FunaSophia

Write example sentences and write the different homophones in different colors. There were girls sitting on a porch with their friends, my mother said: "I know these girls, they're really nice!" The color mapping will help you remember the different context where each homophones is used. I hope it works for you like it worked for me.

If you are teaching to Japanese students, I have found that it is always helpful for them to have the "Japanese pronunciation" of a long, complicated word. For example, if you were to teach the word "internationally," break it down for them in Japanese chunks before giving them the proper pronunciation. Inu-teru-na-shion-na-ru, or something like that This may seem counter intuitive and a bit weird, but I have found that when they are able to map a word in their head with Japanese chunks, they are more likely to get the right pronunciation when they start practicing. Good luck! :party:

This is what I have tried, and it has worked very well for me: Stage 1: Get native input. Get your hands on everything you can, any TV shows, movies, music, radio programs, spoken in the language you wish to learn. Subtitled or not. (Never stop getting native input) Stage 2: Acquaint yourself with the language. Read a grammar. You don't need to remember all the grammar points. You don't even need to practice. What you want is to have a big picture of how the language's syntax and morphology work. For example, does the language have genders? Does it have cases? How do you express an interrogation? This may seem like a lot at first, but the benefits will be tremendous once you get to Stage 3. Stage 3: Get a self-learning book. Study, study, study. Write, write, write. Do not skip vocabulary. It's easy to concentrate on grammar at first, but having an extensive vocabulary will pay off in time. Stage 4: Practice. Talk to yourself Talk to your cat! Practice by creating your own examples. An example that you create yourself, especially if it relates to yourself, is most likely to be remember than an example picked up in a book (My Cognitive Processes 101 class taught me that) Stage 5: Get a linguistic partner. Find someone to practice with. And never stop practicing.

Can I say I'm really glad to see French in so many of your Top 5 lists. I don't know why, but it brings me joy :party: As for me, I would like to master: 1) Korean 2) Spanish (dormant right now) 3) German (dormant) 4) Norwegian (And then Danish and Swedish) 5) Cantonese

You have to enjoy it. Most of the time, the things you enjoy doing do not require that you force yourself to stay focused. Once you truly enjoy the process of learning, you won't have to remind yourself to "stay focused," it will happen naturally. The way to do this is to be persistent at first. Learning a language is like taking up a sport, let's say running. The first month is probably going to be painful; each run is going to ask for a lot of effort, but after a month, you won't be able to picture yourself not going for your run. Once it becomes routine and most of all, enjoyable, you'll never stop, and you won't need to exert yourself.

I grew up speaking both English and French. People who speak French often remark I have a slight English accent, and people who speak English... think there is a slight French twist to the way I speak :cry: All accents are beautiful. Accents are the color of language, and if we did not have them, life would be a tad boring. I am always confused when people claim that speaking with an accent means you do not fully master a language...

I've tried learning a little bit of Dothraki, the language spoken by Khal Drogo and his people in Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. David Peterson, the creator of the language, hasn't mapped out everything yet, so it's not possible to truly learn Dothraki, but you can still learn some funny or cool sentences. I used this website: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/rosetta-throne-learn-to-speak-dothraki/#life Aheshke jada! :frozen: