KLOO is a really great way for beginners to learn Spanish or learn French.  It’s a traditional board game of the first-to-get-to-home style, home in this case being Paris or Madrid.  In order to move your player, you must construct grammatically correct sentences with words on cards.  Andrew came from a games design company and he’s really thought about the mechanism well.  The cards are colour coded so you can construct grammatical sentences without actually knowing what they mean, and learn the meanings by discovery as you play.

KLOO is a terrific family for those who’d like to introduce their kids to a second language, but I’m sure it’d be just as much fun for adults too!

Enjoy!

Gareth

I interviewed Chris Haworth who represents AIL Madrid and talked about the benefits of doing an intense course in Madrid:

I also spoke with Alice, who was at the show representing In Hispania.  As well describing in detail the sorts of activities such a course can provide, she also surprised me with how cheap the courses are:

There were lots more companies offering similar courses, so worth shopping around, but do make sure  to look for courses accredited by the Institut de Cervantes, or the appropriate counsel for the country you are visiting.

I love a relaxing beach holiday or a week snowboarding as much as anyone, but a study holiday can be just a much fun, and to come away speaking your favourite second language with improved fluency and some new friends has got to be one of the prospects for a week abroad, hasn’t it?

In the next article in my Language Show Interviews series, I interview Dr Imran Alawiye about his impressive and highly innovative “Gateway to Arabic” product range.

Enjoy!

Gareth

So far in this series on building learning muscles, we’ve looked at Resilience and Resourcefulness.  In this third article in the series, it’s time to take a good look in the mirror.  Let’s look at Reflection.

Reflection is about watching yourself learn, about taking time to construct a mental mirror and holding it up to your learning strategies, tactics and methods.

We look in the mirror to make ourselves better and if we don’t look, we won’t see what we could improve.  When was the last time you actually took stock of your approach to your language learning?  Is it working?  Have you improved?  Can you measure the improvement?

Why note grab a pen, or open a Word file and answer some of these questions right now:

• Why are you learning?  Think of three reasons why you want to speak French or German or your language of choice.  Let yourself get excited by them again.
• List five ways you can remember that were really effective at learning or improving.
• List five experiences in the past that weren’t so effective.
• What are your bad learning habits? Are you still doing them?
• How often do you practice?  Is it enough?  What else could you be doing?  If it feels like a chore, go back to your reasons for learning.  Think how amazing it would be to speak fluently or with more confidence when you travel.
• Ask yourself honestly: how’s it going?  Are you on target? If not, what can you do right now to get back on track?

Taking time to reflect on your learning is vital if you want to learn effectively.  But don’t just look in the mirror – make sure you act on what you see if it isn’t working.

Gareth

When learning a language not all words and phrases are created equal.  Not only can focussing on the “right” words/phrases lead to accelerated improvement in your communication skills, conversely a trying to master too much vocabulary too early can actually be counterproductive.

I will explain this in a moment but just to add a little bit of credence to this post let’s take the Top 10 idea and turn it into a more meaningful illustration. Tony Buzan– the inventor of “mind maps” and all around memory guru explored the importance of specific words in came up with a list of 100 key words in his book ‘Use Your Memory’.

Based on his analysis the words or their equivalents in foreign languages (shown at end of post) comprise around 50% of all the words used in normal conversations. Whether it is 50% or not is not important, and as my colleague Gareth observed out there will of course be some cultural variation but what is intuitively obvious is that the meanings conveyed (not necessarily the literal translations) by those words in the list add significantly more weight to your language skills than say a list of common foods, medical conditions and zoo animals (as entirely practical as those nouns and adjectives may be in specific scenarios with specific requirements).

So, why can the opposite (that is too much vocabulary) be counterproductive?  It is mainly a problem for beginners or casual learners who all need as much learning juice as possible (AKA motivation) to overcome the inevitable learning curve (AKA total confusion and frustration) when learning a language.  However it can also be a problem for more established learners, where “flashcard procrastination” can sneak into study patterns.

For the first group to maintain momentum and push through the frustration it is important to start meaningfully communicating as quickly as possible and thus start seeing reward for their effort.  Hours of work to memorise all the fruits and vegetables as opposed to Buzan’s Top 100 is not likely to achieve this unless you are a green grocer wanting to compare notes in a foreign country.  That sort of vocabulary is often best absorbed when you need it (i.e. looking it up before you go to a green grocer when you will be “in the mood”), and while I am certainly not saying it should never be studied pro actively just be aware of the relative importance of concepts you are trying to master and focus on learning key elements first.

“Flashcard procrastination” which affects more advanced students is where people make up for a period of ebbing enthusiasm by nailing a stack of new vocabulary.  Again, it is not to say this is not useful, it clearly adds to your knowledge and helps to keep the truck rolling, but I can say from personal experience it is often a very passive process that is often little more than a distraction.  Be conscious of this when you study and try and break your pattern if you feel yourself falling into it.

I overran the word limit a few paragraphs ago, so I will wrap it up and hope to receive any thoughts, complaints, arguments, suggestions below.  If you take one thing from this post it is this “not all words are created equal”.  Engage with your learning, focus on meaning and depth not just numbers and your language will improve dramatically.

Good luck!

Simon

Top 100 most useful words

from ‘Use Your Memory’, Tony Buzan, BBC Books, London, ISBN 0-5633-37102-1

1. a, an      2. after      3. again      4. all        5. almost

6. also       7. always     8. and        9. because    10. before

11. big       12. but       13. (I) can   14. (I) come  15. either/or

16. (I) find  17. first     18. for       19. friend    20. from

21. (I) go    22. good      23. goodbye   24. happy     25. (I) have

26. he        27. hello     28. here      29. how       30. I

31. (I) am    32. if        33. in        34. (I) know  35. last

36. (I) like  37. little    38. (I) love  39. (I) make  40. many

41. one       42. more      43. most      44. much      45. my

46. new       47. no        48. not       49. now       50. of

51. often     52. on        53. one       54. only      55. or

56. other     57. our       58. out       59. over      60. people

61. place     62. please    63. same      64. (I) see   65. she

66. so        67. some      68. sometimes 69. still     70. such

71. (I) tell  72. thank you 73. that      74. the       75. their

76. them      77. then      78. there is  79. they      80. thing

81. (I) think 82. this      83. time      84. to        85. under

86. up        87. us        88. (I) use   89. very      90. we

91. what      92. when      93. where     94. which     95. who

96. why       97. with      98. yes       99. you       100. Your

Use Your Memory

Tony Buzan. BBC Books 2003, Paperback, 196 pages, $253.62

Our conversation reminded me just how intimidating learning a new language can be once the initial excitement wears off.  Not all languages have the same learning curve but in French in particular there is a vast amount to learn in the beginning.  New sounds to master, new accents on letters, masculine and feminine nouns and articles, all those confusing verb conjugations and that’s not even counting the irregular verbs, new tenses to learn and so much more!  Simon gave some great advice about how to keep the truck rolling, but what if you’re stopped before you’ve even started?  How do you get and stay motivated?

First things first: Manage your expectations.  Be realistic.  There’s a lot to get through, that’s just a fact.  It’s going to take time, so be ready for that and relax about it if you’re not fluent after a week.

Second: Get clear about why you’re learning.  Write your top three motivations for wanting to learn a new language.  When the going gets tough, remind yourself why you’re doing it.

Third: Set yourself clear goals with a timeframe.  What can you have mastered by next month for example?  Don’t take on too much.

Fourth: Put study time in your diary and stick to it.  Whether it’s ten minutes in the morning Monday to Friday, or an hour every Sunday, find a schedule that works for you and stick to it.

Five: Make it social.  You’ll be more likely to stick to it if you get a tutor or find a language buddy or group to practise with.

Learning a new language is a long road to walk. Congratulations for starting it!  You will get there eventually.

Gareth

Whether it be by keeping up with your Word of the Day, studying your books every night or hiring a tutor every week, make sure that you at least try and do something related to that language as often as possible (ideally don’t even let a day go by without at least thinking about a sentence in your chosen language).   By keeping the truck going (however slowly) over time you lock the language into your mental framework, it stops being something you’re studying and starts being something you do.  This is quite a different frame of reference when you think about it.  The first is something that you can give up because “it was too hard” or “I was busy”, the second however, is a part of who you are—it may not be perfect but you can’t give it up any more than you can get rid of your first language.

So, at the very least commit to something so simple you can’t possibly make an excuse not to do.  The word a day you’re learning will soon be 30 words a month and 365 words a year, not only will your language inevitably improve, as it locks itself into your mind it becomes something of a self-fulfilling routine, one that carries you through the inevitable ebbs of enthusiasm and lets you drive the truck forward when you’re back in the right frame of mind.

Simon