Puzzles for Language-learning

Do you like figuring out a language on your own? Students of linguistics routinely solve puzzles where they have to learn to understand and produce some sentences in a foreign language. Usually these puzzles are created in obscure languages. However, I think they can also be a great way to learn a bit of your target language or a language you’re thinking of learning. So here are some puzzles I created for you:

Chinese puzzle
Chinese characters puzzle
Esperanto puzzle
French puzzle
Italian puzzle
Japanese puzzle
Latin puzzle
Malay puzzle
Scottish Gaelic

Chinese

This riddle will help you to learn a little bit of Chinese while trying to solve it. Note that Chinese is not normally written with the Latin alphabet, what you see is a transliteration. The numbers indicate tone height:
1 = tone stays the same
2 = rising tone, as in a question
3 = falling-rising tone
4 = falling tone, as in an exclamation
If no tone is indicated, the syllable is unstressed.

Ta1 kan4 shu1 = He/she reads a book.
Xue2sheng kan4 shu1 = The student reads a book.
Wo3 mai3 shu1 = I buy a book.
Ni3 shi4 lao3shi1 = You are a teacher.
Lao3shi1 jiao4 ying1wen2 = The teacher teaches English.
Xian1sheng hui4 shuo1 zhong1wen2 = The man can speak Chinese.
Xue2sheng bu4 mai3 bao4 = The student doesn’t buy a newspaper.
Ni3 mai3 shu1 ma? = Do you buy a book?

Translate to English:
1. Ta1 shi4 lao3shi1.
2. Lao3shi1 kan4 shu1.
3. Xue2sheng bu4 mai3 shu1.
4. Ni3 jiao4 zhong1wen2.
5. Ta1 hui4 shuo1 ying1wen2 ma?

Translate to Chinese:
1. I’m a student.
2. The student reads a newspaper.
3. I can’t speak Chinese.
4. Is the man a teacher?
5. Can you speak Chinese?

Chinese Characters

Try to figure out what each character means:
A puzzle for Chinese characters

Esperanto

Mi legas libron. = I read a book.
La studento legas gazeton. = The student reads a newspaper.
Vi achetas hundon. = You buy a dog.
La hundo ne vidas la katon. = The dog doesn’t see the cat.
Chu vi estas instruisto? = Are you a teacher?
Shi lernos Esperanton. = She will learn Esperanto.
Li vidis shin. = He saw her.
La knabo amas la knabino. = The boy loves the girl.

Translate to English:
1. Mi estas studento.
2. La kato ne vidis la hundon.
3. La instruisto legos la libron.
4. Chu la knabo lernos Esperanton?
5. Chu vi amas min?

Translate to Esperanto:
1. I love you.
2. The teacher doesn’t buy the newspaper.
3. She was a student. She learned Esperanto.
4. Did the girl see him?
5. Will you buy a cat?

French

Le medecin travaille. = The doctor is working.
Je joue = I am playing.
La fille cherche le medecin. = The girl is looking for the doctor.
Est-ce que le garçon étudie le français? = Is the boy learning French?
Tu regardes la télé. = You are watching TV.
La fille aime le garçon. = The girl loves the boy.
Tu appelles le chien. = You are calling the dog.

Translate to English:
1. J’étudie (= Je étudie) le français.
2. Est-ce que le medecin travaille?
3. Le garçon aime la télé.
4. La fille cherche le chien.
5. Est-ce que tu regardes la télé?

Translate to French:
1. I am working.
2. I am looking for the doctor.
3. Are you learning French?
4. The girl loves the dog.
5. The dog is playing.

Italian

Il medico lavora. = The doctor is working.
Gioco. = I am playing.
La ragazza cerca il medico. = The girl is looking for the doctor.
Il ragazzo impara l’italiano? = Is the boy learning Italian?
Guardi la televisione. = You are watching TV.
La ragazza ama il ragazzo. = The girl loves the boy.
Chiami il cane. = You are calling the dog.

Translate to English:
1. Imparo l’italiano.
2. Il medico lavora?
3. Il ragazzo ama la televisione.
4. La ragazza cerca il cane.
5. Guardi la televisione?

Translate to Italian:
1. I am working.
2. I am looking for the doctor.
3. Are you learning French?
4. The girl loves the dog.
5. The dog is playing.

Japanese

Watashi wa nihongo o hanashimasu. = I speak Japanese.
Anata wa nihongo o hanashimasu. = You speak Japanese.
Kare wa eigo o hanashimasu. = He speaks English.
Gakusei wa eigo o hanashimasen. = The student doesn’t speak English.
Onna no hito wa hon o yomimasu. = The woman reads a book.
Otoko no hito wa konpyuta o kaimasen. = The man doesn’t buy a computer.
Inu wa neko o mimasu. = The dog sees the cat.
Anata wa eigo o hanashimasu ka? = Do you speak English?

Translate to English:
1. Onna no hito wa eigo o hanashimasu.
2. Inu wa nihongo o hanashimasen.
3. Anata wa konpyuta o kaimasu ka?
4. Gakusei wa hon o yomimasu.
5. Inu wa otoko no hito o mimasu.

Translate to Japanese:
1. Do you speak Japanese?
2. I don’t speak Japanese.
3. He buys a computer.
4. The cat doesn’t see the dog.
5. Does the woman buy a book?

Latin

Marcus amicum visitat. = Marcus visits a friend.
Marcum amicus laudat. = A friend praises Marcus.
Turba ludum spectat. = The crowd watches the game.
Cornelia forum non amat. = Cornelia doesn’t love the forum.
Conviva forum amabit. = The guest will love the forum.
Marcus convivam salutabat. = Marcus greeted the guest.
Visitabatne Cornelia Paulam? = Did Cornela visit Paula?

Translate to English:
1. Amicus Marcum salutat.
2. Cornelia amicum non visitat.
3. Amatne Marcus Corneliam?
4. Turba ludum spectabat.
5. Conviva forum laudabit.

Translate to Latin:
1. Marcus loves Cornelia.
2. Paula doesn’t praise Marcus.
3. Does the friend visit the forum?
4. Cornelia didn’t love the game.
5. Will the guest watch the game?

Malay

Nama saya Ahmad. = My name is Ahmad.
Ini isteri saya. = This is my wife.
Namanya Sarah. = Her name is Sarah.
Kawan saya orang Inggeris. = My friend is English.
Isterinya orang Perancis. = His/her wife is French.
Suami anda orang Malaysia. = Your husband is Malaysian.
Saya tidak boleh cakap bahasa Perancis. = I can’t speak French.
Anda boleh cakap bahasa Malaysiakah? = Can you speak Malaysian?

Translate to English:
1. Ini kawan saya.
2. Suaminya orang Perancis.
3. Anda orang Inggeriskah?
4. Isteri saya boleh cakap bahasa Malaysia.
5. Kawan anda boleh cakap bahasa Inggeris.

Translate to Malay:
1. Your name is Ahmad.
2. My wife is English.
3. This is her friend.
4. I can’t speak Malaysian.
5. Can you speak English?

Scottish Gaelic

Tha mi sgith. = I am tired.
Tha thu math. = You are good. (talking to one person)
Tha i toilichte. = She is happy.
Chan eil mi tinn. = I’m not ill.
Chan eil i làidir. = She isn’t strong.
Tha am fear tinn. = The man is ill.
Chan eil an tidsear toilichte. = The teacher isn’t happy.
Am bheil thu làidir? = Are you strong?

Translate to English:
1. Tha i sgith.
2. Chan eil thu tinn.
3. Tha an tidsear math.
4. Am bheil i tinn?
5. Am bheil am fear làidir?

Translate to Gaelic:
1. I am not tired.
2. The teacher is strong.
3. She isn’t ill.
4. Am I good?
5. Are you tired?

For more puzzles, visit this site with mostly puzzles in obscure languages.

How to Find Time to Learn Languages

If you’re busy with a full-time job and a family, you may feel that you don’t have enough time to study languages. It doesn’t have to be like that. With a bit of ingenuity, you can still find time. This is how I solved the study time problem when I worked a full-time job which left me mentally drained every night:

  • study the textbook for my newest target language for half an hour in the morning before work whenever possible
  • do flashcards on my iphone while on the bus going to work (using the Anki app that syncs with my PC) or listen to podcasts
  • start a series of company lunches where e.g. all French speakers, all Italians or all Spanish speakers would get together (the company was very international) so that I could occasionally practise languages over lunch. I also started a “Slow German for foreigners” lunch group in order to give back.
  • occasionally do self-talk exercises while doing dishes or vacuuming
  • spend an hour reading a book (light reading, not a language course) in a foreign language before sleeping / watch a TV show or a movie in a foreign language with subtitles
  • study as much as possible on the weekend, mainly focusing on brain-intensive things like textbook study

I generally recommend studying two languages at once – one beginner and one intermediate or advanced. The main advantages of this is that you’re less likely to get bored and that you can do different activities – for a beginner language you basically have to follow a textbook, but if you also study an intermediate/advanced language at the same time you can read easy readers or actual books, watch TV or movies and the like. Those are things that require less brainpower than studying a textbook, so they are convenient to do after a taxing workday. Still, if you can invest only two hours a week or less for language study, you should probably study one language only.

Wer ich bin

Mein Name ist Judith Meyer, ich bin 31 Jahre alt, bin Deutsche und habe einen amerikanischen Freund, Chuck Smith. Ich komme ursprünglich aus Kamp-Lintfort, einer kleinen Stadt nahe Düsseldorf, aber ich lebe seit März 2008 in Berlin und liebe diese Stadt!

Ich interessiere mich brennend für Sprachen (wie ich meine Sprachen lernte) und auch fürs Programmieren, für Politik, Lehr- und Lernmethoden. Ich habe ein Magisterstudium gemacht mit Hauptfach Romanistik und Nebenfächern Computerlinguistik (hätte ich es doch als Hauptfach wählen können!) und BWL/Marketing. Ich habe lange Zeit Leuten DaF, Latein und Esperanto über das Internet beigebracht, manchmal auch Französisch oder Englisch, und ich habe als Projektmanagerin für GermanPod101.com gearbeitet, dabei auch fast alle Lektionen entwickelt und aufgenommen.

Seitdem habe ich mehrere englischsprachige Bücher verfasst: Learn to Read Arabic, Fluent Chinese: the complete plan from beginner to advanced, 72 Ways to Learn Spanish for Free, 72 Ways to Learn German for Free, 72 Ways to Learn French for Free und 72 Ways to Learn Japanese for Free.

Im Moment arbeite ich meistens als freiberuflicher Ruby on Rails Entwickler, gerne an sprachbezogenen Projekten, oder ich spiele das alte asiatische Strategiespiel Go.

Schreib mir wenn du etwas Interessantes mitzuteilen hast!

Kiu mi estas

Mia nomo estas Judith Meyer. Mi aĝas 31 jarojn, mi estas germanino kaj loĝas en Berlino kun mia usona koramiko, Chuck Smith. Mi origine venas de Kamp-Lintfort, urbeto apud Düsseldorf en la okcidenta parto de Germanio, sed mi ekloĝis en Berlino en marto 2008 kaj mi amegas ĉi tiun urbon!

Mi egege interesiĝas pri lingvoj (kiel mi lernis miajn lingvojn), programado, politiko, metodoj de lernado kaj instruado. Mia universitata fakoj estis francaj studoj, komputila lingvistiko kaj merketado. Mi multe instruis la germanan, Latinon kaj Esperanton per interreto, okaze ankaŭ la francan aŭ la anglan, kaj mi laboris kiel projektestro de GermanPod101.com, ankaŭ verkante kaj surbendigante la plejparton de la lecionoj.

Poste mi publikigis plurajn anglalingvajn librojn: Learn to Read Arabic, Fluent Chinese: the complete plan from beginner to advanced, 72 Ways to Learn Spanish for Free, 72 Ways to Learn German for Free, 72 Ways to Learn French for Free kaj 72 Ways to Learn Japanese for Free.

Nuntempe mi ĉefe programas en Ruby on Rails aŭ mi ludas la malnovegan azian ludon Goo.

Skribu al mi se vi havas ion interesan por kundividi kun mi!

13 Ways Language-learning Changes How You Think


People regularly ask me what it’s like to speak many languages, how it has affected me concretely, how my mind is different for it. This is my attempt at an answer.

First off, since it’s also a common question: it is not easier to be creative. I have never been creative and never will be. Here are the 13 ways learning many languages has actually changed the way I think:

  1. It is easier to find A right word to describe something in *some* language, but not necessarily in the language your audience understands. Sometimes it’s just ordinary words that enter my brain in the wrong order, especially if I’ve been mixing languages too much. Sometimes it’s words like “convenient”, which are so convenient when you’ve learned them that it’s hard to get by without them / find other equivalents in foreign languages. Try going a day without using that word.
  2. In fact, I believe that learning more languages has led to me pausing / looking for words more often, because I start a sentence and later realize that it doesn’t quite work in this language because I’d need a word that doesn’t exist in this language or that would sound strange in this language. A simplified example is that it’s like starting to say “I’m hungry” and getting past “I’m” only to realize that the language doesn’t have a commonly-used word for “hungry” in this expression and having to backtrack and say “I have hunger” instead. Obviously it doesn’t happen with set expressions like this but with more complex sentences, or when I want to use a saying and find that there’s no equivalent.
  3. On the other hand, learning languages has certainly increased my vocabulary in each. I understand more than half the words on a SAT test without having seen them before because I understand the Latin or French or Greek root. “auriferous”, anyone?
  4. For the same reason, it’s also easier to learn more vocabulary. Even if I don’t recognize the word root straight out, the word probably sounds similar to some word in some other language I know (without being related in meaning), so that I can create a mnemonic.
  5. It is easier to use poetic / flowery expressions, because they are the natural way of expressing things in some language.
  6. It is easier to classify words (find hyponyms, hypernyms, antonyms, holonyms) because Esperanto words often make such relations obvious, so I’m used to mentally traversing word nets like that. I aced part of an IQ test because of this. This is mainly an advantage of learning Esperanto (language), other European languages won’t help, but learning Kiswahili (Swahili) or an agglutinating language to fluency may have the same effect.
  7. It is easier to understand your own language. Having access to an outside view means that you’ll find it easier to identify grammar or even to realize when you’re using a figurative expression, or to realize when you’re using difficult words. All English as a Foreign Language teachers should speak at least one foreign language fluently, in order to be able to help their students. Even if they learn a language that their students don’t speak.
  8. It is easier to remain rational. Read this article in Wired for details.
  9. It is easier to remain emotionally detached. Negative words don’t have their full impact when we hear them in a foreign language (which is why so many people love to learn foreign swearwords). Ulrich Matthias wrote a semi-autobiographic novel about his youth in Esperanto rather than his native German and he said it was because it was easier to detach himself from the memories this way. When the book became popular, he had someone else do the German translation rather than doing it himself. A more known example: “Masquerade: Dancing Around Death in Nazi Hungary”, the autobiographical novel by George Soros’ father, was also originally written in Esperanto, and probably for the same reasons.
  10. It is easier to come up with safe passwords, because you have more languages to choose from, including special characters or numbers (numbers are commonly used to demark tones).
  11. It is harder to watch blockbuster movies because of all the ways movies misrepresent foreign languages or foreign language learning, making you want to shout at the screen.
  12. It is easier to acquire a taste for foreign movies and music. You start by watching/listening to stuff just because it’s in your target language. Maybe it’s a hidden gem that you immediately like, but even if it’s not, you’re tempted to keep at it “for language practise” and eventually you’ll grow to like it.
  13. It is easier to eavesdrop / harder to avoid it, because tourists speaking foreign languages on the subway often cannot conceive of the idea that someone might have studied their language, so they talk quite loudly.

Have you noticed any other changes? Comment below.

Age and Language Learning


Does age influence the ability to learn languages? This question comes up a lot and is particularly relevant to golden-age language learners. There is not, as far as I am aware, an advantage or disadvantage conferred solely by age. Scientists have rejected this hypothesis. However, there are some conditions that typically go along with age and which impact language learning. I will try to list some.

Children are less afraid to make mistakes. This gives them an advantage over those adults who dread failure, but not over those who have retained the ability to enjoy experimenting.

Children have to learn a whole world while learning a language. This is a significant disadvantage, meaning that someone who studied a language for 4 years will generally outperform a 6-year-old native speaker in terms of verbal ability.

Children have less preconceptions, which helps with unrelated languages. Some adults have a really hard time accepting that e. g. Asian languages work very differently. Those who are able to suspend their idea of how things “should be” will learn faster.

Students know how to learn and memorize something. Adults may or may not have exercised that muscle in the last few years, so it may take them a little longer to get back into the swing of learning. This would suggest a peak of language-learning ability among university students, but significant ability among everyone in academia who has to keep learning. Unfortunately measurements wouldn’t tell you anything useful because language courses at university are also among the best-performing ones, catering to people who can learn and need to learn. Presumably IQ would also play into the results.

Adults already have a large vocabulary. Words like “democracy”, “Communism”, “Coca cola”, “sushi” and the like tend to be the same across languages, even many non-European languages use the same words. Children can’t use these cognates in their learning, but adults can. Depending on the language, you may find it easier to read an article on geography rather than a children’s book.

Adults may have learned other languages before. Even a short amount of time spent on another language (such as the 2 weeks learning Esperanto that “Irish polyglot” Benny advocates) can later help you make progress faster in another language. Same for an aborted attempt to learn a language at school. Children really have to start from scratch.

In my opinion, all these factors pale before time & focus though. Children have more time and adults have more focus. Language-learning is for the most part a function of the time you put in. While children tend to have more time, they also have less drive to spend that time learning languages. Rather than worry about how your age might theoretically affect your ability, start learning today.

Maximizing Fluency in 1-2 Weeks

Considering I have more than 12 languages to keep active and I’m not one to go out every night, speaking is usually one of my weakest areas in foreign languages. I do a lot of maintenance by way of reading books, watching movies or exchanging e-mails, not so much by talking to people, except when I have close friends speaking a language. There is some amount of skill that transfers, so if I randomly meet someone and I haven’t had a conversation in his language in several months, I’m not immediately fluent but also not tongue-tied as long as I had enough other exposure to the language. Still, there are times when I know that I’m going to be using the language a lot and I want to boost my conversational ability, dust off almost-forgotten grammar points and re-activate passive vocabulary.

This is one of these times, because I’m preparing for a trip to China. In the past couple years, my Chinese has gotten quite good; I’ve even read several novels in it. However, my conversational ability hasn’t kept up, it has declined from where it once was even. So this puts me in a position that a lot of people wonder about: knowing that I shall have to use the language in less than two weeks,

What can I do to maximize my fluency in this short time?

The key is to speak the language a lot – you probably guessed that. You may not be able to arrange many meetings with local language partners or language tutors before your trip, so I recommend additionally using iTalki in order to have conversational practise over Skype. Prices for tutoring on iTalki are also lower than local prices, and you have a much larger selection of tutors, so that it becomes possible to fit in many sessions before your trip. When you only have 10 minutes or so, you can also use Verbling to talk to random fluent speakers of your target language without the need to make an appointment – it’s similar to ChatRoulette but for language learning.

You don’t have to have a conversation partner at all times though. You can also do the Self-Talk Exercise, which conveniently works anywhere and anytime – even in the shower, on the bus or while washing dishes.

Apart from that, I would recommend preparing yourself for the topics and questions that are likely to come up during the trip or whatever you’re preparing for. When you first speak a foreign language with surprised native speakers, they will likely ask you about your background, about the languages you speak and how/where you learned them, about your plans to visit the country where the language is spoken or your previous travels and about your home town. Prepare for such questions by answering them for yourself already, maybe first writing down some possible answers on Lang-8 to get some corrections (or with your language partner) and later practising answering such questions fluently without the help of notes. Maybe even plan out a story that you can relate; this will give your brain more time to acclimatize to speaking the foreign language and it will make you less nervous.

In case people ask you questions you’re not prepared for, it’s good if you have familiarized yourself with some stalling expressions, the equivalents of “That’s a good question”, “It’s hard to say”, “I am not sure, but I would guess that…” and so on. Have a native speaker (a tutor from iTalki?) provide some of these and have them practise the use of these expressions with you. Same for expressions that allow you to switch topic / make a detour, for example “Maybe I should start by explaining that…” or “Let me say that…” or “What I find really interesting is…”. There should be several such canned expressions that you can use while your brain is thinking of a reply.

You can also improve your fluency in a foreign language by playing Taboo in that language. Try to describe some things without using any of the obvious words – this is an important skill when you’re lacking vocabulary to talk about something. It probably won’t have much of an impact if you only have 1-2 weeks though, so I say it’s more important to practise speaking as much as possible.

You may want to do some vocabulary cramming – up to you – and for that I’d recommend Anki, Memrise, or, if you can get your hands on it, Knuckles in Chinaland. Knuckles in Chinaland is an RPG that I like to use to cram vocabulary when there is too little time for a traditional SRS. The entertainment factor makes it possible to spend more time on it than on traditional flashcard apps, and it generally has better short-term results.

What shall I do to prepare for China?

All of it. There is no single best method, there are only things that let you study more. So I shall use one method until I get bored with it for the day, then switch to another way to improve my Chinese and maybe round off the day by watching a movie in Chinese. Watching movies is not the best way to improve conversational fluency – I wouldn’t even list it among the TOP TEN ways to improve conversational fluency – but it’s better than doing something unrelated to Chinese.

加油 everyone! (Come on, give it your best shot!)

How to Study Grammar


For me, grammatical explanations are a crutch – I never study grammar for grammar’s sake, only as a crutch in order to be able to speak/write sooner. There is a point where it’s simpler to absorb grammar from massive input rather than study rules that only apply to some of the words. Still, when I do study grammar, I want to make it as effective and painless as possible. Here are some tricks for that.

I generally rely on the grammar explanations in textbooks, because they usually focus on the essential and avoid overly complicating things. I rarely consult grammar books or conjugation tables in addition to that; I only do so when something confuses me or when I keep making mistakes.

When I look at a table of verb endings, noun endings or the like, I usually do so with the intent of simplifying things. For example, I don’t see the point of considering Latin, Italian, Portuguese to have three verb conjugations when they almost always have the same endings. Allow yourself to use [base vowel] as a placeholder and you can describe almost the entire conjugation using one column only. When looking at German, Latin or Greek noun declensions, I take particular note of the times when the endings are the same or follow a predictable pattern.

In the rare cases when I do have to memorize a complete table of endings, I pick one sample word and stick with it whenever I have to remember or practise that table of endings. In Latin, many students are taught to mentally run through the declension of “rosa, rosae, rosae, rosam, rosa, …” in order to find the correct ending ending and only then apply it to amica, rather than trying to decline amica from the start.

Where possible, I also use rhythm and/or rhyme in order to make tables easier to memorize. This works well with the Latin verb endings for example; one of the Latin teachers at my school even devised a rap song for them.

To memorize grammar rules that don’t fit into a table or that can best be learned outside a table, I look for mnemonics and for set expressions that I already know that can serve as an illustration of the rule. For example, my boyfriend is very much into board games and the highest award for a board game is the German “Spiel des Jahres” award. There’s no way he would forget the name of this award or get it wrong, hence it is a great illustration of the German Genitive singular neuter/masculine – “des Jahres”. Similarly, it’s unlikely that a sci-fi fan would forget “Möge die Kraft mit dir sein!” (May the Force be with you), so it’s a great illustration of how to phrase such fancy wishes. Any movie title, funny quote or line from songs can serve as a grammar illustration. I cannot tell you what they should be though – in order to work, they have to be phrases that resonate with you and that you already know.

Thanks David Mansaray of the Polyglot Project for making me collect my thoughts about this!

Do you, readers, have any other tips to share? Post a comment below.

Übung: Selbstsprechen


Dies ist ein Gastbeitrag von Alexandre Coutu, der Polyglot und Übersetzer, der vor kurzem den wunderbaren Kurs “Le Québécois en 10 leçons” veröffentlicht hat.

Selbstsprechen ist eine wunderbare Übung, die du mit einem Sprachpartner zusammen benutzen kannst, um Sprachfähigkeit, Aussprache und flüssiges Sprechen zu verbessern. Sie kann trotzdem auch sehr effizient sein, wenn du keinen Sprachpartner dabei hast. Sie sollte dir helfen, Zeit, die sonst für passives Lernen benutzt wird – z. B. Lesen, Fernsehgucken oder Hören – zu einer effizienten Sprachübung zu machen.

Diese Übung wurde entworfen, um Leuten zu helfen, sicherer zu reden. Benutze sie überall und so oft wie du kannst, selbst wenn du keinen Partner oder Tutor finden kannst.

1. Wähle eine Geschichte. Finde eine Geschichte, die du erzählen möchtest. Es darf ein Zeitungsartikel, eine Fernsehsendung, ein Kapitel aus einem Buch, ein Film, usw. sein, selbst etwas, das in deinem Leben passiert ist. Stelle nur sicher, dass deine Geschichte genügend Details enthält.

2. Verstehe die Geschichte. Lese die Geschichte durch oder schaue dir das Video an. Schlage wichtige Wörter nach und notiere dir die, die du wahrscheinlich später brauchen wirst; dies wird dir helfen, dich an das zu erinnern, worüber du sprechen sollst.

3. Benutze Selbstsprechen, um deine Geschichte zu erzählen. (Selbstsprechen ist der wichtigste Teil der Übung und du musst ihn unbedingt mündlich durchführen – schreibe nichts auf!) Jetzt ist es Zeit, dass du deine Geschichte erzählst! Tue so, als ob du dich an einen Freund oder ein Publikum wenden würdest und stelle sicher, deutlich zu sprechen. Es ist besser laut zu sprechen, obwohl es leise oder sogar ganz still auch geht; allerdings bekommst du bessere Ergebnisse, wenn du die Lippen bewegst, um die Laute zu formen. Zögere nicht, kompliziertere Sätze zu bilden, wenn du kannst. Du darfst im Wörterbuch alle Wörter nachschlagen, die du brauchst, um dich auszudrücken. Du darfst sogar in Grammatikbüchern nachschlagen, wenn nötig, und versuche diese Informationen in deine Geschichte einzubringen. Tue so, als ob du ein Muttersprachler wärest, und benutze Ausdrücke und Satzmelodien, die du von Muttersprachlern gehört hast. Mach dir keine Sorgen darüber, ob du unbewusst Fehler machst: in dieser Übung geht es um die Fähigkeit, sicherer und flüssiger reden zu können.

4. Verbessere deine Aussprache.
Wenn du zögerst, anhältst oder pausierst, während du deine Geschichte erzählst, beende deinen Satz und fange ihn wieder von vorne an. Wiederhole ihn immer und immer wieder, so oft wie du brauchst, bis du fühlst, dass du den ganzen Satz ohne Probleme sagen kannst und dass du mit den Ergebnissen zufrieden bist. Das Ziel ist flüssigeres Sprechen und bessere Aussprache zu erreichen, und du solltest dies tun bis du zufrieden bist. Dieser Teil der Übung ist wesentlich, weil es im realen Leben unmöglich ist, sich auf solch eine Weise zu wiederholen, und weil man das nur tun kann, wenn man allein ist. Schlage unbedingt Wörter in einem Wörterbuch oder im Netz nach, über deren Aussprache du dir nicht sicher bist, oder frage mal einen Muttersprachler, und binde diese neue Information in den Satz ein, wenn du ihn wiederholst.

5. Erzähle die Geschichte einem echten Publikum. Wenn du einen Sprachpartner oder einen Tutor hast, dann ist es äußerst wirkungsvoll, wenn du ihm am Ende der Übung die Geschichte persönlich erzählst. Erlaube dir einen Teil oder einen Satz, mit dem du nicht zufrieden bist, zu wiederholen. Wenn dein Partner unsicher aussieht, ergreife die Initiative und erzähle das Gleiche mit anderen Worten wieder oder versuche mal, es anders darzustellen und frage ihn, welches er lieber hat. Lass ihn dir Fragen über die Geschichte stellen. Sage ihm auf jeden Fall, dass du Verbesserungsvorschläge gerne siehst, und wiederhole deine Sätze, um diese Empfehlungen zu integrieren. Wiederhole Wörter, deren Aussprache verbessert wurde. Schau dir genau an, wie dein Partner das umformuliert, dass du sagst: dies wird dir helfen, dich natürlicher auszudrücken. Und habe keine Angst, Fehler zu machen; man kann nicht Fehler verbessern, ohne sie zu machen.

Ekzerco por Akiri Fluecon: Sinparolado


Jen gastoblogero de Alexandre Coutu, la poligloto kaj tradukisto kiu antaŭ nelonge publikigis la bonegan kurson “Le Québécois en 10 leçons”.

Sinparolado estas bonega ekzerco, kiun vi povas uzi kun via lingvopartnero, por plibonigi viajn parolkapablon, prononcadon kaj fluecon, sed gxi ankaux tre efikas sen disponebla partnero. Gxi povas helpi vin transformi tempon, kiun vi uzas por pasivaj lingvolernadaj agadoj, kiel legado, spektado aux auxskultado, en efektivan parolpraktikon.

Tiu ekzerco estas kreita por helpi vin paroli kun pli da memfido. Faru gxin ie ajn kaj tiel ofte kiel eblas, ecx se vi ne povas trovi partneron aux mentoron por helpi vin.

1. Elektu historion. Trovu historion, kiun vi volas rakonti. Gxi povas esti gazetartikolo, televidprogramo, librocxapitro, filmo, ktp., aux ecx io kio okazis en via vivo. Zorgu tamen, ke via historio enhavu sufxice da detaloj.

2. Komprenu la historion. Legu la historion aux spektu la videon. Sercxu gravajn vortojn kaj skribu tiujn, kiujn vi pensas ke vi eble bezonos. Estas bona ideo noti la eventojn el la historio dum vi legas aux spektas; tio helpos vin memori pri kio vi devas paroli.

3. Uzu sinparoladon por rakonti la historion en viaj propraj vortoj. (La sinparolado estas la plej grava parto de la ekzerco kaj vi devas fari gxin strikte busxe — skribu nenion!) Nun estas la tempo por rakonti vian historion! Sxajnigu, ke vi parolas al amiko aux auxdienco, kaj certigu, ke vi klare parolu. Prefereble, vi faru tion altvocxe, sed vi ankaux povas fari gxin malaltvocxe aux ecx silente; tamen, la plej bonajn rezultojn akiros vi, se vi fakte movas la lipojn por formi la sonojn. Ne hezitu provi fari pli kompleksajn frazojn, se vi povas. Vi povas uzi la vortaron tiom kiel vi deziras por sercxi la vortojn, kiujn vi bezonas por esprimi vin, ecx uzu gramatikajn librojn laux la bezono, kaj provu reuzi tiun informon en via historio. Faru kiel se vi estus denaskparolanto kaj uzu esprimojn kaj intonaciojn, kiujn vi jam auxdis denaskulojn uzi. Ne zorgu pri nekonitaj eraroj; tiu ekzerco temas precipe pri la plibonigado de via flueco kaj memfido.

4. Poluru vian prononcadon. Kiam ajn vi hezitas, haltas aux pauxzas, dum vi rakontas vian historion, finigu vian frazon kaj rekomencu ekde la komenco. Rediru gxin denove kaj denove — tiom da fojoj, kiujn vi bezonas — gxis vi sentas, ke vi povas produkti la tutan frazon komforte kaj ke vi felicxas kun la rezultoj. La celo estas plibonigi kaj la fluecon kaj la prononcadon, do faru tion gxis vi estas kontenta. Tiu parto de la ekzerco estas esenca, cxar rediri frazojn tiel neeblas en la reala vivo kaj vi nur povas fari gxin efike, kiam vi estas sola. Certigu, ke vi kontrolas la prononcadon en vortaro aux rete en kazo de dubo, aux demandu al denaskulo, kaj enmetu tiun novan informon, kiam vi rediras la frazojn.

5. Rakontu la historion al senpera auxdienco. Se vi havas lingvopartneron aux mentoron, diri vian historion al li vivvocxe estas la plej pova fino de la ekzerco. Permesu al vi ripeti partojn de frazoj, kiuj ne kontentigas vin. Se via partnero sxajnas esti malcerta, provu klarigi vin denove alimaniere aux uzante aliajn vortojn kaj demandu, kion li preferas. Ankaux lasu lin fari demandojn al vi pri via historio. Nepre diru al li, ke vi vole ricevus liajn korektojn, kaj rekonstruu viajn frazojn enmetante ĉiun ajn korekton, kiun vi ricevas. Ripetu vortojn kies prononcadon li korektas. Atentu pri kiel via partnero reformulas tion kion vi diras: tio helpos vin trovi pli naturan lingvon por esprimi vin. Kaj ne timu fari erarojn: vi ne povas korekti erarojn sen fari ilin.