Skype Me Maybe

Many of my friends got together and made a great YouTube video, Skype Me Maybe. Benny did a fantastic job!.I really love how us language learners share our passion for something, connect, and enjoy what we do. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.

Dawdling along in Mandarin Playlists

Hello Amigos,

The Winter Holidays are here, and I wish I was shopping on fifty-seventh street in New York City.

I have been spending a lot more time indoors, and less time walking with the kids whilst listening to Chinese on my Ipod. This evening I thought it would be a good time to make a quick playlist for myself. I can watch the playlist on my television screen and on my notebook. It is a simple playlist of videos from my favorite linguist, Glossika.

I decided to embed the playlist below so that if you are also learning basic Chinese you can enjoy the videos as well.

Enjoy!

Six Ways to Chat with a Native Speaker

If you live in any metropolitan area, chances are you will be lucky enough to meet native speakers of your target language. Take advantage of this opportunity. I tend to be shy when I am speaking another language. It can be difficult breaking through that barrier, but trust me it will be worth the effort.

Start with the right attitude. If you have the right attitude the experience will be pleasurable. Native speakers tend to be happy that you are trying to speak their language. They can be very encouraging.

1. Be flexible about their correction of your pronunciation or grammar. I stopped worrying about making mistakes a long time ago. Enjoy yourself, and be grateful for their corrections. Smile and show that you are happy they corrected you.

中语 Many Languages of China

Chinese Language Map

Did you know that China has fifty six recognized ethnic groups? In order of population, this is the list of the 56 ethnic groups in China that are officially recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China. Members of several ethnic groups reside in Hong Kong and Macau, but due to the long separation from China, many of these ethnic groups are generally unknown to the Special Administrative Regions (of People's Republic of China) of Hong Kong and of Macau.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication containing statistics for 6,909 languages in the 16th edition, released in 2009. It gives the number of speakers, location, dialects, linguistic affiliations, availability of the Bible in the language, and so forth. According to Ethnologue, China has 292 living languages and 1 extinct language (Jurchen).

漢語（英语：the Chinese language(s)），又称中文（單指文字）、汉文、华文，其他名稱有唐文、中國語，唐話、中國話等^[1]，是属汉藏语系的分析语，具有声调。汉语的文字系统——汉字是一种意音文字，表意的同時也具一定的表音功能。漢語包含書面語以及口語兩部分，古代書面汉语称为文言文，现代书面汉语一般指使用現代標準漢語語法，詞彙的中文通行文体。目前全球有五分一人口使用漢語作為母語。現代漢語書面語高度統一，口語則有官話、粵語、吳語、湘語、贛語、客家語、閩語等七種主要漢語言。

Malaysia Maps and Malay Alphabet in Photos

The official language of Singapore is Malay. Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. Malay is the national language of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. It is spoken by forty million people across the Malacca Strait and along the eastern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Before getting into the the Malay language, a language I do not know a thing about, one should first be familiar with the area where it is spoken. I think that understanding the geography of an area is an important part of knowing a language. Each time I studied a language in college, I had to learn about the country as well. So here are some Maps of Areas where this major world language is spoken.

Turkish Alphabet in Photos

The Turkish Alphabet was changed from Ottoman script to a Latin based script soon after the Turkish Republic was declared. Ottoman script was based on the Arabic alphabetic script but this did not adequately cover the phonetics of Turkish. 

Kemal Atatürk introduced the new Latin alphabet almost overnight.

The Turkish Alphabet consists of twenty-one consonants and eight vowels.
The alphabet is phonetic as each letter retains its individual pronunciation at all times. There are no diphthongs - except in a few foreign loan words, and no letters "W", "X" or "Q"

Input Based Learning

Today one of my favorite YouTube polyglots, Lingo Steve published a video called 'Input Based Learning.' The learning method stresses taking in as much authentic material as possible, and progressing from beginner books to living texts withing a few months. The method requires that you download audio programs onto any listening device. With consistency, learners must attentively listen to the material.  It also requires that the learner read the language with as much frequency as they listen to it. This method certainly sounds easy. The good news is that it is easy. But like any language learning strategy, you must be disciplined and willing to put in the effort.

One of the things I discovered about polyglots is that they tend to agree that the most important part of language learning is listening. Moses McCormick repeatedly stresses the importance of listening. I wish that someone had said this to me when I was in high school learning French. I used to rent French movies on my own and watch them. It never occurred to me to try input based learning. I trusted that I would learn French from my teachers.

Many people think they know how to listen. It is the most basic skill, we've been doing it since birth. But many people actually do not know how to listen. Allow me to break down listening into six categories:


1. Ignoring /  Passive listening
2. Pretending / Usually stock nods and uhums, yes, of course, etc.
3. Selective listening - Intentionally disregarding/dismissing the other person's views.
4. Attentive listening - personally driven fact gathering and analysis
5. Active listening - understanding feelings and gathering facts
6. Emphatic listening

Input based learning is based on the idea that one should spend a bulk of their time taking in information. This technique is opposed to Out-put content, such as speaking, writing, and composing. I think of it in terms of taking more than giving. Steve finds this to be one of the best ways to learn a language, and he lists five reasons why Input Based Learning is the way to go.