When I first started learning Hebrew, I used a very popular overpriced software which promised to make learning a new language simple and intuitive. But after a few days of clicking on colorful stock photos of smiling people and saying things like “the cat is under the table” over and over again, I began to…
Guest Posts
The Pleasure of Reading in a Foreign Language
Apart from English fluency practice, the area most students want to concentrate on when they are with me on an intensive course is improving and expanding their English vocabulary. The activities we normally do together vary from collocations, idiomatic expressions, word formation, phrasal verbs, and identifying vocabulary in reading texts. Most students diligently record this…
Learning English
Learn Better English Through Storytelling
If you speak English, the world is your oyster, whether in business, academics, technology or on the internet. If you were born into an English speaking country, good for you. If not, you probably had to work hard to acquire the language, or are still working on it. Growing up in Germany, Sweden and Thailand…
Other Languages
The Practice Of Not Knowing: A Third Method Of Foreign Language Learning
When learning a new language there are those things we need to know, those things we need to practice and a million other things we don’t know. 1. Knowledge Is (Passive) Power Knowing something usually doesn’t take a lot of effort. Either I know, or I don’t. It’s the process of committing something to memory…
Learning English
10 Fun Facts About The English Alphabet
Today we’d like to share with you 10 fun facts about the English alphabet to impress your friends, teachers and colleagues. Ready? Let’s go! 1.The English word alphabet comes (via Latin) from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta. These Greek words, however, are derivations of the Phoenician aleph and bet (see the similarity…
Learning English
Ten Modern Literary Classics You Probably Haven’t Read But Should
Note: This is a guest post by Alex Morris. Alex Morris works for Office Kitten in Manchester where he writes, researches and blogs about the business world. He can also be followed on Twitter. ~ The Good Earth – Pearl S. Buck (1931) Depicting life in China at a time before mass political and social…
Meet detectives Baumgartner & Momsen and learn German effortlessly with special emphasis on idioms and natural language crammed with humor and suspense.
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5 Quick Ways To Bring Languages To Life
Most of the fun of learning a language is the hope that you’ll one day be able to use it to communicate in another country. Having a goal in mind when learning makes the work seem more meaningful and more alive. If you’re looking for ways to help bring a language to life for your…
Learning English
American Culture: The Imperfect Hero
Movie Logic In American television and film culture, or put another way, movie logic, we encounter, with overwhelming frequency, the flawed, imperfect action hero. The flaws in this hero are usually obvious. They are easy to see, and easy to understand. The hero may be, in fact, a quite despicable person in many respects; the…
Learning English
English: Precedented vs. Unprecedented
With Precedent? Without Precedent? “Precedent” A precedent is an action that is used as a later example, or standard, by which future actions may be judged. Therefore, the precedent precedes (comes before, comes prior to) the action the precedent is used to judge. Indeed, the word comes from a Latin word for “to precede.” This…
Learning English
Famous Quotes and Where They Come From
History Influencing Modern Culture I want this to be the first article of several detailing the role that history plays in modern culture through the handing down of famous quotations. In this case, we will begin with “I have not yet begun to fight!” The Battle of Flamborough Head In September 1779, the American”Continental Navy”…
Learning English
American Culture: The American Civil War
Still Impacting American Culture Today It’s probably very difficult for non-Americans to appreciate how the American Civil War still has a great impact on American culture. I might even call this a defining impact that helps define Americans’ identity of themselves in various ways. I’m sure this all seems very strange to non-Americans. I myself…
