Diet pills, lottery tickets, and other nonsense

Okay, you're probably wondering what diet pills and lottery tickets have to do with language learning. Or, maybe you're a wise and perceptive reader, and you already see where I'm going with this. Either way, I'm sure you'll get some value out of what I'm about to say.

Magic pills
You know those weight loss pills that are advertised on tv. They talk about a weight loss secret or a glycemic advantage, or some other provokative sales tactic with the illusion of science to back it up.

We all... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

More Turkish with Tarkan

Today is a good day to look at another Tarkan song. This is another one that I've found really catchy, called Çat Kapı. I couldn't find the video for it, so it will just be accompanied by the audio. Also, I started with this translation, but tried to clean up the English grammar a bit so it would make more sense.

Tarkan - Çat Kapı
Aşk...
Bi dahamı?
Tövbe
Yasak ettim ben onu bu gönüle

Tadı tatlıdır önceleri
Ama sonu sancılıdır
Gelmem oyununa
Kaç kez yandı dilim
Bu... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Guest audio: Евгений Онегин, chapter 31

This is the second installment of my new weekly feature, based on non-English speakers reading in their native language. You can hear native pronunciation, while reading along, and hopefully it will help you to improve your comprehension.

Today's contribution comes from Natasha, a native Russian speaker who is working hard to improve her English.

She reads to us from one of Russia's most celebrated literary works, Yevgeniy Onegin by Alexander Pushkin.

Natasha - Yevgeniy Onegin
Я к... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

First person conjugations

We've looked at a few properties of verbs already, and already figured out a lot about verbs without using any instruction at all. But we still haven't established even the basic first-person conjugations. After three months, I can't even say "I'm hungry" yet!

Well, it turns out, I can say it. Actually, I can say a lot once I think about it. I just didn't know it! I've had a hunch about these conjugations for a while, and by now I think I'm pretty confident that this is the way it works...

First,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

The myth of how children learn

There is a popular myth floating around, which suggests that children are somehow more capable of learning than adults are. People love this myth, because as adults it gives them a convenient excuse for not learning.

The myth is particularly popular in the realm of language learning. It's just accepted as true, without any argument, that children have some sort of amazing, otherworldly ability to learn languages, and that somehow that ability is lost as we get older. Really! People believe... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Negation investigation

While browsing through referers to my web site, I found a thread on a Turkish forum. Cool! The thread is a discussion of Russian, and they linked to my explanation of Russian prefixes.

I decided to browse the thread and see if I could find something I can understand. But even better, I found something from which I can learn! Here's the relevant portion:ne xa4u spat = uyumak istemiyorum.
ne xo4etSA spat = uyuyasım gelmiyor.As you know, sometimes I like to use one language to learn another.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Guest audio: Prawiek i inne czasy

This is the first installment of a new weekly feature I'm going to do here, featuring non-English speakers reading in their native language. You'll hear native pronunciation, and be able to read along and improve your comprehension. I hope you'll find these posts useful!

Our first contribution comes from Ewelina Gonera, a native Polish speaker who is also an accomplished student of English, and writes for English Focused, a blog with a focus on the interesting peculiarities of the English language.... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

That's a beautiful language!

This morning I was talking with David Mansaray about languages that sound beautiful, and about their tendency sometimes to lose their luster. This provides me a great introduction to a related topic that I've been thinking about lately.

How our view of a language changes
I remember when I first started learning Spanish. I was fascinated with it. I thought it was a gorgeous language and I couldn't get enough. But somewhere along the way, I became a fluent speaker of Spanish, any my opinion... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Learning Turkish with Tarkan

If you've been reading this site, you already know that I love using music to learn. Right from the start, one of the first things I do with a new language is find music to help me learn.

At the beginning of this year, I found several Turkish singers, one of whom was Tarkan. Admittedly I haven't found tons of music yet, but out of what I have found so far, Tarkan has been my favorite. And this song in particular really pleases my ear. So... it's time to figure out what he's saying!



Here... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Stop trying to control everything and just let go

You may recognize that title as a quote from the movie Fight Club. As movies go, Fight Club is perhaps over-quoted, but there's a reason for that: people quote things that make sense. In that movie, the character played by Edward Norton learns exactly how fickle the world can be, and how useless it is to try to control everything. Once he lets go, he finally starts to find his way.

I was reminded of this recently when a friend saw me on Skype and opened a new conversation by saying "Dude, really... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Hard and soft consonants – a look at palatalization

When you decide to learn Russian, you're immediately greeted with a few interesting challenges right away on day one. You have to learn a brand new alphabet just to read and write in this new language!

Fortunately, it's really not hard to learn the Russian alphabet, in fact, I think it's easier and better than ours because there is only one sound per letter. But there are two characters in the Russian alphabet that will leave you perplexed for a long time as you take on the challenge of this... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Can you learn a language in eight days?

It's March 8th, so I want to wish a happy International Women's Day to all my female readers today. And this year, it happens to coincide with Fat Tuesday, which means that here in Chicago, we also celebrate Pączki Day. (The Polish actually celebrated this last Thursday.) And speaking of Polish, that brings me to today's topic.

After having discovered the joys of Kindle, I have decided that I no longer need to own actual books. They're cumbersome, inefficient, and really heavy on moving day... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Stop thinking about mistakes.

What would you think if I said the biggest thing holding you back in your progress doesn't even exist? Maybe you'd think I was crazy. Or maybe you'd think I was simplifying or generalizing, or just lying to you to make you feel better. Well, I have a feeling you're going to be surprised.

One of the biggest things that holds people back in a foreign language is a fear of making mistakes. Oh, sure, you'll say it's not a fear. But I don't care what you call it. Whether you're afraid, or averse,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

How do you create commitment?

Recently I talked about commitment. I said it was the most important adviced I have to give. The topic sparked some unexpected interest and discussion, and it's got me to thinking... I said commitment was the most important thing, but I never really said how to become committed.

The truth is, I'm not completely sure how a person becomes committed to something. But I do have a theory!

I believe commitment comes with what you attach to your identity — how you perceive yourself, and how you... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Huevos Rancheros: learn Spanish while making a tasty egg-based meal!

Having been an avid reader of Yearlyglot for a while now, I've been wanting to do a guest post and when I finally got around to asking Randy about it recently he came up with a very interesting suggestion: do a recipe in Spanish and dissect it the way you do those Shakira music videos. That's actually a spectacular idea — so good, in fact, I might continue the recipe theme in the future on my own site.

He suggested a popular Latin American dish, I agreed it ought to be something popular... continue reading at Fluent Every Year