Discovering Turkish conversation online...

When you set out to learn a new language, usually there are books, or tapes, or other learning materials to guide you through the basics — not enough to actually get you to fluency, but usually enough to give confidence to start a conversation.

However, when you're learning without any learning materials, getting to that first conversation can be a daunting task! You have no idea what to say, of course. And unless you move to Turkey (or wherever they speak the language you're learning), you're... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Today I'm going to admit something to you

I'm going to share a personal admission with you all right now. You won't see many other bloggers admitting things like this. Are you ready for it?

We are almost at the end of a second month this year — one-sixth of my time is already gone — and I still can't even have a simple conversation in Turkish!

Yup. That's right. I guaranteed to learn this language fluently in one year, and so far, after two months, I can't even have the most basic of all conversations.

And why is... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The most important advice I have to give

When I started this blog, just a little more than a year ago, I was just one of several newbie bloggers who were excited about language-learning and starting language blogs at around the same time. Today, I'm still far from reaching my blogging goals, but my blog is relatively popular, and relatively successful, whereas several of those others have faded into obscurity.

What's the difference? I don't think I'm any smarter than anyone else, and I'm sure some of those other bloggers knew more... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Free gift for Twitter followers

I recently did a small, non-scientific survey of polyglots and asked them four simple questions about language learning. I got a lot of responses, and found out several interesting things about polyglots — or at least about those in my network.

But I also found several incredible patterns. In fact, even though all the responses were free-text fields, there were some details that came up in the responses with amazing frequency — several with more than 50% frequency, and one particular... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Discover clothing in Turkish

This week I decided to learn about clothing terms in Turkish, and in doing so, to discover more about the Turkish language, grammar, etc.

In order to get started, I needed to know what to search for. I checked Google Translate for "clothes" and it said "giysi", but searching Google for giysi turned up pages of toys, so that's not right. Obviously there some subtlety here that I'll want to understand later. But for now, I'm not going to worry about it.

When I checked Google Translate for... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Italy travel report, part 2

A few weeks ago I gave you all a progress report on how things were working out for me actually being in Italy, using the the Italian language as I had learned it from here at home.

That last update was just slightly past the half-way point in my trip, and it represented two significant things in my experiences. First, it represented my initial culture shock upon actually being in the country. And second, it represented my experiences with accents north of Rome, as I had spent my time in Pisa,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Gear lust

I recently made a comment about photography, referring to a saying I (and many others) have used when people talk about their gear: "nice camera, but now let me see your photos." This is because people too often get obsessed with their gear and they forget about using it.

For several years, I've been a serious photography enthusiast. In the beginning there are so many questions. You want to know which is the best camera, the best lens. You look into the power output and refresh rate of lighting.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The triune brain

In the 1960's, a neuroscientist named Paul MacLean formulated an idea called the Triune Brain. To tell it in over-simplified terms, the idea describes how the human brain has formed as a result of evolution. Triune Brain Theory describes the brain in three parts: the reptilian brain, the mammal brain, and the human brain.

The reptilian brain — that developed earliest in our evolution — manages repetetive tasks, motor skills, and physical survival. This is the part of the brain... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Game mechanics

In 2005, I bought my first iPod. It was the first to use the new click wheel. I didn't know that, though, and the iPod didn't come with any instructions. I had used it for two days before finally, by some random chance, I dragged my finger along that wheel and heard the click, and I realized this device does more than I thought.

It worked fine without me knowing everything, but it worked even better when I discovered the additional feature. And I was never confused by a bunch of difficult instructions.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Inspired by Egypt

I've been rather captivated by the events in Egypt since they started. I can't help thinking that this is really big deal. And every day, the stakes are raised.

Millions of people coming out across the country in protest of their dictator is amazing. Doing so in spite of coverage being hidden from state television is more amazing. Continuing to do it after the internet was taken away is still more incredible.

These people participated in peaceful, unarmed protest and managed to get the entire... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

What is yearlyglot?

So what exactly is "yearlyglot"? What is this site about? What do I stand for? Maybe I haven't been entirely clear. I realized that when something I thought was obvious turned out to be a complete surprise to someone. So today, I'm going to take a moment to explain a few things I stand for.

Regarding a year
To start, I know you're all bright readers, so I'm sure you already figured out that "yearlyglot" is a play on the word "polyglot", indicating that I learn one language every year. It's... continue reading at Fluent Every Year