Fun ways to remember numbers

It's so common for people to learn counting to ten when they start learning a new language, but as I've already discussed, this type of learning by memorization is actually bad.

What happens is that we create the mental connections between the sounds, so that the words uno, due, tre begin to flow easily together, but the individual words fail to be linked to the numbers they represent. The end result is that you want to tell someone "eight", but since you learned by memorization, you have to stand... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Use Google Reader to learn languages

I don't like to do a lot of work when I'm learning a language — it requires too much time and effort, and it burns you out quickly. One thing that eats up a lot of time and feels like a lot of work is clicking around on a dozen web sites every day.

I find literally dozens of useful web sites when I first start learning a new language: vocab sites, dictionaries, videos, and much more, but in truth, I only visit a handful of sites regularly. In fact, only LiveMocha (once per day) and WordReference... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Learn Italian vocabulary from Andrea Bocelli!

A few days ago, we discovered a way to use music to learn a new language. Today, we're going to try it out first-hand.

First, choose the song
As I am learning Italian, there are countless well-known songs I would love to understand. I am somewhat humbled to discover that my first two choices weren't actually Italian! I tried O Sole Mio and then Funiculì, Funiculà, only to discover that bother are actually written in Neapolitan, which is a dialect of Italian just different enough to make my... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Describing possession in Italian

Now that we understand noun gender and articles, the next thing to explore is possession, and the adjectives used to describe it.

Fortunately, in Italian, possession is only described by way of possessive adjectives (similar to English). Unlike languages with noun declension (eg, German, Russian, Polish), I don't have to worry about learning genetive cases and endings. Your mileage may vary.

Six subjects of possession
As always, there are six possible subjects, so there must be six possible... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Stop being so self-conscious!

What is the one thing that holds people back more than anything else? What prevents people from doing the the things they really want, whether it's learning to dance well, or trying a new style of clothes, or learning a new language?

The answer is self-consciousness. More than anything else, I believe self-consciousness holds people back. Most people have fragile egos, propped up by some meticulously constructed self-image, and they would rather give up on something completely than be seen doing... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Easily understanding Italian articles

What are articles? I'm not talking about the things you read in a newspaper or a magazine, I'm talking about those little words that are attached to every noun you use: "a/an", and "the". Articles serve the purpose of distinguish a general noun (one of possibly many) from a specific noun. They tell the difference between "a ball" and "the ball".

In English we take articles for granted. It might come as a surprise, in fact, to learn that there are languages (such as Russian, or Polish) that don't... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Traveler phrasebooks are excellent learning tools

Up until today, all of the learning materials that I have suggested were absolutely free of charge. That's how I like it — I like to spend as little as possible. The problem with all of these free materials is that they can only be used when you are at your computer, connected to the internet. If you've got an iPhone, or other fancy new smartphone, that internet connection may not be much of a problem, but searching for things on a tiny telephone isn't fun.

Basically, what I'm saying is... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italian verb conjugation

Verb conja-what? Conjugation? Isn't that what people do in prison?

Conjugating a verb simply means applying the correct form of a verb to the subject of a sentence. It's not difficult, but it's one more way that English speakers can often be confused when learning a new language.

Very conjugation in English simply means adding an "s" to the end of verbs in the third-person: I go, you go, we go, he goes; I eat, you eat, we eat, they eat, she eats. This makes speaking English easier, but one... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The French you already know

Since today is Mardi Grás, I thought it would be fitting to take a moment away from talking about Italian to remind you that you already speak a foreign language — several, in fact! But today, we're talking about French.

You've probably heard the name "Fat Tuesday" a thousand times before, but never realized that Mardi means "Tuesday", and Grás means "fat". So Mardi Grás literally means "fat Tuesday".

And where on earth is Mardi Grás celebrated better than in the French Quarter... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

What is noun gender?

So far, English has been the only language I've learned which does not have noun genders. I'm sure there are others, but thus far I've been focused on romance languages (which have 2 genders), and slavic languages (which have 3).

What is gender
Like all romance languages, Italian has two genders: masculine and feminine, and these genders are reflected in both singular and plural forms. So this means that every noun is either masculine or feminine; either he or she. There is no "it".

For... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

You'll never be fluent by translating in your head

When thinking about learning a new language, it's common to think about it in terms of "what's the word for this" and "how do I say that", as if all that differentiated one language from another was the words they use to say things. This is a very common fallacy. It's also wrong.

In reality, there's much more involved. It's not just knowing the words, but also knowing how they are pronounced. How they sound. How they are combined. Grammar. Usage. Implications. Subtleties.

There are many aspects... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Describing people and things in Italian

L'uomo e la donna sonno vecchi. — The man and woman are old.
By this point, if you're doing your LiveMocha lessons every day, you should already be able to describe people and things, and you should know your basic colors. That's really a lot of progress in just the past three days!

The key to remembering what you learn is to use it. If you have a friend you can talk to in your language, that helps. But if not, it's still okay to talk to yourself. Just look at the world around you and... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The best free dictionary money can buy!

By now, you know how to pronounce words, and you've gotten started learning new words. But you probably don't feel like you know anything really useful yet, and that's not fun. So let's change that.

Get your money's worth
After you decide to learn a new language, it's hard to know where to start. Classes and tutors can be expensive and inconvenient. Many books can be frustrating. And software solutions tend to be extremely expensive!

I like to spend as little as possible on learning materials.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Make time for learning

So, you've learned a new alphabet and some pronunciation rules. You've discovered that you already speak your new language. And you've signed up at LiveMocha and started learning some new words. It's exciting, isn't it?

It can stay exciting, if you keep the right attitude. But just as that emotional burst you get from your excitement can keep you going all year, the disruption you get from distractions and competing obligations will be there to slow you down or make you give up altogether.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Really getting started

Okay, so we've spent a week talking about learning Italian, but so far we've learned little more than the alphabet, and you're starting to wonder how anyone can be fluent in a year at this pace, right? Obviously they can't. But I still insist that this was the most important week you will have spent on the way to your goal. Everything else is just learning!

Okay, okay, don't panic. I've still got a lot of tricks up my sleeves to share with you. We're definitely going to make it more interesting... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

You already speak a foreign language!

Okay, so you've learned the alphabet and you've started reading in your new language. That's exciting, and fun, but you still have now idea what the heck you're saying. Guess what: it doesn't matter!

Remember that knowing what you're saying doesn't matter; you've only just begun. The goal is to be fluent in one year, not in one day. Though it may not sound like much, you've got time. A whole year. What's important is that you're already speaking in a new language!

So it's time to find... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The sounds of Italian

Wow! We've just gotten started, but already we have found personal tutors (on YouTube) who are willing to teach us Italian right in our homes. We don't even have to get dressed... this is great!

Now that we've got our alphabets learned, let's take a deeper look at the sounds of letters and letter combinations, and learn a little bit about spelling. [Note: I'm going to be talking about Italian here, but this is an example of what you should be learning in any language you study.]

Here are the... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Finding the sounds of Italian

Some people have the fortune of a life that allows lots of travel, and for them, the best way to learn a language is, without a doubt, immersion in a country that speaks the language. For most of us, though, our careers or families keep us planted in one spot for most of the year. Still, that doesn't mean we can't learn a new language!

YouTube to the rescue!
The first thing we're going to need are authentic sounds and pronunciations that make up the language we're learning. If words like glottal... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The most important step you'll take toward fluency

I've chosen to learn to speak Italian fluently this year, but I have yet to complete the most important step I'll perform this year. There are a lot of important steps involved in becoming fluent in a new language: learning vocabulary, figuring out those strange new grammatical constructs, opening your ears to hear the language, learning to pronounce it, well, you get the idea. But there is one that that is more important than all of the rest.

The most important thing you'll do when setting a... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

My language choice for 2010 is...

I was really torn about which language to focus on this year. The two I was most interested in were Italian and Polish. Italian, because it's really the link between all other so-called romance languages; and Polish because I live in Chicago, where there are more Polish people than anywhere else in the world, outside of Warsaw. Also among consideration were Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and French.

Among the considerations for my first official one-year challenge are the following:
What prior knowledge... continue reading at Fluent Every Year