wynnyfryd

I had a friend who used to tell people that she couldn't have dairy products because she was "lactose AND tolerant." I think she finally figured out around age twelve that she was not, in fact, an open-minded milk sugar.

One of the best strategies is to create flashcards with pictures on them. That way, whenever you see the word again, your mind will recall the associated image. Another tactic I like to use is focusing on learning the word itself, NOT the word's translation. For example, let's say I am an English speaker trying to learn German. The German word for apple is "apfel." If I were to see the word apfel in an exercise, I would try to call to mind the image of an apple without actually thinking the English word "apple." Like the first strategy I mentioned, this technique involves training your brain to associate a foreign word with an image rather than a native word. EDIT: Just wanted to add one more suggestion that you might find useful once you become more familiar with a language. Try watching films or tv shows in the language you are trying to learn. Watch them once with subtitles, then re-watch them without subtitles. You'll be surprised how many words you can pick out based on context clues!

For a foreign language class, I always find it immensely helpful when teachers include multiple choice questions in their exams. The entire test doesn't have to be multiple choice, but it's always nice when teachers will at least make the vocabulary portion of the test multiple choice. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing the grammar rules but forgetting the vocabulary during a written exam!

Speaking a foreign language is always my biggest challenge! The first foreign language I learned was Latin. We didn't have oral exams in that class (since only a handful of people still fluently speak it), so I didn't get much experience with the oral aspects of learning a language. Unfortunately, this inexperience tends to cause a lack of confidence when I try to speak new languages. I'm always worried that I'm going to butcher the accents or pronunciations.

Hello, everyone! My name is Wynnyfryd, and I'm very excited to join the Linguaholic community. I have been a language lover ever since I took Latin in high school. I am currently teaching myself Spanish through DuoLingo, and I hope to eventually be (at least partially) fluent in all of the Romance languages.