Is it possible to learn foreign words while sleeping?

Of course, we all want to make our language learning as easy as possible. We all want to learn less and to know more. The perfect thing is that a foreign language would be learnt like itself, without our active participation. So, the idea of training in sleep occurred. Is it real to learn foreign words during bedtime?

A Canadian specialist on sleeping Florence Cardinal claims that information hearing during a sleep brings about important sleep phases violation – the sounds hinder us to fall asleep and we cannot get enough sleep and relax.  

Specialists suppose that it’s impossible to learn foreign words or something else while sleeping but we cannot learn anything without a healthy sleep. We should get enough sleep otherwise we would feel slack and cannot learn a language effectively. Psychologists have the same view that information is mastered best namely before bedtime. Repeat the info before to go to bed and you would know it better next morning than if you would do it during a daytime.

Here is one more important thing. Have you ever noticed that when you hear a melody after waking up in the morning it would swirl in your head a whole day? Why not to use it in foreign language learning? Foreign words learnt in the morning are remembered much better – I know it from my own experience.

And when do you prefer to learn a foreign language? Will you please write in comments.

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What shall we NOT do for learning a foreign language online?

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What shall we NOT do for learning a foreign language online?

We all dream of fluent speaking a foreign language. But what can we do to make our learning a foreign language online easy, pleasant and more effective? Here are some advices of what we have NOT to do to learn a foreign language.

1. Don’t trust advertising. If you are eager to learn a foreign language you shouldn’t look for prestigious and expensive language courses at once. Try to find something that you really need. Think about the method of learning which best suits you and your needs. Would you like to communicate with a native speaker? What can be an appropriate schedule for your study? What language school do you want to study at? So, you should pay special attention to these things.

2. Go beyond standard methods. Language school is not the only and not the best way for language learning. There are also professional developed and effective learning a foreign language online courses – you can use them by yourself and at any time and speed you want. These methods are based on that diligence and large amount of independent work are more important than a teacher and a language school. If you understand that namely you learn a foreign language in any case and are ready to control your learning, such methods are more apt to you than any standard ones.

3. Don’t neglect language homework and exercises. The most important thing in any case is training. We should regularly repeat the material which has been learnt before. No matter whether you study at a language school or learn a foreign language by yourself – it’s necessary to do language exercises on grammar and spoken language testing yourself and correcting mistakes. Eventually you’ll have fewer and fewer mistakes and you’ll make no doubt in your language experience.  

4. Don’t forget about spoken language. Many of those who start learning a foreign language online concentrate all their efforts on grammar rules. But is grammar the goal of language learning? If you want to be able to speak a foreign language you should pay appropriate attention to this issue. Train pronunciation – there are many movies and audio files that can help you. Besides, try to train foreign speech and vocabulary – it’s rather useful to talk to native speakers via skype, etc. and note their way of speech features. So, one day you’ll start talking. It’s much better than just to know all grammar rules in theory but not to be able to speak.

5. Don’t hesitate to make language mistakes and feel free to use your pronunciation. Keep in mind that this is not your language and it’s normally to make mistakes sometimes. Instead of thinking about your language learning failure you’d better talk to native speakers, express your thoughts and learn to understand and to be understood. Feel sure of yourself and everything will be OK.

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Is there a need for grammar when we learn a foreign language online?

It’s impossible to overestimate grammar learning when we learn a foreign language online. Grammar is a very important thing that forms a coherent language system – without grammar a language could turn into desultory and weird gibberish. Grammar is like cement which links words into sentences. But the problem is that it’s usually not easy to learn grammar, it can be awfully boring. In addition, sometimes it’s difficult to use grammar in practice. So, what shall we do?

Let’s think first what shall we NOT do for grammar learning. We’re often said that there are some “magic” language learning methods claiming that we have no need to learn grammar at all. They say that small children don’t study grammar but they get to learn native language rather fast and efficient. That’s right – children are naturally inclined for language learning, they learn the language while they communicate with other people around and get to learn words and phrases and start talking. Is it possible for adult people to learn a language like small children do?

If there is no constant linguistic environment and no native language speakers for permanent communication – it’s really impossible to learn a foreign language online effectively without grammar learning. If we just listen to a foreign radio and learn vocabulary while ignoring grammar we would never be able to speak the language as we haven’t mastered the grammar system of the language we learn. We cannot make even simple foreign phrases if we don’t train grammar skills. So, we shouldn’t ignore grammar!

But why not just to take foreign language textbooks and con all grammar rules and make all exercises? Can we learn foreign language grammar and train the skills of speaking by this way? It’s rather doubtful. We must be able to automatically use grammar skills in practice rather than just know grammar rules off pat. Neither textbooks nor phrasebooks teach it.

So what shall we do? Are there any universal and effective methods of foreign grammar learning which can help us to train conversational skills?

There are such methods of grammar learning. Any of us who has a wish to learn a foreign language online can effectively master grammar skills without suffering. The main thing is to really comprehend a grammar rule and to be able to give numerous examples on it. In addition, it’s useful to learn grammar little by little, from simple rules to complex ones and to combine grammar learning with vocabulary study. 

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Are old people really more capable for learning foreign languages online?

American scientists have found that despite previous notions on brain developing human mental power has the tendency to increase for lifetime. What does it mean for those who are learning foreign languages online?

I think that old people are capable for learning foreign languages online not worse than young ones. Moreover, they can do it even better. The older a man or a woman is, the more meaningful motivation he/she’s got for language learning. So, the process of language learning can be more effective.

Here are some advices for old people who want to be successful in learning foreign languages online. Although they can be useful for young people too.

Try to use Internet more active – it has many free language learning resources. Using Internet we are able to talk to the whole world – icq, skype and other similar services can give us the ability to communicate with a lot of people.

Pay more attention to foreign texts and vocabulary – this activity very much develops and trains mental capacity. It’s impossible to learn a foreign language without active reading of foreign texts and intensive vocabulary learning. 

If you’re just a beginner you should pay more attention to the pronunciation training – usually it’s not easy for old people to train the pronunciation features of a foreign language. But systematical training can help to get success in foreign language pronunciation. It’s very useful to listen to native language speakers: different audio files, video, foreign movies, etc.

The main things are to believe in yourself and to train systematically, and you’ll achieve success for sure!

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While learning different languages don’t forget your own one!

All of us remember how we learned alphabet, wrote our first letters and words. It was not easy, wasn’t it? Can you imagine that it’s possible to forget the alphabet, or just some letters? Is it possible to forget your own alphabet esp. while learning different languages?

It occurs to Japanese and Chinese students rather often during the last 10 years. The reason of such forgetfulness is the great deal of different technical devices, such as computers and cell phones. The using of such devices displaces the practice of hieroglyphs writing by hand. It’s much easier to type the text than to write it manually.

Chinese girl Lee Hanwey who had learnt thousands of hieroglyphs in her childhood faced the problem of writing skills forgetfulness. Some hieroglyphs have just been erased from her brain. What is more, one of the recent researches has showed that about 83% of Chinese young people face such problem.

Lee says that she has become dependent on her cell phone. When she needs to type something she has to look for the phone dictionary first to call to mind the lettering. This problem is not new – it occurred since the time of the early spread of computers, but it’s particularly relevant in Asia.

A similar phenomenon is that Japanese and Chinese students often forget their native hieroglyphs when they go abroad for studying and when they are inside of foreign language environment while learning different languages. In such cases they have to use dictionaries to understand …their parents’ letters.

So, if you learn Chinese, Japanese or other languages and cannot remember some letters or words – don’t worry! There are people who have problems with their native language. While learning different languages try to keep calm and patience, learn the language regularly – and you’ll be succeed!

What is the best foreign language to learn at first?

What are we motivated by when we choose a foreign language for learning? This is a strange question a bit, isn’t it? Usually we choose a language for study if we really need it or it is very interesting to us. No matter what language we learn, the main thing is what language we really need to study – this would be the best foreign language to learn for us.

An Irish polyglot Benny Lewis has a different opinion. He thinks that we should learn the simplest languages first, and then – do more difficult ones. So, the best foreign language to learn at first, according to Benny’s opinion, is Esperanto. While training one of the simplest language learning skills, we get a good practice of foreign language learning in general. It is very useful for learning other “real” languages.

I think that Benny Lewis is right in some items. Esperanto is really a rather simple language if to compare it with many other ones. So, when we get to learn Esperanto it would be easier to learn more difficult foreign languages. But on the other hand is there a need to learn an artificial language?

Benny says that even if there is nobody who speaks Esperanto it would be useful to learn it anyway. A couple of Esperanto learning weeks can get some months ahead for another language learning.

In addition to that, there is a wide international community of Esperanto learners who are ready to share their language learning experience to each other. 

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Does an accent hinder to speak another language?

One of my friends hesitated to speak another language (French) some years ago. He knew French very well, but he had been said one day by somebody that his accent was really awful – it really became a sore subject to him.

To be honest, language accent problem is like a monster that some “advanced” learning language courses scare students by. But we have to know the difference between pronunciation and accent.

Pronunciation for any language is the correct articulation of sounds we say. Pronunciation mistakes can result in misunderstanding: for example, like in words “sin” and “sing”. Incorrect using of consonants can fully change the meaning of a word. In some languages words are differed by long and short vowels (“ship” and “sheep”), and mistakes in such cases can hinder communication and mutual understanding.

But what is an accent and why does it occur? For many years of native language speaking the muscles of lips and tongue “get used” for certain sounds and tone features. When we start learning another foreign language our muscles have to “re-learn” to pronounce other sounds. It is not easy to some people, and our accent is sometimes heard when we speak another language.  

Pronunciation mistakes can result in mutual misunderstanding among people, but the accent usually …doesn’t hinder anything! Maybe, your speech wouldn’t be fully like the speech of native speakers, but there are speech differences in even different regions of the same country.

Language accent can be even useful in a manner. For example, British accent is considered very sexy by American women. So, don’t hesitate to speak another language with your native accent!