Last year at this time I ran a series of posts highlighting some great online resources for language learners. In that series I introduced you to Livemocha, LingQ, The Mixxer, and Rhinospike. As spring rolls around again, I’d like to highlight some more great online resources in the coming months. Like last year, I’ll…
Language Learning Tip: Take Control of Learning Grammar
As independent language learners, one of the challenges we all face is figuring out what to learn next. And more specifically for today’s post, what grammar structures to learn next. In the language classroom, the teacher directs the course of study. A good grammar text or workbook will as well unpack the language in a…
Prepare To Be Challenged To Stop Stealing Dreams
A little over a year ago I came across an article in a Turkish newspaper about the plight of teachers in Turkey, nearly 80% of whom have debt. The focus of the article was this financial burden, but what struck me, what shocked me in fact was the last statistic located near the end of…
Reader Review: Livemocha
Today’s guest post is a reader review of Livemocha written by Karen, the author behind the Empty Nest Expat blog. Karen’s recent post, Time Out for Turkish details her own language learning journey and is an encouraging read for anyone who has worked to learn another language. Be sure and visit her blog for a…
The Language Learning Revolution
Today’s post is an excerpt from The Everyday Language Learner’s Guide to Getting Started The last ten years have seen a revolutionary change in the world of language learning. A paradigm shift has occurred. The Internet has ushered in the information age and now for the first time in the history of the world, language learners…
At Home or Abroad
The difference between learning another language living in your home country and learning another language as an expat in the country where the language is spoken is a big one. The learner’s mindset is different. The opportunities for learning are different. The environment in which learning takes place is different and of course…
Language Learning Tip: Using Parallel Texts
A parallel text resource for learning another language is a book or text in which the target language and native language are presented side by side on the same page or screen. The side by side nature of the text makes for a robust learning resource for language learners and can be a good source…
Language Learning Lessons from Guitar Zero
Guitar Zero author, Gary Marcus. Last weekend as I was doing some Saturday morning chores around the house I found NPR on the ipod and it was like spending time with an old friend. Living in Turkey, I have forgone some of my favorite programs like A Prairie Home Companion and This American Life. Occasionally…
The Story Of How It Worked For Me: One Mom’s Journey
Today’s blog post is part of a language learning moms blog carnival. These post are written by moms, for moms and are intended to be a great resource of encouragement, advice, tips and ideas for language learning moms. If you’re a mom or if you know a mom who is a language learner or who…
I Saw You Today
I saw you today. Walking past my office window, dumpster to dumpster with drag foot strides, I saw you, – all of you. You two mothers pushing finds in converted baby buggies, babies slung over bent backs, one tugging at the slack edge of a scarlet head scarf. Your three and four year olds –…
10 Articles to Help Get You Started Learning a New Language
At The Everyday Language Learner my goal is to help normal people begin and then do well with learning a new language; Normal people who may not know exactly how to go about learning another language, people who might be a bit overwhelmed with the prospect of the language learning journey. I want to help…
Language Learning Tip: Use Music to Learn a Foreign Language
In early December I was pleased to be able to meet today’s guest author Susanna Zaraysky for lunch here in Istanbul. Susanna is an accomplished language learner and a bit of an expert in using music to learn languages – something I haven’t done a lot of. I am excited to have her share her…
Language Learning Tip: Obtaining Native Speaker Feedback
Over the last few months I have been working to diligently add new vocabulary to my personal lexicon of Turkish words. I’ve found these new words in the John Grishom novel I have been reading, in daily conversations with friends and from the Turkish movies I watch each week and from Turkish word lists. If…
Bucket List Triage: Get Started or Get It Off The List
The bucket list. Everyone seems to have one these days. It’s the popular thing to do and indeed a good exercise should you want to live an intentional life that is fulfilling, impactful and fun. Like my bucket list, most are a bit narcissistic, filled with quests that will make “me” happy and do little…
AJATT: The Most Inspirational Language Blogger Out There
I have never met Khatzumoto of All Japanese All The Time (AJATT), but over the last year he has become one of my language learning superheroes. Okay, I don’t really know or care too much about how well he learns languages, namely Japanese. What I care about is how he writes for the everyday language…
About
Welcome to The Everyday Language Learner. My goal with this site is to empower everyday folks to learn language well and to point language learners toward great resources, activities, information and ideas. My name is Aaron Myers and my family and I live in Istanbul, Turkey where we too are everyday language learners. My hope is that I am able to help you be a more effective, more efficient language learner and to help you have a lot more fun on the language learning journey.
Have an amazing day!
-Aaron