Reading in a Foreign Language: The Ultimate Language Learning Tool?

You’ve probably heard this before if you’ve ever taken a foreign language class. And it’s true, reading truly is one of the best tools out there to really master a foreign language, and here’s why:

You can analyze the grammatical structures and nuances.

When you read in a foreign language, you can analyze how a native speaker employs certain grammatical structures. This, combined with the visual memory reinforcement that reading provides can help you to improve both your speaking and writing in your target language.

You are exposed to a large amount of vocabulary.

Reading is also an exceptional tool when it comes to learning new words. Not only are you able to learn these words, but by reading them in a book or in an article, you are able to see how they are used in context without relying on a translation. This will eventually allow you to express yourself more freely in the language you are learning.

What should I be reading to improve my language skills?

Anything, really. However, there are some types of reading material that are better than others. To start, if you have not been learning your target language for very long, it may be better to read children’s books, as they usually have simplified vocabulary that will be easier for you to understand in the beginning.

As you progress, reading books that you have already read in your native language are another great way that you can use to improve your language skills. It is a fantastic for picking up new words based on context clues and analyzing grammatical structure.

Finally, another useful tip is to follow along with an audiobook. Not only are you getting the benefits that reading in a foreign language provides, but you are also able to hear how a native speaker would pronounce these new words that you are learning. Moreover, you are able to work on your reading and listening comprehension skills simultaneously.

If you really want to improve your reading comprehension as well as your writing skills in another language, try to find material to read in your target language and just see how much you’ll improve!

Common Mistakes French Speakers Make While Learning English

Learning a new language is difficult, the grammar and syntax are different and there are sounds that may not exist in your native language. It’s a struggle for anyone, no matter which language you have decided to learn. However, one way you can improve your communication skills in a foreign language is by identifying common mistakes in that language made by people who speak your native language.

For example, French, like many Romance languages, has a specific sentence structure and grammatical rules that don’t necessarily apply to English. For someone who is just starting to learn, these differences can be challenging to grasp in the beginning. Let’s look at some of the common mistakes that French speakers make while learning English.

Sentence Structure

In French, adjectives come after the noun, which can surely be an adjustment when speaking English. It’s not easy to change the order of the words in your sentence when you’ve been saying it differently throughout your life!

Look at this phrase, “la voiture rouge” means “the red car,” but the word “voiture” means car, and “rouge” is red. As you can see, you must change the word order. Even though an English speaker would understand someone who said, “the car red,” it would certainly sound weird to their ears!

Infinitives After Modal Verbs

As English speakers, we may not notice that we are doing this, but the infinitives after modal verbs should not include the word “to.” In French, infinitives are only one word, not two, so there is no need to change the infinitive when it comes after a modal verb. Therefore, French speakers oftentimes forget to eliminate the word “to” in their sentences.

An example would be: “I must finish my homework tonight.” A French speaker may say, “I must to finish my homework tonight.” This is because in French it would be written as, “Je dois finir mes devoirs ce soir.” As you can see, the word dois, or must, is followed directly by finir, or to finish. The verb finir is already in its infinitive form, there are no changes to be made. This can be a complicated concept for French speakers to understand at first.

Pronunciation Mistakes

French is a very specific language because there are many sounds that are either pronounced differently or that don’t exist in English or French at all.

The most common one, as most people know, is TH. This is a sound that does not exist in French, so many French speakers struggle to make the sound. It often ends up being pronounced more like a Z or S sound, turning “this” into “zis,” or “think” into “sink.”

Another pronunciation error is the omission of the letter H. In French, Hs are silent, so it is very common for a French speaker to forget that the letter H must be aspirated in English. Instead of saying, “I am happy,” you may hear them say, “I am appy.”

How to Improve

The first step to mastering a foreign language is learning about the common mistakes are and how to fix them. Once you learn which grammatical notions you struggle with, you can find exercises to correct them, or read books in the language you are studying. Reading is one of the best tools when learning a foreign language. As for pronunciation, find native speakers that you can chat with not only to listen to how certain sounds are pronounced, but also to practice them yourself! If you don’t have the opportunity to speak with someone, then you can use videos or recordings to listen to native pronunciation. Don’t be discouraged when you make a mistake. Instead, use it to your advantage and learn from it!

Transcription, Captioning, and Subtitling: What's the difference?

What are transcription, captioning, and subtitling and why are they important?

These three terms tend to be confusing, and are often mixed up. All of them involve changing spoken words into written words; however, it is important not to confuse them! So what is the difference between transcription, captioning, and subtitling?

Transcription refers to the conversion of spoken words into written words in the form of a text document. The two main types of transcription are verbatim and clean read transcription. Verbatim transcriptions contain information from all sounds in an audio, including sound effects and filler words like, "um." Verbatim transcription is used for scripted events such as TV shows or movies. Clean read transcription, on the other hand, does not include these sounds, only the words that are spoken. Clean read transcription is better suited for unscripted events, like conferences or interviews.

Similarly, captioning is also a form of conversion of spoken words to written words, though contrary to transcription, captions are not formatted into a text document. Rather, captions are designed to follow along with a video, allowing the viewer to read what is being said as the video progresses. They indicate everything that is happening, from who is speaking, to sound effects. Captioning is also an important factor in making videos more accessible to deaf or hard of hearing people and English language learners.

Finally, there is subtitling. Much like captions, subtitles appear on a video and follow along with the speech as the video continues. Though, unlike captions, subtitles are written in a different language than the one being spoken in the video. This allows for viewers who speak other languages to watch and understand what is happening without necessarily having any knowledge of the source language.

Transcription, captioning, and subtitling are all uniquely useful in their own way when it comes to improving language accessibility, but it is important to make sure that these terms are used correctly!

7 Simple Tips on Learning a New Language

7 Simple Tips on Learning a New Language

By Eli Morey

If you are like most people, you have dreamt about learning to speak another language fluently. You imagine impressing friends and family with your skills, travelling the world, meeting new people and learning about new cultures.

However, most people never take action to realize this dream. The main reason is that learning a new language is a long-term project and can seem like a daunting task. It is easy to get overwhelmed and give up, particularly in the early stages of learning, when even formulating and understanding simple phrases can feel like pulling teeth.

If any of this sounds relevant to your experience, then the following tips are for you. Mastering a new language will never be easy, but anyone who has done it will tell you that it is worth the pain. Here are our tips to help you power through the most difficult parts of your language learning journey.

1.      Practice with other people!

As much as the introverts among us might beg to differ, humans are social creatures, and we learn socially. This is particularly true of language. Keep in mind that our first language is always learned via socialization and is constantly being changed and redefined in different social contexts.

Ideally, we would all like to meet fluent or native speakers of our target language to socialize with. However, this is not always possible, nor is it always the most productive way to start learning a language.

Even practicing with other novices has its benefits, as it allows you to work through questions and difficulties as a group and provides you with much needed encouragement to keep practicing even when you aren’t feeling 100% up to the task. Consider starting a study group with friends or peers and meeting once or twice a week.

2.      Don’t obsess about the “right” order of operations

One common way to get overwhelmed when learning a new language is to try to plot out your entire language learning curriculum from the start. You might find yourself googling syllabuses from courses or making a list of which things you want to learn in which order.

The problem with this approach is that it fails to take into account the fluidity of our human brains, which have evolved to learn and solve problems in a myriad of ways and in different orders.

It also fails to consider that we all have different interests and needs. For example, someone who plays music might find it beneficial to learn vocabulary related to instruments and music theory long before learning vocabulary related to healthcare or government.

Here is an easy piece of advice to follow: learn about what you are passionate about first, then fill in the gaps!

3.      Speak and listen

If you have studied languages in a school setting, you may have noticed that there is an extremely strong emphasis on reading and writing skills, with little attention paid to speaking or listening.

However, as we noted in tip #1, we all learned our first language by speaking and listening to parents, family members, schoolmates, etc. In fact, our brains are hardwired to learn everything about a language just by hearing and speaking language, making small recalibrations every time we take in new data.

Instead of spending hours poring over lists of vocabulary or flashcards, try watching a television show in another language, or chatting with a friend who is also learning.

4.      Take it slow but steady

Impatience can be a great motivator to help you push yourself, but it can also be an obstacle to healthy learning habits. Instead of random, occasional heroic study marathons, try to spend a few minutes every single day practicing a new language.

Make a small goal for yourself each day or week, such as learning 5 new vocabulary words and how to use them in context or spending 30 minutes listening to a Spanish language podcast.

Small, achievable goals serve as milestones that help you feel that you are making progress, and prevent burnout.

5.      Review on a regular basis

As a now fluent speaker of Spanish, I sometimes find myself embarrassed to have forgotten a very basic word. For example, the other day I was speaking to an Argentinian friend, and I forgot the Spanish word for spoon.

This is a great example of why review is important. Even once we achieve a high level of language proficiency, it is always helpful to go back and review things that we think we know.

This is particularly true for new learners, whose brains haven’t yet started to form patterns that help them to recall words and phrases in milliseconds.

6.      Don’t be afraid to sound silly

This advice falls under the general category of not being afraid to make mistakes. However, it is particularly applicable to features of language such as phonetics (that is to say, differences in sounds and pronunciation).

When starting a new language, people often feel embarrassed to even attempt to make new sounds because they feel so unnatural. Regardless, you should keep in mind that by not even attempting to pronounce new sounds correctly, you probably sound even sillier to native speakers. Making a good attempt and failing over and over will eventually help you get it right.

7.      Find a teacher

For all of the hype these days about internet autodidacts, there is a reason why formal education always involves instructors. There is no replacement for learning from someone who has already gone through the process of learning a language and understands from experience how to help you through common pitfalls and obstacles.

If you are looking for a teacher to help you with English, Spanish, French, or Arabic, don’t hesitate to reach out to Midwest Language Services.

Click here to browse our language classes and tutoring options!