So, you want to learn Portuguese fast? Follow the advice in this post and you can get yourself ready to use your Portuguese in the sorts of basic everyday contexts that we all need or in highly specialised contexts that are personal to you. This post is addressed to you if you're a beginner, a false beginner or rusty. That said, much of what you'll read will also help … [Read more...]
TRKI Fourth Certificate: the fullest “how to” candidate interview yet
I'm delighted to present the latest in Howtogetfluent's well-established series of interviews with successful candidates for the most advanced Russian exam, the TRKI 4th Certificate. The Тест по русскому языку как иностранному Четвертый сертификационный уровень (ТРКИ-4), as it’s known in Russian, is the top exam for Russian as a foreign language. The exam … [Read more...]
How to keep learning a language when life’s turned upside down
Last September, my life got turned a bit upside down. First, routine tests revealed that my dad had cancer and he had to go into hospital for a major op. I decamped to stay at his apartment near Oxford so I could visit him in hospital. We expected him to be out in five days, but he was in for a month. For a few days, things look pretty grim and it was just at that point that I … [Read more...]
Three encouraging language learning truths
Learning languages can be an exciting, thrilling process. But it also takes a lot of time and, if you're "in" for the long haul, you'll have your ups and downs. Here are three encouraging truths to buck you up a bit next time you're starting to flag. Why you're good enough to get fluent, even if others are better If you're anything like me, you may sometimes look at … [Read more...]
The 50 most common German adjectives
Learning the most frequent German words is makes tactical sense when you're starting to learn the language. Below, you'll find a full list of the fifty most common German adjectives. Adjectives are words that describe what somebody or something is like, for example old, young, intelligent, red, tired. For example “Der Mann ist alt” (the man is old), "Das Buch ist neu" (The book … [Read more...]