How to Learn Language More Efficiently

Advice From Your American Older Brother: a Multilingual World Traveler,

Veteran Court Interpreter, and Professional Language Teacher

Daniel Steve VillarrealPh.D., 11A5SLA

Your American Older Brother

Daniel Steve Villarreal, Ph.D.

• Ph.D., Foreign Language Education, University of Texas at Austin

• Licensed Court Interpreter # 315 (Spanish/English), Texas

• US Army veteran, 11A5SLA• Instructor, El Salvador Project, Ranger Department, Fort

Benning, GA• Liaison officer with Honduran military in La Ceiba• BA in Modern Languages, The Citadel• Part-time Mandarin student, Mandarin Training Center

and International Chinese Language Program, Taipei, Taiwan

Tricks of the trade for learning language

Based on my personal experience and professional training; use what works best for you and “store” the rest for

later!

Actionable steps!

• I’ll present about 5 of them at a time

• Discuss with a friend: which have you already tried &/or what do you plan to try?

• Which will you take action on and how will you do it?

• Then the next 5

• OK, so here they are!

Have moral courage

• Mifanbaobao? (I made this word up when trying to order my first Asian riceburger!)

• Don’t be afraid to speak or to try

• Errors are part of learning!

• BE A RISK-TAKER!

Hit the hua4 often!

• Get out there and use the language

• Native speakers are realia

• Find an activity (church, hobby, etc.) that’s done in the other language

Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time!

• Which is the section you need to eat first?

• For me, it’s Mandarin vocabulary

• For you: grammar, vocabulary, verb conjugations?

Prioritize--Eat One Section of the Elephant at a Time

• Use The Swiss Cheese Method

• “Eat” your most important piece of cheese: grammar, vocabulary, etc.

• When one hole gets big enough, start on another hole

• Eventually, there will be no more cheese!

"Sir, use ALL your resources!"

• A quotation from a great US Army Sergeant!

• I made great use of Pimsleur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimsleur_language_learning_system

• Pimsleur for Mandarin-speakers who want to learn English: http://www.pimsleur-language.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

A huge list of possible resources!• http://effortlessenglishclub.com/• http://www.icrt.com.tw/en/ivy_newTOEIC.php• http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/06/sat_prep_course.html • http://www.princetonreview.com.tw/ • http://www.princetonreview.com/default.aspx?uidbadge=%07 • www.ets.org/• http://translate.miis.edu/prospective/top_10.html advice to

interpreting students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Educational_psychology How learning takes place;

• http://www.manythings.org/wbg/ Games for ESL students;• http://www.southampton.liunet.edu/academic/pau/course/

webword.htm High-frequency TOEFL words• http://www.english-test.net/toefl/• http://www.englishdaily626.com/tfvocab.php • http://www.grammar-monster.com/index.html

Your turn!

Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

Study how language learning and language teaching work.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Educational_psychology

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_language_learning

• http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html

Imitate successful people: don’t reinvent the wheel

• Can your fluent friend recommend a book, teacher, school?

Make your learning active, rather than passive

• Mister Lazy: just sits there in class and wants the instructor to pour the language into his cranium

• Mister Diligent: takes notes, asks questions, tries things

• Nothing stops Mister Diligent!

• Which are you?

2,500 repetitions = automaticity!

• A response for those who want a Magic Pill

• More is better• Use the language as

often as possible: read, speak, listen, etc.

Multimodality: use all of your senses!

• Writing Chinese characters: I see, write the strokes, repeat the word

• Connect vision, speaking, feeling, listening

• Connect different parts of the brain

Your turn!

Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

Don’t be scared of the big words!

• A + B + C = D • Divide the parts of the

word, then add them back up

• Syllables• Prefixes• Suffixes• Multiple words in one

word

Etymology

• What’s the history of the word?

• Did you bolo on the rifle range (“bolo” = US Army slang = you failed; you are more dangerous to the enemy with a bolo machete than with the Army’s rifle!)?

• http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

• See the dictionary entry

Vocabulary flash cards

• Make them• Buy them• Online• iPod versions• You can study while

you’re in line, on the bus, etc.

• Build or select them according to METT-T

METT-T?

• “Mission—Enemy—Terrain, weather, Troops and Time available.”

• Mission: what are you trying to do? What are your goals?

• Enemy: time conflicts?

• Time available?

Monitor yourself and self-correct

• Relax; have fun with this

• Are you bringing patterns from your first language into your second language: “I have an appointment with my friend…”

Think long term, not short term!

• What are your long-term purposes?

• Good enough to survive on a trip overseas = OK!

• Scholarly work?• Business?• Again, consider

METT-T

Your turn!

Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

Find a great study partner or study group!

• Example--Language exchange ad: 7th floor of Mandarin Training Center, Taipei, Taiwan, building bulletin board

• Great for test prep• 2 heads > 1 head

Don't be a "this way" learner, be a "many ways" learner!

• Pimsleur• Rosetta Stone• Flash cards• Reading• TV • Movies• Classes• Most important: get

started now!

Find an activity you like that's done in the other language.

• Spanish-speaking churches gave me advanced language skills

• Movies• Hobbies

Do you have any English-speaking friends or colleagues?

• They don’t necessarily have to be from English-speaking countries!

Exercise your initiative to find ways to speak the language.

• Create your own English-speaking foreign country wherever you live

• I created a Spanish-speaking country in the US for about a year: UNAM Spanish classes, Hispanic church, Spanish movies, Spanish-speaking work

Your turn!

Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

You probably have LOTS of English, etc. in your head;

• Now make it come out of your pen and mouth.

• Force yourself to use what you learned in your studying.

• Again: be a risk-taker!

Don’t wait for the teacher to teach you.

• No teacher, book, course, can achieve your goals

• Exercise initiative• Preread the lessons• Use the stuff outside

of class

Translations of books in both languages

• Vicarious learning: you can experience a LOT via reading!

• Dynamic equivalence: “hello” = “you good”

• Read!• Read!• Read!• Read!

Create mini-lessons for yourself to use during spare time.

• Use those 24 hours wisely!

• Flash cards• Reading• DVD movies• Recordings• METT-T• Swiss Cheese

Method

Find or create foreign language-speaking environments.

• US has Chinatown• Taipei has Tian Mu• Foreign-based clubs,

churches, schools, activities

Your turn!

Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

How do I say this in the other language?

• Do this continually• Learn tons of

vocabulary• Learn native speech

and writing

Go take more language courses! • All are good• They all connect• Action beats inaction

Connect your foreign language to your other subjects, academic courses, and to your

work!• Encounter situations

or vocabulary• Research it in the

other context

Consider studying Spanish to help your English and your career!

• For you English-learning Mandarin-speakers

• Spanish = Latin connections to English

• English + Mandarin + Spanish = communicate with a LOT of people!

Look for patterns across languages

• Some languages share grammar (Chinese languages)

• Some share vocabulary (European languages)

Never give up!

• A lesson from the United States Army Rangers and from the world of dance!

• One step in front of the other, whether road-marching or learning to dance!

• Keep showing up• Eventually, you’ll get

there

Your turn!

Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

That’s all, folks!

• Thanks for reading this!

• There is an inexpensive booklet version of this information; see the link on the website www.americanolderbrother.com

• You just got this for free!

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