What to expect from a foreign language tutor? Well, if you think a tutor can learn the language for you, you’ll be disappointed. That certainly doesn't mean that it's not worth hiring a foreign language tutor, though. Get your expectations right and you'll find, as I have over the years, that a good language tutor can be hugely helpful at key stages on your road to fluency. … [Read more...]
German relative pronouns and relative clauses made clear
German relative pronouns causes some students a headache simply because they haven’t taken time to understand how the relative clause sentence pattern works and what it's for. Don’t make that mistake! In this post, you’ll find a clear explanation with the jargon busted and lots of clear examples. All the way through, we'll flag up what's similar to English. To finish, we’ll … [Read more...]
“Yma o hyd” by Dafydd Iwan and learning Welsh
I write this in the week that the Welsh protest song Yma o hyd by Dafydd Iwan topped the iTunes chart in the United Kingdom off the back of his performance in the stadium before Wales beat Ukraine and qualified for the Fifa World Cup for the first time for sixty-four years. Iwan appears to be as surprised as any at this unexpected turn of events. The song was written in 1983 … [Read more...]
Café culture in German: words and phrases
The German-speaking lands have a very developed café culture. Let’s look at the German words and phrases that you need for the perfect café experience! During the day, in a German or Austrian café, you’ll typically find a delicious range of Gebäck (das, pl. is the same, pastries), Kuchen (cakes) available and also alcoholic drinks. If a café is Selbst-Bedienung … [Read more...]
Hello and Goodbye in German: quick guide to the key words and phrases
Wondering how to say hello and goodbye in German? In this post you'll find the most useful ways of greeting people and saying farewell in the language. Just like in English, there are variations according to the level of formality and depending on the time of day. Some of the words are used throughout the German-speaking lands but others are associated with particular regions. … [Read more...]
German false friend words alert! (Your ultimate list)
As German learners, we love the hundreds of words that look similar or even identical and mean the same in both German and English. They may be words with a common Germanic root ("cognates" such as the man and der Mann), modern borrowings from one language to the other (the Rucksack, die Party…) or words taken from another language (often French, Greek or Latin like the/der … [Read more...]
How to choose an online language tutor
One-to-one sessions with an online tutor play a large role in my language learning. I’ve clocked up over seven hundred live sessions on Skype or Zoom in a range of languages. In this post you’ll discover the questions that I ask when I’ve pulled up a teacher’s profile and am looking for a good teacher fit. Italki.com is the platform on which I’ve found my … [Read more...]
Must-know German opinion phrases for agreeing and disagreeing
As a beginner in German, it’s a great feeling just to have the most basic exchanges: to say a little about yourself and your surroundings, ask some practical questions. But as you start to improve, you’ll soon want to have more meaningful conversations. You’ll want to share your interests, enthusiasms, likes and dislikes. And to find out about what matters to your conversation … [Read more...]
Best Russian YouTubers for upper-intermediate learners
Who are the best Russian YouTubers you'll most enjoy watching as an upper-intermediate to advanced Russian learner keen to get that essential native-level listening practice? No one viewer can survey everything, but it’s great to share some of the channels that I watch the most and why I like them. I've been meaning to blog about Russian YouTube for quite a while. Current … [Read more...]
How to make German friends, in the country or not!
If you’re serious about improving your spoken German, you need to use it consistently. A great way to do that is to make German friends (or meet native German speakers from elsewhere). But how do you find them? In this post, you’ll find some great practical ideas of how you can meet more native German speakers and make the most of the contacts that come your way, maximising the … [Read more...]