“I don’t have the time to learn a language.”

” I don’t have the time” is the most used sentence I hear when I speak to people who are interested to learn a new language but they don’t do it because apparently they don’t have time…

I understand, most people who have a fulltime job (with or without kids), or fulltime moms, etc… don’t want to spend their only me-time of the day on studying…

But what if I say you don’t necessarily have to sit in front of a desk with a boring textbook to learn a language?

Believe it or not, I learned the most by doing daily activities.

Now I hear you say “What? by doing daily activities? what do you even mean?”

I will explain, but first I have a few questions for you.

● Do you often listen to music?

● Do you watch movies/series?

● Do you read books?

● Do you waste most of your time on socal media? (Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter…)

● Are you doing some type of exercise? (Running, walking, biking, gym)

Well then you can surely make time to use and practice languages.

Young man reading an article on his phone and listening to podcasts while traveling by train.

Listen to music in the language you are interested in, watch movies with subtitles (first subtitles in your mother tongue, when you are more advanced you use subtitles in the language itself and after a while maybe you won’t need any subtitles anymore…)

Read books, articles on topics you like…
You can start with very easy texts, like children’s books for example.
Or use bookbox.com , a platform where you can watch cartoons with subtitles and you also have the scripted text.

Write down every new word you learn, review it whenever you can.

Do you spend a lot of time on YouTube? use it to practice a language.
There are a lot of people who make videos to learn others their language (and it’s for free!!)

There are also lot of channels where you can watch children’s cartoons with subtitles
and another channel I recommend you to visit is “easy languages”

when you are more advanced watch vlogs in the language you’re interested in or watch the same type of videos you normally watch but in that language instead.

Watch things you’re interested in, so you don’t lose concentration…
and here again, try to write down as much as possible important words or expressions you hear…
You will hear a lot of the same words and expressions, after a while you’ll start to remember them and you’ll automatically start to understand more and more.

But you have to practice the things you learnt.

Flashcards

Did you ever heard of Anki or Quizlet?

Those are programs where you can study a subject or a language by using flashcards, and it has been proven by many students that this method of “studying’ is way more effective tan traditional study.

Spaced repetition is a very effective way to remember things. If you review your flashcards daily, you will see results for sure!

And the good thing is, you don’t need to spend a lot of time on it.
Do you take your phone with you everywhere you go? Even in the bathroom?

I bet you do!

So, every time you have 5 minutes (waiting for the train, waiting at the doctors office, waiting on a friend, sitting on the toilet,…) instead of scrolling on social media, use it to review your flashcards!!!

Every word, expression, sentence you learnt? put it in Anki make a flashcard of it and there you go, review it every day.

5 to 10 minutes a day seems nothing but if you do it every day, it WILL make a difference.

Comprehensible input (LingQ)

One of the most effective programs I know to practice a language is LingQ for sure.

It is a “reading” program with audio and a built in dictionary/translator
There are countless texts to choose from, so you can find texts that you are interested in to make the learning process more fun.

The main focus here is listening and reading (2 of the most important skills to learn a language)

A fun feature is that it keeps track of every word you know so you can actually see the number of words you already know f.e. 2350 words.

If you want to know more about LingQ you can visit the website or you can find man reviews on the internet or on Youtube by searching “Steve Kaufmann” the founder of this program.

If you find the time to use LingQ daily, even if its only for 10 minutes, you will make a lot of progress without a doubt.

Speaking to natives

to end this article I want to tell you one more thing. The only thing that will make you really fluent in a language is speaking to native people..

You can’t become fluent if you never speak the language.
So find people in your neighbourhood, on facebook, instagram, you name it… and talk, talk, talk!

It is 1000% more effective than studying out of a notebook and reciting boring sentences, and it is more fun!!

So read, speak, write, practice and repeat!
If you really want it, you will find the time.

Advantages of speaking more than one language

Why should you learn a new language?

Maybe you’ve been asking yourself this question, in that case stop asking why, here are some of many advantages

Speaking more than one language opens many new doors. It has so much advantages, I will list some of them here:

1.
You will understand more of your mother tongue. When learning a language you will    have to learn some grammar at least to be able to understand the language and to speak it properly. By learning grammar of another language than your own you will understand and learn more about the grammar of your mother tongue. This makes it also easier to spot mistakes in your own mother tongue. You also will learn the logic of a language, the more languages you will learn the more you will understand the logic of languages.

2.
You can speak to more people (because not everyone speaks English if that’s what you think) No not the whole world speaks English. So if you travel to a Spanish speaking country for example, not everyone will be able to understand you when you speak English to them, it will be much easier for both of you when you speak Spanish. ánd!! they will love it when they see you try to speak their mother tongue.

3.
You can use your languages when you are looking for a job. Speaking more than one language is crucial for some jobs, for some it’s not necessary but if they see you speak several languages they will probably choose you over the person who speaks just one language.

4.
Last but not least…..

When people are talking about you in their mother tongue you will be able to understand everything and they don’t even have to know it! This is not very important but it can be handy.. haha

 

If you have some other advantages please write them down in the comments!

 

There are so much more advantages of speaking more than one language… Don’t hesitate to learn that language you’ve always wanted to speak and start today!

Why do I enjoy learning languages?

Hey everyone

Todays article will be about me, why do I enjoy learning languages?

A lot of people asked me this question, some people don’t understand what is so enjoyable in learning languages.

First of all, it’s a kinda hobby of mine, I even could say a passion of mine.            I really do like it. Everyone has at least one hobby or passion or something they are really interested in. Yes that’s right, everyone is different and not everyone has the same interests as you.

That brings us to the second reason: it is stress relieving. Same here, like drawing – another hobby of mine – does for me, everyone has some kind of activity that helps them to relieve stress.

When I study my languages I am focused on it and don’t worry about other things. Some kind of meditation I guess? 😁

The third reason is because it gives me a lot of benefits. I can use all the languages I study. I can use them for work, in my personal life, to travel, to meet new people from all over the world…

It also gives me another look on the world and on other cultures. I think that you only learn a culture when you learn their language.

Studying languages (or any other subjects) surely has some other benefits , maybe I should write another article about that.

If you would like an article about that please let me know!

Hopefully you’ll understand a bit more now why I love learning languages. 😀

 

 

Why you definitely need to use phrasebooks.

Hey fellow language learners, in this article I will tell you why you definitely should use phrasebooks when learning a new language.

To begin, there are several publishers who make phrasebooks, the most known is probably Lonely Planet, they have excellent phrasebooks, I really recommend them.

Well, why you should use them?

First of all, they are very useful, they contain a lot of practical information. With practical information I mean phrases that are used in daily life plus often they also provide possible answers to questions.
These little books are divided in different chapters like for example: practical information, shopping, traveling, at the doctor, in the supermarket etc.

 

The chapters are very easy to browse through.

Mostly the chapters are indicated with colours.

In this way you can look up a phrase in no time. This is handy when you are in a foreign country and want to ask something to a local but you don’t know how to ask it.

Another asset that these tiny books have is that they contain relevant information. Textbooks often have boring dialogues that are totally irrelevant. In phrasebooks you really have good examples of phrases that you surely will need. With dialogues in textbooks you actually have a lot of excess information.

Most phrasebooks also have a chapter where they explain some grammar of the language, they also have a chapter of basic information like numbers, days, months etc…

Many phrasebooks have some drawings with vocabulary on it like you see on this picture.

In all the ones that I have they show how to pronounce the language and all of them have a little dictionary in the back. Little and compact, perfect to take with you wherever you go. That’s another asset of these tiny books.

In the Lonely Planet phrasebooks, they give you some information about the culture of the country that speak that language, I think it’s very interesting and also important if you are planning to go to the country.

My conclusion is that they give you a good base of the language, some grammar points, basic information and phrases for daily life situations. You can bring it with you wherever you go and it’s not that expensive. So, that’s why I really recommend you to use phrasebooks.

Did you know?
They already used phrasebooks in the 15^th century. They were used in Mediaeval Europe by pilgrims to the Holy land.

 

5 most common language learning obstacles

In today’s article I want to talk about the 5 most common obstacles people face when learning a language. Maybe this will answer some questions for those of you who still are struggling to learn that new language you always wanted to speak

1 Finding the right materials

This is one of the most important things when you want to learn a new language. You have to find materials to start learning. Or  more specifically the right materials. There are thousands of different books, apps, video’s, that you can use but the trick is to choose the one’s that will help you the most. That can differ for everyone, everyone has a different method that suits best for them. Of course you can ask other people who also learnt the same language for advice but you always should be looking for the method that suits best for you.

In my opinion everyone is different and that’s the same in studying.

2 Not seeing results

At the beginning stage of learning a language, you will learn a lot of new things, everything is new so you are excited. But as soon as you have the B2 level, it will take a lot more time to reach a C1 level. It even will become a little boring, because you don’t feel like improving anymore.

Why is that?

When you are at stage B2, you can have fluent conversations with native speakers, you can express your ideas and opinions, you can give simple presentations… At this stage you are an independent speaker.

To go from stage B2 to C1 you will have to step out of your comfort zone, you will have to use new vocabulary and incorporate more difficult topics in your conversations.
At stage C1 and C2 you are a proficient speaker, you don’t have to think anymore before you say something, you can use more difficult terms, you can participate in a professional conversation etc.

The reason why you keep getting stuck at stage B2 is because you keep using the same vocabulary and expressions you already know. You actually have to ‘’upgrade’’ your vocabulary, that’s the only way you will achieve that C1 level.

A language is something that you can keep learning.
Even in your mother tongue you can keep learning new expressions and words.

3 Not having enough exposure to the language

Whether you are learning the language by yourself, at school, on a language camp, …
A frequently made mistake is, not having enough exposure to the language outside of the lessons or the time you study. Studying a language once or twice a week won’t do it for you! You should use the language as often as possible to get used to it. For Instance, you can listen to the radio, read the newspaper, watch tv, or set your phone in your target language instead of using your mother tongue. These little things will help you more than you think.
If you want to read more on this, you can read the article on how I learn languages.

4 Not finding (making) the time

Some people say that they don’t find the time to study the language because they have to work all day and do other stuff after work but I am sure that if you really want something, you’ll do everything to make time, even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes. If you study 10 or 15 minutes a day, it will surely make a difference.

You can use a journal to make it easier to plan your daily ‘study’ time. And to make sure you won’t forget it!

5 Being afraid to speak

The most common difficulty people face is being afraid to speak. They are afraid that people will laugh or that they will make mistakes.
But making mistakes is part of the learning process. When you make mistakes and people correct them, you will learn from it.
Speaking is one of the most important stages in language learning.

I hope this article was useful for you.
Did you face other obstacles or did you recognize yourself in some of these barriers?
Let me know, I would love to hear your experiences.

Les langues officielles en Belgique.

Aujourd’hui j’ai décidé de faire un article en Français.
Parce que dans mon article je parle un peu sur la langue Français.

En fait, je vais parler un peu de les langues officielles en Belgique. Comme vous savez déjà (ou pas encore) je suis une fille Belge. Et pourquoi pas écrire un article sur les langues de mon pays.

Pour ceux qui ne savent pas beaucoup sur la Belgique, notre pays consiste en 3 parties. La partie Flamande, La partie Française (La Wallonie) et une partie Allemande. La plupart (60%) parle le Néerlandais comme langue maternelle, puis on a le Français avec 38% et seulement 1% ont l’Allemand comme langue maternelle.

Pour commencer : la capitale Bruxelles. La plupart de les Bruxelles sont Bilingue. – Français et Néerlandais-

Moi j’habite dans la partie Flamande, appelé La Flandre, donc ma langue maternelle est le néerlandais, plus spécifiquement le Flamand occidental – West Vlaams -. On a des différents dialectes ou langues régionales dans chaque partie de la Flandre.
Puis on a le Français, c’est la langue officielle de la Wallonie. Aussi la Wallonie a des différents dialectes ou langues régionales.

Et pour finir, l’Allemand. Il y a juste une petite partie qui parle l’allemand, situé dans l’Est de Belgique. Appelé la Communauté germanophone de Belgique

C’était un article court mais j’espere que c’etait interessant et que vous avez apris quelque chose.

À la prochaine!

(Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langues_en_Belgique#cite_note-1)

Is Duolingo good to learn a language?

As you can see in the title, I will speak about Duolingo in this article.
You probably already know this app, and for those who did not know this app yet, it’s an app where you can learn the basics of a language in a fun and easy way.
It’s available in a lot of languages and they still continue to make new courses.
You even can contribute to a new course when you speak the two languages of the course fluently.
You can use it on your Phone and your computer and it’s free.

I am using this app now for 4 years or so. I really like it, it’s helpful and interesting. I started using it when I was learning my third foreign language which is Italian. It was a good way for me to start learning the basics of Italian and after a few courses I started to learn intensely with other resources.

So, the question is: “Is Duolingo good to learn a language?”.
My answer is yes and no. Why yes? Because it teaches you a lot, it teaches you new vocabulary and expressions. By using Duolingo you can learn a lot but you won’t be able to speak a language fluently by only using that.

It’s a good way to compensate it with other resources.

So, what I want to explain to you is, that I really recommend you to use Duolingo because it’s a very good app and it will help you a lot. But you should know that it doesn’t really teach you how to speak and use a language. So beside using Duolingo, you also should use other sources to learn the language.

When learning a language, it is important to listen a lot so you can absorb the language and to speak ofcourse and with Duolingo you can’t really do that.

I really like this app and I use it daily before I sleep.
If you don’t use this app yet, I recommend you to try it. Duolingo
It makes language learning a little bit more fun 😀

Thank you for reading.

If this article was useful for you, don’t hesitate to share it with your friends!

Don't forget to visit my youtube Channel where I share videos in the languages I learn to show my progression or just to give some tips . Multilinguismo