Today I want to talk about the state of flow — that feeling of being completely absorbed in what you're doing — and how you can use it to become a better language learner.
Jul 2
10 min
Vocabulary is the clearest measure of your level in any language, so here is how I acquire and review words, and why I skip most of the popular methods.
Jun 25
9 min
At 80, I'm still learning languages every day, and I'm convinced it does more for your brain than any Sudoku puzzle ever could.
Jun 18
6 min
Everyone says you have to leave your comfort zone to learn a language, but is it really true?
Jun 11
8 min
I started learning Mandarin in 1968 with flashcards and reel-to-reel tapes, and here is what I would do differently today.
Jun 4
11 min
Today I want to talk about learning slowly — and why if you accept that learning a language takes time, learning slowly actually gets you there faster.
May 28
8 min
After an hour of focused reading in Persian, I felt my grasp of the language jump forward, and it reminded me why reading is the most powerful tool we have for acquiring a new language.
May 21
7 min
Most adult language learners are chasing a goal they're unlikely to reach, and I want to share what I think we should focus on instead.
May 14
8 min
There are three stages of comprehension in any new language. Early on, you barely understand anything — and that's fine. The goal at that stage isn't comprehension; it's letting your brain pick up the patterns. Then comes the long middle stretch where you're learning words but listening still feels patchy, until one day you notice you understand more than you used to. Where are you right now?
May 7
8 min
I've been chipping away at Arabic for years, and I recently sat down with Hasan Alhamwi, the founder of Arabic All The Time. He left a career in civil engineering to build the largest library of Arabic comprehensible input on the internet. We talked about why videos beat textbooks for Arabic, when learners should finally start reading, and whether all those dialects are really one language or many. If you're learning Arabic, what's giving you the most trouble?
Apr 30
20 min
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