Some people want to learn slang and even swear words at an early stage of their learning. I've never done this and don't recommend it. You actually need quite a high level of familiarity with a language to be able to use these terms appropriately. There is a danger of creating a bad impression without realizing it.

The greater the variety of our language learning activities, the more different ways we use the language while learning it, paradoxically, the better we end up focussing when we interact with that language. We end up with an augmented reality experience.

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/3BaQd0o

It has occurred to me that the process of learning a language is not one of deliberately learning rules and words, but rather one of becoming familiar with a language, making another language a friend, whose traits and idiosyncrasies we appreciate and enjoy.

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/3kMtfHc

People often look for better ways to do things, sometimes called hacks. Are there hacks for learning languages? I checked out some productivity hacks on the Internet. Do they work for languages?

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/2XXpp5n

Stu Jay Raj speaks languages of southeast Asia, India and China. Most people know that the Indian subcontinent and China have a combined population of around 3 billion people but don’t realize Southeast Asia has a population of almost 700 million. There are a lot of people that Stu can speak to and learn from.

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/3hQgyt7

Language learning is in itself a form of travel. We are able to visit different cultures, different ways of saying things and to enjoy the pleasure of moving to exotic environments.

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/3hCfTew

Content drives enjoyment and success in language learning. It has evolved from teachers, books, tapes, online content including mp3 files, to all the ways we can learn from videos.

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/394sFhy

Factors that influence our choice in languages to learn include how easy it seems, how useful it seems and our interest in the language. It is the last one, interest, that I find the most motivating.

___

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/2XcM3qb

When starting out in a language, I prefer to focus on that language. Once I'm more advanced, I can combine it with the study of another language where I'm at a similar level.

Study a language on LingQ: https://bit.ly/3tiisY3

I did nothing in Persian for two weeks, no listening, no reading, and focused on Egyptian Arabic. When I next spoke with my Persian tutor, I did better than ever. Benign neglect.