Language Learning and Love – the Beautiful, the Ugly, and the Useful
“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ― Dr. Seuss As someone who speaks multiple languages, one of the questions I get asked a lot is if I have had many foreign girlfriends. When I reply that, well, yes, I’ve had my fair share of “foreign […]
Continue reading10 Winning Steps for The Ultimate Language Learning Plan
When it came to developing the best language learning plan, I used to tell myself: “This is it!” “This is the year!” Have you ever said this to yourself before? That this year, finally, is going to be the year that you make a language learning breakthrough? “I will finally speak Italian fluently”. Or something along the lines of: “I will read […]
Continue reading7 Simple Steps to Create a Powerful Active Listening Practice
Have you ever heard of using active listening to learn a foreign language? If you haven’t, let me tell you the story of how active listening made a huge impact on my language learning. Let’s rewind to some 10 years ago. The year is 2008. I had just reached an intermediate level in Russian, a language I was […]
Continue reading7 Tips to Improve Your Listening Comprehension (That Never Fail)
“Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience” – Ralph Waldo Emerson When people ask me how to improve their listening comprehension in a foreign language, the same story always comes to mind: It is the story of an American student, by the name of Alex, who hired me to be his language coach. What struck me […]
Continue readingHow to stay Motivated when Learning a New Language – Visualize and Connect
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere” – Albert Einstein The year is 2011. I had never felt failure like this before. For the past few months, I had been learning Romanian. I picked it up on a whim, thinking that it would be easy. After all, I already spoke four of Romanian’s […]
Continue reading7 Unbeatable Tips That Will Fire up Your Motivation to Learn a New Language
If you had to run a marathon tomorrow, how would you do it? Would you run as fast as possible, trying to get it over with? Or would you pace yourself, making sure you had enough stamina to make it all the way across the finish line — 42 kilometers away? Most people would choose […]
Continue readingThe Life of a Polyglot
When I tell people that I speak thirteen languages, they often think that as a polyglot, learning languages is all I do with my time. They’re convinced that I spend the majority of each day studying, and that I have little time for anything else—including friends, dating, travel, and other free-time activities. This is definitely not […]
Continue reading10 Kick-Ass Tips to Learn Any Language From Scratch
Learning a language from scratch can be very intimidating, especially if you’ve never done it before. In school, at least, a lot of the decisions are made for us. In a language classroom, we are told what to learn, how to practice, and how quickly to progress through new material. On your own, the situation is very […]
Continue reading7 Incredibly Useful Benefits of Learning a New Language
One of the most interesting aspects of learning a new language is how it can benefit your life in powerful and often unpredictable ways. I have fond memories of the time when, fifteen years ago, I was sitting on the steps of a fountain in my home city of Rome, Italy. On that evening, I was chatting […]
Continue readingWhat is a Language Coach (and Why Do You Need One)?
Have you ever tried to get in shape by going to the gym? You make the decision that you want to improve your health and fitness, and buy a gym membership to do it. But then what? You enter the gym, and you suddenly take in all of the options available to you. You need to pick […]
Continue reading