Learn Languages with Steve Kaufmann

Can you tackle multiple languages at once? It all depends on your goals! The speaker shares their journey with Turkish, Arabic, and Persian, revealing the struggles of juggling different writing systems and dialects. They dive into the joys of exploring diverse languages while also tackling the trade-offs of divided attention. Emphasizing personal experiences, the discussion balances the thrill of multilingual learning with the challenges faced by language enthusiasts. Dive into the fascinating world of polyglotism!

Daria teaches Russian and looks for learning material that is of interest to the learners. Learn Russian with Star Wars! More important than insisting on correct grammar, especially in the early stages.

When we start a new language, we're excited to discover new sounds, new words, new structures. Early there is a sense of achievement as what was just noise is starting to become meaningful. Certain words repeat often enough that we learn them. But after a few months, we start to feel we're stuck. It's the doldrums. What can be done?

The difficulty level of any language depends on the learner. How motivated is the learner to acquire a certain language? Is he or she confident of their ability to acquire the language? To a confident and motivated learner, no language is really difficult. In fact, the learning process becomes its own reward.

In acquiring a foreign language, reading is often underrated as a goal, and as a learning activity. When I learned Chinese, over 50 years ago, I did a lot more reading than I’m doing now in Arabic and Persian. Today I rely on the audio to help me read. In 2022 I plan to focus more on reading, even in sentence mode, but without the constant help of audio.

Explore the significance of vocabulary in language learning. Discover the importance of acquiring vocabulary naturally and gradually. Learn about the benefits of a large passive vocabulary and how to increase it.

We often hear that speakers of certain languages have trouble losing their accents, speakers of English or Slavic languages, for example. Iryna sounds Mexican, both in English and Spanish, yet is a native speaker of Russian and Ukrainian. Best to avoid generalizations.

I started Standard Arabic, Persian & Turkish to better understand the region. Dropped Turkish to focus on reading Arabic script. Now I'm doing more colloquial Arabic. Things change.

I hitchhiked in Italy in the 60's, getting by with French and Spanish. In the '70s I got a Linguaphone Italian course. I avoided the exercises but listened over and over again, occasionally reviewing the grammar explanations. That was it until I discovered the power of audio books.

When I learn a language I'm curious about the culture. However, I first need to get a sense of the new language using subject matter familiar to me. More exotic details of the culture can wait. Unfortunately these are often included in beginner texts.