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Learning a new language from children's shows should be used with caution. Children's shows are primarily catered to its audience and thus, a lot of things discussed are toned down to the level understandable to the children watching the show. I guess it's the Dr. Seuss problem that petesede mentioned about. Anyhow, learning a new language using children's show as a main medium I think is great if you're still at the beginner's level. What better way to start than to get things done from the level of children. I, however, haven't heard of an adult learner starting with this approach. I remember a friend's child who loves to watch Dora the Explorer. While there's no one in my country who speaks Spanish, the child was able to pick up a few Spanish expressions just by watching Dora.

Anything said in anger can truly be detrimental. Sometimes, when we are in the heat of the moment, and truly upset - controlling our language can be quite difficult. It would be better if the tendency is you lose speech temporarily. But when in an argument, the tendency is to hurt. Regrettably, in the heat of the moment, we forget to censor our words and end up saying nasty things. This topic brings to mind passages that I love about being careful with our tongue: The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (Proverbs 12:18) Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. (Proverbs 16:24) I love how the power of words and our language are encapsulated in these two verses.

Teaching English via theater and drama is a pretty neat idea. This is the first time I've heard of this approach. I guess this will make your friend Chris unique amongst the many teachers of English in Japan. If I were to teach English in a foreign country, my primarily motivation might not be in teaching at all but at the chance to travel to a different country and just be immersed in their culture. I know of a friend who's enjoying her life as an English teacher in Japan. I just don't have an idea if she's affiliated with a big school or if she's just striking on her own. Anyway, is it true that it's difficult to get a teaching position if you're not from countries such as the U.S. or the UK, or any country with English as its first language?

As for me, I think the reason its easier for most to pick up swear words is because it's fun. People has the tendency to gravitate towards those that are taboo. I think we get a little bit of pleasure in doing something that is not acceptable. Other than that, I think exposure also helps. As the others have mentioned, people now swear a lot these days. So, foreigners who are trying to learn a language, or even those who love to travel easily pick up those swear words from the locals.

This is interesting! Here are a few things that I know that hasn't appeared in anybody's list: close to home - when something is uncomfortably near or real run home to mama - to give up something important like marriage to return to a comfortable place coming home to roost - mistakes from the past often come back to haunt people

Oh, I just recalled a book of Jodi Picoult that truly tugs at your heart too. One of that is a title called "Change of Heart". The plot if I remember correctly is something to do with a heart donor. Will you as a parent accept the heart of a felon convicted to deathrow for killing your child in order to save the life of your other child needing a transplant. Another book of hers I could remember is one called "Handle With Care." Its plot has something to do with 'what ifs'. What if you knew that your future child will have a costly debilitating condition, would you have gone ahead with the pregnancy? What if in order to provide proper medical and child care to your child, would you resort to suing your doctor when the act itself is an indirect admission that you would have rather terminated the pregnancy had you known. It is these difficult dilemmas that I find very heart-wrenching in the stories of Jodi Picoult.

I have not written one. But I could imagine the challenges one would encounter in conducting the research. First off, I doubt if someone would even start one on a subject that one doesn't enjoy. When conducting a thesis, I always have the assumption that an element of 'interest' is there. After all, that interest is the fuel that will drive and motivate you to thoroughly research on the subject. Then, the joy in the discovery.

Wow! This is a very interesting and informative piece. Pronunciation does make a big difference in one's take on things. I especially love that they included in the piece one of my favorite Shakespearean piece: Sonnet 116. Boy, it really was different when delivered in its original pronunciation. Quite amazing!

In my former office before, the way they teach phonics is with the help of a specially-made language learning software. In that program, kids do a lot of mirroring/repeating. Students get to listen to how certain letters sound, they get to record their own voice, and comparing them to the source audio. I think it helped a lot as when the kids listen to their own audio-recorded voice and compared to the source audio, they have better appreciation of how different they sound. So yeah, it involves A LOT of repetition.

The more you tell that to yourself, the more likely you are going to believe it. The brain is the most amazing creation! It has the capacity to learn anything. How you go about learning is an altogether different matter. You should read up on neuroplasticity and learn how plastic the brain is! The sooner you "reject" the idea that the brain refuses to retain information no matter you much you try, the sooner you'll be able to learn the language you are learning. The power of the mind. What you conceive will likely happen.

Off the top of my head, you can practically learn any language you want! Attaining fluency in the various languages you are interested in will truly depend on your own ability and willingness to put in the hard work. It's not enough to just say you want to learn this and that language without putting in the work. Also, you are the best person to gauge whether you are ready to shift to another language study. If you think you have attained enough fluency with Japanese and is ready to take on another language study as Chinese, then why not? If you can study both simultaneously without getting confused, then go for it. But if you can't focus and retain things, then you'd better focus on just one language and just move on to another when you are confident enough that you have gotten the foundations right.

Ditto on Shakespeare being a genius! What I can never forget that my high school teacher said about Shakespeare was that He was one of those writers that clearly tackled the Universal Human Experience. His works, while difficult to read because of his choice of words and the language of his time, have the capacity to resonate even to modern readers. His works are just ageless and timeless.

Haha, this is the first time I've heard of this. I've always accepted that because of geographical locations, we people develop our own 'accents.' That is, that American and British English have always been different. It never occurred to me that there was a point in history that the English language converged as one, accent including. Anyways, this got me curious and turned to my friend Google, haha! I found this article and I think it explains clearly how the English language evolved differently in America and Great Britain over time. It is a very interesting read. http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/ruining/

The bit about 'those types of Latin never died because they never really lived,' is quite a fascinating statement. Perhaps my understanding is rather limited here, but did you mean by this statement that a language solely used for 'writing' isn't considered a language with a life of its own (not a living language)? At least, I'm coming from the perspective that poetry and other literature (requiring writing), are part of people's 'living.' Anyway, the two qualifications mentioned about how to classify something as a 'dead' language essentially covered why Latin became a dead language. As pointed out, anything that ceased to be the original to the point of being unrecognizable makes a language a dead one.

Memory is indeed a fascinating topic. As a Psychology student during my university days we had fascinating discussions and experiments involving memory back then. One I can't forget is on the topic of "Recovered Memory". Anyway, if my memory is correct. There is a reason why our brain cannot retain everything. There is a reason we 'forget' things. It is also a protective mechanism. As to the case of Solomon Shereshevskii, I can't helped but remember one of my favorite U.S. TV Cop dramas called "Unforgettable". The star detective there has the same capacity of NOT forgetting anything.

WOW! You're in Japan. Envious My sister and some friends are visiting there next month, and I won't be joining them since I just quit work (sigh!) That's what I'm saying. Things can get hilarious if you attempt to express your anger in your second language. As to practicing in the mirror - I wouldn't go that far. I'm sure when you gain fluency of the second language, "breathing dragon fire" will eventually come naturally.

This is a great resource! Thank you for sharing. As for me, I don't have a YouTube channel either. In trying to learn Korean or Hangul, I like to watch this video channel: Learn Korean with KoreanClass101.com

At first glance, it may seem that LANGUAGE has the innate power to unite. Understandably, speaking one language means that we understand all the words we use. However, I highly doubt its power to unite. Just think of one's country - where the language is supposedly one. Are everyone in the country united? Think about one's family speaking the same language. Can one wholeheartedly say that because all the members in the family speak the same language, there is NO room for miscommunication? That said, to me language is NOT a unifying factor. Yes, it can be a tool to achieve it, but it can't guarantee that unity sought. Unity is a heart issue.

I don't think it's an insult, but a recognition of something they only wish they have but don't. I tend to believe there are those predisposed to certain things, language being one of them. However, predisposition is just one thing. There are those who are predisposed to it, but aren't actually tapping the said 'gift'. Like any other gifts, if unused, it can be lost or won't produce anything. Having predisposition doesn't necessarily mean that everything will just fall into place. Like you said, work is involved - a lot of hard work, in fact. Whether you had that predisposition, you won't be as fluent as you are now without the hard work you put in to get the acquired skills.

Name-calling in whatever circumstance is a definite no-no for me. In learning languages, there are people who actually think that learning 'cuss' words is funny. Admittedly, it can be funny to be learning those. But there has to be a moral boundary. When we start to accept or tolerate these things as funny, we somehow propagate the idea that it is OK. Well, it is not. I fully understand that it can be upsetting. The tongue is powerful. It has the power to inflict pain. But it too has the power to express love. Gentle words can motivate more than discourage.

You probably should not skip a referred article for discussion. Obviously, you'll be totally speaking an entirely different topic

I'm late in the game here, but I'm just going to add in one little point. The Filipino language in most cases doesn't have something similar to what Koreans or Japanese have. That is, we basically use the same phrase/expression regardless of whether the phrase is directed to a friend, lover, family member.

I can't think of one right now - at least one that hasn't been mentioned. I truly enjoy "4 pics and 1 word" myself. I often think that I'm pretty good with English vocabulary, but there are levels that I'm just stuck and will have to resort to asking for hints, haha! Anyway, I truly find this app very enjoyable as it forces you to think about the what's in common with the pictures.

Won't it be the sensible route to take? There will always be limits to languages and when we are faced with something that gets us scrambling for the right word in the target language, the next best recourse is to use the word that we know in perhaps our own native language. While yes, structurally or grammatically - using transliteration may not be the appropriate action, but if it helps in getting the message across - then why not? At least in my mind, whatever delivers the message - be it transliteration or exact translation - if the recipient can understand or at least make out what you're trying to say, then one has achieved the purpose of language: effective communication.

It's probably bound to happen if everyone's by-word these days seem to be globalization. The bigger languages will generally be what most people will strive to learn. While there is no quantitative data available in our country, it's been noted that a lot of our school kids are having problems with our very own "Filipino" language. Among the student population, especially the primary level students have more difficulty comprehending their Filipino lessons compared to their English lessons. In fact, it is for this reason that quite recently our Department of Education has introduced the Mother Tongue to be included in the curriculum. The Philippines, while many speak English and Filipino, have also diverse languages/dialects spread throughout the archipelago.