Why Learning a Language is Better Together
Want to learn a language? You’ll learn more, and faster, if you find a community of friends to learn with.
Search results for:
listening resources
Conversational Spanish: 88+ Spanish Conversation Starters and Questions
Spark up Spanish conversations, speak more Spanish, and sound more like a native Spanish speaker with these conversation starters and examples.
How to Find a Language Exchange Partner
Learn a language by speaking! What is a language exchange partner - and what’s the best way to find one? Plus what language exchanges can do for you.
How I turned my guerilla-style language-learning method into a course you’ll find in bookshops around the world
How I teamed up with Teach Yourself to create the Language Hacking courses, and where to order them in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Mandarin.
How to Give a Toast in (Almost) Any Language
Every country has its own drinking traditions. Now you'll be able to say "cheers" everywhere you go. But beware: don't always clink glasses.
How to Use Skype to Learn Another Language
Having real conversations with native speakers is one of the best ways to quickly improve your language skills. How can you find a Skype Language Exchange partner, and what should you do once you've found one?
Learn Better Pronunciation While Speaking Your Native Language
Want to improve the pronunciation of your second language? Find out how you can do so while speaking in your native tongue.
Language Learning for Introverts
Speaking a language is a skill. Like any other skill, if you really want to get good at it then it’s going to require practice. For languages that means lots of time talking, meeting new people, socializing, getting out there and making mistakes. If you’re an extrovert that all sounds great.
But if you’re an introvert – that’s terrifying.
Introverts and extroverts just don’t function the same as each other. As a result, trying to force an introvert to study like an extrovert or vice versa is never going to work as well as finding a learning style that’s tailored to how that person learns best.
Thankfully if you’re on the introverted side of things, all is not lost.
How persistence can get a beginner learner to expert level
The decision I made seven years ago to study Chinese at university changed my life. Right from the beginning I decided that I didn’t just want to learn some Mandarin, I wanted to be proficient. I wanted to speak the language to an advanced level and be able to read a newspaper and write characters with ease. It’s fair to say that I got stuck in immediately, and got completely immersed in my studies!
Seven years later, I can’t say that I’m perfect and don’t make any mistakes, or that I understand and know how to say everything. There’s still a lot of room for me to improve, but I have achieved my original goal. I can speak Mandarin fluently, and I know all the simplified and traditional characters other than the really rare ones. I speak and use Chinese every day, and it has really become a part of my life and a second language to me now.
Social