There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today.
Sometimes, it seems like there are at least that many options for learning just one of them.
Where do you start? How do you choose from so many language courses …
Speech. The phonic frontier.
These are the adventures of aspiring language learners.
To explore strange new words. To seek out new terms and verbal expressions.
To boldly use idioms from around the world!
As …
These days, you can find a language learning app for anything.
There are photo translator apps that extract words from your pictures for instant translation. Apps to carry with you as you travel. There are even language learning apps …
It’s a demanding world out there.
How many times have you heard the following cries for attention?
“You’re just not listening.”
“Everything I say goes in one ear and right out the other.”
“Aren’t you paying attention?”
“What did I …
Night after night, you keep having the same dream.
You hear voices whispering… then getting louder and louder. Frantic voices.
It’s dark. The voices around you sound confused. Agitated. Maybe even afraid.
At first, you can’t understand what they’re …
Are you studying a language that requires a rolled R, but you feel like the technique is escaping you?
Turn to pop culture for inspiration.
Method #1: Vibrate your tongue. You may remember some variation of this Rrrrrruffles have …
Do you remember that “Kids in the Hall” skit about the shopkeeper who speaks no English?
If you don’t, feel free to take a peek. I’ll wait.
Hummm-dee-dum-dee-dum…
Oh, good! You’re back.
You can imagine the frustration of …
You just can’t stop humming that tune.
It’s an earworm. And you’ve tried everything to make it stop.
Worse yet, it’s a song you heard while watching a foreign film. And you only caught some of the words.…
Ah, to be a kid again.
To read picture books… and not get teased for it.
To pretend you’re Nancy Drew or one of the Hardy Boys—or some other world-famous, super-cool, yet surprisingly humble teen detective—as you bravely …
Some texts lead parallel lives.
It’s almost like they have a doppelgänger in a parallel universe somewhere.
In one universe, they’re written in English. Or French. Or German. Or Spanish… or in any of a dozen other languages.
Then, …
