The book is dead, long live the book!

I've had my Kindle for a few weeks now, and I've used it in a lot of ways, both conventional and nonconventional, and I think I'm ready to report what I've learned and form some opinions about this device.

Let me begin by saying that modern society has invented endless methods of sharing information over the decades, all of them more efficient than books, but reading text on a screen is not fun. Furthermore, the Kindle isn't even the first e-book reader.

But it's clearly the first one to... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Is it important to speak correctly?

When you start learning a new language and reading all the motivation and instructional blogs, you find that there are a lot of strong opinions on whether or not it is important to speak correctly. Today, hopefully, I can help you cut through the dogma and the loud voices to figure out the answer for yourself.

Getting started
In the early stages of learning a language, the most important activity is speaking: forcing recall from your brain, forming sounds and accents, creating thoughts. The... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

When you want simple grammar, you want Tagalog

In spite of the fact that I'd had 2 years of Spanish classes, and in spite of the fact that I think Spanish is the best first choice for a second language. In spite of the fact that I was enrolled in German classes at the time, the first foreign language I actually ever used was Tagalog.

Sure, I eventually went on to use Spanish — a lot! — as there are plenty of opportunities for it here in the US. But in my first year of high school, on my first day, in my first class, I gave some... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The worst language I’ve ever seen

I've complained about some other languages, and I've had a lot to say about one in particular, but there is one language I know of which is, in my opinion, worse than all others. When I think of all the ways to make a language difficult, this one has most of them, along with a few frustrating details that I would have never thought were possible if I hadn't seen it for myself.

Mabye you've already guessed that the language I'm talking about is English.
“If the English language made any sense,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Germanic languages – you might be surprised!

Learning a new language within the same language branch as another language you already know is much easier than learning something within a completely different branch or family. And knowing a central language in a language branch also makes it easier to understand things you see and hear in another language from that language branch, even if you don't know that language at all.

Germanic languages
The Germanic language branch of the Indo-European language tree has roots older than the Roman... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Мои пальчики писали, мои пальчики устали!

Each language feels different when it hits your ear, and feels strange as it exits your mouth — often leaving your tongue twisted into a new, uncomfortable shape! But one other difference that might not be so obvious is the way it "feels" to type in that language.

I'm a touch-typist. I've grown up with computers. I had typing class in first grade. I type fast and I don't look. And I expect that a lot of people in my generation or younger fit that description.

Interestingly, it seems... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

A fun way to strengthen your Italian speaking skills no matter where you are

One of my philosophies in life is the idea that doing things which are difficult makes it easier to do things that aren't. And naturally this can be applied to tasks like learning a foreign language!

Among the hardest things to do in any language we find one of the most fun: saying tongue-twisters. It's something you can do anywhere you go, and it will help you to get past those mouth-bending sounds.

Not only do tongue-twisters help you to practice and strengthen your speaking skills, but... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The next evolution of communication

Technology continues to reshape the way we communicate, and recently that has gotten me thinking about what that might mean for me. What's coming? What's already here? What else is on its way? The last month has seen big news from several different directions, all of which seem (at least to me) to be related. And very exciting...

Tech news
First, Amazon released their new Kindle. It's smaller, faster, better, and significantly less expensive, but what I find most interesting is that it now... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Learning how to say thanks

One of the simplest things I do in foreign languages also happens to be the one that people seem to find most impressive: simply saying "thanks". The trick is, doing it in their language.

I recently went to lunch with several coworkers, and I recognized the waitress's accent as Romanian, so when she brought out our food, I told her mulţumesc — Romanian for "thank you".

It's just one word, and I really don't know much more than that in Romanian. But that one word is priceless, because... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Ci, Vi, and Ne

We've learned about the reflexive pronouns ci and vi, and the partitive pronoun ne, but the Italian pronouns ci, vi, and ne all have secret powers that other pronouns don't have. Can you guess what it is?

The secret is, they all have the ability to double as adverbs!

More shortcuts
In much the same way that ne works to back-reference things in its role as a partitive pronoun, ci, vi, and ne can be used as adverbs to back-reference a preposition.

In this usage, the words ci, vi, and... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Do fun things while you learn

One of the best ways to kill progress in a language is, of course, to make it boring. And likewise, one of the best ways to keep your interest in a language is to do things with it that are fun and/or interesting. Here are a few fun things I do in Italian.
Social networking
I've already talked about one social network, Badoo, which I find to be a good, general-purpose place to practice your target language. There is, unfortunately, a stigma attached to using that site, since most people seem... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Beginner’s guide to Russian nonsense

Into every conversation, a little nonsense must fall. And it should come as no surprise that a rich language like Russian is rich with nonsense!

Sometimes there's just not a word to express what you want to say. Other times words are too long. And besides, when one little grunt can get your message across, why use anything more?

And so it is that one often finds himself (or herself) in a conversation consisting more of little nonsense words than actual vocabulary!

ой
We'll start with... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Do you want to learn to swear in a foreign language?

Okay, we all know those cretins who seem to know the swear words in every language, but don't know how to say hello, please, or thank you in even one foreign langauge. And we probably also know those judgmental prudes who refuse to ever learn any swear words because they don't want to seem untame, uncultured, unintelligent in their foreign language. I'm neither. But I do have an opinion...

Uncultured? Unintelligent?
I understand the "uncultured" argument. Without a doubt, there are endless... continue reading at Fluent Every Year