Tactics and Strategies Archives - Smart Language Learner

10 Ways to Beat Boredom When Learning a New Language

Noel van Vliet — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 22:00:00 +0000

If you have any experience with learning another language, you know that…

…language learning can get boring.

And that’s a big reason why most people never learn a new language.

Boredom equals pain, so people shy away from it.

But you shouldn’t let boredom be an obstacle in your path to fluency.

You can learn how to deal with it.

How?

Try some of the stuff listed in this post.

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4 Ways to Accelerate Your Language Learning with Spaced Repetition but Without Using Flashcards

Noel van Vliet — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 23:02:00 +0000

If you want to learn a language, you can't really avoid Spaced Repetition.

But that doesn't mean you have to use Flashcards.

There are many ways you can use Spaced Repetition without them...

In fact, you can use Spaced Repetition for almost any language learning activity. And doing so can seriously accelerate your learning.

In this post you'll find 4 ways to do just that.

The post 4 Ways to Accelerate Your Language Learning with Spaced Repetition but Without Using Flashcards appeared first on Smart Language Learner.

Imagine From Day One

Noel van Vliet — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 01:20:14 +0000

As you might know:

When it comes to learning a new language, I’m not a fan of conversing from the get-go.

I think it’s a waste of time, and you set yourself up to have many fossilized errors that are tough to correct later on if almost everything you say to the bewildered natives speakers is incorrect.

...and although touted as a way to motivate yourself, it may actually shatter confidence to speak in your new language before you’ve even started.

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The Curse of Emergency Speech – and What to Do About It

Noel van Vliet — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 00:37:17 +0000

You probably recognize the following scenario:

You're in an important conversation in your target language. Then suddenly, your vocabulary seems to shrink to: Yes, No and Thank You.

Call it stress or nerves, fact is it makes you feel as if all the studying you’ve done has been worthless.

The post The Curse of Emergency Speech – and What to Do About It appeared first on Smart Language Learner.

Do You Really Hate to Study?

Noel van Vliet — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 03:33:03 +0000

The word studying has gotten a bad reputation in the last few years.

Mention the word and you see people cringe in agony.

To study is to die a long painful death due to immense boredom.

Language bloggers who dare to use the word, risk the chance of being called old fashioned and outdated.

We no longer study a language, we learn it instead.

The post Do You Really Hate to Study? appeared first on Smart Language Learner.

How to Measure Your Language Learning Progress

Noel van Vliet — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 00:29:42 +0000

Sorry!

You can’t learn a new language in a month.

No matter what they promise you, it’s not going to happen. (At least not until they invent a language chip they can insert into your brain.)

Learning a new language is a rather lengthy process. It’s not something you do for a while and then you’re done. Some would say it’s a lifetime project.

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Are You Stuck in a Language-Learning Plateau – and Not Sure What to Do?

Noel van Vliet — Sat, 19 Sep 2015 03:21:02 +0000

Ever felt like you’ve come to a standstill in your language learning?

It sucks, right?

Long gone are the early days of your language journey when learning was a breeze:

The prospect of speaking a new language excited you so much ... and picking up new words and grammar rules was almost as easy as breathing out.

Now, however, all you seem to do is maintain what you already learned.

If that…

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The Biggest Language-Learning Lesson I’ve Learned

Noel van Vliet — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 00:16:39 +0000

I thought I had it all figured out.

Surrounded by native speakers, probably for ever, there was nothing more I had to do but speaking to rapidly improve my Spanish.

Yep, just plain old chatting would shoot my fluency through the roof.

Or so I thought...

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The New Best Method to Learn a Foreign Language

Noel van Vliet — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 00:10:00 +0000

Wherever you go, be it the internet, a college or a bar, people always seem to pop up advocating their best way to learn a new language.

But does it even exist?

Read on to find out.

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How to Remember More of Anything You Learn Without a Lot of Extra Work

Noel van Vliet — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 23:37:54 +0000

Having written last time about how the wrong impression of memory can prevent you from learning a language, today I'll be sharing a memory-improving strategy with you.

And the best part is that there's nothing extra to learn, no techniques to master, and you practically don't have to change your language-learning activities at all.

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