I hope you’re having a great week!
One of the biggest changes in my life is how much time I spend thinking every day. For the past week, I’ve written 1000+ words a day trying to get different aspects of my life in order. I will also talk aloud to myself. As a result, I have a deeper understanding of myself. I plan to continue my practice of writing and talking to myself.
I will post relevant updates as they arise on this blog, as usual.
Today I’d like to share 5 bite-sized language learning tips.
I’m thinking of testing this out as a new format for my blog posts. This is a trial to see how I feel about it. Below you’ll see 1 tip for each of the following languages:
French: How to pronounce French Rs
Spanish: The difference between tú and te
Mandarin: Treat learning this language like stretching your brain
Gujarati: The 5 words for I
General language learning tip: Explore Spotify podcasts
Feel free to scroll down to read the tip for the language that you’re learning. My team and I offer private and group classes for each of the 5 languages above along with many others. Check out my website for pricing information and to schedule a free trial lesson.
With that aside, let’s jump right in!
French: How to pronounce French Rs
If you have a hard time pronouncing the French R, practice repeating these words for 5 minutes a day for 30 days:
Day 1-5: Croissant and grand
Day 6-10: Trois and vendre
Day 11-15: France and vrai
Day 16-20: Roi and Regarder
Day 21-25: Faire
Day 26-30: Leur
Rinse and repeat the process as needed. The French R is a sound you, likely, already know how to pronounce. When you are sick and gargle salt water, you are literally pronouncing a French R. Just “gargle” without water in your mouth.
I know it’s hard to pronounce French Rs, but take comfort in this: I’ve never met anyone who was unable to learn to pronounce a French R. You can do it.
Spanish: Tú vs Te
I’ve been asked quite a bit about the difference between tú and te. In English, both translate to you. However, in Spanish they do not have the same meaning. See the two sentences below:
You passed me the ball.
In this sentence, you are the one doing the action (i.e., throwing the ball.) In Spanish, if you are the person doing the action, use the word tú.
I passed you the ball.
In this sentence, you are the one on the receiving end of the action. In Spanish, if you are the person receiving the action, use the word te.
Mandarin: Stretch your brain
Don’t get discouraged when learning Mandarin. In my experience, those who never learn languages are those who quit. They think to themselves, “I can’t do this, it’s too hard. I’ll never learn.” I know that feeling. I felt the same way when I started, and I already spoke 4 other languages.
Let go and embrace the unknown. Yes, the characters look complicated. The tones are hard to say and distinguish. The sentence structure often sounds awkward when you translate it to English. I know. I’ve been there.
Treat learning Mandarin like stretching your brain. Your brain is currently stiff, just like my hamstrings. Lol. It just needs to be stretched out and then it’ll get easier. I suppose, at least to an extent, this advice is the same for every language.
Gujarati: The 5 words for I
Understand that there are 5 words for I:
હું (hu)
The standard word for I
મેં (me)
Only used in the past if you do something to a noun
મને (mane)
Only used with set phrases such as I’m cold or I’m hungry
If મને appears outside of a set phrase, it will mean to me instead of I
મારે (maare)
Only used if you want to say I should, I want to, or I have to
મારાથી (maaraathi)
This isn’t used that often, but if you did you’d translate it as I may or I can.
Most Gujarati learners I meet grew up with the language, so you might have already known about these 5 words unconsciously. Now I’m bringing them to your conscious attention. In my experience, bringing grammar rules to the conscious mind is helpful for those learning a heritage language.
All languages: Use Spotify podcasts
There are lots of podcasts on Spotify for language learners. Look up “learn _____(language you’re learning” on Spotify search. I didn’t really use Spotify much until 1 or 2 years ago and therefore didn’t know just how many great podcasts there were for such a wide variety of languages.
Good tips. Thanks.