How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins

How to learn a foreign language. Methods, matrials and stories to help you maximise your effectiveness on the road to fluency

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In-depth explorations, actionable tips and inspiring conversations for language learners who REALLY want to get fluent…..plus a little bit of fun along the way.

At the Language Event: Edinburgh

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I'm recently back from the Language Event: Edinburgh. It was a two-day conference in celebration of languages and language learning. The head organiser was Richard Simcott of the Polyglot Conference. Here's my review (with three vlogs at the bottom of the post). The "Event" has grown out of last year's less formal Edinburgh language meet-up (staged at short notice by … [Read more...]

Polyglot Conference Fukuoka: Daily Vlogs

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The seventh Polyglot Conference took place in Fukuoka Japan. In this post, I share the three daily vlogs I shot at the event. The Conference is "for everyone who loves languages" and takes place each October, in a different location. In the vlogs, the focus is on conveying the vibe and giving a voice to some of the many attendees. I attended a lot of the talks as well and … [Read more...]

Goodbye 2018, hello 2019!

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How has your language learning gone this year?  As one year makes way for another, in this post let's take a step back and look over how things went....and look ahead to share hopes and plans for 2019 (also in vlog form, down at the bottom). But first, my annual year-end review and preview wouldn't be complete without a picture of a Christmas tree.  Here's my 2018 "bark n … [Read more...]

Language learning together…from 2017 to 2018

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Well, here we are on the eve of the New Year. I expect you too are looking back at all that happened in your world in 2017 and looking forward with anticipation to the New Year. Let's take stock and plan ahead together! But first.....a festive "kitsch-off" Regular readers may not yet have recovered from the picture of I shared in my 2016 end-of-year review of the … [Read more...]

Zwischen den Jahren: language learning together from the old year to the new

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Hello from a frosty and foggy London! If you celebrate the "Western" Christmas, I hope you had a great time. I love the decorations, the traditional, rather heavy British Christmas dinner (turkey, roast potatoes, all the "trimmings"). Now it's 29th December and I've finished the turkey but the cake and mince pies are still going strong. We're in that strange no man's … [Read more...]

Language Show Live – a review

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Language Show Live is a kind of "trade fair meets educational event" which styles itself as "Europe's leading annual event for people passionate about languages".  I attended for the first time in 2013.  Again in 2014, the event took place one Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the middle of October.  The venue: the historic Olympia Exhibition Centre  in London's West Kensington … [Read more...]

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