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! 

If you’re learning English as a second language: are tenses really important?

While learning English as a second language, we make many efforts and spend a lot of time.  Of course, we have to do it if there is a big goal ahead and you’re moving towards it. But sometimes we make mistakes if we choose the wrong way of learning. The biggest mistake is to learn difficult things unknowing simple ones.

English tenses, for example. If you ask 10 students about what the most difficult thing in English is, 9 of them can answer – tenses. We learn one tense after another and soon become very confused by tenses. English tenses are considered to be a sort of the real basis, the fortress which we need to capture for a long time.  

But is it really? Do we need to learn all sixteen English tenses which are amply explained in each English textbook?

The most common tense which is constantly used in everyday conversation is the Present Simple Tense. Past and Future ones are also rather common. In general, if you’ve got a good understanding of these tenses – you’re able to speak, comprehend and be understood by English native speakers rather well. Many of those who are learning English as a second language make the mistake of learning difficult tenses constructions without clear knowing of the simple ones. So, they are greatly confused and scared by unbelievable English tenses.  

The best advice which you can follow especially if you start learning English as a second language is to learn simple things first. All these “Past Perfect” and “Future Continuous” should be learnt later.  Try to speak vivid, beautiful language in Past, Present and Future simple tenses – the language should be interesting to you. After you see your progress and positive results it will be easier for you to learn more difficult grammar items.



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How can we bolster our wish for learning a foreign language online?

What should we start our learning a foreign language online with? What pushes us ahead in our learning? What cannot we do without, especially when we start learning a foreign language? This is the motivation. We should certainly know what our goal is, where and why we are moving in our learning. So, how can we motivate ourselves for effective learning a foreign language online?

The first thing we should do is to plan our language learning. And the first item of the planning is to determine our final goal. Why do we learn a foreign language? What do we do it for?

The second element of the planning is the final result. What level of learning a foreign language online do we want to achieve? Do we need only spoken language, or we want to be able to read scientific periodicals and books? Do we plan to know a certain amount of foreign words? So, we need to know our desirable final result.

What is the next thing? We should plan the process of learning a foreign language online. The planning must be for short period of time: for a day and for a week – thus, it’s easier to plan the learning if we know the amount of time we can use for language learning.

What else can help us in language learning motivation? Our interest to the language and culture of this language speaking countries can bolster our wish for learning a foreign language online. A language is not just the way for talking to each other, it’s the reflection of the environment and culture where native people live and absorb their language culture during a long period of time. Do you learn German? There is so much of interesting information about German language, people and countries! Try it, you won’t regret.   

Do you have any hobby or any interest to something? Why not to combine it with foreign language learning? There is a lot of foreign language info in Internet which can be interesting to you. So, you can watch it and train your foreign language in the same time.

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What is the best foreign language to learn at first?

Want to learn to speak another language? Choose Arabic.

Arabic language is considered to be one of the most plentiful, bright and clear languages in the world. If you try to translate five pages of Arabic text into Russian – you would have the text which is twice as big as the original one. The interpretations of Quran are a good example of these Arabic language properties. So, why not to learn to speak another language and start studying Arabic?

Foreign philologists are astonished by the richness of Arabic language – Arabic texts seem untranslatable to some of them. Any translations from Arabic are just approximate – so, other languages don’t have adequate expressions for Arabic vocabulary abundance. Arabs usually don’t use weird or “empty” words and their aspiration to language accuracy determines the perfection and complexity of Arabic language.

Here are some interesting facts about Arabic language.

There are more than 422 million people in the world who speak Arabic language as their mother one (2009).

Arabic is the official language of 26 countries, as well as the UNO, African Union and the Arab League.

There are 5 dialect groups in current spoken Arabic language. Besides, there are more than 30 Arabic territorial dialects. In addition to that, there are also local dialects in each country.

Literary Arabic language is unified. This is the official language and the language of mass media and TV in Arab countries.

Egyptian dialect is considered to be the most apprehensible for Arabic speaking people. That is why universities and schools in many Arab countries prefer to hire teachers from Egypt.

It is written from right to left in Arabic, both words and numbers. What is more, there are no capital letters in Arabic language unlike languages with Latin or Cyrillic letters – that’s why proper nouns and the first words in a sentence are written like any other words. So, don’t be surprised that an Egyptian writes all the words in small letters including your name.

All punctuation marks are written upside down.

In Arabic there is no neuter – only masculine and feminine.

Arabic alphabet has 28 letters.

All the words in Arabic start with consonants.

There are about 1000 words in Arabic which mean “camel”.

“Sahara” means “desert” in Arabic language.

Quran is written in classical Arabic language which is considered the language of worship in Islam.

If you want to speak Arabic as another language it won’t be easy for you but it’s worth doing it. 

How to use foreign language learning software for iPhone and smartphone

Let’s talk about how to use such technical devices as iPhone and smartphone for language learning. We can use them at any moment of our free time – during a coffee break, at a restaurant, at a bank office, etc.  

Now we can use all this time for language learning. How? There is a lot of foreign language learning software for iPhones and smartphones which can help us to develop our language learning skills. Many of them can be downloaded in Internet – they are very useful.

1. Dictionaries. There are different dictionaries for phones, both large and small, some of them have more than 20 languages. In any case you can find many of different dictionaries in Internet and download them. Such foreign language learning software can help you during your travel abroad, as well as can give you the possibility to learn new words when you have nothing to do anymore, for example at an airport or at a plane during a flight.

2. World news. It is very comfortable to read news while going to somewhere at a bus or taxi. Do you learn French? There is French language news at your disposal. Some news applications are offered in light versions for those who are just beginners in language learning (for example, in BBC). So, you get to know up-to-date world news and develop your language learning skills at the same time.  

3. Radio. Your phone like your PC is a portal to the world. There is a great deal of different radio stations in numerous languages and genres – you can find many ones which are especially interesting to you and listen to them for use and pleasure. Special language learning software can help you to enjoy favorite radio info.   

4. Video. You can download movies to your iPhones, as well as find interesting videos in YouTube – this is a huge collection of videos in any languages and topics.

5. Music/audiobooks/podcasts. You can choose for listening anything you wish: romantic detective stories in French, scientific podcasts in German, Spanish rap music, etc.

6. Sms-messages. Do you have foreign friends? Your phone is the best instrument for talking to them then. Foreign language sms-message – without grammar schemes and tables, using the least amount of words – is an excellent exercise for vocabulary usage. You can develop your writing speech very effectively.

 

4 reasons for learning different languages

Sometimes it is not easy to start learning different languages for example in the morning, or to wake up early on weekend to read a textbook or to listen to a foreign audio. Maybe, the only advantage of language learning somewhere outside is that you have to visit there in certain time.

If you learn a foreign language by yourself you’ve got the main problem – you should find good reasons to learn a language. You shouldn’t forget them just as you face any problems in your study.

How to give reasons to learn in such cases? Try to use “the method of reverse”. What will you lose if you give up language learning now? You would have more spare time which you could waste for rest, but what will you lose herewith? Maybe, some of the following:

1. Competitive advantage when applying for a job. It is necessary to be able to speak a foreign language even in the case when you won’t need it at your work place – the fact you have learnt a language shows that you’re smart and purposeful.

2. Comfortable travel abroad. If you can speak English well it is rather easy for you to travel almost anywhere. But there are places on Earth where you would be understood only if you speak aboriginal language (for example, somewhere in Asia, Africa or South America). What is more, if you are able to speak aboriginal languages you are really respected by native people and you feel everywhere like at home.

3. The possibility of international communication. If you look around you see that there are a lot of rapidly developing communication means: Skype, Facebook, various chats and international sites. These are good ways to meet friends and to know about real living in others countries. In addition to that, the best way to learn to speak a foreign language is to speak it!

4. Business trips abroad. If you a real professional and want to develop your professional skills you should think about business trips to other countries or about studying abroad. So, why not to start learning different languages right now? Maybe, seeing your success and ambition, your bosses will help you to gain an appropriate experience abroad. It can move your career ahead!

So, when you open your foreign language textbook next time – just think about such advantages which you would have as a result of your efforts.


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