A new subscriber called me the other night, very enthusiastic about the program. "Why don't they teach language like this in school?" he asked. It's a simple question, and one I've had many times before, but the answer is fairly complex. First of all, I'm absolutely delighted when people "get"...

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Many people, especially when starting out with a new language, are eager to get a “native speaker” to teach them. While you will eventually want to be able to communicate with native speakers, having them as teachers is not always desirable. First of all, you are a native speaker of your own...

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Last week I wrote about what makes a language difficult to learn. The post was intended to deal with the topic of what makes one language more difficult than another categorically. Whatever the language you are learning, however, there are certain difficulties involved in the process of...

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I hear it all the time: "Oh, Japanese, that's really hard" or "Arabic? Isn't that supposed to be impossible to learn?" So many people have asked me: "What is the hardest language to learn?" So what is it that makes a language "difficult"? In a certain sense, no language is any more difficult...

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I've had another question come in that's worth answering here on the blog: what are morphology and syntax? Morphology and syntax are absolutely essential concepts when it comes to language learning. From a structural standpoint, everything in a language will be accomplished through...

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The truth about learning a new language is that there is no silver bullet — no single activity or exercise will take you to fluency. Language is complex, that's one of things that makes it so cool. But to learn something complex and intricate requires a multilayered approach. Each of the...

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This is the new blog section of the Linguisticator site. Here, you'll find additional information on the course as well as articles on language learning and language materials. Have questions? Contact me and I'll be glad to write answers to put up and share in this space. This is not an...

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