How to travel the world and learn languages quickly...

...according to Benny Lewis, the self-professed 'full-time globe-trotter' from www.irishpolyglot.com

He's got some cool blog posts, both text and video, under the following links

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/travel/how-to-travel-the-world-and-learn-languages-quickly-interview/en/

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/website/how-to-speak-a-language-fluently-in-3-months/en/

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/travel/around-the-world-in-8-languages/en/

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/travel/learning-tango-in-buenos-aires/en/

And here you can read about his background and why he likes travelling and learning languages

http://www.irishpolyglot.com/about/en/

***By the way, the fact that I'm posting about this site does not mean that I subscribe to his 'quick-fix, fluent in 3 months' language-learning method, although I must say that the languages he's learnt he speaks quite well. I simply thought you all would enjoy his stories and content, and hoped that they would serve as a motivating factor for everyone.

Is Your Language Half Full?

"The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The optimist says it’s half full. The pragmatist says its liquid contents are at 50% capacity. The ironist says it’s half full of air. The practicalist says the glass is twice as big as it should be. The psychoanalyst says the glass is your mother. The punk sitting next to you on the bus also says the glass is your mother. The zen master says, “There is no glass.” And me…, I say, “Waitress! Refill!” "

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2bhYzz/www.fluentin3months.com/is-your-language-half-full/

How to read

This is a great article from copyblogger, a blog from a writer on better writing:

http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-read/

Metaphor, simile, and analogy - What's the difference?

Here are some tips on how to differentiate between these seemingly very similar concepts:

http://www.copyblogger.com/metaphor-simile-and-analogy-what’s-the-difference/

http://thewritersbag.com/writing-rules/metaphor-simile-or-analogy

Both sites are also worth checking out for the tips they give on writing in general.

Fado and the Portuguese concept of 'saudade'

Portuguese has a concept known as 'saudade' which, so I've been told, cannot be properly translated into English without lengthy explanation. This sentiment is often expressed in a music genre particular to Portugal called Fado (pronounced /'fadu/), which you can read about here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fado

One of the most famous Fado singers is Mariza, one of whose most famous songs, called 'Ó Gente da Minha Terra', can be read and listened to here

http://letras.terra.com.br/mariza/485218/

If you know Spanish, Italian or French you should be able to understand at least some of the song reading. I first heard Mariza's music in a city tour bus when I was in Oporto in spring of 2008, and I was blown away. As the title of the YouTube video suggests, 'Fabuloso e Arrepiante!'

Listening from different 'angles' to raise your awareness

To maximize your learning when interacting with any given text (referring to both the audio and the script), it's important to listen to and read it a number of times, paying attention to different aspects of it each time.

To this end, when I listen to a dialogue from ChinesePOD, I adhere to the following sequence:

1) I listen to the dialogue without reading to attune my brain to the text aurally first.

2) I listen to the text while reading along in English

3) I listen to the text while reading the pinyin and occasionally looking at the English translation

4) I listen to the text while only looking at the words in the vocabulary list

5) I listen to the text again without reading

6) *I repeat any of the above steps as necessary, time and interest permitting

Because none of the hundreds of dialogues from ChinesePOD are any longer than 2 minutes in length (even at the Upper Intermediate level), I can do all of these steps in relatively little time. When I want to listen for a long time and simply expose myself to a lot of vocab, I just load up my media player with a few hundred dialogues and listen without repeating while reading the English and pinyin script, which show up in the media window in Windows Media Player or iTunes, and on some mp3 players.

By following the above steps, you give your brain the chance to interact with the text from many different 'angles', thus greatly improving the learning experience.