Here's a quick update on my learning Japanese project which began at the beginning of 2019. In October that year I got to pay my first visit to Japan. Little did I know that would be the last foreign travel I got to do to date. (There's also an update vid at the end of this post). Language learning log: March through July Since returning from my trip to Japan in autumn … [Read more...]
Welsh football words
Wales supporters celebrated the Wales men's team qualification for the Fifa World Cup only a few years after the national squad did so well in the 2016 and 2020 EUROs. The national team, like the language, put Wales on the map. To bring them both together I've put together this list of Welsh football words specially for the occasion. If you're a Welsh learner or thinking of … [Read more...]
Get Russian verb aspects right every time
Russian verb aspects can feel like the bane of a learner’s life. Just when you’ve learned some common Russian verbs, you discover that you have to learn a second set. For most verbs in English, Russian has a pair: an imperfective and a perfective. For “to say”, we have govorit’ and skazat’, for “to see” videt’ and uvidet’. But what’s the difference between the imperfective and … [Read more...]
The 50 most common French verbs
Learning the most frequent French words is makes tactical sense when you're starting to learn the language. The most common French verbs - words expressing an action like “to eat” or state like “to be” or an experience like "to happen" - should be at the top of your list. After all, beyond pointing at objects and naming them, you won’t get far in French without some "action"! … [Read more...]
How to learn Russian fast
So, you want to learn Russian fast? There’s no hiding it, getting really good at Russian is a big undertaking that takes a lot of time: maybe 300 hours study for a basic, functional “working knowledge” at the “lower intermediate” level (sometimes called “B1”). It also takes a shedload of commitment. But here’s the thing! If you’re motivated, you can achieve specific goals … [Read more...]