Coffee Break Italian wins British Podcast Award

The British Podcast Awards took place last night in King’s Cross, London, and Coffee Break Italian was named Smartest Podcast 2017. Mark and Francesca were there to collect the award on behalf of the whole Coffee Break team.

The jury was made up of more than 50 independent judges from across the audio and media industry including representatives from The Observer, the Financial Times, New Statesman and The Sunday Times in addition to radio producers, film critics and journalists. Commenting on Coffee Break Italian, the judges said:

The gold goes to a completely new and novel use of the medium of podcasting with an approach that was light, funny and enjoyable which truly makes listeners more smart and informed, beyond their next dinner party.

Other winners included Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Review podcast from the BBC, audioBoom’s Hip Hop Saved My Life with Romesh Ranganathan and The Inquiry from BBC Current Affairs for BBC World Service.

Special thanks to Olly Richards from I Will Teach You a Language who joined the Coffee Break team and helped us film a special episode of Coffee Break Conversations.

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Spanish Pronunciation: Difficult words to pronounce in the Spanish language

Spanish vocabulary pronunciation - Some Spanish students do not pronounce well some words. Learn Spanish and Spanish vocabulary while you train your Spanish oral comprehension. Learn how to pronounce those difficult words in Spanish. Subtitles available: Learn Spanish: Spanish Vocabulary Pronunciation

La entrada Spanish Pronunciation: Difficult words to pronounce in the Spanish language se publicó primero en Spanish Podcast.

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Spanish Vocab Builder #94 - Entertainment

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Our Spanish vocabulary lists are listener favorites, and now we’ve made it even better! In each lesson, you’ll hear the Spanish words and phrases from the Spanish vocabulary lists. Join us for Spanish Vocab Builder! In this lesson, you’ll learn words and phrases for Entertainment. Click here to make your own flashcards [...]

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New Mission: One Month Without English!

Have you ever reached a plateau in your language learning that you just couldn’t break through? I did. It didn’t matter how many German lessons I took. How many Skype calls I made. Or, how many grammar books I read. I just couldn’t get to the next stage. I kept making the same mistakes and forgetting the same words over, and over, and over again. It’s in times like this that you need to break the pattern. Make a big change to your language learning and find something new that helps those cogs turn once more. For some people it’s using podcasts instead of books. For others, it’s taking an intensive course. Me? Well, I decided to stop speaking English. For 30 days I took on a Month Without English language mission. I gave up my mother tongue and only spoke German. In this article I explain my goals for the mission, and how I prepared for it. I’ll also share what you can expect over the next series of blog posts.

A Month Without English - Why?!

One of the mistakes I’ve made learning German (and Spanish in the past) is that I spend a lot of time speaking English around my target language. While I may be speaking and learning German 10 hours a week, that still leaves 102 waking hours a week where I’m living in English. If I’m socialising, relaxing or reading a book there’s a good chance I’m doing it in English. So I asked myself: “What could I achieve if I wasn’t able to speak English?” What if I took those extra 102 hours a week that I’m awake and make German my most spoken language? How quickly would my German improve? Then, I watched a video in Benny’s Premium course where he talked about how he gave up English for a month to focus on his Spanish. And, well...the pieces just fell into place. Seeing as I was about to move to Germany in just a few days, it made sense to tie the two together and turn them into one big project. Over the following few weeks there would be lots of times that I’d be forced to use my German. Registering as a resident, meals with friends, rugby training, housewarming and the upcoming carnival to name but a few. There would really be no escape...

What Is The Goal?

At the end of my month without English is the Cologne Carnival. It’s a big festival where the whole city comes together, parties, wears fancy dress and has a lot of fun. So my goal was heavily centred around that: I’d like to reach B2 level in speaking and listening by the first day of Carnival At day zero, my level was around B1. I could speak enough to get by. Being creative with my vocabulary, and using a lot of gestures, I could get my point across on most major topics. But sometimes I could only pick out the key words and I couldn’t quite get my head around some concepts. That meant people would often revert to speaking English to me because they’re trying to be nice by speaking the easier language for me. But I wanted to be able to converse confidently and well enough that this would no longer happen.

What Are The Rules for the Month Without English?

For my month without English, I decided to follow a few set rules to make sure I’d stick to my task. As well as being the Social Media Manager for Fluent in 3 Months (FI3M), I’m a writer and a blogger. Meaning a lot of my work is done in English. So I had to be realistic, because I enjoy eating and hot water and living. So, taking work out of the equation, here are the rules I needed to stick to:

• No English Conversations: If someone is able to speak German I simply cannot speak to them in English. Not even if they try to start a conversation in it.
• No English Entertainment: All films, music and books must be consumed in German.
• Describe First, Ask Second: If there’s a word I want to know, I need to describe it in German using the vocabulary I have. Only if the person doesn’t understand it can I ask, “How do you say [X] in German?”
• No Studying: I’m not allowed to sit down and study grammar or vocabulary; everything I learn needs to come from conversation. If there’s a grammar point I really need explaining, I can find the relevant podcast on GermanPod101 to talk me through it.

I’m also allowed to use dictionaries like LEO or Dict.cc to help me look up words on my phone should I need them.

How to Prepare for a Month Without English

With moving to Germany my time was pretty limited to prepare. I certainly didn’t have hours a day to focus on improving my German skills. That meant I was heavily reliant on two tools to expand my German and improve my vocabulary as much as possible, in the shortest amount of time. Whenever I was in the car or walking the dog I made sure I listen in to an episode of GermanPod101. The intermediate lessons are only 10-15 minutes long, so there’s no excuse to not listen to at least one a day. I also used Benny’s Language Hacking German book. I originally used this before I joined Fi3M to get to A2 level. But there are always grammar points and vocabulary lessons to review. Otherwise I did little intense preparation that you couldn’t manage at home.

My Feelings Before My Month Without English

Honestly? I felt really freaking nervous. This would be my first month living in Germany and, I knew I’d be feeling a little detached from home in England. So, not being able to use my native tongue was just going to make me feel all that much further away. I don’t know what it is about language learning, but the thought of saying something wrong or not being understood really played on my mind a lot. More so than I feel if I play a chord wrong on the guitar or if I overcook an egg when making breakfast. But there was also a part of me that felt really excited. I’d be connecting with German people on a whole new level. My biggest worry? Speaking German when my girlfriend wasn’t around to help me. Before this mission, most of my German conversations happened when she was there. She was almost like a language parent who knows how to break down the concepts into grammar and vocabulary that I know and understand. Which was quite a useful crutch to have. But there would be situations in my mission - like going to rugby training or shopping in the city - where I would need to be able to hold my own without her there to fall back on.

Want to Follow My Month Without English?

I’ll be sharing more updates on Fluent in 3 Months. In my next post I’ll discuss how I fared during the first couple of weeks of my month without English. Stay tuned!

The post New Mission: One Month Without English! appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Video News #1 - Free Spanish Gifts of the Month - April 2017

Every month, you get free lessons, study tools and learning tips so you can learn the fast, fun and easy way. Here are your Spanish learning gifts for the month of April, 2017. New updates. New, free lessons. And of course, the best deal of the month! This month, you’re getting: - Brand New Lesson Interface- [...]

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Regional Spanish S2 #18 - Peruvian #18 - Here Comes the Downpour!

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! How do people live with all the rain in a rain forest? Join Bea and Joseph for this lesson about the rainy season in the Amazon. Here, we’ll go over some new vocabulary and the use of the reflexive verb “acostumbrarse” (to get used to something). Spod101 brings the Spanish-speaking world [...]

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News #230 - The Newest Way to Learn Spanish in 2017 - Your Lessons on Any Device & Screen

Your Learning, Streamlined – The New Lesson InterfaceIn our 11th year, we’re returning to our roots as a way to learn Spanish on-the-go. How? With a brand-new lesson interface just for you. Ready, Set, Speak Sale! Click here to get 28% OFF ANY subscription! In this Sunday News, you’ll find out:- All About the New Lesson Interface- [...]

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Episodio 261: Estar hecho un adán

Estar hecho un adán - Learn Spanish listening to native speakers, improve your Spanish oral comprehension, practice Spanish conjugation and ameliorate your pronunciation. Transcript: Learn Spanish: Estar hecho un adán

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CBG 2.06 | Was hast du gestern gemacht?

In this lesson of Coffee Break German you’ll be starting to learn to talk in the past using the Perfect Tense. This tense is formed by using a part of the auxiliary verb haben (to have) and the past participle. Andrea will explain everything you need to know, and you’ll soon be saying what you did, what you cooked, what you ate and what you played yesterday, last week and 100 years ago!

Listen to the episode

The audio lesson is free, as are all the main audio lessons of Coffee Break German. Use the audio player to listen to the lesson, or subscribe in iTunes to receive this lesson and all future lessons automatically. If the player below isn’t working, click here to access this lesson of Coffee Break German.

Accessing the Premium Version

The premium version of Coffee Break German provides additional materials which will help you move forward more effectively with your German studies.
The premium version includes the following elements:

• video flashcards: listen to each lesson and see the words and phrases covered in the lesson displayed on the screen of your computer, phone or tablet (mp4 format);
• bonus audio materials: use our review lessons to practise the language covered in the main lesson, and to pick up some useful bonus vocabulary (mp3 format);
• comprehensive lesson notes: study the language of each lesson in greater detail and access additional information about German (pdf format).

The members’ version can be accessed on the Coffee Break Academy

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12 Fun Grammar Games to Help You Learn a Language

Grammar. To many people, the word is almost synonymous with "boredom". Does that make "grammar games" a contradiction? I'm going to say not. More on that in a moment. True, the average grammar book is more useful as a cure for insomnia than it is as a tool for language learning. And in school you probably spent more time buried in those books (and trying to stay awake) than you did actually using any of all that fancy grammar for its actual purpose: communication. So, does grammar really matter?

Why Learn Grammar? Does it Really Matter in a Foreign Language?

My view is that speaking a language is much more important than good grammar, especially for beginners. That’s why I advocate Speaking from Day 1, even if you do sound like Tarzan. Even so, it's obviously important to learn good grammar - especially once you’ve reached the intermediate and advanced levels of a foreign language. But getting all those conjugations and declensions into your head doesn't have to be a yawn-inducing activity. Believe it or not, learning grammar can be fun! (No, really.) When learning is fun, not only are we more likely to attempt it, but we're more likely to remember what what we've learned. So how can we make grammar fun? The same way we make most things fun: we turn it into a game.

What are Grammar Games?

Say you're learning German, and you want to memorise the present tense conjugations of the verb sein (to be). The most obvious approach is rote memorisation - just repeat ich bin, du bist, es ist, wir sein, ihr seid, sie sein to yourself over and over again until they're burned permanently into your brain. This is an approach that’s often taught in language classes. It can work, but it's extremely time-consuming and boring, especially when you have another 100 irregular verbs to learn in multiple tenses and moods. A better but still imperfect approach is the classic learning method "look, cover, write, check". Look at the correct verb forms, cover up the screen or piece and paper, try and write down all the forms from memory, then uncover the correct answers and see how well you did. Rinse, repeat. In a way, you can think of this technique as a simple form of game: you play by writing down your target words (in this case the different forms of sein), and you win if you can remember them all with no mistakes. There's a reason this "game" is taught in schools everywhere: it works. But it's still rather boring. We can do better! A "grammar game", then, is essentially any technique for memorising or practising a particular aspect of grammar - be it verb conjugations, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation, or any other intimidating feature of your target language - that's at least slightly more fun than rote memorisation or "look, cover, write, check". The category could include group games that you play in a classroom or with a language partner, grammar review games played online or on your phone, or even grammar practice games that you play in your head in spare moments. In this article I'll give a brief overview of some easy grammar games that you can try. Let’s get started… and don’t forget to have fun!

Grammar Games for Kids

When I worked as an English teacher, I always enjoyed getting the class involved in games (and as far as I could tell, the kids enjoyed it too). They were a fun way to keep everyone engaged while still learning something - and just because children enjoy them, that doesn't meant that adults can't also enjoy them. Some of these games are more childish than others, but you could try adapting them for your own purposes, for example to play with your language exchange partner or italki tutor.

Describing and Drawing a Person

Give everyone a piece of paper, and nominate one person to be the "describer". It's their job to think of someone they know, or a famous person (it's more interesting if they pick someone who's in the room), then to describe that person's appearance. At lower levels this helps practice simple adjectival phrases like "he is tall" or "she has red hair", and the descriptions can get more advanced according to your ability. For example, more advanced learners could describe what someone is wearing or what their personality and mannerisms are like. As the nominee gives more detail, everyone draws on their piece of paper what they think the person being described looks like. When they've been given enough detail, they can try and guess who they've drawn. The describer then reveals who they were thinking of, and everyone can show their drawings to the rest of the class to see how well they did. This last step often produces huge laughter, since most of the drawings will be hilarious caricatures of the real person.

Twenty Questions

Just in case you've never played this game before, it works as follows: you pick a celebrity or an object, and the the other players have to figure out who or what you are. To gain information, they ask you yes or no questions (usually a maximum of twenty, hence the name, but you can pick whatever arbitrary limit you like) to try and narrow down the possibilities: "Are you male? Are you American? Are you an actor? A singer?", and so on. A variant on this game was made famous by the film Inglourious Basterds where it’s played in a bar by Allied spies and an unwitting SS Officer (just watch the movie, it will make sense). In this version, everyone writes a celebrity's name on a piece of paper and passes it to the person on their left, who then sticks the paper to their own forehead so that everyone except them can see what it says. Now instead of the group asking questions to figure out who you are, you ask questions to the group to figure out how you are. Whichever version you play, it's a good way to practice forming and answering questions. To expand the range of potential grammar practiced, you could permit questions that require a more in-depth answer than a simple "yes" or "no". You could also insist that the answer replies in full sentences each time - "Are you male?" "Yes, I'm male" - which also helps practice switching between different forms of the same verb.

Mister Wolf and other Classic Children's Games

Telling the time is something that varies slightly from language to language, and always takes some getting used to. For example, to a German "half four" (halb vier) means 3:30 (half before four) while to a British person it means 4:30 (half after four), and to an American it makes no sense at all - two o'clock, maybe? What’s the time, Mister Wolf? is a classic game for young children that exposes them to the different ways of describing the time. One player is "Mister (or Miss) Wolf", and stands at one end of the playing area with his or her back to the other children, who stand in a line at the far end of the area. The other children walk forward while calling out "What's the time, Mister Wolf?". Mister Wolf then turns around and responds with a time (e.g. "it's 4 o'clock!"). This repeats, with Mister Wolf saying different times as the players get closer and closer, until on one round he replies to their question with "it's dinnertime!" and chases the players back to where they started. If Mister Wolf catches another player before they've reached the starting line, that player becomes Mister Wolf for the next round of the game. This is just one classic game that children love and that has the side effect of teaching them a bit of grammar. There are plenty of other children’s games you can use in this way. "Simon Says", for example, is full of imperatives, while "I Spy" teaches you spelling. Who knows how many other games there are that could be adapted for your target language! What other games did you play as a child that you didn't realise were also teaching you something useful? Let me know in the comments! Now we’ve covered grammar games for kids, let’s take a look at some grammar games for adults.

Grammar Games For Adults

Some of the above games might be too childish for your liking, but grammar doesn't have to become boring just because you’re an adult learner. Here are some grammar games you could play as an adult:

Would You Rather?

This is a classic game that you've probably played before. One person poses an interesting and/or ridiculous choice between two options - would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck? Then each person in the group gives their own answer and a brief explanation of why they made that choice. As well as prompting some thoughtful (and bizarre) discussion, these types of questions are a good way to practice some less commonly-used verb forms like the conditional, and can be adapted to any language. If you run out of interesting 'would you rather' questions to ask, you can visit either.io for an effectively infinite list of ideas.

Taboo

Taboo is a classic parlour game where you have to help your teammates correctly guess the word written on your card without saying the word itself or any of the other words on the card. For example your word might be be "car", but you're not allowed to say "car", "vehicle", "drive", "transport", "road", or "travel". Taboo is a great way to build vocabulary, not least because it represents exactly what you should do when you need to say something in a foreign language but don't know the word: stick within the target language and try to get your point across in other words, rather than immediately blurting it out in English and asking for a translation. As well as vocabulary, Taboo will help your grammar, That’s because when the most obvious words aren't available to you, the only alternative is often a winding, roundabout sentence with a complicated structure. "It's the big metal thing you sit in and press the pedals with your feet to go fast from one place to another." Look at all that grammar!

Role Playing Grammar Games

At the end of the day, the point of learning all this grammar is so that you can use it in real life. So why not get straight to the point, and play some role-playing games with a language partner that simulate a real-world encounter you're likely (or unlikely) to have? Some common situations you might want to practice are: checking into a hotel, introducing yourself to new people, asking for directions, and ordering something over the telephone. You can surely think of many more examples based on your hobbies and interests and the daily experiences you're likely to have. Since our focus here is on grammar, some other role-playing ideas you could use are:

• Fortune teller. One person is the fortune teller, and the other has come to get their fortune read. What does the fortune-teller see in their crystal ball? How does the other person feel about it? This is a good way of practicing the future tense.
• Alibi. The police suspect you of a crime, and they want to know if you have an alibi. Where were you on Friday night? Who were you with? What were you doing? The suspect won't be able to talk their way out of this situation unless they've got a good grasp on the different types of past tense.
• Late for work. One person is the boss, and the other is an employee who's just shown up late. What's their excuse? The boss should question the employee's story, pick holes in it, and try to figure out if they're lying. In the process, the boss practices asking different kinds of questions (why? how? when? who?), while the employee will practise answers and the past tense.

Whatever it is you want to practise, try and think of a "real" situation where it might get used, and see what role-playing ideas you can come up with.

Online Grammar Games

Go to Google or to the Android or Apple app stores, type in the name of your target language, and you'll probably find a zillion free grammar games (and lots of paid ones too). For obvious reasons, each game tends to be focussed on just one specific language, and a detailed list of available games for every language are beyond the scope of this article, but two digital resources are worth mentioning:

Duolingo

Duolingo is one of the most popular language-learning apps out there today, and at the time of writing it offers free courses in over 20 different languages. There's already a detailed review of Duolingo on this site. As well as being a fun and easy way to practise a language and build your vocabulary, Duolingo gradually introduces you over time to new grammatical concepts and provides detailed explanations of how to use them. Duolingo is no substitute for real face-to-face speaking practice, but it can make a nice supplement.

Anki

I'm a huge a proponent of using spaced repetition systems - more commonly known as "flashcards" - to learn languages, and the most popular digital SRS tool is undoubtedly Anki (for iOS, for Android, and for everyone else). Anki lets you create totally customisable flashcards on whatever topic you like (not just languages!), and if you don't feel like creating you own there's an enormous directory of pre-made content on their website where you can download flashcards that other people have created. The most basic way to use an SRS is to learn vocabulary; create flashcards with English words (or pictures) on one side and your target language's translation of those words on the other side. But did you know that flashcards are also a fantastic way to learn grammar? Here’s a grammar game you can use on Anki: Say you want to learn the present-tense conjugations of the Spanish verb "hablar" (to speak). Rather than trying to kill yourself with boredom by repeating hablo, hablas, habla etc. ad nauseam, it's much more interesting to come up with some sample sentences that demonstrate the different forms of the word (e.g. yo hablo español) and turn them into flashcards. On the "answer" side of the card, write the full sample sentence. On the "question" side, write something like yo ______ español - (hablar). Now, when you review the card, your job is to figure out which form of "hablar" belongs in the blank space. Create a few sample sentences for each verb form (or whatever) that you want to learn, and you'll find that this is a much more efficient and enjoyable way of getting grammar into your head than beating yourself over the head with a verb table.

Go Forth And Play!

This list is by no means exhaustive, but by now I hope I've given you an idea of what grammar games are, how you can use them, and why they're helpful. Whatever it is you want to practise, there are endless possibilities for how you can accelerate your learning by turning it into a game. Have fun!

The post 12 Fun Grammar Games to Help You Learn a Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Must-Know Spanish Sentence Structures #21 - Explaining a Result or Response

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! The Sentence Patterns series brings you a great new way to learn Spanish! With this series, you’ll build on your conversation skills by learning the most common and useful sentence patterns in Spanish. In this lesson, you will learn how to use the sentence pattern “so…” Visit us at SpanishPod101.com, where you [...]

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Condenado por usar el presente de indicativo

Learn Spanish though stories: Do you use the present tense in Spanish? You could go to prison! Learn Spanish on YouTube. Video and transcript: Learn Spanish through stories: http://ift.tt/2p9flTi

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Spanish Vocab Builder #93 - Daily Life Related Actions

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Our Spanish vocabulary lists are listener favorites, and now we’ve made it even better! In each lesson, you’ll hear the Spanish words and phrases from the Spanish vocabulary lists. Join us for Spanish Vocab Builder! In this lesson, you’ll learn words and phrases for Daily Life Related Actions. Click here to make [...]

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German Noun Genders: Hacks to Learn them Faster

Learning German? You’re going to notice one major difference between English and German grammar right away: German noun genders. All German nouns are one of three genders: masculine, feminine or neutral. For someone who is just starting out with German, this can be really confusing – especially as the genders don’t necessarily seem logical. Take cutlery for example. You have der Gabel (the fork), die Löffel (the spoon) and das Messer (the knife). A fork is feminine, a spoon masculine and a knife neutral. All you can do is sit there and scratch your head. How does that make sense? Who made these decisions to begin with?! Although they don’t always make sense, they are something you have to learn. Just as there’s no rainbow without rain, there’s no German noun without its article. That’s because in German, the gender of a noun is part of its identity. If you say or write a German word without the article that dictates gender, you won’t be using the noun correctly.

Why Does the German Language Have Genders?

When you’re learning German, it’s important to remember that the word, not the thing, has a gender. English words have genders too – they just tend to be obvious. That’s because in English, gender refers to the actual gender of the noun being referenced. Girl is a feminine word, boy is masculine, and table is neutral. This makes sense. A girl is female, a boy is male, and a table is an inanimate object. How could a table have a gender? Note: Some objects, such as boats, have a gender in English. German is different. In German, gender is defined not by the gender of the noun, but by the meaning and the form of the word. Genders in German were originally intended to signify three grammatical categories that words could be grouped into. The three categories were:

• endings that indicated that a word was of neutral origin.
• endings that indicated a group of people or things. These became feminine.
• nouns that had no ending. These remained masculine.

This is what we’re left with today, in a rather convoluted way! You can see at least, how we can then make the distinction between words being grouped together for their intended gender, rather than the gender of an object itself. Rather than arguing over whether a table should be masculine, feminine or neutral (for the record, it’s masculine – Der Tisch), we can begin to understand why this is the case. And you can argue the why of it until you’re blue in the face, but the fact is – gender is something you’re going to have to learn. My best advice is this: don’t worry too much about the whys of gender in German. Instead, focus on the best ways to remember word genders. With that in mind, let’s see how learning German genders can be made simple.

Shortcuts to Work Out German Noun Genders

Although some words require you to learn the gender by heart, there are many cases where you can look at the ending of a word to work out the gender. In this section, I refer to definite articles and indefinite articles. Der, die and das are definite articles, and replace the English word “the”, while ein and eine are the indefinite articles for “a”/“an”. These articles are used to identify the gender of the noun they go with.

How to Identify Masculine Nouns in German (der/ein)

Masculine German nouns take the definite article der (the) and indefinite ein (a/an). To figure out whether a word is masculine, look for the following word endings: -er, -el, -ling, -ich, -ig, -ner, -ismus, -or, -us, -eich, -ant Following this rule, you’ll be correct around 80% of the time. Also, anything to do with calendar dates tends to be masculine – days, months and seasons fall under this category. Finally, male animals and weather elements are usually masculine. From this, you can deduce that the following words are masculine:

• der Autor (author)
• der Vater (father)
• der Mittwoch (Wednesday)
• der Regen (rain)*

How to Recognise Feminine Nouns in German (die/eine)

Feminine German nouns use the definite article die (the) and indefinite article eine (a/an). As with masculine nouns, the easiest way to identify a feminine noun is to look at the word ending. Look out for the following word endings: -e (mostly, as the exception is male persons or animals, such as der Löwe (the lion)), -ie, -heit, -ei, -in, -ik, -keit, - schaft, -ung, -tät, -ur, -tion Funnily enough, things that would normally be associated with femininity are usually feminine too – like flowers and trees, along with female animals and people.

• die Blume (flower)
• die Familie (family)
• die Mannschaft (team)

How to Identify Neutral Nouns in German (das/ein)

Neutral German nouns take the definite article das (the) and indefinite article ein (a/an). To spot neutral nouns, look out for the following word endings: -chen, -o, -lein, -en, -il, -ma, -tel, -ment, -nis, -tum, -um Most inanimate objects do fall under the category of neutral. Also, most metals, as well as babies (both human and animal) tend to have neutral genders. Let’s look at some examples.

• das Kind (child)
• das Fragment (fragment)
• das Gold (gold)

What About Plurals in German?

When German nouns become plural, they adopt the feminine definite article of die. So, der/die/das become die/die/die. For example, der Mann becomes die Männer. This is not because they are changing gender - it is because the indefinite article is (technically) dropped.

What are the Exceptions to the Der/Die/Das Rules?

Unfortunately, not all German nouns can be neatly grouped into the categories I outlined above. You’re going to stumble into the odd word that seems to play by its own rules. Countries fall into this category. For example, the USA is feminine (die USA), but Iran is masculine (der Iran). How do you get around this? Your best bet with these words is to focus on memorising the gender, rather than figuring it out on the fly. I recommend creating a deck of flashcards for the words whose genders you must remember. Anki is my favourite tool for this. Another memory tool you can use here is association - also known as letting your imagination run wild. Let’s say you wanted to learn the gender for strawberry, Die Erdbeeren. You create an association in your mind by imagining your mother giving you some strawberries – they’re feminine and so is she. What about der Fremdling, the stranger? Imagine encountering a male stranger on the street. Food (das Essen), meanwhile, is neutral, so you could think of a bland meal. You’ll be surprised by how easy it is to remember articles by creating these images in your mind. Finally, don’t let these unusual cases hold you back. If you find yourself mid-conversation, and you’re unsure of the gender of a noun, just guess. You’ve got a one in three chance of getting it right. Not bad odds. And most Germans will correct you on the spot if you’re wrong, so you can learn as you go.

The Best Way to Learn German Noun Genders

My top tip for language learners is always to speak from day one. Speaking a language from the first day you start learning it helps you get over your fear of being “wrong” - because you will make mistakes, and you’ll learn that making mistakes is okay. Someone who puts themselves out there is ten times more likely to have success in language learning than those who don’t. After all, what’s the worst that can happen? If you get it wrong, chances are someone will correct you (especially in Germany) and you’ll know how to say it right the next time you need to use that particular word. Native German speakers are notoriously direct and will be more than happy to help you out! On top of using German genders in real conversations, here are my top tips for making them fun to learn. Be warned – there’s lots of gender stereotyping ahead!

• Pick some Post-It notes – maybe pink for feminine words, blue for masculine words and yellow for neutral. Label objects around the house, according to the gender of each noun.
• Buy some of those sparkly gel pens and use different colours to group gendered words together. You’ll be surprised by what colour association can do for your memory. *Stand in front of your mirror and practise saying nouns in different voices. Pitch low for masculine nouns, high for feminine and use your normal voice for practising neutral.

Of course these are just a few suggestions to get you started. You can stick to methods that are a little bit more conventional or go completely crazy with colour coding ALL THE NOUNS. It’s completely up to you!

Is Gender Really Necessary?

If you’re approaching language learning with the goal of becoming a polyglot at some point in the future, then it is really important that you take the time to learn and understand gendered nouns. Many languages, particularly in Europe, have gendered nouns. As hard as it may be to make sense of them when you’re starting out, I promise you that it will get easier with the next language you learn. And any that you may choose to study after that.

Over to You

Who knows – maybe in time the German language will simplify and gendered nouns will become redundant. Until then, you’ll have to learn genders. So keep at it! What are your top tips for learning the genders of German nouns? Let me know in the comments.

The post German Noun Genders: Hacks to Learn them Faster appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Spanish Vocab Builder #55 - Changing Money

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Our Spanish vocabulary lists are listener favorites, and now we’ve made it even better! In each lesson, you’ll hear the Spanish words and phrases from the Spanish vocabulary lists. Join us for Spanish Vocab Builder! In this lesson, you’ll learn words and phrases for Changing Money. Click here to make your own [...]

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CBC 1.10 | Review episode

In this lesson you’ll see how much you’ve learned in the first unit of the course. You’ll listen to a conversation in which Mark and Crystal play two characters who meet each other at a conference in Beijing university. You’ll be amazed at how much you understand, and there’s also some new vocabulary in this lesson too.

Listen to the episode

The audio lesson is free, as are all the main audio lessons of Coffee Break Chinese. Use the audio player to listen to the lesson, or subscribe in iTunes to receive this lesson and all future lessons automatically. If the player below isn’t working, click here to access this lesson of Coffee Break Chinese.

Accessing the Premium Version

The premium version of Coffee Break Chinese provides additional materials which will help you move forward more effectively with your Mandarin Chinese studies.
The premium version includes the following elements:

• video flashcards: listen to each lesson and see the words and phrases covered in the lesson displayed on the screen of your computer, phone or tablet (mp4 format);
• bonus audio materials: use our review lessons to practise the language covered in the main lesson, and to pick up some useful bonus vocabulary (mp3 format);
• comprehensive lesson notes: study the language of each lesson in greater detail and access additional information about Mandarin Chinese (pdf format).

The members’ version can be accessed on the Coffee Break Academy

Access the Coffee Break Academy

 

Links

Subscribe in iTunes | RSS Feed | Purchase members' audio and transcripts | Facebook | Twitter

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Episodio 260: Estar a dos velas

Estar a dos velas: meaning in Spanish. Learn Spanish listening to podcasts. In this episode you can learn the meaning of estar a dos velas and you will practice conjugation and pronunciation. Transcript available: Learn Spanish: Estar a dos velas

La entrada Episodio 260: Estar a dos velas se publicó primero en Spanish Podcast.

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CBI 2.06 | Cosa facciamo stasera?

In this lesson you’ll consolidate what you already know about regular -are, -ere and -ire verbs and you’ll also review reflexive verbs. One of the most common uses of the present tense is in making arrangements, and in the dialogues of the lesson you’ll learn to make arrangements, identifying what you’re doing, when you’re doing it and where you’re meeting your Italian-speaking friends.

Listen to the episode

The audio lesson is free, as are all the main audio lessons of Coffee Break Italian. Use the audio player to listen to the lesson, or subscribe in iTunes to receive this lesson and all future lessons automatically. If you can’t see the player below, click here to access the lesson.

Accessing the Premium Version

The premium version of Coffee Break Italian provides additional materials which will help you move forward more effectively with your Italian studies.
The premium version includes the following elements:

• video flashcards: listen to each lesson and see the words and phrases covered in the lesson displayed on the screen of your computer, phone or tablet (mp4 format);
• bonus audio materials: use our review lessons to practise the language covered in the main lesson, and to pick up some useful bonus vocabulary (mp3 format);
• comprehensive lesson notes: study the language of each lesson in greater detail and access additional information about the Italian language (pdf format).

The members’ version can be accessed on the Coffee Break Academy.

Subscribe links

Subscribe in iTunes | RSS Feed | Purchase members’ audio and transcripts

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Review: The Michel Thomas Method for Language Learning

The Michel Thomas Method is a popular approach in language learning, with a range of language courses available for beginners. British newspaper The Times has called the Michel Thomas Method “The nearest thing to painless learning.” So, we decided to do our own Michel Thomas review. Michel Thomas courses are all in audio, and you learn by pausing the audio and translating the teacher’s spoken phrases into the target language. Over time, you’re encouraged to use the phrases you’ve learned as building blocks to create longer sentences. There are plenty of good reviews on Amazon (the Spanish course scores an average of 4.3 stars). But does it work in practice? I took on the challenge of completing the full Michel Thomas Total Portuguese course to see what happened. I started as an absolute beginner…and I’ll share exactly how it worked for me. Here are my thoughts - plus later on I’ll share a video of myself speaking Portuguese after completing the course.

Michel Thomas Review: Getting Started

Michel Thomas courses are designed for absolute beginners. They purposely avoid great depth, and instead focus on helping you have a variety of simple conversations, for example, while on holiday. I found the course incredibly easy to understand and get started. In particular, I really enjoyed that the course is 100% audio. No videos, no flashcards. No reading or writing. I could sit there with my eyes closed and not worry about writing stuff down or watching for visual and audio clues at the same time. In the audio, you join two other students in a virtual “classroom”. You listen in on the students’ lesson, and complete simple language challenges with them. When the other students are asked to translate a phrase, you’re meant to pause the playback, and translate it yourself first. I liked this method of learning.

Michel Thomas Review: What Did I Learn?

I found that the Michel Thomas course was relevant to the real world. In taking the course, I learned words and phrases that every student should learn early on. There are no useless sentences like “The business meeting has been moved to the yacht”, which only a certain type of traveler would want to learn. Instead, you learn phrases like:

• “Why don’t you want to go there today?”
• “Where did you eat yesterday?”
• “I don’t need this, but I want it.”

The Michel Thomas course avoids teaching a lot of specific vocabulary, which saves you from memorising. How does this work? Rather than teaching a big list of nouns, it teaches “this”, “that” and “it”, so you can at least point to an object and talk about it without knowing its name. I commend the course creators for trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I can now talk about a variety of topics without needing to know a whole lot of specific vocabulary. I can point to an object and say, “How much does that cost?”, or point to a museum and say, “Let’s go there tomorrow.” Phrases like this would certainly come in handy on a short trip to a Portuguese-speaking country. However, while I found this an effective way to learn the basics of Portuguese, it’s not all that helpful during video conversations, as you’ll see from my video at the end of this article! When it’s just you and the other speaker, there’s nothing to point at; you need to know the actual words for the items you’re talking about. In addition, the course manages to cover all of the major verb tenses, which is unusual in a course for absolute beginners (I studied French for five years in school before I learned the future tenses!). All that said, I did have some issues with the Michel Thomas approach. I noticed that the course skipped over virtually all pleasantries that you would expect to exchange with any new person you meet in your target language. No “What’s your name?”, “How are you?” or “Where are you from?” I had my first Portuguese lesson online after completing the course, and I couldn’t even say, “My name is Holly”! I would have really liked to learn some more “greeting”-type vocabulary, so that I can walk up to a vendor, for example, and say “Hi, how are you? Nice day today” instead of launching right into, “How much is that?” The title of the course is “Total Portuguese”, but I feel like this is a bit of an overstatement. It does teach useful material, but it only teaches the basics. No more, no less. As an additional aside, the course focuses only on the most formal way to address people in Portuguese until very late in the course. I found this frustrating. When I started using Portuguese on italki, my teachers used the informal “tu” form of verbs, and expected me to do the same. But the Michel Thomas method encourages near-exclusive use of the formal forms “o senhor”/”a senhora” and “você”, meaning I was very inexperienced with the “tu” form, which is conjugated quite differently. Overall, I’d say I learned a lot of useful phrases - but not enough to be a well-rounded Portuguese speaker, even at beginner level.

Michel Thomas Review: Did I Actually Remember What I Learned?

A big part of learning another language is motivation. Being accountable to another person (or a teacher) and tracking your progress can be a huge help with staying motivated. How does the Michel Thomas method fare here? Michel Thomas is a static course, so there’s no teacher to keep you accountable. But because the course is so easy to follow (“No homework! No memorizing!”), there’s really nothing for you to shy away from. The course is completely in audio - available in CD or audiobook format. I went with the CD option, and it was easy and pleasant enough for me to listen to a CD every day. I never looked for any excuses not to sit down and listen to the course. I was really pleased with the amount of repetition in the course. The material wasn’t particularly diverse, but the teaching method made darn sure that I wouldn’t forget the words and phrases that I learned. The teacher accomplishes this by incrementally introducing new material, and then instantly quizzing the students (and me, the listener) on that and previous material. The material was just challenging enough to hold my attention. But it can easily become boring if you don’t use it the way it’s intended. You need to make a genuine attempt at answering the teacher’s questions before moving on, or else the material will just wash over you and you’ll forget it. I would try to guess the correct answer to all of the teacher’s questions (out loud!) before the students in the studio could. It wasn’t so easy that I always guessed correctly, and I appreciated the challenge of this. It really helped to listen to two other students learn at the same time as me. They usually asked the same questions that I would have if I had been having a live lesson. This almost made me feel like I was taking an interactive lesson, which helped my motivation even more. Other than working your way through the classes, there’s no real way to track your progress. That said, I don’t think that the course intends to help you track your progress. It certainly makes sure you do progress, by quizzing you constantly on both old and new material. But it falls short of actually measuring it. However, after the audio course is complete, the last CD includes a series of tests to check your knowledge. You’re then provided with a score. This is the one place in the course where you can get a concrete measurement of your total progress. One more thing: All of the repetition and the teacher’s corrections were fabulous for my pronunciation. I surprised my Skype teacher in my first lesson with how good my Portuguese pronunciation was. But she was also surprised at how limited my vocabulary was! The course really does teach absolute basics for getting by; not having a detailed conversation in the language.

Michel Thomas Method: The Verdict

Would I use the Michel Thomas Method again? That is to say - was it worth the time and effort? Quick answer: I would use it again, but with some caveats. The Michel Thomas course claims that you’ll “go from absolute beginner to confident speaker” in Portuguese. And technically, I did! The words and phrases that the course teaches (however limited) I learned very well and could use confidently. When I use Michel Thomas in the future, I’ll definitely use it as a supplement to my other studies in the target language, rather than as a standalone resource. For Portuguese, however, I didn’t want to use any other study methods, or else I wouldn’t have an accurate idea of exactly what the Michel Thomas course can and can’t do for absolute beginners. After using only Michel Thomas as my first exposure to Portuguese, I can conclude that while it’s helpful, it doesn’t go the full distance on its own. For my next language mission (whatever that might be!), if a Michel Thomas course exists for that language, I would use it. It’s a low-stress way to get over that initial hump, from being able to say nothing in the language to being able to say a variety of phrases. The course brought me from knowing absolutely zero Portuguese - not even “yes” or “no” - to being able to confidently have quite a few short, very simple exchanges. You can pick up Michel Thomas Total Portuguese on Amazon.

My Video Speaking Portuguese After Competing Michel Thomas

Once I’d completed Michel Thomas Total Portuguese I made a video of myself chatting with a native speaker. To prepare for this video, I had three lessons on italki after I’d finished the Michel Thomas course. Here’s the video (which actually became the start of a Portuguese in 3 Months mission): httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxAm-KTlonM I enjoyed learning Portuguese so much that I decided to take on a Portuguese in 3 Months Mission after finishing the Michel Thomas course. You can read more about my mission here.

The post Review: The Michel Thomas Method for Language Learning appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Absolute Beginner Mexican Spanish for Every Day #7 - 10 Ways to Save the Planet in Spanish

Learn Mexican Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! In your home country, there are some phrases that are so common you use them or hear them every day. The same is true in Spain too, so why not give your Mexican Spanish an instant boost by learning them in this video lesson? With Alex’s help, you’ll be sounding [...]

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Holy week learn Spanish

Holy week learn Spanish. La Semana Santa en España. Learn Spanish listening to native Spanish speakers. Improve your Spanish oral comprehension and your speaking abilities while you learn about Spanish culture, traditions and more. Subtitles: Learn Spanish: Holy Week

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News #229 - Why Speaking Spanish is the #1 Weakness & 5 Ways Improve

Reading, speaking, listening or writing in Spanish: which of these is your weakest skill? For most Spanish learners – regardless of their learning method – speaking is almost always the number one weakness. Why is that? Ready, Set, Speak Sale! Click here to get 28% OFF ANY subscription! In this Sunday News, you’ll find out:- [...]

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Spanish Vocab Builder #92 - Green Vocabulary for Earth Day

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Our Spanish vocabulary lists are listener favorites, and now we’ve made it even better! In each lesson, you’ll hear the Spanish words and phrases from the Spanish vocabulary lists. Join us for Spanish Vocab Builder! In this lesson, you’ll learn words and phrases for Green Vocabulary for Earth Day. Click here to [...]

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Learning a Language Through Music: Here’s How It’s Done

Can you learn a language through music? Of course you can! From slow, crooning love songs to the latest boy band hits, music is a really useful tool for language learning. Pop music isn’t the whole story, though. Any style of music, by any artist, as long as it has lyrics, can be useful in language learning. You just need to approach it the right way, and make sure you choose music you enjoy. Let’s look at how you can go about learning a language through music.

Learning a Language Through Music Transforms “Studying” into Fun

The most important part of learning a language is talking with native speakers. The second most important part? Self-study. Songs are great for self-study because they make your study sessions fun. Having fun while you study is a really effective way to learn. So drop your dictionary and turn up the boombox! Or, since you probably don’t have a boombox, plug in that smartphone to some external speakers and crank it up! (That doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?)

How Songs Help You Learn a Language

Learning songs in your target language is an incredibly useful tool for your language goals because…

• Music is Sticky: Ever had a song stuck in your head? Who hasn’t! Music sticks in your brain - which is why songs are so often used in language classes to help students memorise new words. Most people who enjoy music listen to their favourite songs over and over until they know them by heart. This repetition, accompanied by a catchy tune, is the perfect formula for getting new words and phrases stuck in your brain so you can’t get rid of them. No grammar charts required!

• Music is Portable: You can take music with you to listen to anywhere, unlike textbooks, movies or conversation partners. Keep a playlist handy on your phone to listen to your favourite songs in your target language anytime you have a few minutes free. Be sure to listen actively; pay attention to the words, pronunciation and cadence for maximum benefit.
• Singing Songs Improves Your Pronunciation: The joy of singing along to songs you love makes it easier for you to pick up correct pronunciation.
• Song Lyrics Help You Learn Vocabulary in Context: Learning how vocabulary is used in sentences is a key part of learning how to speak a language in the real world. You can’t learn isolated words in your target language and expect to get fluent.

Think of it this way. Even if you could download a foreign-language dictionary into your brain, that still wouldn’t make you a very good speaker in your target language. You would have no idea how to put words together into complete sentences. In fact, some people actually have memorised foreign-language dictionaries for competitions such as Scrabble, but still can’t speak the language at all! Listening to songs in your target language gives you something that no vocabulary list can: a context for words. You get to hear how words are used in real life. When you learn complete sentences along with their English translation, you’re learning how to use complex grammar without the need to memorise all the rules behind it. This means that you’ll be understanding and speaking your target language more like native speakers in less time than you would with some other study methods. Inspired to try it for yourself? Here are some hints for how to get the most out of using music for your language learning.

Pick Songs You Enjoy

This might seem obvious, but a lot of language learners I’ve met will just listen to the radio to get exposure to songs in their target language, or download whatever’s popular in that language right now. Others only try to find songs that have a slow rhythm so that the words are sung slowly enough to be easily understood. Why does this method so often fail? You’ve got to choose songs you can live with, songs that you’re willing to listen to hundreds of times. Find songs that you love, and you’ll take almost all the effort out of learning those songs. You’ll want to listen to them on repeat, and you’ll want to learn the words so you can sing along. This can be true even if the song isn’t in your target language. I’ve met several people who learned the words to the French song Magic in the Air even though they don’t speak any French at all, just because they enjoy the song so much. How can you find songs that you’ll like? Easy. You probably already know what kind of music you like in your native language. You can use an app like Spotify or Pandora to search for music of same genre, but in your target language. Check YouTube as well to see if there are any music videos that display the lyrics for you to follow along.

Get the English Translation AND Original Language Lyrics

Depending on how advanced you are, you might not need the English lyrics. But no matter what your level, you should definitely get your hands on the lyrics in the song’s original language. Trust me, you don’t want to try to learn all the words to the song without that reference. If you hear the wrong thing, it will be tough to “unlearn” those incorrect lyrics in the future! Believe me. To this day, I still hear the words “Knock, knock, knockin’ on Kevin’s door” when I listen to Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door! Listen to the song while following along with the lyrics. I prefer to follow along with the original and the English lyrics side-by-side at first. For those first few listens, you’re not really gaining a lot of vocabulary in your target language. What you are doing is getting an ear for the sounds of the song (by listening to the words and sounding them out as you read the original lyrics), and learning what the song is about (by reading the English lyrics). How you go about learning the song is up to you. If you prefer to memorise the lyrics in your target language and be able to sing the song verbatim before ever looking at the English lyrics, that’s fine. If you prefer to start by studying the English lyrics while you listen, so that you can hear a line of the song and instantly know its English translation without knowing what the individual words in that line mean, that’s fine too. You can also follow a combination of these approaches, or invent your own unique approach. As long as you persist, you’ll eventually have the song memorised and understand its meaning. Repetition is the key (remember what I said about picking a song that you like?).

Break the Song Down into “Chunks”

Learning a whole song can feel overwhelming, especially if most of the words in the song are new for you. There’s no need to force yourself to learn the whole thing in one chunk. Break it up into verses , lines or even words. The chorus is a good place to start. It’s repeated often throughout the song, and usually has the catchiest tune. Pause and rewind as often as it takes until you’re comfortable with one section of the song. Only then should you move on to the next. When you move on to the next section, don’t just forget about the previous section. Start the song over again, and listen to everything you’ve already learned up until the new section. You’ll reinforce the lyrics that way, as well as have a better idea of how the song flows from one line to the next.

Don’t Just Listen: SING

The best way to learn a language is to speak it. The best way to learn a song is to sing it! Choose songs you love, and you probably won’t be able to resist singing along to them anyway. Suffering from inhibition? Don’t be shy. You don’t have to sing badly in a foreign language on video and post it online for the world to see! Just do whatever works for you. Sing home alone, while you’re cooking dinner, or in the shower. Sing to your dog, cat or tortoise (Language hacker tip: if your dog howls along with you, that means you’re doing it right.) Learn to sing even a small handful of songs in your target language, and you’ll surprise yourself - and the native speakers you talk with on a regular basis - with the big steps in your progress over a short period of time. I doubt you’ll stop at just a small handful of songs, either. Chances are, you’ll get hooked on learning a language through music, and it will become a regular part of your study routine. A part which barely feels like studying at all.

The post Learning a Language Through Music: Here’s How It’s Done appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Absolute Beginner Mexican Spanish for Every Day #3 - Top 5 Phrases That Will Make You Sound Like a Pro

Learn Mexican Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! In your home country, there are some phrases that are so common you use them or hear them every day. The same is true in Spain too, so why not give your Mexican Spanish an instant boost by learning them in this video lesson? With Jasmine’s help, you’ll be sounding [...]

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Spanish Reading Comprehension for Intermediate Learners #1 - Exchanging Currency at the Station

Learn Mexican Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Welcome to the Mexican Spanish Reading Comprehension for Intermediate Learners series. In this series, you will continue to build up your Mexican Spanish reading skills through lessons focussed on everyday activities like taking the bus or train. You’ll learn how to read tickets, notices in the station, currency exchange forms, [...]

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Upper Intermediate Series S2 #17 - We Hope That Studying Spanish Here Will Convince You to Stay!

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! You have been studying Spanish for a few months now at the University in Spain. You have been living with a roommate from your school…but lately, it seems as if he has been…well, spending more time partying in Spain than studying. You gently explain to your roommate in Spanish, “It’s time [...]

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CBC 1.09 | Talking about languages and language problems in Mandarin Chinese

In this episode of Coffee Break Chinese you’ll learn to say that you can speak a little Chinese. You’ll also learn to talk about the other languages you speak, and to deal with language problems. By the end of the lesson you’ll be able to ask people to speak more slowly, to repeat, and to say that you don’t understand.

Listen to the episode

The audio lesson is free, as are all the main audio lessons of Coffee Break Chinese. Use the audio player to listen to the lesson, or subscribe in iTunes to receive this lesson and all future lessons automatically. If the player below isn’t working, click here to access this lesson of Coffee Break Chinese.

Accessing the Premium Version

The premium version of Coffee Break Chinese provides additional materials which will help you move forward more effectively with your Mandarin Chinese studies.
The premium version includes the following elements:

• video flashcards: listen to each lesson and see the words and phrases covered in the lesson displayed on the screen of your computer, phone or tablet (mp4 format);
• bonus audio materials: use our review lessons to practise the language covered in the main lesson, and to pick up some useful bonus vocabulary (mp3 format);
• comprehensive lesson notes: study the language of each lesson in greater detail and access additional information about Mandarin Chinese (pdf format).

The members’ version can be accessed on the Coffee Break Academy

Access the Coffee Break Academy

 

Links

Subscribe in iTunes | RSS Feed | Purchase members' audio and transcripts | Facebook | Twitter

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Podcast Awards nomination for Coffee Break Italian

We’re delighted to report that Coffee Break Italian has been nominated in the “Smartest podcast” category of the British Podcast Awards. These new awards have been created this year to highlight the best British-made podcasts of the year. The nominations for each category have been selected by a jury and we’re delighted that Coffee Break Italian has made it into the shortlist for the education category.

The British Podcast Awards also have a Listener’s Choice award where podcast listeners from around the world can nominate their favourite British-made podcast. All of our shows qualify for this award, so if you enjoy learning with any of our Coffee Break shows, please vote for us. Mark’s made a short video to explain the voting process:

Voting will literally take less than a minute, and we’d be very grateful to have your vote. Simply search for Coffee Break Spanish / Coffee Break French / Coffee Break Italian / Coffee Break German or Coffee Break Chinese at the British Podcast Awards site, and enter your details to vote. You can vote more than once for different podcasts, so if you listen to more than one of our shows, feel free to vote for each one! However, only one vote per podcast from your email address counts. It’s also important to say that although these awards are celebrating British podcasts, you can vote from anywhere in the world.

The Podcast Awards ceremony is taking place in London on 29th April and Mark and Francesca will be there on the night. We’ll let you know how things go! In the meantime, thanks for your support.

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Passive and Active Voice in Spanish – Learn Spanish listening

How to use passive and active voice in Spanish - Learn Spanish - Learn Spanish listening to native speakers using transcripts. Today, Spanish grammar: passive and active voice. How to use passive and active voice in Spanish? - Transcript: Learn Spanish: Voz activa y voz pasiva en español

La entrada Passive and Active Voice in Spanish – Learn Spanish listening se publicó primero en Spanish Podcast.

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How I Learned Portuguese in 3 Months (Mission Complete!)

I made it! I reached the end of my three-month mission to learn Portuguese. Be sure to catch up on earlier updates if you haven’t already:

• Portuguese Mission: Day 0
• Portuguese Mission: 1 Month Update
• Portuguese Mission: 2 Month Update

The question is: Did I reach the B1 (lower-intermediate) level of Portuguese that I wanted to? Here's my end of mission video: httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctw2G8sAo7E In this article, I’ll go over my study activities from month three, discuss my final video, and take a look back at my mission and see whether I accomplished my goal.

The Final Month of My Portuguese Mission - a Day-by-Day Countdown

I thought I’d do things a little differently in this article and outline everything I did during the final month of my Portuguese mission. I kept a journal of my exercises every day as I did them, so I thought I’d share it with you so you can see how a month of Portuguese study breaks down day-by-day.

Day 57

I discovered the podcast BrazilianPodClass. All of the podcast episodes are FREE on iTunes, and I listened to episode 106.

Day 58

I listened to another BrazilianPodClass episode, but it didn’t hold my attention very well. It’s really structured, with vocabulary lists and grammar drills. I prefer to listen to more natural Portuguese. I then listened to three NHK World News Portuguese episodes.

Day 59

I went for coffee with my new Brazilian friend (who I met at a Portuguese Meetup event in month two) and we spoke for 1.5 hours in half Portuguese, half English. She explained some grammar to me. Later, I listened to the album Um Novo Tempo by the Brazilian band KLB while driving, and tried to pick out as many Portuguese words as I could. My Brazilian friend told me about some free Portuguese channels for the Roku! I downloaded CB TV Canal Brazil and Rede Nova TV (both available as Roku channels or streamed live online) and watched the latter for about 15 minutes.

Day 60

Nothing (driving all day for week-long event out of town). Hopefully I can fit some studying in this week even though I’ll be busy every day and most evenings.

Day 61

Nothing (all-day/evening commitment).

Day 62

I listened to three episodes of Practice Portuguese podcast: “A História de Amor de Pedro e Inês” (“The Love Story of Pedro and Inês”), and Diálogos 14 and 16 and PortuguesePod101: Intermediate season 1 lesson 10. I then listened to some songs from the KLB album Um Novo Tempo - about 30 minutes. On Duolingo, I earned 20 XP. In this and all other Duolingo sessions, I always dictated my Portuguese answers into my phone instead of typing them out.

Day 63

Nothing (all-day/evening commitment).

Day 64

Duolingo: 80 XP.

Day 65

Duolingo: 10 XP. Listened to more of the KLB album, got a few more lyrics from each song!

Day 66

Nothing (driving home all day from my week-long trip).

Day 67

I listened to six Practice Portuguese podcast episodes.

Day 68

I watched 15 minutes of Brazilian TV on the two new Roku channels. The shows weren’t very interesting, so I’ll try again later.

Day 69

I listened to the KLB album again during a walk, and understood even more lyrics! I need to commit to memorising a few of their songs by the end of my mission. They seem like they’d be easy to learn. I then watched 20 minutes of the cooking show “Cozinha sob pressão” (“Kitchen under pressure” - the Brazilian version of “Hell’s Kitchen”). I love cooking so I thought I’d like this show. But I’m not a big fan, because I didn’t realize it would be like Hell’s Kitchen, which I’m also not a fan of.

Day 70

Some podcast listening today:

• NHK world news podcast, one episode.
• Practice Portuguese podcast, four episodes: Atualidade 1 and 2, Artigo 18, and “A Lenda de Rainha Santa Isabel” (“The legend of Queen Saint Isabel”).

Day 71

I listened to the practice Portuguese podcast: Diálogo 20, Atualidade 3, and Artigo 19, then I watched the Rede Nova TV channel for 30 minutes.

Day 72 - 73

Nothing (no good excuse, just took a little break).

Day 74

I listened to a 37 minute Practice Portuguese podcast (Artigo 20) and 11 minutes of Artigo 21.

Day 75

I listened NHK World News Portuguese: 4 episodes. I was horrified at this point to look back and realize I had totally slacked off and only spoken Portuguese with a real person once in the previous 18 days!! It was time to buckle down and speak the language, damnit! I committed on Day 75 to speak Portuguese with a native speaker every day for the rest of my mission.

Day 76

I booked an instant 30-minute tutoring session on italki in Portuguese with a Brazilian community tutor. I also listened to a new Quinta do Bill album, “Filhos da nação” (“Sons of the nation”) while driving. I LOVE the title track. I plan to learn it by heart. On Duolingo, I earned 40 XP. I want to finish the tree before the end of my mission!

Day 77

I had 30-minute instant tutoring in Portuguese with a different Brazilian community tutor. Then I listened to NHK World News for the previous day (13 mins). Finally, I listened to two hours of Portuguese music on Google Play Music (though I was working during it, so not listening much). The group Vozes Trinadas (“Trilled Voices”) has some beautiful songs, but they aren’t ideal for trying to memorize.

Day 78

I completed a one-hour lesson on italki with a Brazilian community tutor. Then on PortuguesePod101 I listened to upper intermediate season 1 lesson 16, and lower intermediate season 1 lesson 23. I had a great day on Duolingo, earning 150 XP! I’m still trying to finish the tree before the end of my mission.

Day 79

I completed a 1.5-hour lesson with a European Portuguese community tutor on italki. This was intense! I also listened to two episodes of a new podcast, Portuguêses no Mundo (Portuguese people in the world). It’s about Portuguese emigrants around the world. The stories are fascinating. It took about one hour for two episodes. With Duolingo, I earned 10 XP.

Day 80

I attended a one-hour lesson with a different European Portuguese community tutor from italki. Meanwhile, on Duolingo I earned 250 XP. I tested out of some sections, so I got the XP quicker than usual. I also listened to two more episodes of the “Portuguêses no Mundo” podcast.

Day 81

I completed a thirty minute lesson with a professional Portuguese teacher from italki. We didn’t get to chat much in the language because he spent most of the time telling me about his language learning philosophy. I also earned 30XP on Duolingo.

Day 82:

I listened to the previous four episodes of the NHK World News podcast. No speaking practice!

Day 83

I had an intense day with PortuguesePod101, listening to intermediate season 1 lessons 5, 7, 13 and 14, and upper beginner season 2 lesson 22. I also had an instant tutoring session with a Brazilian Portuguese community tutor on italki for 30 minutes (I love these instant tutoring sessions!).

Day 84

No conversation practice today ! The day went well in other ways. I completed one PortuguesePod101 lesson: lower beginner lesson 10. I also listened to Portuguêses no Mundo - one episode (the guest lives in China), and to two albums by the popular Brazilian band Legião Urbana: A Tempestade and O Descobrimento do Brasil. I liked two songs by them enough to file away for memorization later. This is what usually happens with music: I listen to hours and only find one or two songs I enjoy. With Duolingo I earned 240 XP! Finally, I memorized the KLB song Vão Passando os Minutos (“The Minutes Go By”). It’s a nice song with clear, easy lyrics, but it still took over an hour to memorize completely. I find song memorization useful, but dull and repetitive, so I don’t do it as often as I should.

Day 85

I completed a one-hour italki lesson with one of my previous European Portuguese community tutors: we found out we’re both interested in French cinema, so we had a lot to talk about! I also listened to NHK World News, two episodes, and earned 90 XP on Duolingo.

Day 86:

I had scheduled a one-hour lesson with Tatiana, my regular Portuguese teacher, but she had to cancel it. On PortuguesePod101 I completed Intermediate season 1, lessons 11, 12, 15 and 16.

Day 87

I listened to two Portuguêses no Mundo episodes: Singapore, and Berlin. No conversation practice again!

Day 88

I attended a Portuguese language meetup at a wonderful Portuguese cafe and bakery! I spoke for two hours in Portuguese! Afterwards, I recorded a video of myself speaking with Fátima, one of the members (which you can see later in this article). Duolingo: 300 XP

Day 89

I listened to two more episodes of Portuguêses no Mundo. It’s such an addictive podcast.

Day 90

I did an online Portuguese placement test and scored 126/150, or 84%! The test placed me as an advanced learner! Maybe I am a B2 after all! Though I really only feel like a B1. [caption id="attachment_20734" align="aligncenter" width="997"] My Portuguese exam result.[/caption]

Day 95

I had supper at Fátima’s house (the same Fátima who helped me with my video on Day 88), with a large group of Brazilian friends from our meetup group. Such a fun way to end my mission! As you can see, my study routine was not perfect. Some days I only studied Duolingo for a few minutes, and some days I did nothing at all. But I wasn’t aiming for perfection. I just wanted to do the best that I could every day. That said, about halfway through my final month, I decided that I should be able to do better, so I kicked myself in the butt and spoke Portuguese with native speakers a whole lot more in the last half of the month.

Portuguese in 3 Months: How Did I Do?

I’ve studied seven foreign languages in my life, and I made more progress in my listening comprehension during these three months than I ever did after a much longer period in my past language studies. Whatever shortcomings my no-reading-or-writing method may have had, this totally makes up for it. I can have actual conversations in Portuguese instead of just reading Harry Potter books! Even though I probably would’ve memorized more vocabulary by writing it down and doing lots of reading, I would’ve just been learning to recognise the words by sight, not by sound. I wouldn’t understand them when someone said them to me. For me, listening comprehension is a lot more important than reading comprehension. I didn’t learn Portuguese so I could read the newspaper or Harry Potter, I learned it to go out and use it in the world.

My Portuguese Level After 3 Months of Study

Reaching a B1 level was my goal, and I think I reached it solidly. I took an online test on Day 90 and it ranked me as an “advanced” student. But the test was all reading and writing, so it was pretty easy to guess the right answers when I recognised a word root or verb ending, even if I wouldn’t understand the phrase if someone spoke it aloud. I would have liked to have a listening comprehension test, but I couldn’t find a good one online. That said, I don’t need a test to tell me that I have pretty impressive listening comprehension (in my humble opinion!). On the other hand, I’m still not satisfied with my speaking skills. Despite my last-ditch effort during the final two weeks of my mission, I know I didn’t speak enough over the three months. It’s super frustrating to look back and know I could have done more. Obviously it’s not too late to keep practising speaking, but I still have that nagging regret about not doing it during my actual mission. Lesson learned for next time! (And there will be a next time, oh yes.)

Portuguese in 3 Months: My Final Mission Video

Here is the final video of my Portuguese mission. Remember to click "CC" to view the English subtitles. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctw2G8sAo7E I felt pretty good about this video. Partly because I made it immediately after a two-hour meetup where I spoke lots of Portuguese, so I was in the groove, and partly because I feel more at ease chatting with someone in person than I do on Skype. In person, people make more gestures when they speak, so you get a bigger range of body language to help you follow the conversation a bit better.

What Did I Learn from my Portuguese in 3 Months Mission?

I took away three key learning points from this mission:

• Benny has it right with his speak from day 1 approach. Do NOT underestimate the value of speaking your target language. It improves your listening comprehension at the same time. And it works your muscle memory. Those last two weeks where I spoke Portuguese nearly every day made a really big difference. My listening comprehension was impressive because I had listened to spoken Portuguese nearly every day for three months. Now if I had only spoken Portuguese every day too, my speaking skills would be equally good - and my listening comprehension even better.
• With italki, I prefer community tutors to certified professional teachers. Certified teachers seem to want to follow a rigid structure where you start with beginner material, and don’t move on until you’ve mastered it. This makes sense to them because this is the way they learned to teach the language. I only did three lessons with professional teachers, and I didn’t return to them, preferring to stick with community tutors who were more flexible and more willing to follow my lead.
• I thrive more in an unstructured learning environment. I learned more Portuguese in three months of studying what I want, when I want, than I did in any other language I had ever studied in all those classrooms before. And I definitely had a lot more fun doing it. I may not take an exclusively listening/speaking approach in every future language mission, but I will keep trusting my own instincts when it comes to what, when and how to study. No more following someone else’s lesson plan!

What’s Next?

As soon as my mission ended, I bought a five-lesson package from my regular teacher, Tatiana, on italki. Lesson packages expire after six months, so this ensured I wouldn’t slack off and give up my Portuguese studies. I would love to continue with Portuguese to the same extent that I did during my mission, but I have other language obligations. I’m going on a trip to Mexico soon (my first ever trip to a Latin American country) with my French-speaking in-laws, so I want to brush up on my French and learn some Spanish before I go. (I’ve previously studied Spanish for one semester at university - 16 years ago! And I got a C.) I’m pretty fluent in French so I’m not worried about studying it at the same time as Spanish, but adding Portuguese into the mix will definitely confuse me! Then, less than two months after that, I’m heading on a trip to Thailand, and I want to improve my Thai before I go. So continuing my Portuguese will have to wait a couple of months. But I’m planning on visiting Brazil in the next year, so I definitely won’t let Portuguese slip too far down my list of priorities.

Resources I Used in My Portuguese Mission

Before I wrap up, I’d like to share all the resources I used for my Portuguese mission.

Courses and Tutors

• italki
• PortuguesePod101
• Duolingo
• BrazilianPodClass
• Meetup.com to meet Portuguese speakers for real-life conversation practice

TV Shows, Podcasts and Music

• Got Talent Portugal, Got Talent Brazil
• Practice Portuguese podcast
• NKH World Radio Japão Portuguese News
• Arena de Filmes movie podcast
• SBS News, an Australian multilingual news broadcaster
• Conta-me Tudo storytelling podcast
• Portuguêses no Mundo
• TEDx talks in Portuguese, but it’s very difficult to search for TEDx talks by spoken language; you’ll get hits even if it’s just subtitles in your target language
• Cozinha sob pressão TV show
• Bem-vindos a Beirais Portuguese TV show
• Caillou in Portuguese
• Dora, a Exploradora (Dora the Explorer), 17 episodes, but they have since been removed from the site I used
• Bands: KLB, Quinta do Bill, D.A.M.A., Pato Fu

Apps

• Flashcards Deluxe/Anki (for iOS and Android for audio flashcards
• CB TV Canal Brazil app for iOS and Android, and the Rede Nova TV Roku app for watching Brazilian TV
• (Not exactly an app) Changed my phone’s OS to Portuguese for my entire mission

Thanks for Following My First-Ever 3-Month Language Mission

I won’t lie, it was a little (OK, a lot) scary to put my mission out there on Fluent in 3 Months (Fi3M) for the world to see. But I received so much positive feedback from readers that I’m glad I did. I’m thrilled to have been a part of the Fi3M language mission tradition, and once I improve my Portuguese a little more (to the point where I won’t forget it if I let it go for a few months), I plan to choose a different language and do another 3-month mission. I hope my experience encourages you to do your own language mission too! See you in the comments!

The post How I Learned Portuguese in 3 Months (Mission Complete!) appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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