I just finished reading an entire book in Spanish, and I’ve got to tell you it was a really good hack to improve my vocabulary and reading skills. It was such a good exercise I am already planning on reading another one, possibly in another language I might be picking up again in the near [...]
So you’re going to Colombia, huh? Good choice. Here are some tips for that first visit. 1. Know The Travel ‘Loop’ If you are just thinking about traveling through the country (and not really living there), you can easily go in a basic loop through the country and see the the larger cities and major, [...]
It’s amazing that for the, oh, 10 people that read this blog, I’ve been getting a good amount of email. Below are some of the most frequent questions I get asked about Colombia: 1. I am thinking about going to Colombia or to country X, what do you think? Well, you shouldn’t come to Colombia [...]
I’ve written on a few language learning resources I’ve found helpful in the process of learning Spanish, including Pimsleur and Livemocha. In addition, I haven’t written about the piles of resources I’ve found unhelpful, but rather why certain methodologies in general don’t seem to work for me. Today, I want to share why SpanishPod101.com is [...]
If you read this blog, you probably know I have been learning Spanish. It has been my first attempt to learn a foreign language in a functional, life-enhancing way, which would enable me to play, live, and do business comfortably in Latin America (among other things). I’ve discovered some things that work, and some things [...]
I recently wrote a little intro to Livemocha, an online community which I think is great for learning a new language. Not all aspects of the site are great, though. This is especially true when it comes the courses. Basically, here’s how the courses work…. You hear and read a bunch of words and phrases [...]
In my journey to learn Spanish, I have used a lot of different resources, figuring out which ones are the most helpful, and which ones are a large waste of time. One resource I have used extensively is Livemocha, and today I’m going to tell you how you can get the most out of it. [...]
All right, I’m going to tell you how to learn Spanish fast, and by fast, I mean about 10 times faster than your average sit-and-soak classroom setting. I’m planning on writing a lot more about how I’ve hacked Spanish, so make sure you subscribe via email at the end of the post, or grab the [...]
Here is why you aren’t learning Spanish, or French or Polish or whichever. 1. You are not doing something every day. Honestly, a dabble here and a dabble there is a waste of your time. Even a class once a week is largely a waste of time, and money. You will get nowhere unless you [...]
I was listening to a podcast the other day and one idea really struck me. They (Dan and Ian) mentioned, almost in passing, something about “what you bring to the table” and what that means, and then re-evaluating the question in terms of “what tables do you want to sit at?” In other words, when [...]
