Recall Better Using Porn Stars and Dictators

May 11, 2016 2 Comments

A giant explosion goes off outside and Joseph Stalin runs into the living room and sees Elvis petting a Llama that lives there and shouts “You two! What jus’ happened?” Sound ridiculous? How does this help me recall better? That’s the point. In that one sentence, that’s part of a much bigger story that takes place in my Soviet style apartment block, I managed to tie in the Estonian words elama (to live) and juhtus (happened) into a memorable visual that I can use to learn words. I’ve only started this method a week ago and right from the get-go I was surprised to…

Language

Unique Sounds in Languages – Try Pronouncing

May 8, 2016

In my drunk stupor last night I wound up in a conversation with a person from the Czech Republic talking about unique sounds in languages which lead me to trill my R’s while making the sound like a rapid river pumping water. It got me thinking, as an American we have a very limited vocal palate. Need an example? Without further ado, here’s some unique sounds in languages other than yours and mine that I either spent a while sounding like a moron attempting, or I gave up on… Ř ř (Czech) This is a letter that’s unique to…

Language

4 Ways to NOT Learn Spanish

February 1, 2016 1 Comment

Seven months –how long I spent living in Berlin and not improve my Germain one bit. Yet why does everyone say that immersing yourself in a country is the best way to learn the language? They all say the same thing, “Just move to there and you’ll be fluent in no time”, but they’ve never done it successfully themselves. To add to that here are 4 ways to not learn Spanish! Also, frankly speaking, there’s a little something I miss out on when I can’t speak to the old gramps’ in a country, and they don’t teach that in the textbooks neither. Well, just dandy, but…