Hi! This is Luca from MosaLingua. I
would like to say
"καλημέρα" because, today, I've just arrived
here in Thessaloniki (Greece) to attend
the Polyglot Conference.
I'm very close to the venue where the even will take place.
I'll meet some extremely successful polyglots,
and I'll have the occasion to ask
the following question: "How do you get
started when you want to learn a new
language?" So, "what are your first personal
steps?"
The very first thing I want to do is to listen to the language and listen to it as much as possible.
So, I go on YouTube and iTunes, and I choose podcasts so that I can download
audio extracts I can listen to. And I listen to these for quite a long time to see what I can learn, to see what I can pick up. I just get used to sounds of the language.
After that, probably, I go for a course which takes me to an intermediate level, such as Teach Yourself, Assimil, Colloquial and anything like that,
and work with that for about 3 months, following all of these instructions, you really have to trust the methodology of these books
and courses because they know that they work. After you've passed this 3 month period,
of, you know, approaching a level where you are starting to feel slightly more comfortable
and slightly more enthusiastic and optimistic about how it's going to go with the language,
you've got a bit more freedom to do some more experimental stuff. But for me,
it's always very crucial that for a 3 month period, when you are getting used to the language, used to reading it,
learning basic word and be sure that this is the language for you to stick with.
The first thing when I decide to learn a new language
I think to
myself: "Do I really want to learn this
language?". Otherwise, I will give up
during the process. This has happened
many, many times. So I ask to myself:
"Will this language be useful
in my life?"
"Do I really need it?" "Do I have any"
connection with people or
anything else?". So, the firsts step is that.
So, when I have determined that this language will really
be useful in my life.
After that, I have to select
the material that I'm going to use. Usually, I
use audio material like
Pimsleur or Michel Thomas. And my favorite:
pocketbook, which I take everywhere; it's is
this book. It is very useful because
I can start from nothing, and it can help
with the basic. Just like this one for Greek.
So I can say
"γεια σου", "Παρακαλώ",
"Ευχαριστώ"... So I start
with basics, and, then, I go to
thin books which teach me the basics.
And then I go further: I take other
materials like Assimil or Colloquial.
And in the meanwhile I love using apps!
There are a lot of apps for flashcards,
so I use a lot of apps like MosaLingua,
like Duolingo, and also paper flashcards.
I love paper flashcards... I have never
stopped using them. So basically it's that.
This is Conor. I have a blog /
vlog called Language Tsar, and, recently, I've
been documenting on the blog and then on the vlog
learning Ukrainian because I started
learning Ukrainian a few weeks ago. So, the first
thing I did is I went to the
Wikipedia page, and I looked up 'Ukrainian
language'. So, what I was looking for
were connections with languages that
I already speak. So I happen to speak a cognate
language, which means a language which comes from the same language
family. And that's Russian. So, I knew that, for
me, the language is quite different
but the grammatical
structures is pretty similar. So, I knew already that
I don't need to focus too much on the
grammar, but I'm definitely going to have to
focus on learning very basic vocabulary in
the beginning. So, it's what I did, and I'll write about this
on my blog. I developed a strategy and I
looked, at first, at the pronunciation.
The differences in the sounds I
Sounds which might be different for a native
speaker because I
I use my first language. I also then looked at
building up my vocabulary through
interactions with native speakers and
also reading materials. And I looked at
several software programs which I like
to use when I'm learning
languages, or if there are new ones I want to
test out. So that's how I approach it. And I also look at
opportunities I'm going to get to
practice the language. So, I actually went and
stayed in Ukraine for a few weeks and
I attended a language school there. So,
that's how I kick-started everything,
with Ukrainian in particular.
So, I'm back after this amazing week-end. That's all
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