Learning to Get Past Discouragement While Learning a Foreign Language
Sometimes I wonder if I picked the wrong language to study.
My last serious attempt at learning a language was Esperanto, and I think I got pretty far in only six weeks. I've been learning Lao for almost six weeks, and I am nowhere close to where I was at this point in my Esperanto challenge. And I sometimes find myself a little discouraged about the slow pace.
So how do you push yourself past discouragement and speed up your language learning?
Here are 3 easy steps (and 1 not-so-easy step) in getting past language-learning discouragement and pushing yourself to the next level.
8 Ways Indiana Jones Can Teach You to Speak Lao - Number 5 is My Favorite
Sometimes the hardest part of learning a new language is memorizing. This is especially true if you are learning a language that's very different from any you already know.
Luckily there's Indiana Jones. Well, Indiana Jones and Mnemonics. And Indy is about to teach you some words and phrases in Lao.
And the winner of the 6 week Esperanto challenge is....
So the Learn Esperanto in Six Weeks Challenge has been over for a month, and the winners have been announced a little over two weeks ago, and I haven't written about it yet.
Why not?
Well, because.
What to Expect from a Benny Lewis Book Signing
Saturday for the first time in my life I decided to go to a book signing.
I've never been to book signing before, so I had no idea what to expect. You see these things in movies. Some author sits at a table with stacks of books on both sides of the author. A long line of fans leads up to the table. One reader leaves the table; another approaches. "I really like your series about sparkly vampires," the reader beams. "That's so sweet," the author replies. "What's your name?" Then the author opens a book, and says aloud as she writes "To Sarah, my biggest fan." The book is closed and handed to its new owner. The author says "Next." The line moves on.
Okay, so that's my expectation, thanks to Hollywood. So I wondered Saturday morning if driving more than 90 minutes to San Francisco to attend a Benny Lewis book signing would be worth it.
Glad I went.
The reason why is almost at the end, so keep reading.
Learning the Lao Alphabet with Low-tech Flash Cards
In learning Lao I had to make a decision: learn the Lao script, or don't learn the Lao script.
My goal in Lao is to be able to have conversations in Lao, so I didn't know for sure if I wanted to go through the effort of learning the Lao alphabet. 26 consonants and 28 vowels sounds a little complicated.
