Posts Tagged ‘Easy’

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Are We There Yet? 3 Easy Tips to Keep You Motivated to Learn German Fluently

January 5th, 2010

Move me momma! Just to jump right in and say it like it is. We all know that there are many different types of motivation, but the type that we are concerned with is intrinsic verses extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to the desire to do something that pleases you and makes you pat yourself on the back. Most studies have shown it to be much more effective in long-term language learning than extrinsic motivation (for an external reward such as impressing the boss or your peers). Unfortunately, most of us are not lucky enough to hire a personal pep squad or self-improvement coach to keep us motivated. Yup, you are going to have to find the power within yourself. It seems that to become fluent in German will take time and perseverance, so how can you stay motivated?

1. Fraternal Twins Separated At Birth

Yes, the process of learning German can be very stressful but keep in mind the cool thing about German is that modern German and modern English both originated from the common Germanic ancestor language and despite their distinct differences, the two languages share many similarities in both vocabulary and grammar. Also, German is spelled phonetically. This means that once you learn the system of sounds, it is easy to predict how the spoken word is written and how the written word is pronounced. Know your German ABCs and you will be better equipped to learn to speak German quickly.

2. Oktoberfest Anyone?

If your ultimate goal is to learn to speak German fluently, then it is important to know that you will become more fluent quickly if you maximize your language exposure. You can start by simply practicing the language with a classmate outside of class. You can befriend native speakers in your community or attend a local foreign language conversation hour, if one exists. Rent a German DVD, or listen to authentic German audio or video online. Or you could attend your local Oktoberfest or plan a trip to attend the world famous Munich Oktoberfest. The first the first Oktoberfest was held on October 12, 1810 and lasted 6 days. The festivities were in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. In Munich the “die Wiesen” (as the locals call it) starts around late September and lasts for sixteen days up to the first Sunday in October. The festival is a vibrant venue where you can eat sauerkraut, drink German beer, practice your German and expose yourself to Bavarian culture.

3. The Gift Of The Gab

Whenever possible, speak German aloud rather than reciting it silently to yourself. Say vocabulary words out loud, read passages in the text aloud, and do pronunciation activities orally. Transferring language from your mind to your mouth is a skill that requires a great deal of practice. And you should practice German actively frequently.

The process of learning German can be very stressful, and the impact of your own positive or negative attitudes can be critical to your learning. Self-motivation is the key to staying on track and achieving fluency. Because German and English have similarities, you have a head start when learning German. Ultimately, to learn to speak German online or otherwise is all about you. Therefore, you must play an active role in your learning by jumping at the opportunities to speak, listen and comprehend German. You’ll meet new people, make new friends and most importantly, learn German fluently.

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Learning French the Easy Way

January 1st, 2010

Two years ago, I decided to learn a foreign language, and then I was puzzled, my mother tongue is English, so which language have I to learn? After I searched a lot on which one is most suitable, I decided to learn French. And before you wonder why, I’ll explain my reasonable point of view.

First of all, French is the official language in 28 countries. It is also – like English exactly- spoken in 5 continents, and considered the second global language, and it will support my career building, by allowing me to apply for a variety of positions which requires applicants to be fluent in French, both spoken and written.

Unfortunately, there were a huge problem, which is French language is not easy to learn or to speak at all, I had to learn tons of non familiar words, phrases, and pronunciations. I don’t even have a specified or structured method to learn and speak French. So you can imagine how much confused I was. In fact, difficulties in learning and speaking French made me –in the beginning steps of learning- very uncomforted, and I was about giving up.

The most difficult issue I faced, was the ‘ pronunciation’, it’s really so hard to be an English native speaker, and want to be completely fluent in French in the same time, although French is considered a musical language.

For example, the new sounds in French would make you crazy at first, as they are very confusing, the most obvious example for this, is the ‘French R’. Really it was my curse. Accents also will take efforts from you to expertise them, and to be familiar with.

In addition, you will also face difficulties in the liaisons and silent letters.

Verbs in French also were very hard to learn, each verb is changing in a different way, there’s nothing like (teach, taught, taught), or (speak, spoke, spoken), they all are like irregular verbs (go, went, gone), generally, grammar in French is not easy or clear as grammar in English.

Then it comes to understand spoken French, the best case is to have someone who deals with you in a daily base, so you could listen and speak to him frequently, otherwise, it’s really would take a lot of time and exercising from you.

From my experience in learning French, I can advise you to have your own expert guide, to facilitate the process of learning French as much as possible.

Finally, I found it very interesting as well as hard to be a ‘ French speaker’, it was really a good experience.

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Learn Spanish Phrases the Easy Way

December 31st, 2009

If you are planning to take a trip to the Caribbean, Mexico or another Spanish speaking country there is no doubt that you want to learn some Spanish phrases you can use when you are there. You may want to just learn some phrases to help you greet others, to help you find directions, to assist you in bartering at the market or you might want to learn some romantic phrases. You don’t have to buy phrase books or attend classes in Spanish because everything you need is available online and for free. There are many Internet sites that you can use to find commonly used phrases, but they may only give you the printed words. What you really need is a site that will teach you the phrases you need in Spanish where you can see the words and hear how they are pronounced by a native Spanish speaker. While you can learn the phrases just be reading and memorizing them you may not be learning to say them properly. When you learn any new language it is important to learn how to pronounce the words correctly. Some of the common phrases you should know when speaking to a Spanish person are: – Si ?yes – No ?no – Por favour ?please – Hola ?hello – Gracias ?thank you – Buenos dias ?good morning – Buenos tardes ?good afternoon – Buenos noches ?good night – Como estas ?How are you? – Como te llama? ?What is your name? – Me llamo. . . ?My name is. . . . In Spanish the words donde esta mean where is. Once you know this all you have to learn is the specific vocabulary for specific places that you want to find, such as playa (beach), hotel (hotel), banco(bank), or bar mas cecano ( bar). Once you start learning phrases in Spanish you will quickly realize that you do need to learn more than just specific phrases and that it would be better for you to learn all facets of the language. There are many sites online that offer full courses in Spanish that won’t cost you nay money and which you can take at home. Through these courses, you will learn the Spanish alphabet and the sounds of the letters as well as how to conjugate verbs to make grammatically correct sentences. The language is easy to learn and some of the vocabulary is quite similar to English words. Once you start learning Spanish and have some knowledge of the language, when you spend some time in a Spanish speaking country or in the company of native Spanish speakers, you will easily pick up the language. Immersing yourself in the culture and the language is one of the easiest ways to learn any second language, no matter how old you are. As you hear others around you using the language, you will start to pick out words that you know and you will learn how they should be pronounced if you are not doing so correctly. You do have to determine how you learn best. Maybe you are a person that likes to have images with which you can associate words and phrases. You may be a person that likes to read the words as you hear them spoken. These ways are all possible when you take an online course in Spanish.

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