Language Information

Learning a Foreign Language: the Psychological Factor

When it comes about learning a foreign language, many people wonder if they will be able to memorize enough vocabulary. But this question never occurs about their mother tongue.

Speaking Spanish To Increase Mind Power

Our "mind power" is largely in the way we use our words, and limited by our vocabulary. Words, and the concepts they express, are different in each language, and there are differing common expressions.

Teaching English in Greece - What Do You Need to Know?

The employment situation can be quite uncertain for newcomers to Greece and therefore many people choose to try teaching English as a foreign language, on a full or part-time basis. It can bring in a good income whether it is your preferred career choice, or you wish to do it short-term until another career choice pans out.

Don't Take The Romaji Short-Cut When Learning Japanese

This is an issue many Japanese learners come up against, particularly if they live outside Japan. After all, If you are not in the country, it seems difficult to justify the huge amount of time that learning Japanese characters seems to require.

Learning a Foreign Language: Why Should you Learn Words You Never Use in Your Mother Tongue?

Imagine a child sitting in front of a desk, his head in his hands, and mumbling various lists of words over and over. Does this child remind you of your own experience? If yes, I bet that "list of words" does not sound appealing to you.

Japanese Kanji Learning: Short-Cuts to Rapid Mastery (Part 1)

What? Kanji can be learned quickly? This seems an impossible dream to many students of Japanese who come from a non-kanji language culture. Even hiragana and katakana seem impossibly hard to the average beginner, so remembering kanji, with all their intricate strokes and multiple readings, can appear to be beyond the abilities of the human mind.

Japanese Kanji Learning: Short-Cuts to Rapid Mastery (Part 2)

In Japanese Kanji Learning: Short-Cuts to Rapid Mastery Part 1, we looked at mnemonic methods devised by James Heisig and Kenneth Henshall to speed-up kanji acquisition. We saw how their techniques activate the imagination by assigning different meanings individual elements of each kanji.

Learn Korean: Part 1 - Asian Languages and Language Families

So, you have always been fascinated by Asian culture have you? Maybe you are someone who loves the martial arts; kung fu, tae-kwon-do, or karate. Perhaps you are interested in the cool oriental stores and like to buy many things from them to decorate your house.

Learning French in Paris

Nothing can be more frustrating than to be in France and not been able to speak their language. For, I remember the days when I was among people chanting around in a language totally alien to me, and me, trying to bring a smile in my face while shaking my head from north to south doing as if I am getting everything what they are speaking about, and waiting impatiently for my French wife to do the translation - and I can't deny, that that was not the most comfortable period of my life.

Uncommon Facts / Rules of English Language

English is an international language. It has so many grammar rules and each rule with many exceptions.

Can You Understand English?

There is a lot of talk about making English the official language of the USA. That would stop the need to spend so much money printing out things like drivers license, tax, voter registration and other official forms in so many languages.

Learning a Foreign Language: Learn from the Blind

In a previous article, you read that to establih your own lists was the best way to learn vocabulary as fast as possible. Let's study what an effective list looks like.

Learning a Foreign Language: the Ventriloquists Lesson

The main feature you have to master, in order to call yourself a ventriloquist, is to speak without moving your lips. It is not that difficult.

7 Words Americans Should Stop Using Until Further Investigation

Relationship: Here is a word that is used to qualify, justify and honey coat just about every nefarious, sleazy or reprehensible union between almost anybody and anything. Recently on an edition of the Jerry Springer show a guest was about to be interviewed who was getting it on with a very close relative.

Aphasia: The Cruelest Language Barrier

Imagine the following scenario: You wake up one morning and instead of speaking English, everyone around you--including your family and friends--is speaking Hungarian. This is a problem because you don't speak Hungarian and you don't have a clue what they're saying.

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RELATED ARTICLES

Japanese Kanji Learning: Short-Cuts to Rapid Mastery (Part 1)
What? Kanji can be learned quickly? This seems an impossible dream to many students of Japanese who come from a non-kanji language culture. Even hiragana and katakana seem impossibly hard to the average beginner, so remembering kanji, with all their intricate strokes and multiple readings, can appear to be beyond the abilities of the human mind.

Bridging the Language Gap Using Bilingual Picture Books
There are more than 39 million Hispanics live in the United States making it the fifth largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world. It is estimated that within five years, only Mexico will have more Spanish-speakers than the U.

English Slang For Perplexed Tourists
I watched the British version of 'Big Brother' recently. That's the television show which is a human hamster cage.

Learning a Foreign Language: Why Should you Learn Words You Never Use in Your Mother Tongue?
Imagine a child sitting in front of a desk, his head in his hands, and mumbling various lists of words over and over. Does this child remind you of your own experience? If yes, I bet that "list of words" does not sound appealing to you.

7 Words Americans Should Stop Using Until Further Investigation
Relationship: Here is a word that is used to qualify, justify and honey coat just about every nefarious, sleazy or reprehensible union between almost anybody and anything. Recently on an edition of the Jerry Springer show a guest was about to be interviewed who was getting it on with a very close relative.

Teaching English in Greece - What Do You Need to Know?
The employment situation can be quite uncertain for newcomers to Greece and therefore many people choose to try teaching English as a foreign language, on a full or part-time basis. It can bring in a good income whether it is your preferred career choice, or you wish to do it short-term until another career choice pans out.

Chinese Pinyin or Hanyu Pinyin Overview
Chinese Pinyin is the romanization of the Chinese "written sound". Romanization approximates Mandarin pronunciation with Western spellings and includes a tone mark to signify the pitch of a word.

Online IELTS Preparation - Why Does It Make Sense?
Because IELTS is a difficult test. While most agree that IELTS is a reasonable test, it is generally regarded as one of the most challenging tests of its type.

How Ronzoni Italian Foods Helped My Dad Learn English
My dad likes to say, he was made in Italy, but born in Brooklyn New York. You see his parents left Palermo, Sicily in February 1955 and sailed by boat to America.

Aphasia: The Cruelest Language Barrier
Imagine the following scenario: You wake up one morning and instead of speaking English, everyone around you--including your family and friends--is speaking Hungarian. This is a problem because you don't speak Hungarian and you don't have a clue what they're saying.

Teaching Reading to English Language Learners
There is an increasing amount of English language learners represented in our schools for whom a unique approach to developing literacy is necessary. The development of literacy by English language learners (ELLs) includes all of the challenges implicit for English speaking children literacy attainments, and is additionally compounded by a diversity of linguistic, cognitive and academic variables.

Second Language Competence Beneficial but often Misunderstood
Second language learning has associated with it many types of benefits. Among them include: social, economic, intellectual and linguistic.

Learning a Foreign Language: the Ventriloquists Lesson
The main feature you have to master, in order to call yourself a ventriloquist, is to speak without moving your lips. It is not that difficult.

Whats In A Word? More Than You Realize
What's in a word? Apparently more than we might want.For others, the ability to express yourself in the most meaningful way.

Show Me the Bunny: Language Acquisition
Some children are really funny about experimenting with speech. Nonetheless, the first intelligible words bring such a feeling of elation to a parent.

Learn Italian for Free
Italian is one of the most widespread languages in the world, and speaking it can give you a tremendous sense of accomplishment, an edge in your career, and even a stronger bond with your ancestors if you are of Italian descent. There are many ways you can learn Italian, including textbooks, tapes, CDs, software, group classes or private lessons, but there are also ways you can begin or continue your studies of the Italian language entirely for FREE!1.

Learning French in Paris
Nothing can be more frustrating than to be in France and not been able to speak their language. For, I remember the days when I was among people chanting around in a language totally alien to me, and me, trying to bring a smile in my face while shaking my head from north to south doing as if I am getting everything what they are speaking about, and waiting impatiently for my French wife to do the translation - and I can't deny, that that was not the most comfortable period of my life.

Learn Italian in Italy
You can combine your love of the Italian language with an unforgettable experience in the country where the language is spoken by studying Italian in Italy! Hands-down, the best way to learn a foreign language is to live, work, or study in a native speaking environment. Studying Italian in Italy is the best possible experience you can have to learn the language.

English Has Come A Long, Long Way...
I often wonder what would happen if Shakespeare were to be transported in a time machine to our world today. What would he think? How would he react?Yes, Willie would probably tell me "thou hast too much time on thy hands if thou spendeth it wondering about such flights of fancy.

GROUSE ... GROUSE ... GROUSE!!!
I realize that we here in the United States consider ourselves at the top rung of the educational ladder, if only for the fact that so many foreign language students are breaking their necks to come here to both study and live English.But, on second glance, we should not deceive ourselves.