Duolingo’s website carries the claim that, according to an independent study, an average of 34 hours of Duolingo are equivalent to a full university semester of language education. Since a one-semester university course usually takes more than 34 hours of work, this suggests that Duolingo is more effective than an average university language course. Duolingo […]
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The word ‘polyglot’ has its origins in Greek meaning the ‘ability to speak many languages’. Having reviewed the literature and theories on polyglottism, it seems to me that an intersubjective examination is needed on where the thresholds should be with the polyglot community. So to what level should I speak a language in order for
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Assimil consists of a pocket sized book and 4 audio CDs and promises an intuitive method. I bought it for Romanian and read through a few chapters each day as each chapter is quite short. The book is based on a series of short bilingual dialogues. I bought the French version as there was no
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Guest Post by Jan van der Aa As you read this title you might be thinking, is it really possible to learn a language in one month for a normal person? “Without studying?” What does that mean? My interpretation of “studying” is learning from grammar books, learning wordlists and taking classes. Those are often things
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Good language learning methods require learners to immerse themselves into the language both culturally and psychologically. In this guest post, I will share with you five tips that will help you immerse yourself in your target language. 1. Go to the country First things first, if you have the opportunity to go to the country
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In the video below, I discuss Belgicisms with Félix Wang, who is a Belgian polyglot and has a popular YouTube channel called Loki2504. French in Belgium differs from the French spoken in France in several noticeable ways, primarily, the numbers 70-79 and 90-99, the use of ‘savoir’ (‘to know’) in place of ‘pouvoir’ (‘to be
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In the late 1980s, founder Allen Stoltzfus envisioned a new kind of language program. One that emulates natural immersion by using a sophisticated new computer technology that simulates the way you learn your native language – using images and sounds in context, with zero translation. What followed was one of the most ground-breaking (and controversial)
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Michel Thomas claimed that there was no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher. I discovered the Michel Thomas beginners courses at the time I became interested in learning Italian. I had just spent two fabulous weeks travelling around ‘Il Bel Paese’ when browsing through the language learning section of my local
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