Heart: Let’s Learn All The Languages!

HOW TO TEACH YOURSELF LANGUAGES SUPER EFFICIENTLY

I write this bcz I’m a huge language enthusiast and I’m frustrated about the way most methods and language classes/courses approach the process of learning. I’m not a professional but I have a lot of experience in studying foreign languages: I have taught myself Lithuanian and reached the upper intermediate level (B2) in 4-5 years without much help from others, and in Spanish reaching the same level took me only 2 years bcz I simultaneously studied it at school and already knowing French helped me a little. I want to help everyone who wants to start a new language, does not have the possibility to join a language course or just feels frustrated of the stagnation they might experience in the early phase of learning a foreign language.

So, if you want to learn a new language, I suggest following tips:

• Immerse yourself from the beginning! This is really important so that you can get yourself familiar with the intonation and pronunciation of the language. Listen to radio or tv and try to read whatever you can (ingredient lists from the food packages, newspaper articles, whatever!) it doesn’t matter if you can’t understand much yet, it will come! If you start a language with a new alphabet learn the alphabet really well first thing.

• Get an overview of the grammatical structure of the language! This is often not properly done in language courses where you learn some vocabulary and greetings but after 60 pages of the textbook you still have no idea how many verb tenses or noun cases the language has. Take a look even at the “hardest” topics, bcz they might not be that hard after all. (for example the Spanish equivalent of past perfect is much easier than the present tense) 

 • With that being said, learn to recognise past tenses even when you are still learning the present tense! I find it absurd that most courses expect you to master present tense _perfectly_ before even taking a look at other tenses. Most of the time, in everyday communication, past tenses are used more frequently than the present tense + in some languages mastering the past tense can also help you to form the conditional. So, learn the past tense earlier than most ppl would recommend!

 • In general, study the easiest things first! If you find something particularly difficult you gain more confidence and knowledge if you first focus on what you find more interesting (however, you can’t postpone studying boring topics eternally, especially if you are preparing or hoping to prepare for an exam at some point) In Lithuanian, I taught myself a lot of grammar before learning how to tell the time… and it was ok.

• For material: usually the country’s universities have a reading list on their website which proposes what books one could use to study the language. These are often preferable to handbooks aimed for tourists and some language methods for beginners because those mostly focus on useless vocabulary you might only need when you rent a car or book a room in a hotel. The grammar is often also relatively poorly explained in those “tourist language books”, whereas books that are aimed at immigrants or university students usually focus more on the efficient language acquisition and are written by professors and specialists. If you are persistent enough and google all possible search words in both English and the target language,  you can probably find whole textbooks in PDF format, which you can then save on your laptop.

• Don’t get stuck on vocabulary! Remember that grammar is the skeleton of the language and that vocabulary is the muscles hair and eventually the clothes you use to dress up and embellish your apperance. Vocabulary is useful once you know how to use it. For me, learning vocab is the hardest part of a new language, especially bcz I like starting languages that are not really similar to any other languages I know (consider Lithuanian and Greek when I previously knew Finnish, English, French and Spanish) ofc you need to learn some of it to be able to form sentences but most traditional methods focus on that too much. My suggestion is to read a lot: start by children’s books and comics and gradually get more advanced material. When you read them, make notes!! Look up the words you don’t know and don’t be afraid of using unconventional, seemingly challenging ways to learn, such as buying a bilingual poetry collection and trying to decipher what the original poem says and compare it to the translation. 100% recommend, even for the beginner level + it’s a nice way to connect to the culture but still focus on the language itself, not on the way ppl make breakfast in that country. (That’s something that irritates me a lot in most Youtube’s language videos where ppl are just discussing the traditions of the country in English when you had come there to look for the explanation of grammatical structures or just to hear the language being spoken. smh.)

• A really important thing about vocabulary is to learn all the abstract words, such as conjunctions, really soon! For example, if you find yourself in a situation where you have to use the words therefore and otherwise,  it is almost impossible to try to explain those words without first translating them to another language. 

• Make vocabulary learning more interesting and deep by learning about the etymology of the words you learn. It can be mind-blowing and it helps you to remember the words better.

That’s it!

I hope these tips inspire you in pursuing your interest in foreign languages and facilitate your learning process. I might add more to this if I remember I have forgotten something of great importance. 

Chinese family tree!

Family

家庭 (jiātíng)-family/household

父母 (fùmǔ)-parents

妈妈 (mā ma)-mom

爸爸 (bà ba)-dad

儿子 (ér zi)-son

女儿 (nǚ ér)-daughter

哥哥 (gē ge)-older brother

姐姐 (jiě jie)-older sister

弟弟 (dì di)-younger brother

妹妹 (mèi mei)-younger sister

奶奶/祖母 (nǎi nai/zǔmǔ)-dad’s mom

爷爷/祖父 (yé ye/zǔfù)-dad’s dad

姥姥 (lǎo lao)-mom’s mom

姥爷 (lǎo ye)-mom’s dad

外婆 (wài pó)-mom’s mom(mostly used in southern China)

外公 (wài gōng)-mom’s dad(mostly used in southern China)

舅舅 (jiùjiu)-uncle(mother’s brother)

舅妈 (jiù mā)-aunt(mother’s brother’s wife)

阿姨 (āyí)-a form of address for a woman of about one’s mother’s age; in southern China aunt(mother’s sister)

姨丈 (yí zhàng)-uncle(mother’s sister’s husband)

姑妈 (gū mā)-aunt(father’s sister)

姑丈 (gū zhàng)-uncle(father’s sister’s husband)

叔叔/叔父 (shūshu/shū fù)-uncle(father’s younger brother)

婶婶 (shěn shěn)-aunt(father’s younger brother’s wife)

伯父/伯伯 (bó fù/bóbo)-uncle(father’s older brother)

伯母 (bó mǔ)-aunt(father’s older brother’s wife)

姐夫 (jiě fu)-brother-in-law(older sister’s husband)

妹婿 (mèi xù)-brother-in-law(younger sister’s husband)

嫂嫂 (sǎosao)-sister-in-law(older brother’s wife)

弟媳 (dì xí)-sister-in-law(younger brother’s wife)

堂哥 (táng gē)-older male cousin(father’s side)

堂弟 (táng dì)-younger male cousin(father’s side)

堂姐 (táng jiě)-older female cousin(father’s side)

堂妹 (táng mèi)-younger female cousin(father’s side)

表哥 (biǎo gē)-older male cousin(mother’s side)

表弟 (biǎo dì)-younger male cousin(mother’s side)

表姐 (biǎo jiě)-older female cousin(mother’s side)

表妹 (biǎo mèi)-younger female cousin(mother’s side)

侄子 (zhí zi)-nephew(brother’s son)

侄女 (zhí nǚ)-niece(brother’s daughter)

外甥 (wài shēng)-nephew(sister’s son)

外甥女 (wài shēng nǚ)-niece(sister’s daughter)

想象的力量，给予我们无限可能。 The power of imagination makes us infinite.

And things are not always okay but even from rock bottom I can still see the sky I can still see the stars.

Michelle K. (via thelovejournals)

Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. Some are short, some are very interactive, some are very in-depth. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos. I checked each link to make sure they are functioning.

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop down menu)

Arabic Without Walls

Intro to Arabic

Lebanese Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Read Arabic

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese

Basic Chinese I

Basic Chinese II

Basic Chinese III

Basic Chinese IV

Basic Chinese V

Basic Mandarin Chinese I

Basic Mandarin Chinese II

Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters

Chinese for Travelers

Chinese Made Easy

Easy Mandarin

First Year Chinese I

First Year Chinese II

HSK Level 1

Introduction to Chinese

Learn Oral Chinese

Mandarin Chinese I

More Chinese for Beginners

Speak Chinese like a Native Speaker

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Chino Básico (Taught in Spanish)

Intermediate

Chinese Stories

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Entire post here

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Beginners

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I

Elementary French II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French for Beginners

French Language Studies I

French Language Studies II

French Language Studies III

French:Ouverture

French Through Stories and Conversation

Improving Your French

Mastering French Grammar and Vocab

Intermediate

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout

Advanced

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Reading French Literature

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in English)

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in Dutch)

German

Beginner

Basic German

Basic Language Skills

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I

Conversational German II

Conversational German III

Conversational German IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

German Alphabet

German Modal Verbs

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Study German 

Advanced

German:Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Reading German Literature

Hebrew

Hebrew Alphabet Crashcourse

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner’s Italian I

Oggi e Domani

Survive Italy Without Being Fluent

Intermediate

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced

Advanced Italian I

Italian Literature

Italian Novel of the Twentieth Century

La Commedia di Dante

L'innovazione Sociale (Check language under translation)

Reading Italian Literature

Japanese

Beginner’s Conversational Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Learn to Speak Korean 1

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Latin

Latin I (Taught in Italian)

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Norwegian

Learn The Norwegian Language

Norwegian on the Web

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros 

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

Basics of Russian

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Russian Alphabet

Russian Essentials

Russian Phonetics and Pronunciation

Reading and Writing Russian

Travel Russian

Advanced

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish:Food & Drink

Fastbreak Spanish

How to Self-Study Spanish

Introduction to Spanish

Restaurants and Dining Out

Spanish for Beginners

Spanish Verbs Basics

Intermediate

Español en línea

Spanish:Ciudades con Historia

Spanish:Espacios Públicos

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

La España de El Quijote

Leer a Macondo

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Reading Spanish Literature

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Swedish Made Easy 1

Swedish Made Easy 2

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian for Everyone

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Multiple Languages

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/global-studies-and-languages/ : MIT’s open courseware site has assignments and course material available.

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/: Ancient Languages

https://www.fun-mooc.fr/: MOOCs taught in French

http://univesptv.cmais.com.br : MOOCs taught in Portuguese

https://miriadax.net/home:MOOCs taught in Spanish & Portuguese

http://ocwus.us.es/Courses_listing: MOOCs taught in Spanish

http://www5.fgv.br/fgvonline/Cursos: MOOCs taught in Potuguese

http://interneturok.ru/: MOOCs taught in Russian

http://www.open-marhi.ru/courses/: MOOCs taught in Russian

https://www.rwaq.org/: MOOCs taught in Arabic

http://ocw.nthu.edu.tw/ocw/: MOOCs taught in Chinese

http://ocw.uab.cat/: MOOCs taught in Catalan

https://ocw.tudelft.nl/ : MOOCs taught in Dutch

http://ocw.hokudai.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://ocw.tsukuba.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://open.agh.edu.pl/ : MOOCs taught in Polish

I’ll keep an eye out for new courses and if you know of any, let me know so I can update this list.

Last updated: July 1, 2016

DISCLAIMER: This is in traditional Chinese!

可__ : __able

可 attached to a verb more or less lets you turn it into an adjective of the able to (verb) kind. That was a terrible explanation here have a vocab list

可愛  kě'ài  lovable, cute (where kawaii comes from) 

可憐  kělián  pitiable

可靠  kěkào  reliable (kào is to depend on)

可惜  kěxí  unfortunately, regrettably

可疑  kěyí  suspicious 

可笑  kěxiào  laughable, ridiculous

可氣  kěqì  frustrating, exasperating

可怕  kěpà  terrifying 

There are more (because there are always more) but now you get how great a name/transliteration 可樂 kělè is for “coke,” it looks like happy-able! Coca-cola is specifically 可口可樂, so like “can drink, can happy” but really “good to drink, makes you happy.” (supposedly shop keepers at one point transliterated as 蝌蝌啃蠟 kē kē kěn là, “bite the wax tadpole,” but that was never official. Reasons to pay your translator well.)

The Really Big Studying Masterpost

I couldn’t get it together enough to do a graphic or anything, so here goes. Sorry this is massively long but hopefully it will be helpful!

Studying

Review season printables

The lazy kid’s guide to study guides

Studying tips for university

Non-cutesy study tips

How I make my study guides

My study process

Effective study routine for intense classes

How to “study”

50 things to do between your study sessions

Studying: how tos, advice, & tips

Learning styles and study tips

Motivation + tests/studying

My study tips tag

This has some stuff on exams

My exam tag

The pomodoro method

“How can I focus/study effectively?”

Get started studying

General exam/studying tips

Learning styles and study tips

Memorization

Using a mind palace

Memorization

Improving memory

Studying with a terrible memory

Memory tips

Last minute studying

Emergency study plan

More on late studying JIC

3 day study plan

Finals / exams

Oh-crap-finals-are-so-close masterpost

Last minute tips for finals

Ways to reset your mind

Examinations: reminders

The ultimate guide to final exams

Tips to focus on studying (finals)

Exam prep tips

I ran out of time (on a test)

How to remember everything for a test

Exams masterpost

What to do the night before an exam

What to do the night before an exam (2)

Standardized testing

Standardized testing

The imperfect guide on AP classes

Free SAT & AP prep

AP review set printables

Free standardized test prep

AP study resources

AP testing tips and tricks

AP cram packets

#1 tip for AP classes

SAT masterpost

The new SAT

Focus and productivity

Distraction-free studying

Do’s and don’ts of a good study environment

15 things productive people do differently

Concentration masterpost

How to concentrate

Studying 101: how to stay focused, motivated, and on track

How to stay focused

How to deal with being lazy in school

Study tips for the lazy student (1)

Study tips for the lazy student (2)

Being sick, focusing and studying effectively, & maintaining physical and mental health

A day of studying: tips

Productivity with a planner

Summer productivity

Waking up early and refreshed

Holiday productivity

Summer studying

My productivity tag

Burnout / motivation / procrastination

Doing homework when you’re sick

Studying with a lack of motivation

Burnout 101

How to start working when you really don’t feel like it

Got motivation?

General motivation

How to study when you don’t want to

Procrastination

Procrastination advice

Motivation

Motivation advice

Resource for procrastination

A very long list to help you survive school

How to stop procrastinating

24 tips to overcome procrastination

motivation.mp3

Ways to avoid burnout

Motivation (2)

How to self-motivate

My motivation tag

Mental health

Stress relief

Don’t let it ruin your education

Studying with depression

How to find peace as a student

Living and studying with anxiety

How to study with a mental illness

Depression/mental health resources

Managing stress for the overtaxed student

How to be less prickly when stressed

What to do when you don’t get the grades you want

What to do on a bad day

Why it’s okay to fail & how to deal with failure

Dealing with failure

I got a bad grade, now what?

What to do when you get a bad grade

Feel better

How to find peace as a student

How to love yourself

Calming and fun websites

Anxiety and negativity

A beginner’s guide to meditation

Taking finals with mental illness

My mental health tag

Self care

How to take care of yourself when you’re sick

How to stay healthy in inhospitable weather

Healthy studying

For people who struggle with self care, etc.

Self care cheat sheet

Finals self care (1)

All the self care

Small ways to improve your life

A self care masterpost to help you get through school

Finals self care (2)

Balancing a healthy lifestyle with studying

Hotlines/self care refs

101 self care ideas

My self care tag

+ self promotion (bc everyone seems to be doing this)

A masterpost of masterposts

College masterpost

Note taking masterpost

How to be the best student you can be

My study process

Lecture tips

Coping with obsession

Confidence

Money masterpost

My YouTube (not a studytube)

My Instagram (not a studygram)

两个注定在一起的人，没有长不可待的时间，没有遥不可及的距离，也没有能够分离他们的人。

When two people are meant for each other, no time is too long, no distance is too far, and no one can ever tear them apart.