The Importance of Understanding

TweetWithout understanding what the other person says, what you say does not matter. There is no conversation. Most people would agree on this point. But yet some people will still think that you should try to converse in a foreign language as early as possible. What they fail to realize, I believe, is that it [...]

Speaking Too Early is a Waste of Time

TweetThe result (or “interim result” as some might put it) of Keith‘s now-famous “TV Method” experiment has recently sparked numerous discussions and fierce debates in the online language learning communities. Some people are even taking this as a proof to proclaim that “silent period” is a waste of time. In my opinion, the experiment is [...]

Speaking Practice Amongst Learners

TweetToday, I had a chance to speak over Skype with Milan, the die-hard Cantonese learner. It must have been more than 3 years since we last talked. Back then we spoke in English and Cantonese. This time our conversation was purely in French and it lasted for more than an hour! When Milan proposed this [...]

Speaking Tips

TweetSpeak when you are ready, not when you ‘think’ you are ready. You are probably more ready to speak than you think you are. Yes, please honour the “silent period” and focus on input activities. But if you have already put in a lot of hours listening and reading, but feel uncomfortable moving on to [...]

Paid Language Tutoring

TweetIn the past few months, I have been focusing on a lot speaking activities. During the summer, I paid for some conversation practices in Spanish. I tried three different tutors online, and ended up picking one to continue with throughout the summer. In the past year or so, my Spanish learning activities consist of listening, [...]

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