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Learning a language shouldn’t be exhausting

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Useful Expressions in Italian

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🇮🇹 I saluti 🇺🇸 Greetings

Ciao:  Hi/Bye (Informal)

Salve: Hello (formal)

Buongiorno: Good morning

Buon pomeriggio: Good afternoon

Buonasera: Good evening/night (after 6 p.m/18hrs)

Buonnanotte: Good night (farewell)

Come sta?: How are you (formal)

Come stai?: How are you (informal)

Come state?: How are you? (plural)

Come va?: How’s it going?

(Va) Tutto bene?: Is everything going well?

Tutto a posto?: Everything okay?

Come butta?: What’s up? (slang)

Comme vanno le cose?: How things are going?

Sto bene: I’m good

Tutto bene: It’s all good

Così così: So-so

Non c’è male: Not that bad

Come ti chiami?: What’s your name?

Mi chiamo: My name is

Sono: I am

E tu?: And you?

Quanti anni hai?: How old are you?

Ho ____ anni: I’m _____ years old.

Da dove vieni?: Where you come from?

Vengo da… : I’m come from…

Di dove sei?: Where are you from?

Io sono di: I’m from…

Cosa fai nella vita?: What do you do in life/for living?

Mi occupo di: I work on…

Mi dedico a: I dedicate myself to…

Che cosa ti piace fare?: What do you like to do?

Mi piace…: I like…

Quali sono i tuoi hobby?: What are your hobbies?

Miei hobby sono…: My hobbies are…

Piacere di conoscerti: Nice to meet you

Anche me / Anch'io: Me too

il piacere è mio / Piacere mio: The pleasure is mine / My pleasure

A presto: See you soon

Ci vediamo dopo: I’ll see you later

Arrivederci: Goodbye (formal)

Photo by Simona Sergi on Unsplash  

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Benefits of a Bilingual Brain

I have this whole thesis written about the benefits of a bilingual brain and yet some have the audacity to say that there are no benefits at all.

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My favourite language-learner, Matt vs Japan, and my favourite linguist, Stephen Krashen, uploaded an interview together a few days ago. I highly recommend watching this - it felt incredibly relieving in many ways. Here are the main arguments put forward in the video:

There are two systems: Language Acquisition and Language Learning.

Language Acquisition is the way a child naturally learns their native language - subconsciously understanding implicit meaning through comprehensible input (listening and reading materials that are slightly above their current level of ability).

Language Learning is the way we typically learn languages as adults - through formal instruction, grammar, rules, explicit explanation. 

This reminds me of something I was talking to my mum about today. I mentioned that many native speakers of English will use ‘was’ as 1st person conditional, instead of ‘were’ - for example “If I was a millionaire” vs “If I were a millionaire”. I asked my mum: “Which one do you think is correct? If more and more people keep saying ‘was’ instead of ‘were’, when does ‘was’ become the correct version?” and she said “It doesn’t matter, because we all know what the speaker means.” I think this illustrates the value of communicating meaning (acquisition) over having perfect form (learning).

Comprehensible Input

Input is reading and listening (while output is speaking and writing). When we say that language acquisition is done through comprehensible input, this means that the input is slightly above your current level.

The ideal input is both comprehensible and compelling (interesting). Matt points out that unfortunately for most beginners and some intermediate learners, most input that is comprehensible, is boring (like kid’s shows), and most input that is compelling (like adult’s shows) is too hard to comprehend. 

The Monitoring Hypothesis explains the influence of learning on acquisition. Acquisition is the utterance initiator, while learning/monitoring plans, edits, and corrects.

According to Krashen, the role of monitoring is minor, being used only to correct deviations from “normal” speech and to give speech a more ‘polished’ appearance.

- Over-users monitor all the time. - Under-users have done zero “learning” (explicit learning of grammar, rules, etc.) and rely solely on subconscious knowledge acquired naturally. - Optimal users monitor appropriately.

Apparently, extroverts typically under-monitor, and introverts and perfectionists typically over-monitor. I definitely fall into the second category. Just a few days ago in my iTalki German session, I realised my tendency to avoid using words I can’t explicitly remember learning, and that this has turned out to be my downfall.

We speak better when we feel that we belong in ‘the club’

I can go on a tangent in German to someone else in my C1 German class with complete confidence, but by no means can I do this with a native speaker. Stephen Krashen argues that this is because we identify as part of the same group - we are friends (as we’ve had many years of classes together) and we are learners of German.

- If I were to speak with a native speaker, my German would be worse. - If I were to speak with a stranger (who is not a native speaker, like me), my German would still be worse, because I’m not familiar with them.

When we are aware of the fact that we do not belong to the same group as the other person, we automatically tend to make more mistakes.

My boyfriend is a native speaker of Serbian, and so are his parents and many of our friends. So, I don’t belong to their club. On the other hand, I am most familiar with my boyfriend, so I can speak with him in Serbian most easily. Next, I can speak with his friends most easily, because we belong to the same age group. I find it hardest to speak with older adults (in their 50s and 60s). This is when I make the most mistakes; this is when I ‘freeze’.

To be honest, I think this hypothesis is more an indication of how we feel most comfortable in general around those with whom we have more in common, and therefore experience more nervousness in general, the more different/unfamiliar a person is to us. It is this nervousness that causes us to be more hyper-aware of ourselves, over-monitor, and therefore ‘freeze’ or make more mistakes.

Input is more important than output

Both Stephen and Matt agree that input is more important than output, with Stephen describing output as more of a demonstration of language that has already been acquired through input, rather than a method of language acquisition.

With this being said, Matt also believes that output has still been quite helpful for him in improving his fluidity and retrieval of his acquired Japanese. I’ve had the same experience with output, especially in writing.

Stephen, on the other hand, after prioritising input, has been able to go several years without speaking French or German, but they still remain his ‘best’ languages, and he has no problem producing them at a whim. He admits he has no opinion nor evidence to support whether output aids in acquisition or not.

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TL;DR The main things Stephen Krashen wants you to take out of this are:

1. Interesting and self-selected comprehensive input (reading materials and TV shows/movies/videos) are the best way to acquire a language.

2. Language acquisition (where the priority is communicating meaning) is more valuable than language learning (where the priority is correct form, applying rules correctly, etc.)

These are all, of course, theories. You can agree with them, or disagree with them. You can choose to try to implement these methods, or choose not to. Do what works best for you!

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Here’s some help for learning French

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Anybody else has a 500 day streak on Duolingo?

My Duolingo streak is my biggest flex, lol

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Help for learning French

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Language levels

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For education purposes

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Spice up your language learning game with fun challenges

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Just Pinned to Learning Languages Secrets: Dr. Stephen Krashen is a great teacher and researcher of Second Language Acquisition. He explains the difference between learning languages versus language acquisition very well. When we learn a language, think about all of those rote things that you do. Flashcards and apps, exercises, going to a traditional language class, studying verbs, or going to… Read More Language Learning + Acquisition=The Perfect Marriage https://ift.tt/2Zf7i6p

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Stationery in Italian

Stationery - la cancelleria

Pencil - la matita

Pen - la penna

Eraser - la gomma

Sharpener - il temperamatite

Marker - il pennarello

coloured pencil - la matita colorata

Scissors - le forbici

Glue - la colla

paper - la carta

Clip - la graffetta

Ruler - la riga / il righello

Notebook - il quaderno

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baby: m-

monolingual english parents: omg his first word

baby: m-

parents: yes! mama! can you say mama??

baby: me pica el bagre y he absorbido sus poderes

parents:

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From Beginner to Intermediate: not so intense plan for advancing in language

by Karolina Iljinaitė

Introduction

I graduated in Italian at C1 level. I studied in Italy for 6 months. Knowledge of Italian makes it easy for me to understand spoken and written Spanish (excluding technical terms) and written French (at least A1-A2). I can communicate fluently in Italian.

The language learning plan below will mainly cover the integration of a new language into everyday life (for self-learners)

Add this target language into your everyday life by:

·         Reading poems, essays, books. Read out loud to get better at pronunciation

·         Listening to songs

·         Watching movies or YouTube videos

·         Finding penpals or online friends to talk to in the target language

·         Changing your phone settings into the target language

·         Adding 5-10 new words daily to your vocabulary list and make a revision after each week

Important: every week of language learning does not have to look the same: change topics, change learning styles, one week more writing exercises, another listening. Most important thing is to try and learn everyday.

If it’s hard for you to stick to a learning plan – don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s all about input. Learn the way children learn: surround yourself with the target language and eventually you’ll see major progress.

Good luck!

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some things i’ve learned while studying in quarantine

drink more water instead of more coffee.

weekly goals are bullshit. set yourself 3-day goals. you’ll be less laid-back.

don’t just mindlessly stare at words. before you start studying, know your approach to it. have a plan.

summarizing the concept in your own words is the key part of taking notes. don’t just copy things down, convert them into your own way of talking, your own vocabulary, no matter how dumb and unprofessional it sounds.

don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. studying doesn’t have to be pretty. summaries and notes can be messy as long as they’re comprehensible. you can always rewrite and reorganize them later. (honestly, you better do. and you better keep them.)

don’t throw away the papers you’ve solved your problems in. staple them to the fucking textbook. you need to see them constantly. cause you’ll need reminders of how far you’ve came, when you’re feeling discouraged.

don’t be an armchair analyst for your issues. if you have an idea then act on it.

remember: the exact point where it becomes difficult, is where your growth begins. take a deep breath, and try to focus on the paragraph in front of you.

get off your high horse and understand that if you’re a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. first, you’ll need to reach 30, then from 30 to 60, and then from 60 to 90. nobody is 100 everyday. that happens very rarely.

you need to have fun everyday. you need to have peaceful time every single day. even on exam night. especially on exam night, actually. so make sure you’ve studied enough so you can have some time to yourself.

once you’re on a roll and in need of some challenge to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. tell yourself you’re not allowed to do less than 80% of what you did yesterday. whatever the hell it was, even just one hour. so if yesterday you really studied for like, say 8 hours, today your goal is to study for at least 6 and a half hours. if you can’t keep up with that, make it 70%, or 60%. 

be forgiving of yourself. be kind to yourself. even if you bounced back and lost your streak. start again. as slowly as you did before. take your time. it’s okay, you were there once you can get there again.

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I have been measuring my value with productivity for some time now. It was only recently that I realized how toxic it is to behave this way.

I felt valuable in taking on a full embrace of projects that might not have even interested me. After all, work, projects and studies created unnecessary stress and took away all the time I could have spent enjoying the "now".

Finally comes a deeper realization that I should not measure my importance through productivity. Be careful with this. You are enough.

by Karolina Iljinaitė (2022.01.25)