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Linguaholic

xTinx

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Posts posted by xTinx

  1. I've tried Duolingo but I'm afraid it didn't make much of an impression on me. Maybe because I'm looking for a more comprehensive interface. The app is also quite heavy. It makes your cellphone lag if your operating system isn't updated. I do like the fact that there's a question and answer portion after every lesson. And yes, it's colorful but I guess color alone won't cut it.

  2. I don't really know what's the "best word memorization method" out there but I do know a method that works best for me and it's none other than the acronym mnemonic technique. For instance, if today's language lesson is all about greetings, I line up all the greetings as well as their foreign language equivalent. I memorize all the first letters of each greeting and lump them together in acronyms. This will then give me an idea of their meaning. For example:

    • Good Morning - Ohayo Gozaimasu
    • Good Afternoon - Kon'nichiwa
    • Good Evening - Konbanwa

    So MAE = OKK. Just remembering those acronyms help spur my memory and it won't be difficult to memorize everything, no matter how long. Memorizing characters is another story, however. That part usually requires extensive practice.

     

  3. This is just my two cents, but I'd rather go for Japanese. French is good but if you're having a hard time learning that language, then just take it with a grain of salt. If your heart loves Japanese more, then you had better go for it. There's something so fluid and friendly about Nihonggo. In fact, I learned a few conversational lines by simply watching animes and Jdoramas. Effort, perseverance and the willingness to learn will help you acquire more knowledge about Japanese before you know it. So trust your intuition.

  4. I am currently in a bind. I want to teach English at a nearby Asian country but since I have no ESL experience myself, it's kind of hard to just learn things from scratch (I currently lack training and experience). Hopefully this video will give me an idea on how to start teaching English to my future pupils and learn the art of EFL without further training, Thanks,

  5. Perhaps you can use the words in the same sentence to project to your pupils how they're used in various contexts. Just my two cents and you can disregard if they're not applicable. For example:

    1. "Anna ate dinner when the clock struck eight."

    2. "Bambi, a little deer of princely beginnings, was so dear to his mother that she risked her life to save him."

    3. "I might lose this race because of my loose shirt."

    4. "In order to get a raise, you must race your way to the top."

  6. Of course. School's a welcome respite anytime of the day. You get mental stimulation there than anywhere else. Also, I think it's exciting to learn a language and focus on it. Learning itself has its own joys. So why not?

  7. I don't know what's the criteria for judging a language sophisticated. However, this is just my opinion and everyone's entitled to theirs, the British language, full of wit and very suave, always oozes sophistication. I like watching British films. It's one of the reason's I love GoT too. Most of the actors are Brits. They speak well.

  8. For Spanish, it's because we're required to have at least 6 units of foreign language and it's the course with the most convenient schedule. For Japanese, I fell in love with Japan through constant exposure to animes and Japanese literary savants like Haruki Murakami. For Korean, I got carried away by Korean dramas and the entirety of Korean culture.

  9. I know some Latin proverbs which have been used as part of the legal lexicon. For instance, res ipsa loquitur is a latin saying for "the thing speaks for itself." Meaning, just by looking at something, you can already tell who the culprit is or what exactly happened. There's also prima facie evidence, which refers to an evidence that tells it all with just one glance.

  10. That's great. I gather you've read The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson? It's really heavy reading but this literature summed up all the major gods and happening in Norse Mythology. As for me, I'm still stuck trying to learn East Asian languages. Swedish is worth considering (as I myself would want to visit the country). For now, my plate's full.

  11. Here's how I see these two and I'll try to explain it all in layman's term:

    1. Metaphor - Any phrase, word, idea, event, item or undertaking used as a symbol for something else. For instance, George Orwell's Animal Farm can be a metaphor for the irony of communism.

    2. Extended metaphor - Just imagine a whole paragraph of metaphor or several metaphors in a single clump of words. That's an extended metaphor. Perfect example? Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet dialogues and T.S Eliot's The Wasteland.

  12. I know a smattering of Japanese words and phrases which I learned through constantly watching Japanese animations and movies. I plan to enrol in a Japanese language class one of these days. For now, though, I busy myself using Obenkyo and Japanese Lite to further my understanding of the language and the way it is spoken. These apps can be downloaded via Google Play.

  13. Because creative writing is an altogether different level. You can write the language after learning how to speak it but to write it creatively and in a way that stirs the imagination, the person must be highly proficient with the language he's using. It's not ideal to set up creative writing classes for people who have just learned the basics of a language. It's okay at the intermediate and advanced stages. But never for beginners.

  14. Yes I've tried this EFL option. The company owner is Japanese and he set up ESL learning centers in my country, though he himself is based in Japan. There are many home-based ESL teachers employed by that company and I would have been one had I not backed out. You can search the Internet and there are actually a lot of them out there.

  15. It's all right to learn language through movies but you will only remember phrases and expressions. This will not teach you the basics of language construction or the rules and quirks behind a particular language. A classroom setting would be advisable. Watching movies will, however, fast track your learning and give you a better grasp of the language than those who merely attend lessons.

  16. Depending on your travel priorities, learning a language may or may not be necessary. For my part, I try not to think in terms of necessity. Learning a particular country's language gives you a concrete experience of its culture that tasting their local cuisine and visiting historical sites may not be able to provide you with. It also contributes to your human becoming. Language connects you to the people of that country.

  17. I like the British and the French accents. There's something very candid and quirky about British accents. After all the Brits are know for their wits (wow, that just rhymed). The French, on one hand, have a very romantic accent. It prevents them from speaking too loudly. So they sound as if they're whispering when they're actually not.

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