L’Oreille tendue. 21 principles for learning a new language - I Will Teach You A Language. French Linguistics: French dictionary, translation, software and learning resources. Quebec French and Metropolitan French - Sam Gendreau. French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in many countries around the world.
Indeed, French is an official language in 29 countries. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l’Agence universitaire de la francophonie, French speakers will number approximately 500 million people in 2025 and 650 million people, or approximately 7% of the world’s population, by 2050. What some people don’t know is that Canada is one of the countries where French is spoken, primarily throughout the province of Québec, but also in New Brunswick, Ontario, and smaller communities throughout the country.
In fact, at the provincial level, French is the sole official language of Québec, and outside of Québec’s largest city, Montréal, English is scarcely spoken. Québec is Canada’s largest province by area and the country’s second most populous province with a population of over 8 million. Why French in Canada? Québec French these days 1. 2. 3. 4. The Secret to Developing an Awesome Accent. How To Think In Your Target Language – Part 2. This is part 2 of a 2 part series.
Part 1 can be found here. What Can I Do To Start Thinking in My Target Language? You can start using these exercises really at any time. They are probably most beneficial at the A2 level, but even an A1 should see some benefits. Keeping in mind that this is a marathon not a sprint, here are my recommendations for learning to think in your target language: 1.
I am a firm believer in this step because it is a way for you to start to condition your brain to switch over to another language. I find it very helpful in the beginning stages of a language to close my eyes and focus on the traits of the personality I chose for my new language. Ultimately, I have found that this conditioning makes it easy (down the road of course) to switch between languages just by switching personalities in my head. 2. To start, set aside 5-10 minutes 2-3 times a day. The key is to make sure you are focusing entirely on the TL and not translating in your head. 3. 4. 5. Does Speaking Another Language Change How You Think? A number of readers have asked me, now that I’m learning language number six, whether learning new languages changes how you think.
Do you become more passionate while thinking in Spanish? More respectful thinking in Korean? More open to enjoying experiences thinking in French? The answer is both yes and no. Does Language Fundamentally Alter Thought? One extreme view is that language forms the fundamental basis of our thinking and, therefore, certain linguistic systems make particular thoughts unthinkable or completely different.
Language is a tool that fills the needs of its speakers. This all means that the strong version that people suggest—that learning a new language fundamentally structures different kinds of thoughts one can have, is mostly false. How to learn the vocabulary of foreign languages. Once you have got to grips with the fundamentals of a language (pronunciation, orthography and basic grammar), you can concentrate on learning vocabulary.
This is probably the most important and time-consuming part of learning a language. Associate the familiar with the unfamiliar Try to find word or phrases in your L1 which sound like and if possible have a similar meaning to words in your L2. Build mental images or draw pictures based on the connections. For example, the Spanish for "ice" is hielo (m), which sounds like yellow.
Genders To remember genders try picturing a Spanish-speaking region, divide it into two and place masculine nouns on one side and feminine words on the other. If your L2 has many genders, imagine a large building with many floors, assign a different gender to each floor and place words on the appropriate floor according to their gender. Avoiding language mix ups Testing and revision Learn related words & phrases.
I Will Teach You A Language - Study Hacks and Mind Tools for Independent Language Learners. Italki: Learn a language online. BBC Languages – Free online lessons to learn and study with. For lovers of French + diehard fans of all things québécois! Dictionaries — Fluent in 3 months plus. Dictionnaire Français-Anglais en ligne - Larousse. Useful French phrases. 4 tips on how to study articles effectively (mini-project update #1)