Monthly Archives: June 2013

Why are some adult foreign language learners more proficient than others? (Language Aptitude)

Posted on June 24, 2013 by admin
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Past puberty our capacity to learn foreign languages decreases, but adults do not learn a second or additional language at the same pace. Many individual variations affect the outcomes, continue reading to find out which one seems to be the … Continue reading →

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A language with too many armies and navies?

Posted on June 24, 2013 by admin
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JOHNSON has touched on Arabic and its variety quite a few times over the years, but we have never really addressed a critical question directly: what is “Arabic” today, and is it really even a single thing? A short and … Continue reading →

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Learning A Foreign Language – 3 Mistakes To Avoid

Posted on June 24, 2013 by admin
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by Tom Beattie Knowing a foreign language is useful and learning it can fun. I recall watching the comedy Mind Your Language when I was a kid and the class looked rather fun albeit chaotic at times. I remember learning … Continue reading →

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Phil’s Findings: How did Spanish become such a prominent language in U.S.?

Posted on June 24, 2013 by admin
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By PHILIP A. RUE Last week in this column, I explained that Spanish was now language number two in the U.S. In this article I will try to explain how it how it achieved that eminent position.  There are a … Continue reading →

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3 Key Aspects of Learning a Foreign Language

Posted on June 24, 2013 by admin
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Learning Swedish recently moved to the top of my language “to do” list. We’ll be spending some time in Stockholm in the fall and that’s excellent motivation for me. Besides, I’ve always loved the sound of Swedish, in the Bergman … Continue reading →

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The Language Learning Formula – 10 Principles

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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 by sgendreau Hello dear readers! Today I’ve put together 10 short principles that I use as a guide to help me learn languages effectively. It’s a short and easy read, and I think the advice given here can be of … Continue reading →

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Being Multilingual: You speak with an accent, I don’t

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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Linguist Madalena Cruz-Ferreira discusses our perception of accents and how it can impact our judgement of others. Accents are things that only other people have. They are, by extension, things that we don’t think we have. This is why, if … Continue reading →

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Why learn a foreign language? Benefits of bilingualism

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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Learning a foreign language is more than just a boost to your CV or handy for travelling. It will make you smarter, more decisive and even better at English, says Anne Merritt. Children learning foreign languages at a Grammar School … Continue reading →

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English May Have Retained Words From an Ice Age Language

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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By Elizabeth Norton, ScienceNOW Map showing approximate regions where languages from the seven Eurasiatic language families are now spoken. Image: Pagel et al./PNAS If you’ve ever cringed when your parents said “groovy,” you’ll know that spoken language can have a … Continue reading →

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Evolution of Language Takes Unexpected Turn

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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By Brandon Keim It’s widely thought that human language evolved in universally similar ways, following trajectories common across place and culture, and possibly reflecting common linguistic structures in our brains. But a massive, millennium-spanning analysis of humanity’s major language families … Continue reading →

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Becoming ‘Asia Literate’: Learn Chinese, but Don’t Stop There

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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By SUE-LIN WONG Theodore Kaye for The New York Times College and high school students in Kazakhstan learning Chinese. BEIJING — While studying abroad at Peking University in Beijing, Andrew Stead didn’t expect to find a job at Burton, one … Continue reading →

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Posted in How To Learn A Language, Language History & News, Learning Chinese | Leave a comment

6 Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language (and Help Your Brain)

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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English has been called the lingua franca of today’s world. “Hi,” “bye” and “thank you” are known around the world and English is part of the curriculum for young students. In France, a debate is underway about teaching courses in French universities … Continue reading →

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The SECRET to Successfully Learning a Foreign Language

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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Today I will divulge, exclusively to you, my dear readers, what I consider to be the best-kept secret of polyglots and incredibly successful language learners to learning a foreign language successfully. I hope this will clear some things up for … Continue reading →

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Let the wine flow and you’ll soon be fluent

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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After years of teaching in China, our reader got language learning down to a fine art. ‘In vino veritas’: tackling a foreign language is so much easier when chilled… Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images I wouldn’t try this secret at the library. … Continue reading →

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Posted in How To Learn A Language, Humor | Leave a comment

Imitation is the key to learning languages

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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Did you know that if you mimic someone’s accent, you’ll be able to better understand what they say? As playwright George Bernhard Shaw once said: “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the sincerest form of  … Continue reading →

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TEDx Talks to make learning a new language easy

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
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Everybody’s done it. You wake up one morning and decide, “I’m going to learn a new language.” But, as daunting as it may seem, learning a new language isn’t the herculean feat it’s cracked up to be. Language learning isn’t … Continue reading →

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Posted in How To Learn A Language, Language History & News, video | Leave a comment

Learning second language depends on ability to learn patterns

Posted on June 6, 2013 by admin
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Learning to understand and read a second language may be driven, at least in part, by your ability to pick up on statistical regularities, a new study has found. Some research suggests that learning a second language draws on capacities … Continue reading →

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The Rise of Spanish

Posted on June 6, 2013 by admin
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Spanish has more native speakers than any language other than Mandarin. Yet its success could not have been foreseen The Story of Spanish. By Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow. St Martin’s Press; 496 pages; $27.99. Buy from Amazon.com THE Iberian … Continue reading →

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