Non-Russian learners imagine it must be difficult to learn the Russian alphabet. Actual Russian learners know that it's easily done….and that the real challenges of the language lie elsewhere. In this post, you'll find three great tricks to help you learn the Russian alphabet in as little as an afternoon and we'll apply them together to each letter. If you’re going to … [Read more...]
German listening practice on steroids (neglected technique)
Getting good German listening practice is essential if you want to get fluent. Even if you “know” lots of words and grammar, can read, write and even say quite a lot, listening often seems to lag behind. It’s really frustrating when you still can’t understand your favourite shows or movies. How embarrassing in a live conversation when you can’t catch the responses … [Read more...]
How to learn German fast
So, you want to learn German fast? There’s no hiding it, getting really good at German is a big undertaking that takes a lot of time: maybe 350 hours study for a basic, functional “working knowledge” at the “lower intermediate” level (sometimes called “B1”) and at least 600 hours to get even more fluent across a wider range as an “upper intermediate” speaker (B2). It also … [Read more...]
The 50 most common German verbs
Learning the most frequent German words is makes tactical sense when you're starting to learn the language. The most common German verbs - words expressing an action like “to eat” or a state like “to be” - should be at the top of your list. After all, beyond pointing at objects and naming them, you won’t get far in German without some "action"! :) There’s good … [Read more...]
German genitive case: the only guide you’ll ever need
In this example-packed post you’ll discover how to form the German genitive case and what it’s used for. There are some nifty genitive-avoiding workarounds too! Genitive-avoiding? Yep, the first of three good pieces of news about the case is that it’s by far the least-used of German's four cases. Even in higher registers of written German, the … [Read more...]
Japanese update: August to October
Here's an autumn update on my Basic Japanese Project (update vid at the end of the post). I started learning the Japanese twenty months ago in preparation for my first visit to Japan (last October). I had a great time there both exploring as a tourist in Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kyoto and Tokyo and attending the Polyglot Conference. Since then, I've continued with this … [Read more...]
Learning Japanese: Month 19 update
July was a big month in my Japanese journey: I started speaking Japanese with a teacher. During the month I had with six one-to-one conversational sessions online. In this latest monthly update on my Project Japanese, I'll tell you all about that in the context of my wider efforts to learn the language (also as a vid at the bottom of this post). I started learning the … [Read more...]
Intermediate Basque: learner update
Beginner's Japanese has been my main personal language learning focus since early 2019 but I'm also a serious intermediate Basque learner. Here's an update on my Basque language journey and some tips, questions and conclusions that just might help you, whatever your language, whatever your level :) While I love rapid progress and an (effective) quick fix as much as the next … [Read more...]
Is Welsh hard to learn?
"Is Welsh hard to learn?" If you're about to start learning Welsh it pays to know what you're taking on! For that, you're in the right place. If you're some way in to your Welsh journey and feeling frustrated, you're also in luck. In this post, I'll give you the full, no-messing low-down on what's easy and what's not so easy about this wonderful language. (Spoiler: Welsh put up … [Read more...]
Learning Japanese: Month 17 update
It's time for my monthly Japanese learning update (with vid at the bottom of this post). I started my "Learn Japanese" project at the beginning of 2019. Though I've previously learned a little Indonesian, this is my first serious attempt at an Asian language. I'm a firm believer in the power of habit in language learning and the core of my Japanese learning has been a … [Read more...]