Archive for Languages

Language Learning Online: Why and How?

Learning a foreign language is possibly one of your goals if you are reading this article, be it because you need one more language in your resume, you are fascinated by another culture, you moved to a new country for any reason, or just because you are interested in foreign languages. However, the task is not easy. A language is the system of communication that a particular people has adopted and been developing over centuries, so learning a language involves learning most of the vocabulary and idioms, and more importantly, the different ways that are combined to communicate a message. The best practice to tackle this task is to move to the country where the language is spoken: daily interaction with natives is the fastest way to get a grasp of how the language works. Unfortunately, this option is not available to everyone. Taking language classes could be a good alternative, yet learning can turn slow and prosaic: learning too little over many distant sessions, mainly you lose the element of daily contact with the language. We live in the 21st century though, it takes a computer connected to the internet to get access to a tremendous amount of text and media for almost any language. So could technology come to rescue? This article addresses the conditions that a computer-aided language learning system (CALLS, for short) should satisfy to make language learning online feasible:

Pacing
You cannot drink a lake in one sip! The vocabulary of any spoken language is big, you cannot expect to learn it in 30 days – 30 weeks is more reasonable. A CALLS should allow the student to learn on their own pace, at their own convenience.

Recurrence
Although flexible pacing is desired, uncontrolled flexibility could ruin your learning. Ideally you need a daily contact with the language, if you cannot use the language every day, a CALLS should emulate this condition for you. It should encourage you to have close-to-daily recurrence (or drill) of what you learned.

Efficiency
Learning a new language is like exploring a new country, a CALLS should be efficient in that it guides you to the most used streets and squares (or, phrases and idioms) as quickly as possible. This way you’ll have the confidence to explore, on your own, the rest of the city/language. The failure to do this turns the alleged CALLS into a computerized version of a dictionary/lexicon, which is useful, but wont help you take your first steps in the language.

Interactivity & Immersion
The main point in using a computer for language learning is that your performance in solving some task is reported to you (i.e. feedback) and it affects the way the task goes further. The elements of game-play and rewarding should be an inherent part of a CALLS. A special case of reward is being able to understand the media (e.g. songs, films… ) in the language you learn, it is highly recommended for a CALLS to help students understand media early in study, even when it is still beyond their current level.

Comprehensiveness
It is distracting having to use several resources to achieve different aspects of the same task. A good CALLS has to provide an integrated and convenient environment for the learner, so that using the CALLS becomes part of the routine for as long as it takes to learn the language.

These are the five elements I have learned from more than five years of building CALL’s, the next article will illustrate these concepts via a case study, stay tuned!

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7 Common Mistakes Gringos Make When Speaking Spanish

Today, I’ll discuss 7 mistakes that Gringos or native British loudspeakers make when talking The spanish language. This information will assist you to avoid these mistakes when talking The spanish language. I’ve got a friend from Nueva You are able to (New You are able to) who’s remaining beside me within Medellín as they searches for a location to reside. He came here to Medellín to review The spanish language. He’s going to be taking classes in a local college. He showed up about the other day and that he makes of lot of mistakes while speaking The spanish language. Many of them are typical gringo errors. So without a doubt about his mistakes to ensure that you prevent them.

Tom (not his real title) and that i visited an Italian restaurant Saturday evening to consume. And merely by coincidence, the dog owner is really a guy in the Bronx from what was once an Italian neighborhood, not so not even close to where I remember when i resided within the Bronx.

Once the “mesero” or waiter required our orders I asked for my personal favorite “entrada” or appetizer:

Berenjena parmesana (eggplant parmesan)

This is when Tom made his first mistake. Tom requested “not vaso p vino.” You don’t call a wine glass a “vaso.” “Vaso” entails consuming glass, but make use of the term “copa” when mentioning to some wine glass. For instance:

Me regala una copa p vino.

May I’ve got a glass of vino.

And also the second mistake that Tom made also involved your wine. It’s a common mistake for British loudspeakers to literally translate British phrases and words when talking The spanish language. So it didn’t surprise me when Tom requested “vino rojo.” But that is not how you can say “dark wine” in The spanish language. The saying is “vino tinto” (dark wine).

Tom then designed a third mistake. Well, it had not been really an error. Tom can also be in the Bronx. And New You are able to born Puerto Ricans and Dominicans speak The spanish language that’s much more informal compared to The spanish language of Colombia. So that’s the kind of The spanish language Tom can be used to hearing.

So when Tom dropped his knife and fork that have been covered with a “servilleta” (napkin) to be able to obtain the waiter’s attention Tom yelled “¡Mira!” “¡Mira!”

When that did not obtain the attention from the “mesero” or waiter, Tom then yelled “¡Oye!” “¡Oye!”

Within the Bronx or some The spanish language-speaking areas of Nueva You are able to, you might get someone’s attention by yelling “¡Mira!” or “¡Oye!” although not in Colombia. In Colombia, yelling “¡Mira!” or “¡Oye!” “¡Oiga!” to obtain the attention from the “mesero” is recognized as “maleducado.” Incidentally “maleducado” does not necessarily mean what you believe this means. “Maleducado” is definitely an “amigo falso” (false friend). “False buddies” or “amigos falsos” are The spanish language words which are pronounced and typed nearly the same as British words but have completely different meanings.

“Maleducado” does not necessarily mean poorly educated or that certain includes a bad education. “Maleducado” means discourteous. What exactly is the best way to get someone’s attention in Latin America?

In Latin America, to be able to obtain the attention of somebody, you need to say “Perdón” or “Disculpe.” But many Colombians would simply say “señor” or “señora” to be able to get someone’s attention. As well as in Tom’s situation when the waiter (or waitress) been more youthful than him, words for example “muchacho” or “chico” or “niña” are acceptable in Colombia.

Finally, Tom ended up getting the waiter’s attention by yelling “¡Oye!” So when the waiter contacted our table Tom told him:

Se me cayeron las cubiertas.

Tom really surprised me with this phrase. His grammar was perfect. But his selection of vocabulary had another common gringo error, which now made 4 errors for Tom.

“Los cubiertos” are eating items. But “las cubiertas” means “the tops” or “the covers.” So Tom must have stated:

Se me cayeron los cubiertos.

My eating items fell.

Since Tom used the incorrect vocabulary words the waiter did not understand him and requested Tom “Cómo?”

And Tom responded and committed a FIFTH mistake:

Se me cayó la cuchilla.

“Cuchillo” means knife in The spanish language. But “cuchilla” means shaver. However the waiter apparently understood Tom while he came back having a “servilleta” (napkin), “tenedor” (fork), “cuchara” (spoon), and “cuchillo” (knife) — rather than a “cuchilla” or shaver for Tom to shave.

As we finished eating our foods Tom made mistake number 6. He stated in my experience in The spanish language:

Déjame pagar el cuento.

Tom offered me a very puzzled look after i responded by saying “Why? May be the waiter likely to inform us a story book?”

“Cuenta” means bill or account or restaurant check. But “cuento” means story or story book. So Tom must have stated:

Déjame pagar la cuenta.

Allow me to spend the money for bill.

Once we were departing, Tom designed a seventh and final Gringo mistake. There is a few awaiting taxis and obstructing the restaurant’s entrance, and this time around he stated “Perdón”

The pair didn’t move but checked out Tom as though he was looking to get their attention. This is when I stated “permiso” the right way to express pardon me when you’re attempting to pass and someone is obstructing the right path. You may either say “permiso” or “disadvantage permiso.”

So Hopefully by researching Tom’s 7 mistakes this should help you to prevent making the Gringo errors when talking The spanish language.

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