Another Week Means Another Chance At Doing Better This Time

17.07.21// old photos for a rainy day. Getting back into my work today, organizing my thoughts and critiques ready for the final edits to my thesis ✨

IG/ flatneedledistillery

Cognitive behavioral therapy notes

Learning Languages and How to Make it Fun

(gifs not mine, credit to the artist)

How does a child learns? Immersion

So you gotta dive deep

Find songs that you like. You don't have to understand, you just have to enjoy the song.

Listen them at least once a day. The idea is for you to get familiar with the sounds.

Once you have already heard them too many times (without getting tired of them) look for the lyrics. In their native language, not a translation.

If you can read in that language, then try reading them. Print them if you have to or write them down (this is better) and as you listen to the song try to sing.

If there's a word/sentence you like because it sounds pretty, mark it.

If there's a word you don't know how to/can't pronounce, mark it.

For example, I have a journal in which I write Japanesse Kanji that I find beautiful (whether is because of the meaning or the symbol itself is pretty)

Once you are familiar with the song look for a translation.

Check those words you have marked with the translation.

While looking for definitions it's better if you find images (so can have an idea of what that word is) instead of a definition in your language (unless is a long/complicated concept).

Movies, you must watch movies in that language. Better if they are from that country. (It can also be a doubled movie, perhaps you could look for one of your favorites)

Watch them with subtitles (in your language) once or twice. Then watch them again but this time without subtitles or with subtitles of said language. (You already know the plot, so you can still understand what's going on)

If you like to read, look for children literature. It's easy and fun.

Keep reading even if you don't understand a single sh*t. It doesn't matter.

Mark again those words you like, don't know the meaning or can't pronounce.

Write at least one sentence every day. It doesn't have to be right, it doesn't have to be long or poetic, you just gotta write.

If you still don't know much about grammar (enough to formulate a sentence on your own) then write a quote from one of those songs, movies or books you read. Again it doesn't matter if you don't understand what are you writing.

If you already know another language, try to learn the new language with that one. For example, I learn german from english instead of my native language spanish.

Videogames. In my experience this is amazing. You have no idea idea how much I learned english just from games.

You have fun playing, engaged with a story, while constantly hearing the language. You don't even have to pay attention at what they are saying, eventually you'll figure it out. It's very intuitive.

And because games, usually, requires that you spend many hours playing you will have a lot of practice without actually studying.

Some games, if you look on the settings menu, even have other languages instead of english. For example I played Assassin's Creed Brotherhood in italian and french and AsC III in russian and japanese (the voice actors are fantastic).

Seriously, videogames are freaking amazing for learning.

The idea of this, is that you can imitate the learning process a child does, while also having fun and enjoying it. Kids learn by making mistakes, by playing with words and by being constantly surrounded with the language. At first, kids have no idea what they are doing, they just repeat what they see and hear. So it's okay if you don't know what are you doing, take that pressure off. This is not school/college, this is just you trying to learn a culture. So be kind and patient with yourself.

LEARNING SHOULD BE FUN, be creative with your methods and try everything (so you can find what you are comfortable with). It is scientifically proved that if you like what you are studying and having fun it will be 10x easier to assimilate and remember the knowledge you are acquiring.

I have outlined my whole week with like three goals per day (I really need to catch up in a lot of subjects) let’s see if I’m able to follow it. I miss libraries.

hiya! wrapping up another horrible week but at this point im pretty used to it. uni is beautiful/horrible.

1.8.21

Last semester I'd always forget(procrastinate until I forget) to take my quizes and remember it a few hours after it's due. Now I'm glad that I did not forget to take it this time today. Apart from that, 44 degrees and maths don't make a great combo, tested by me.

hi everyone!

I’ve been gone for a while because to be honest, focusing at home is really hard. Please don’t feel bad if your productivity is not on the same level it normally is - this is an unusual situation. Stay safe and take care of your mental health.

the best thing about language learning is that you don’t have to give up leisure time activities such as reading books or watching tv shows n you only have to switch that piece of media to your target language n you can enjoy it all the same while getting more necessary work done

here are a few study tips on how to learn a new language 💻☺️:

1. start speaking as soon as possible. even when you haven’t learned too many words yet, the most important part of studying a language is not being afraid of using it. so download apps like hellotalk to get in touch with natives! of course, it’s even easier if you already have friends or family members speaking your target language.

2. study the most frequent words! there are tons of free so-called “frequency lists” online that prevent you from studying vocabulary you don’t need in the long run. with only 500 of the right words you could already have basic conversations!

3. get a lot of native exposure - through podcasts, videos and movies. there are so many recommendations on the internet, no matter what language you’re learning. the earlier you start immersing yourself in native material, even if it’s children’s books, the faster you’ll find yourself having fluent conversations!!

4. keep a weekly or daily diary to practice writing in your target language. even if it’s only composed of basic sentences, it’s the best way to use the vocabulary you’ve learned!

qotd: what language would you like to study next? i really look forward to studying Italian once I have a little bit more time!! 💕

[more posts like this on my instagram @softlyshade]