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