| Last month | Last 3 months | All time | |
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| Completed lessons | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Attendance rate | 100% | 100% | 100% |
My own opinion, as someone who has struggled to learn a variety of languages, is to try many things. Eventually, you will know what's best for you. You could start with free apps that allow you to practice basics. Even if your English is already quite good, free apps can be a good review. Second, you should seek "input", in the form of listening and reading. Google esl readings or esl listenings and try whatever looks interesting to you. If you really want to improve, you should listen and read at least a little bit every day. A third thing you can do is right here in iTalki - try talking to people! Whether it's an exchange, a lesson from a tutor, or a professional lesson, you will get much needed practice in using English.
You have so many things that you can try. Try to try them all!
0 votedJanuary 16, 20170Hello Helen,
On one hand, I agree with Sudeep's comment: "There is absolutely no reason to hate myself if I have not done anything wrong". That is absolutely true for me. Yet I do hate myself. I have hated myself every minute of my life til now. I have no doubt I will hate myself every minute for the rest of my life. I suspect that, before I was able to speak my first word, somebody forcibly put the words "I hate you!" into my brain, repeating those words often, possibly even yelling those words, before I had any way to defend myself. Unlike Sudeep, I do not seem to have the ability to choose to love myself. He, and millions of others, will probably say that I do of course have a choice, yet I have been trying now for almost six decades to love myself, and I have failed again, and again, and again. As far as I can tell, as far as I can know, I have no way to love myself. I am stuck hating myself.
HOWEVER (and that's a BIG however!), I do have a choice in how to live my life, in how to act every day. I wake up every morning, without exception, feeling like a useless, no good, go*$%amn piece of sh*t. That feeling is just there, I have no choice in the matter. HOWEVER I can, and do, choose to ignore that feeling. I can, and do, choose to find something positive to do - a little stretching or light exercise, or listen to music, or take a short walk outside in the sun. In my life, I chose to get an education. I chose to learn French. I chose to go to Japan and teach English, learning about Japan and the Japanese language in the process. I have since learned Spanish, Chinese and Italian, and will choose to continue learning for as long as I can. I can't love myself, but I can always choose the best life possible for me.
0 votedJanuary 6, 20170The thing that helped me most with Japanese pronunciation was learning hiragana and katakana. Unlike English, writing in Japanese is a perfect representation of how to say words and sentences. As a bonus, when you learn katakana, you can easily read dozens, if not hundreds, of words borrowed from other languages, including things such as bread, coffee, yogurt, animation, questionnaire, and so many more.
I started Japanese before the Internet existed, but for other languages I have benefitted greatly from a variety of free apps. I have never found a single great app, maybe not even a good app, but almost all apps have one or two things they do well. If you experiment - just play around with some free apps - you will learn basic numbers on one app, useful phrases on another, perhaps some simple stories on another, the most important everyday words on another, etc., and those things together can give you a base for either exchanges or lessons on iTalki.
I suppose that last idea leads to the most important tip - play with the language. Repeat out loud (or softly to yourself) things you hear either in an app or in a video. This is very easy in Japanese after learning either hiragana or katakana. Let the sounds roll off your tongue. Maybe imagine being in a situation where you can use that particular word / phrase / sentence. It can be boring to learn the basics, but try to have fun.
Good luck with your learning!
0 votedJanuary 6, 20170- This might be something that we could call "headline English". We usually use an object in American English too. In fact, I just went to espn.com and found this headline: "Clemson routs Ohio State to advance". You might have seen a section of the website with very little space, so they cut it down to two words. One difference between American and British English is that we treat a team as singular: "That team (it) routs the other team", while your example from British English used the plural, "Manchester United (they) rout Liverpool". On the other hand, if we have a team name, which is almost always plural in American sports, we treat the team as plural, as "they". For example, I believe the team from Clemson are the Tigers, so if we use that name, the headline would be "Clemson Tigers rout Ohio State", not "routs".0 votedJanuary 1, 20172
I like this topic because it forces me to look back on the past year and try to learn from my mistakes, then come up with a better plan for next year. (Well, that's the theory, anyway!)
In 2016, I tried to exercise more. I cycled more than 2000 kilometers and played tennis more than 50 times, both new personal "records. As a result, guess how much weight I lost? In 2016, I lost precisely... zero kilos! So, guess what? One of my goals for 2017 is to start dieting. At the very least, I want to stop eating "junk food". No more potato chips, cookies, ice cream, or pizza. Well, I won't give up pizza completely!
As for learning, I hope to remember my French, which is why I am here on iTalki. I might also try some Chinese classes. I don't speak Chinese well, so it might be difficult, but if I'm going to do it, this is the place!
0 votedDecember 29, 20160
