„Before I came to France I attended an intensive course in „Elementary French“. Now, I am in France and I am astonished: Nobody seems to speak elementary French“. Sylvia Simmons Everybody knows: There are differences between school and life. This seems to be the problem of Ms. Simmons. But, it may be an even bigger…
“How many words do I need to know in order to learn this language?” As a language coach, I’ve been (pleasantly) surprised that I haven’t heard his question more often. But people do sometimes wonder what level of vocabulary they’ll need in order to function. The first question you need to ask in order to…
We already emphasized: Shock is the wrong word, irritation is better. The internal control of our behavior is disturbed. You have to re-learn what is right and wrong, how to behave in certain situations, what is polite and what is not, how to greet and say good-bye, how to mourn with others and how to…
You can talk all day long about language-learning methodology and what the best ways are to become a more proficient participator in a language and culture. And while these are important things to think about—how you go about learning a language has significant implications for how well you succeed—yet the single most important factor for…
When you move to a new, fascinating region, first you are pleased. Many new things are usually perceived as exciting, assuming you came voluntarily. If you were someone persuaded to relocate or had to travel, this phase of honeymoon may not happen. The so-called culture shock consists of four steps: Honeymoon Frustration Adjustment Mastery After…
As a language learning coach, when I discuss with people their language learning plans, they often tell me, “I’m a visual learner. I have to see the word on the page in order to remember it.” Ten years ago, I would have said the same thing. But what does it mean to be a visual…
We landed in Africa and everything, but really everything was different. We had expected some, but so many differences. Uncomfortable border officials who wanted an address which we didn’t have. An incredible number of control: luggage, passports, with body scanning and all alike. Within a short time we were totally intimidated. After a few weeks…
Ask someone what the hardest language in the world to learn is, and they’ll probably tell you something like Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, or another language vastly different from English. Yet the truth is that there is no one “hardest” language. The difficulty of a language depends on the learner and his or her linguistic background:…
submarine, président, acção, problemă – we can understand lots of English and French words, even Portuguese and Romanian ones, without having actually studied those languages properly. The examples above all belong to the vocabulary of the Romance family of languages, although there are equivalents in the Germanic and Slavic languages. Look at the example below,…
We often use metaphors or figures of speech to express our emotions: for example, love is located in the heart … but is this really true for all languages? Farsi is a good example that this assignment of emotions to certain parts of our body isn’t as universal as it seems: „to jigare mani“ means…