Language learning can be fun most of the time, but it’s still a tedious process, requiring months and years of our lives.

It takes burning motivation and unyielding willpower to spend all that time polishing one skill: understanding a foreign language.

Sadly, a lot of people miss on constant motivation, and even more on willpower — including me, and probably you, too.

How to make up for those drawbacks?

1. Track your everyday progress

Make a list where you’ll mark language-related things to do every single day: listen to 1 chapter of an audiobook, work through 2 Thomas’s tracks and so on.

Make it a part of your routine to check this list every day and scrupulously mark what you have done and what you haven’t. By the way, it’s a great reminder: sometimes you just totally forget about that Thomas course!

I’ve reflected on this system in detail in the post “Take action!”, see it for more on that.

2. Never skip two days in a row

Our memory plays tricks on us all the time; twice the amount if we do something every day. That’s why you don’t remember switching the iron off before going out: you do it every day, so you just don’t take notice.

If you don’t even remember doing (or not doing) something 20 minutes ago, how can you possibly say if you did it the day before, or the day before that? Impossible!

When you skip a day of foreign language studies, it’s OK: nobody can be 100% committed, we have a life to live.

Skipping a second day should be punishable by [insert something dreadful of your choice here]. Because of memory playing tricks on us we can’t be sure if we’ve studied the day before or not; and the day before that as well.

Each skipped day adds reasons why you’re doing fine: it’s just one more day; I’ll have time on weekend; it’s half a year before the exam — the list is endless.

The more days you skip, the more guilty you feel, and the less likely you’re to start again. J from 52 Languages, 52 Weeks has written a great post on restarting language learning: “Reboot! How to Restart Your Language Learning after Slacking Off” (I’ve linked to it in last week’s Weekend Links). Be sure to read this extremely detailed post if you’re in such situation!

What I say is: attack is the best defense. Don’t skip two days in a row in the first place! That’s why we need a tracking system to check in with it every day: it won’t let us slip.

By doing something every day, no matter how small, you build a foundation to a great success. By learning, say, a mere 3 words a day, you’ll know a solid 1000 of words a year later, which is more than adequate for having conversations in your target language.

One more aspect of this is that you’re building up momentum. Habits, they say, are made in 28 days, so approximately after a month of doing something every day, you won’t need a reminder anymore, it will become a habit instead.

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Remember: today is the only day you have, do everything you can do to reach your goals today, not tomorrow.

I know it’s hard to work persistently every day, so I’ve presented you with a system to facilitate this work (Step 1).

Step 2 is the single rule of this system: be sure to put an X every day beside competed tasks, and you can’t help but succeed.

Besides, who doesn’t like a neatly completed chart?

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Have something to say? Share on Twitter or in the comments!

Never Skip Two Days in a Row is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

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The first post in today’s collection is just about that: how to start again after a looong break. Dive in :)

How to Restart after a Hiatus by J.

A timely and extremely relevant article, which is actually a guest post at Andrew’s HowLearnSpanish.com. I bet quite a large percent of language learners worldwide have found themselves skipping one day because of being busy, another on account of being tired, and another week, and quite possibly another month.

After a month of not learning a language, not starting Anki (or what have you), not speaking unfamiliar sounds you feel devastated — and guilty.

In the article J lays out the precise steps to overcome this condition and restart your studies with new enthusiasm, this time keeping it steadily burning.

Polyglot Project Podcast episode #0 by David Mansaray

David (whom you definitely should subscribe to if you haven’t yet) has teamed up with the editor of The Polyglot Project Claude Cartaginese. Never heard of it? The Polyglot Project is a rather extensive compilation of autobiographies and golden advice from both aspiring and renowned polyglots, sharing their experiences of language learning, and how it changed their lives. A captivating read, by the way, and for a great price: free. Be sure to download your own copy, here’s the link to the site again: The Polyglot Project.

So, let’s get back to David and Claude. They’ve teamed up to create an extension of the Project, interviewing polyglots and remarkable language learners “on air.” This is the first episode, episode #0 to warm up and discuss forthcoming interviews, don’t miss it!

A NOT To Do List for Successful Language Learners by John Fotheringham

Various how-tos and lists regarding language learning flood the internet (this blog not an exception). John from L2Mastery.com has taken a step further and posted a NOT To Do List, which I’m happy to share with you. All the ten points he’s highlighting are highly relevant, and I’ve seen many people, including myself, trespassing against those — it never ends well.

I’m glad some of the points align nicely with what I’m talking about on Semantic Victory. John’s also written a comprehensive Japanese guide. I haven’t checked it out yet, though, but have a look anyway.

Why do people procrastinate? by Philip Perry

Procrastination! What a pleasant pastime! What a productivity hog! We all know we should pursue useful activity, like language learning, exercising or house cleaning, but somehow end up in front of the TV watching yet another soap opera, or in the swampy depths of Facebook. We all for anything as long as we don’t need to do something unpleasant.

In this short post Philip shares his take on procrastination in direct connection to language learning. Check it out!

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Okay, this time my next post on Tuesday is scheduled, so see you next week :)

Weekend Links: March 6 is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

Related posts:

1. Weekend Links: February 20
2. Weekend Links: January 9
3. Weekend Links: January 23

In terms of blog posts, the week wasn’t so great as the last one, but there’s still something worth sharing, so have a look :)

One Month In Italy by Randy the Yearlyglot

Randy, who is learning a different language each year, has spent a month in Italy, visiting quite a number of cities.

Italy turned out to be controversial, and I’ve read the post with interest. Maybe you’ll like it too :)

Spanish Sentence Starters and Filler Words (Muletillas): The Grease of the Language Gears by Andrew

This a mightily useful post about… well, you see it all in the title. On top of that, examples are hilarious, so make sure to check it out!

6 easy ways to roll your R by Benny Lewis

Useful tips for pronouncing R in many languages from Benny the Irish Polyglot.

I would also suggest research on your target language phonology, if you have problems with pronunciation.

Read This if You’re Dreading Making Phone Calls in English! by Robby Kukurs

Another great post from Robby, in which he focuses (obviously) on speaking on the phone, and seeming fluent in the process.

What I like about Robby is that any of his posts can be used for any language you’re studying: the methods are essentially the same! Don’t miss it, these tips are really valuable.

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That’s all for today. Hope you’re having a great weekend. See you next week!

Weekend Links: February 20 is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

Related posts:

1. Weekend Links: February 6
2. Weekend Links: January 16
3. Weekend Links: February 13

Language learners of all ages use word lists to learn foreign words. Are they as effective as they seem?

Word lists, however simple they are, are deceptive. Without you noticing it, they change the way you speak and think, making your speech in foreign language slow and hesitant.

What to do? How to avoid this?

Let’s look in detail at how thoughts become words.

The image to word process

Examine how you speak in your native language. You may notice that you don’t think in words. Words come out all by themselves, while you actually think in images.

Images don’t necessarily mean visual memories. They can also be emotions, sounds or tactile memories. As people get 80% of information through the eyes, most of the images are indeed visual.

Consider the following situation.

Someone asks you: “When did you wake up?”

You mentally see the image of the clock on your bedside telling 8AM, so you say: “At 8AM.”

Notice that you don’t think what preposition to use, or what word to say for “8”. You see the mental image of the clock and reply without thinking.

Your brain does the thinking for you.

The word to image process

Make the task easier for your brain by remembering images, not words.

When you learn words using a word list, you don’t match the images, you match words. Your brain doesn’t think in words!

That’s why you stumble a lot when you speak using newly familiar foreign words: you have to override the automatic, unconscious image to word process and replace it with manual word translation.

Elaborating on the previous example: if you wanted to answer to the same question in Japanese, you’d have to stop the unconscious process and manually translate At 8AM into 午前八時に (“Gozen hachi-ji ni”, literally “Morning 8 o’clock at”), remembering that at would be ni, eight would be hachi, and the word order would be different. In the end, after much hesitation, you would utter the phrase in Japanese.

Instead learn the generic phrase *-ji ni (at * o’clock) and actually look at a clock or a wristwatch while learning it. Your brain associates the actual image of a clock with the Japanese words, so that next time when someone asks you what time it is or when you’ve woken up, you’ll come up with this image and your brain will automatically come up with the Japanese phrase. No manual override required!

To facilitate telling time even more, use the same trick while learning numbers: imagine clock hands in proper positions when you learn each number.

Abstract words

Obviously, you can come up with an image only for real-world things. Insubstantial abstract notions don’t exist in the real word, so there’s nothing to associate them with.

Fortunately, there is a way which may not work for everyone, but I hope it’s helpful for someone out there besides me.

Abstract notions don’t exist in the real world, but your brain associates them with something anyway.

What you need to do is to concentrate on associations your brain comes up with when you think about a certain abstract notion. It may be a sound, or a certain feeling, or a particular situation from your experience; it may be anything.

Catch and remember everything you notice and think about the same abstract notion in different contexts and situations. Compare what you feel to the patterns you’ve noticed.

If you notice something similar, congratulations: you have found the association your brain has with a particular abstract notion. “Replay” the feeling in your mind when learning the foreign word for this notion, and later you’ll have no problem in remembering it while speaking.

In short

When you speak, your brain actually doesn’t operate words, it operates images. Images are not only visual memories, but also emotions, sounds and tactile memories for things of the real world.

If you learn words as groups of foreign letters replacing other groups of letters, you stumble and hesitate when speaking, because you override the brain’s automatic image to word process.

Instead learn foreign words as images similar to those that your brain operates when you think in your native language. In this way you build upon the normal speech production process, not ruin it.

Abstract notions have less vivid images than words describing real-world items, but their associations are still trackable.

Moreover, associating words with images is a simple mnemonic, so besides making your speech less hesitant, it helps you remember words better.

Try this technique and see if it works for yourself!

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Share your thoughts on this in the comments or on Twitter. See you soon!

Think Images Not Words is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

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Life today is too hectic and fast-paced for anyone willing to achieve a goal.

If you’ve set your language learning goal according to the guidelines in the post “Set Smart Goals — or Else!”, it is measurable.

Measurable goal means you can track it. Want it done? Do track it.

Language learning is all about taking small steps: learn a few words a day, read a few paragraphs, do a few exercises, say a few sentences, listen to foreign speech for a few minutes, review the material of previous days.

Take a small step every day, and in a month you’ll be so far ahead that you won’t see where you’ve started.

It is crucial that you take that step each and every day, or else you stumble.

After you stumble, you start making excuses: “I don’t have time!”, or “I’d rather take a nap”, or “I’m tired”.

You skip a day, then another. You’re disgusted with yourself and your laziness.

You try to forget the negative experience and skip a few more days.

You give up.

Sounds familiar?

How to never give up

I’ve been through all of this myself — many times. Motivation and willpower just can’t be stretched forever.

Fortunately, there’s a simple technique that works for me.

Look at this:

This is a list of things I should do every day. The leftmost column is for dates, other columns mark completed steps. Column names are things to do.

It’s a printout of a text file on my desktop which I’ve made with the free GeekTool. If that doesn’t float your boat, use anything to suit your needs: plain paper or a whiteboard.

You must see it many times a day, upwards of ten. I’ll tell you why in a second.

Why an “X” for every day? “X” is mark that you’ve completed your daily small step towards your goal. If you don’t complete it, a blank space makes you feel bad about it. Putting an “X” gives you a small boost of motivation: “I’ve done it!” It works.

Why a whole month? A week is too short. You can go for a week on your own, without any aid. And you’ll have to make a new list every week, it’s too often. A month is perfect. If you can go for a month, you can go for a year.

Why see it many times a day? The chart reminds you every time you see it that you have to make another small step. You don’t think what to do next: you have a plan in front of you. If you didn’t make a step or two, blank spaces will watch you accusingly. Just kidding :) Who doesn’t like a neatly filled chart?

What to put as column names? I put single-word descriptions, like “Write”: I should write at least 750 words every day, or I get stuck the next day.

For my language goal, I put “Read”, “Write”, “Listen” and so on. These sound a bit vague, so every week I compile a small description for each one, like “Read: read 20 pages of manga”, “Write: 10 kanji 10 times each, 10-sentence-long description of my day”.

Remarks

This technique works very well for me, though you see I’ve skipped a few steps here and there. It may or may not work for you, but give it a try for a month. I was skeptic about it first too.

Remember one more thing: just start. Force yourself to start, and one minute later you’ll be enjoying it. Trust me. Try that yourself for a few times :)

And one more thing. These steps might look like they take hours to complete — not at all! One of them takes less than a minute. The others? Depends on how much I want them done. I set deadlines: I’ll do it in 30 minutes and start the timer.

Believe it or not, this technique saves time. I don’t speak for everyone, but if you watch TV or read Facebook for 2.5 hours and then have only a half-hour before bed to do your language learning, you can easily turn that into 2 hours of intense language learning followed by going to bed and catching up on sleep, which is much more effective. Moreover, though it may leave you tired, you’ll be glad and happy to have made essential steps towards your goal: speaking a foreign language.

In short

This simple technique gives you small bumps of motivation you need to take several small steps towards your goal no matter what life throws at you.

If you have any questions or thoughts, share them on Twitter or in the comments!

Take Action! is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

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Today, as every week on Sunday, I’m sharing the most interesting blog posts I’ve come across during the week. Enjoy!

More French Cultural Vocabulary: Proprietary or Brand Names by Jennifer Wagner

In the post Jennifer gives examples of brand names which have become denominative in France, like markers called “stabilo”. You have to know these names to be understood in an everyday situation — and to understand if anyone mentions the words in question.

I believe such a phenomenon happens in many languages when a major brand dominates the market. We have an example in Russian: copiers are commonly called “xeroxes”, with a matching verb отксерить to make a copy.

Russia is a large country, and in its farthest Eastern side, in Vladivostok, instead of “xeroxes” they say “canons”: Canon came to the East earlier because of proximity to Japan. Isn’t that fascinating?

New search service for language resources by Steven Bird

Steven shared a link to a large catalog (over 100,000 language resources from over 40 language archives) of world’s language archives, developed by the Open Language Archives Community.

I took the time to browse through the Japanese section and found a lot of useful material to read. Have a look too!

When Practice Doesn’t Make Sense by David Mansaray

David brings to our attention, that plans and goals are great, but we shouldn’t forget to align the work we do with the desirable result. David himself made the mistake once and is glad to share his conclusions: “Practice makes perfect” is not always true. Click through to read the whole post.

Remembering words by Simon Ager

We all know about mnemonics to learn words. For some people they work great, for some not at all.

Simon shares a couple of new ways to create mnemonics, and I’d say they are worth remembering and putting them to use.

A quick tip if you use mnemonics for languages where words have gender, like German: when come up with the image, use different colors for gender, like pink for feminine and blue for masculine.

How to Make the Best Pelmeni by Yelena of Transparent Language

I just couldn’t help including this! From the post you’ll know how to make Russian traditional dish: pelmeni. Give them a try, they’re delicious :)

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Hope you’re having a great weekend! See you next week. Watch for updates on Twitter.

Weekend Links: February 13 is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

Related posts:

1. Weekend Links: February 6
2. Weekend Links: January 23
3. Weekend Links: January 30

All people gesture when they speak: gestures help get the meaning across almost as well as words.

Gestures, however, are much more than that. We can use them not only to convey meaning, but to learn it.

You can literally gesture your way to fluency.

Let me show you how.

Background

I’m often browsing scientific work in psychology: though not all of it may be applied to learning languages, some research looks like a blueprint ready for testing.

The latter was the case when I stumbled upon “Gesturing makes learning last” by Susan Wagner Cook, Zachary Mitchell & Susan Goldin-Meadow, in which children were encouraged either to speak, to gesture or to gesture and speak at the same time while learning to solve certain mathematical expressions. The results were stunning: 90% of the children who had gestured while learning could solve problems three weeks later — in contrast to a mere 33% of the children who hadn’t gestured.

I thought “That can be used in language learning!” and started looking for similar research, it had to exist. It did, and I found a 20-page report “Gesture Gives a Hand to Language and Learning: Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology and Education” by Spencer D. Kelly, Sarah M. Manning and Sabrina Rodak, which was even more eye-opening.

It turns out that speech is actually tied to gestures, neurally: they share the same part of the brain, so-called Broca’s area. It means that neural areas responsible for hand actions and language are linked. Hand-movement strengthens semantic memory, the memory for word meaning.

Gesture how-to

Gestures facilitate language learning, but you’ll have to follow some guidelines to make the most use of them.

1. Only use meaningful gestures

Both of these papers’ authors stress that gestures do not aid learning if they are just “hand-waving”.

Make gestures meaningful: if you say “chop”, make an up-down slashing movement with your arm; if you say “drink”, lift an invisible glass to your mouth; you get the idea.

This approach works best with so-called iconic gestures, which mimic real-world movements. If you learn abstract-meaning words, convey meaning with a gesture as best you can, and be consistent afterwards: use the same gesture for a particular word later on.

2. Speak and gesture

Saying words and phrases aloud trains your speech organs and helps you remember these words better. The more you practice speaking, the more automatic it will become, and your accent will also get better and better. See the post “Mt. Native Accent” for more tips on speaking.

Add gestures into the mix: when you pronounce words, move your hands, as if speaking to an invisible conversation partner.

Watch videos showing live speech between the native dwellers of the country where people speak your target language: their gestures may differ from yours, so learn from them to be more natural in conversation.

3. Combine writing and gestures

Writing does strengthen memory, but to a lesser extent, than natural gestures. Writing is all about small hand movement, while gestures usually involve movement of both arms — it stimulates brain more actively than writing.

To get the best of both worlds, combine writing with gestures: trace the letters in the air with your index finger. In this way you retain correct spelling as well as move your arm, not only your fingers, as is the case with regular writing or typing.

I’ve also come across the post “Using Gestures in Teaching & Learning” from Larry Ferlazzo, in which he says that writing words in the air while learning new vocabulary “seems to work very well.” That’s great: it proves that the technique works.

Bear in mind, that gesture research is far from finished, but I’ve based these guidelines on research-proven facts, so don’t hesitate to use them, if you include them in your learning routine.

Good luck in your studies!

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If you have questions or want to share your own experience, feel free to drop me a line on Twitter or in the comments!

Gesture Your Way to Fluency is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

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I have good news: you mustn’t go to another country to immerse into your target language. You can do that at home, for free.

Immersion is when a foreign language cloaks you: you hear it, you see it, you speak it, you write in it.

This is the blueprint for the DIY language immersion project.

In a nutshell, you will surround yourself with your target language, as if you are in a foreign country.

Immersion at home may be even better: often you don’t go to another country alone and end up chatting with your friends all day. Immersion doesn’t work that way!

For the sake of clarity (I’m tired of writing “your target language” every time) let’s say you’re learning French.

Allons commencer! Sorry. Let’s begin!

1. Computer

Start with your computer. Today we spend way too much time before the screen, so it’s the most logical place to start.

Switch your operating system interface to French. If you’re on a Mac, follow this instruction. If you have Windows, you’ll have to install a MUI pack. See this manual (for Windows Vista).

2. Sites you frequent

You have switched your OS to French, but there’s a ton of sites you visit and spend some time there.

Major sites like Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, various forums allow to switch their user interface to another language. Consult the site’s help section for instructions.

If you use Google a lot (I bet you do), you can change its language as well: instead of going to google.COM, go to google.FR for French Google. Remember, you’re learning French? :)

3. Instant messaging

If you’re using Google Talk, Skype or AOL, you know what I mean.

Consider sacrificing some of the time you spend on IM to learn French: find French chatrooms or IM buddies to chat with — in French. You will know the language better, and possibly make new friends.

4. Books

If you like reading like I do, I believe you have many books around!

Reading books is the next best way to language proficiency, so start reading books in French. If you’re a beginner or an intermediate, start with fairy tales and work your way up to fiction.

Reading a book in French on public transport will make you new acquaintances: people are always interested in what you are reading if they don’t understand the language. You may even find a language enthusiast — good luck!

5. Newspapers and magazines

Reading newspapers and magazines is a pleasant pastime. Make it useful by reading them in French.

Look for subscription catalogues at your local post office, they usually have some options. Otherwise, subscribe on the internet.

6. Your home

Your apartment is a great way to study new vocabulary and repeat the words you already know.

Print out labels for every single item you have in your apartment and paste labels on things with words written in French. Post the sticker mur on each wall, and plafond on your ceiling. Don’t forget lamps, windows, curtains, pictures, bikes, tables, chairs, notebooks, shelves, cups, plates, spoons, knives, basins, mirrors — the list is endless!

What’s great about this method is that you don’t have to pay close attention to the words, just read them as you see them. Over time you will have read them so many times that they will stick to your memory forever.

7. TV

If you watch TV, delete all the channels except those which are in French. I’ve written about this in “The Value of Distractions.”

If there are no French channels, disconnect the antenna and watch French movies from the DVD player.

8. Music

Listening to background music a lot? Wipe all ambient tracks from your playlist and fill it with French music, there’s a lot of it to any taste. You can also listen to French internet radio.

Music is an extremely powerful way to learn a foreign language. Susanna Zaraysky (who, by the way, speaks 7 languages) explains all about it in her book “Language is Music”, which I’ve bought some time ago. This book is magnificent, be sure to check it out, if you can.

9. Street

Walking in the street is a great way to ignore the sounds around and listen to music or podcasts in French.

If your phone doesn’t play music and you don’t have an MP3 player — buy one, they’re dirt cheap. On the go you can listen to audio courses, or French music, or podcasts in French, anything you like.

10. Writing

If you do any writing for yourself, not to be seen by public, do it in French.

Your to-do list, a list of things to buy, random thoughts can all be written in French. Moreover, this everyday writing helps you think in French, which is even more important.

11. Blog

Write a blog in French. It will teach you coherent and consistent writing in another language. Make it a rule to write every day. Start small and simple, make your posts longer over time.

Start a blog for free on a major service like wordpress.com, blogger.com or livejournal.com, whichever you like best.

Blogging is also a great way to make friends. Check out other blogs in French and write comments: it’s almost live conversation.

12. Speak

I’m not tired to repeat that language is for speaking, so speak as often as you can.

Read aloud the words which are posted around your apartment. Read aloud the lists and blog posts you’re writing in French. Read aloud the books which you’re reading.

Talk to yourself a lot. Just move your lips, if you’re in public. The more you speak aloud, the more used you’ll become to French speech.

13. Talk

Talking to yourself is not a lot of fun and becomes boring quite soon. Find a partner to talk with in French.

If you don’t like to talk in person, find someone to talk to on Skype.

Look for language clubs in your neighborhood where people meet to talk in a foreign language.

Better still, talk in French with your significant other. I’m very lucky in this regard: my wife learns Japanese, as I do. I haven’t reached her level yet, but when I do, we’ll talk a lot in Japanese.

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You get the core idea: make everything you see, everything you hear, everything you write and everything you say in the language you learn. It’s that simple!

Have something to add? Share your thoughts on Twitter or in the comments.

DIY Language Immersion is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

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Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn’t have a choice. ~ Stan Getz

We fall for distractions every day. Distractions hinder our progress towards the final result, like speaking a foreign language.

Fortunately, we can turn this disadvantage of human nature into a powerful friend.

We will not avoid distractions, we’ll embrace them instead and make them useful.

Let’s do it in three easy steps.

1. Identify

Too often we lose track of what we’re doing throughout the day, only to face evening with nothing done and the day somehow gone by. We must take control and put an end to this.

Notice what you are doing during the day, especially if it’s something you shouldn’t be doing; take notes if necessary. Identifying distractions is much easier than eliminating them.

Look out for activity you do repeatedly or randomly during the day. I did it recently, so let’s take some of my observations as an example.

• I wake up in the morning and go to the kitchen to make breakfast, picking up a random book to read while eating;
• When I’ve finished reading something on my computer, I open a new tab in the browser, and check one of the entertaining sites.

Some actions are repeated several times a day, while others are just useless.

Let’s move on to the next step.

2. Modify

As language learners, we should have maximum exposure to our target languages, so we’ll focus on that.

The main idea behind modifying distractions is to deprive yourself of any options. You have distractions because you can have them, it’s that simple. By having no ability to be distracted, you won’t be.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to do that, so we’ll settle for modifying the distractions to become useful.

Again, a couple of examples to get you started.

If you watch TV during the day, delete all the channels that are not in your target language. When you turn the TV on, you’ll have no choice but to watch a program in your target language.

If you pick up random books to read, like I do, it is usually the nearest one. Make sure that the nearest books are always books in your target language or textbooks, so that when you decide to pick up a book to read, it’s one of those.

When I open a new tab in my browser, I face 8 site thumbnails and often click one of them to check what’s new. I replaced all of them with sites in Japanese, which is my target language. Now every time I subdue to clicking one of the thumbnails, it takes me to a Japanese site.

You get the idea. Modify all the distractions you face throughout the day in such a way, that you don’t have a choice but to be exposed to the language you’re studying.

3. Enjoy

Now that the distractions help you learn languages, enjoy your day!

I’m sure you are inventive and will come up with new distractions as you go along. Don’t worry, deal with them the same way.

Don’t forget that too frequent distractions mean you don’t like what you’re doing. If you’re distracted too often while studying, it’s a sure sign that you’re bored. Check out this post to make study more fun.

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Do you keep the secret of eliminating distractions? Share your thoughts on Twitter and in the comments!

The Value of Distractions is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

No related posts.

This post is totally worth reading and immediate action on what you have read. Robby teaches fluent English, but don’t let that confuse you: the advice he gives is fit for any language you may be studying, be it Spanish, Russian, French or any other.

Robby explains that speaking fluently does not mean a lot of what aspiring language learners believe it does: fast speech, no pauses in mid-sentence, search for proper words. He gives exact solutions to problems you may encounter when speaking, which, I repeat, work for any language.

All in all, I believe you have clicked through by now and read Robby’s excellent post. If you haven’t, do it now — I’ll wait here :)

Five Top Tips for Reading in a Foreign Language by David Mansaray

David is a blogger from London writing about himself exploring the world and exercising new approaches to everything — which I like!

David’s challenge for 2011 is dramatically improving his level of Spanish, and currently he is reading books, which is not to easy. In the post he shares some solid tips which, surprisingly, let us have a glance at his motivation for study. Don’t forget to check out the comments, we had a little talk there.

Music and TV for homework? Really? Yes. Sí. Oui. Да. نعم by Susanna Zaraysky

This week is surprisingly generous for excellent posts. This one is from Susanna Zaraysky, who speaks seven languages — self-taught by her own method.

Basically, according to her method, language learning should include a lot of music: singing and learning songs, and a lot of listening on the whole. I won’t explain everything here, so just click through and enjoy Susanna’s own explanation and further instructions.

Coincidentally, a couple of days ago I have read an article “Musical protolanguage: Darwin’s theory of language evolution revisited”, which is a bit long and over-academic, but still extremely interesting — I suggest that you read at least part of it. So, its author discusses Darwin’s theory, that before coherent speech there was music, and human speech is directly related to birds’ singing — how’s that? Don’t deprive yourself of this knowledge and take the time to read the article.

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I hope you’ve had a great weekend! Next week, as usual, will be fun, so see you next week!

Weekend Links: February 6 is a post by Yuri Karabatov of Semantic Victory. If you like this post, follow me on twitter and check out my Facebook page!

Related posts:

1. Weekend Links: January 30
2. Weekend Links: January 9
3. Weekend Links: January 16