Language-Learning Tip

If you have learned the numbers 0-20 in your target language, try playing with them out of order and using the digits in context. It is fun to be able to count to ten or twenty in a language, but if you can’t identify “seven” outside of that memorized sequence, it is ultimately not very useful information.

Instead, practice counting backwards; practice skip counting (2-4-6-8-10; or 10-8-6-4-2; or 1-3-5; etc.); count your change; look at license plates when you are at a stoplight; look at a digital clock and say the numbers that you see in your head (or aloud); look at prices in the grocery store and say those numbers. If this is too much to handle initially, pick a number, like seven, or “siete” (“see-EH-tay”) in Spanish, and focus on that: whenever you see a seven anywhere, say “siete” in your head. The goal is to make the language you are learning useful.

---

Thanks to all of you who kept working on the app, even without my weekly emails. For those of you who took a break (like me!), it is a new year and time to get back into the routine. Remember your reason for studying your target language, and if you don’t have a strong one, think about that this week. The stronger the reason, the more likely you will stick with your study. You can always “update” your reason at any time, too. 

For example, I used to want to learn Russian so that I could talk with my ballroom dance hero, Yulia Zagoruychenko, in her native tongue when I met her at a competition; however, I never made it to the world finals:) […that she won], so my reason and motivation for learning Russian needed to be updated at a certain point.