(en sub/粵字)
The video series where I talk to Cantonese learners about their experience, struggles, and methods.
Today, Christian talks to me about falling in love with Hong Kong and his lifelong pursuit of language mastery.
Continue reading(en sub/粵字)
The video series where I talk to Cantonese learners about their experience, struggles, and methods.
Today, Christian talks to me about falling in love with Hong Kong and his lifelong pursuit of language mastery.
Continue readingI was going to include this as a section in an article about Welsh learning resources, but my frustrations ballooned into a post of its own. I’ve written a Duolingo course review before, so hey, why not.
Part of that original article was about how you can find a few seemingly different learning resources, from books and online lessons to interactive webpages—but they’re all based on the same written textbook that is used for in-person group classes.
And what do you know, even Duolingo’s Welsh course is designed around the very same classroom curriculum. It is emphasised many times in the course notes, and it shows.
The course creators intended it this way so that Duolingo complements the publicly available Welsh classes and reinforces the materials taught in class. I assume they expect most people to learn this way, and I can appreciate the reasoning behind it.
But guess what? Duolingo was always meant to be a self-learning tool.
Every other course on Duolingo has its own design and progression. You learn through sentences and use the vocabulary and grammar in a variety of contexts. Subsequent lessons build on existing knowledge by using those words and phrases as context for new items. Your ‘strength’ in each lesson deteriorates over time so that you go back and refresh your memory. It’s not linear.
And because Duolingo Welsh is designed around a textbook curriculum, it is made like a textbook.
Each lesson comes with a large amount of reading and grammatical explanations, before you even get to start. Even though I like reading about grammar, Duolingo courses generally teach using sentences that guide you to figure it out yourself through context and only ask questions (in the forum) afterwards. These lesson notes are usually reserved for interesting cultural facts and knowledge, or a reference table you can come back to, rather than required readings.
Continue readingSurprisingly, my review of Glossika was the most viewed page on my blog. Sadly, my favourite language learning resource was retired a while ago and replaced with an online version that I was initially doubtful about. Some part of me clung to the older version out of nostalgia…and the other part refused to pay for something I’d already paid for. (I was, and still am, a broke student above all things.) I intended to write this review after playing with the system for a bit. However, I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate, since I was using the free version, without full access to its features. Thanks to the global pandemic, I snagged myself a year of Glossika during a big sale for an unbeatable student price. So here we are.
First things first, money matters: the one-off payment for the old book-based courses is no more. Glossika’s website (also called Glossika AI), like everything else in existence, is a subscription-based service. You can get access to all languages for $30/mo, or $25/mo if you buy a full year. Students can get it for $13.5, or $11.25 if you pay for a year. Is it worth the intimidating price (and the sheer fact that it’s a subscription)? I’ll try to tell you my experience so far.
I used Glossika AI for at least a year (I think) before I paid up. Glossika offers a 7-day free trial. Thankfully, the man behind Glossika, Michael Campbell, is keen on preserving minority languages. Therefore, you get unlimited access to certain languages like Catalan, Welsh, Taiwanese, and Kurdish, for free; the only limitation is that some features, like recording your voice, are out of reach.
Continue reading*unless you have good comprehension.
Get $10 for a language lesson on italki
00:00 WE’RE THERE!
01:15 Was it challenging?
02:12 Did it help?
05:28 My biggest hurdle now
08:24 Should you focus on speaking?
Subtitles in Polish, English, and Cantonese.
Continue readingGet $10 for a language lesson on italki
My teachers:
00:00 Introducing my little guest
00:52 What did I do?
02:01 Little guest
03:14 What is a “polyglot” event?
04:26 Talks at the Polyglot Conference
05:41 My talk at the Conference
08:13 What’s the most important part of the Conference?
09:34 Glimpse of fluency
Subtitles in Polish, English, and Cantonese.
Continue readingGet $10 for a language lesson on italki
My teachers:
00:00 What’s different this week?
01:03 Day 11 (Taiwanese / Taigi / Hokkien)
01:50 Polyglot Conference language practice rooms – how do they work?
02:53 Online Language Exchange (UK)
04:38 SECRET TECHNIQUE – Shadowing
07:30 Dubbing – How Squid Game helped me practise Polish
10:13 Plan for the next period
Subtitles in Polish, English, and Cantonese.
Continue readingGet $10 for a language lesson on italki
My teachers:
00:00 Why film this update?
02:05 Day 1
03:53 Day 2
05:26 Day 4
07:48 Day 6 (plot twist)
10:56 Day 7
12:24 Tragedy
Subtitles in Polish, English, and Cantonese.
Continue readingGet $10 for a language lesson on italki
00:00 Why?
01:54 How much do I speak?
03:44 What language?
04:56 Accountability
05:46 Input or output?
Niedawno wróciłem z długiej podróży (głównie) po Polsce. Więcej o tym będę później pisać. A istotne w tym jest to, że spędziłem dwa tygodnie z całą rodziną, chociaż za granicą. Przed tym już minął rok, odkąd widziałem swoich rodziców.
Gdy ojciec dołączył do reszty rodziny, nagle pojawiła się unikalna dynamika rodzinna, za którą w pewnym sensie tęskniłem; której nie mogę sobie wyobrazić w żadnej innej rodzinie.
Już podczas miesięcznego pobytu matki u mnie, dziwili się moi współlokatorzy tym, jak się komunikują i dogadują ona i moja siostra. Wydawało im się, że one się ciągle kłócą, na każdy temat.
Podczas całego kolejnego miesiąca, gdy podróżowaliśmy z całą rodziną, obserwowałem i zastanawiałem się.
Continue readingThe Cantonese podcast for fans of linguistics, language lovers, and Cantonese learners. This episode discusses Middle Chinese in Age of Empires IV and writing systems from Egyptian hieroglyphics and cuneiform to abjads (Hebrew, Arabic, Phoenician) and alphabets (Mongolian).
Show notes and links available on the Cantonese page. Transcript below.
This podcast is also available on YouTube. Don’t forget to subscribe!
Our first live Q&A will be held on 2 October 2021, UTC 13:00, on our Patreon Discord!
苗:同埋瑪雅嗰啲,我唔係好熟喎。即係嗰啲一嚿嚿嗰啲吖嘛,瑪雅嗰啲係咪?好似個樣嗰啲吖嘛。好似有隻寵物小精靈嗰啲吖嘛。
靳:咩啊?
苗:一隻隻嘢㗎嘛。
以:逐隻捉咗佢。
苗:即係嗰啲瑪雅嗰啲文字,一隻隻嘢噉樣㗎嘛,好似神獸噉㗎嘛。
靳:係一個個好肥嘅噉樣,好似綿花糖噉樣嘅東西。
以:好似毛公仔噉樣㗎,之後佢又會攬住啲嘢噉樣樣。
苗:係啊,係啊,好似啊。
靳:好似毛公仔。
以:又有個魚頭啊,好鬼可愛㗎。
靳:係啊,係啊。
[jingle]
Continue reading