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Guest Posts

How to Sound Like an American When You’re Not – How Two ESL Learners Achieved Their American Accent

I have two friends (okay, maybe more than two but for the purposes of this article…).

One is from Jordan and one is from Germany.

They came to America as adults, and they have virtually no accent.

Yes, linguists will argue that everyone has an accent. What I’m saying here is that the way they speak—their word choice, syntax, intonation, and pronunciation—is a dead ringer for my born-and-bred American friends.

Not to mention both of them have an uncanny knowledge of American pop culture, which definitely helps their cause, but in any case…

I. AM. UTTERLY. FASCINATED.

Do you feel the same way?

15 Ways Language Learners Can Work Smarter, Not Harder

Can trying too hard be a problem when learning a new language?

It can be if you’re not approaching the learning process in a smart way!

In that case all the hard work won’t deliver the results you expect.

Why don’t you focus on smart instead of hard language learning?

We’ll list 15 effective ways to do that.

6 Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language

If you are not already learning a foreign language, you should start right away!

Why may you wonder?

Well, let’s just mention a few benefits such as:

a better traveling experience, a better brain, a better social life, a better pay, better grades, a better job and a better life in general.

Yes, learning a second language makes everything better.

How to Embed Foreign Language into Your Daily Routine

Being a multilingual person has many benefits.

For example, you can find a better-paying job, go abroad to study, and enjoy exploring a culture different from your own.

However, for many people learning a new language seems like an impossible task to accomplish, so they give up before even trying.

7 Simple Techniques to Develop Exceptional Memory

When our brain processes information, it may store it in its long-term memory system and retrieve it when necessary.

That’s exactly what we want it to do when we’re learning languages.

We do our best to memorize different words and grammar rules and we want to keep that information fresh. When we want to remember something, we are willingly bringing information from our unconscious level to the conscious mind.

However, the brain doesn’t have the capacity to store every single detail we see, hear, think, and sense in the long-term memory. Before being dismissed or stored in the long-term memory, all information has to go through the working memory.

When we are learning a foreign language, we want all words, grammar rules, and culture references to be stored in the long-term memory.

Unfortunately, this system doesn’t react according to our wishes.

4 Ways to Gamify Foreign Language Learning

You may have seen one of the many TED talks about how gaming is either a modern devil or the modern savior of humanity.

Speakers commonly quote how humanity spends 3 billion hours per week playing games; along with a ringing cry to change the situation (though they do not mention how many hours people spend watching TV).

People are always going to find ways to busy themselves, and if gaming is your thing, then try the methods listed below in order to learn a language while you play.