a community to helping its words and stories remain in use.
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The bumpy road of travel, and the benefits that come about from it [First week in Japan]
From the blog’s origin era (2009–2014), kept as lived proof of the method. See all the missions. Time to give you my update from Japan! I got into Okinawa just over a week ago, and have been settling in, exploring that beautiful island paradise, and have just got into Kyoto, where I’ll be spending the […]
Learning Cantonese Through Speaking Practice
Carlos and Jan used romanisation, tutoring, vocabulary review and regular conversation practice to build their Cantonese speaking skills.
An International Guide to Food and Eating Etiquette
Learn how eating customs differ around the world, from chopsticks and shared dishes to table manners, hosts and respectful travel.
Japanese project conclusion: Wrapping up the learning part & getting ready to travel
From the mission archive, Benny wraps up two months of Japanese study, reviews his progress and prepares to use the language while travelling.
How monolingual parents can raise a bilingual child
Christine Gilbert shares how monolingual parents can support a bilingual child through sustained, responsive language use and realistic family goals.
Language Learning for Introverts
Guest writer Adam shares practical ways for introverts to meet speakers, practise a language and work with their own social energy.
Benny’s Japanese: Skype conversation over the half-way point [+ new language discussion channel]
This week, I can finally do what I had wanted to do last week and give you a full example of how my conversations tend to be going, right now a little after my half-way point in the Japanese project!
At this stage, I can handle straightforward question-and-answer exchanges pretty well, but my grammar and vocab still need serious improvement and will continue to be my focus over the next few weeks. I’m also not so confident about explaining a concept for a few minutes, and I did a really poor job of describing what “Couchsurfing” was, especially when my lack of important vocab held me back.
As well as this, my accent and pronunciation need lots of improvement. I’m aware of such issues, but they will definitely take the back seat to higher priorities for now.
Very quick look at Benny’s current Japanese level. Suggestions (with whom, about what) for longer upcoming video updates?
Watch a brief snapshot of Benny’s Japanese level during his mission, then see what he planned to practise in longer video updates.
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