Learn your language with flashcards - tips

Ever heard of flashcards? They're little cards, with two sides. So how can you learn languages with them? Usually, there's a word on the one side, and the translation on the other side. Put them in a bag together, and you can take them out, one by one. Then, translate all the words. You can do it over and over again. Those you know, remove them from your bag.

Flashcards are a great way to learn those parts that are more challenging. If you have difficulties learning body parts, just make flashcards of the body parts. You can do them with drawings. Or with pictures. That's even better, so your mind stays in the language you're learning. And you might even remember the words you're learning by making the flashcards.

Make sure to put the articles and the plural if it's important in the language you're learning. Also use them for conjugations and expressions.

Many flashcards are available for sale. However, it's best to make them yourself. Only you know which words are important to you. And which conjugations and expressions you might use. Moreover, you can get inspired by other people's work. Check the 100 most used words to start with.

Use the websites that provide flashcards for free. Cram.com is one example. One of its advantages is that you can play the sound of the most spoken languages. So you can check the pronunciation as well.

More tips in my book and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Flirting and compliments - a great way to learn languages!

Dating is one of the best ways to learn a language. You're motivated. Every day. Every text message. Every phone call. You'll do anything to prove your counterpart you're learning his/her language for him/her. How great.

Show you care - give a compliment in his/her language! ©

To help you in your dating life, I've made online videos in German, French and Dutch to find your loved one. Sure it will help you, whether you're flirting or in a relationship. Isn't it great if your loved one would give you pet names in your language? Or saying someone has beautiful eyes?

On the other hand, knowing how to give compliments in the language you're learning will help you in many other ways. You'll be more respected, you'll make more native friends and you'll have more to talk about. It's the total opposite of swearing (well, even some can appreciate that). Being nice is not a crime, believe it or not.

However, don't start over-complimenting people. Only give genuine, sincere compliments.

My video about Dutch compliments and flirting:

My video about German compliments and flirting:

My video about French compliments and flirting:

Language learning with internships and volunteering

Think to combine language lessons with an internship or volunteering? Great idea! To be a volunteer or to do an internship changes your life. And learning a language is good for too many things to name here.

Volunteering makes you happy! ©

However, beware of internships for profit. Some very intelligent businessmen sell internships and voluntary work at very high prices. Want to intern in China for a month? Language classes, transport and accommodation included? The bill is $5000 (4500 euro), without flights. Volunteering a week in South America, same conditions? Please pay $900 (800 euro). Well you have to pay extra for the language classes though.

So before you book any programme: check the cheaper alternatives. A good indication is the quality of the website: the better looking, the more money they put into marketing. And the more money they want to make from you. One tip: Go Overseas compares programmes in a more or less decent way. And here are my favourite ways or tips:

The European Voluntary Service (EVS) has non-EU destinations as well. It takes some time to figure things out, but what you need is a local ngo and an ngo abroad where you can volunteer. Usually, you'll get accommodation for free, some pocket money and free language classes. Flights are also paid. One thing though: you have to be between 18 and 30 years old.

Youth organisation AIESEC has 100 000 members in over 130 countries. You can even find paid internships all over the world in the sector of your choice. It focused mainly on youngsters studying economics or business, but there are many other options. However, language classes are not guaranteed.

Did you think of doing an internship at one of your embassies? You'll have to figure a lot of things out yourself, like accommodation and transport. One advantage: usually embassies don't charge any fees for their interns.

How about contacting an ngo yourself, directly? Search for a list of ngo's in the country of your choice on the internet and ask if you can work there for a few weeks. They might even teach you their language for free.

And many international organisations have some kind of language classes for their interns. A number of them even pay their interns.

Language learning hack: the 100 most used words

How do you start to learn a new language? There's many ways to start:

• Learn how to introduce yourself: that sounds very logic, since you start speaking by introducing yourself
• Pronunciation: important, especially for languages that are very different from your own
• My favourite: learn the in the language. By learning those words, you will already understand a good part of the language. Below are a few links to the most used words in the most spoken languages of the world. 
• Find other tips here.

1. English. Oxford Online did a research on what the 100 most written words were. Here's the list. If you prefer them in a video, here it is. For the spoken words, check the Reading Teachers Book of Lists, here are the 100 most spoken words.

2. Mandarin Chinese. Chinese is a little different. So you can learn the 100 most used characters. Or, you can learn the 100 most common phrases or words. And you might want to check out this website, which has a number of core words. There are pronunciations and explanations as well.

3. French. Here you'll find the 100 most common French words. Plus translations. Alternatively, you can follow this course on Memrise. And there's core words on the same website as for Chinese.

4. Spanish. The easiest list can be found here. Would you like to hear them all in one video? Click here. You can also look for 100 words you need to know here. They're not the most used, but handy anyway. For the 100 most used phrases and words, click here. For the verbs, here. And this blog claims you know half of the language with the 100 most used words.

5. Portuguese. It's a little more complicated to find a top 100, but you can start with the 1000 most common ones. Pronunciations are also available on this website. And here are the core 100 words.

6. Arabic. Arabic signs are different from Latin ones used in English, but here are the most common used words written out for you. Here are the top 100 verbs and you can listen to those on YouTube.

Beware though: languages change. So those lists are approximately the most used words in the respective languages.

Did I already tell you I wrote a book with over 100 language learning tips? Get your free copy here!

Free language learning website

In our quest to learn languages, we're always on the lookout for free materials. Now, I've found a great website that has a wealth of links, phrases and more than you can imagine. I'm very happy I found this little treasure to learn a language. Or two.

However, there's one thing: the homepage looks a bit scary. There's loads of Constructed Scripts, Astrolinguistics, and other Secani's. They are no animals, to my surprise, but subjects related to language.

The easiest way to find learning materials for the language you're studying, is like this: find your language on this list, and scroll down below to the learning materials, phrases and other websites where you'll find way more information, such as online language courses and learning websites.

Happy learning!

Common Dutch mistake: dt

Even the best do it: on the Flemish news agency VRT, there's a small 'dt' mistake. For foreigners, it can be very confusing. Can you find it in the picture?

Copyright: De Redactie

The dt-mistakes are often made, even by respected journalists. The 'problem' is that we can't hear the ending's difference between a -d and a -dt. So we have to rely on the grammar. And the grammar can be quite complicated in Dutch!

The easiest way to find out whether it's -dt instead of -t is to use another verb in the same sentence that doesn't end with -d. Instead of for example 'raden', which is to guess in Dutch, try 'zoeken' or 'werken'. If you hear a 't' with those verbs, the conjugated form will be with -dt, in this case 'raadt'.

And for those who rely on grammar rules: the -dt is only used for the second and third singular present. For the second person of the singular, the t is dropped if the pronoun (that's je or jij) is placed after the verb. There are no other uses in modern Dutch. An old-fashioned way for the imperative is used as well, but that's not modern Dutch.

And well... the mistake is 'zwembadverbod vindt ik paniekreactie'. The t is dropped, because the subject is 'ik', and that's the first person of the singular, for which there is never a dt.

Oh yes - make sure to enrol on my Dutch course for half price! And check those resources as well.

Interesting post of the Economist about languages!

The Economist held a live session with its chief linguist - make sure to check it out! A talk about how many languages there are in the world, if they will die, business languages, and so on. Make sure to read some articles of the Economist - their English is really good! And subscribe to their Facebook page, too! I love it when some of their articles pop up on my wall... like this one below.

Live online now: Lane Greene, The Economist's language columnist. Send him your questions about language
Posted by The Economist on Friday, 29 January 2016

Some interesting language learning tips...

Well, here's some interesting language tips.

5 of mine:

• Practice!
• Oblige yourself, for example with a newspaper subscription!
• Make it social, find language partners!
• Make it fun! Find interests in the language you love, if you like watching football, find a channel with comments in the language you want to study!
• Find a decent course with a good teacher!

What are yours? Leave a comment...

Best languages to study

Argh! Have to study a language and you have no idea which one? Tons of people are making recommendations on which one to study. Why?

"The demand for foreign languages and communication skills is steadily rising", according to loads of Ministers in the European Union.

So it's for your job. My recommendation? Just study the language you want to study. If you have no idea, let's take a look at some lists.

The Telegraph says it's German you should study. Voxy -whoever that is- says it's Mandarin. The people from Richest say it's English. However, according to Forbes, French is the language of the future. Because apparently, Africa is going to grow a lot. So learn French with this course if you want to deal with more Africans! Or check some other resources.

My opinion?  Companies look for people who already know the language, and, to my experience, aren't going to finance the study of the language you'd like to learn. So take the initiative! Go to that evening class. When you go on vacation, follow some language classes. And read a newspaper in that language.

French course - for beginners!

Always wanted to start learning French? Then this is your lucky day - I just finished a French course which takes you from 0 to infinity. There's loads of subjects included, like introducing yourself, asking for directions, but as well how to form the imperative, how to use politeness... Try it out today, see the WHOLE first chapter with free preview!

Always wanted to start learning French?

This is your opportunity! In this course, we start from zero. Indeed, zero. No previous knowledge needed. No expensive study books. We build on our way to learn French, step by step. Learn at your own pace, you can review the videos and redo the exercises any time, as much as you want!

What can you expect?

French is difficult. Yes. So no unnecessary, 10-minute long grammar lessons with all the rules. Only what you need to know. Tips where you can find more French. Over 300 French words to use in your everyday life. An interactive quiz at the end of each section. Culture to understand French better.

For who is this course?

You don't understand French, or barely. And you want to. And it's taught for you. Ready to enrol?

I guarantee:

• Full, free lifetime access
• All future extra lectures and upgrades are always included for free
• Unconditional Udemy 30 day money-back guarantee

Looking forward to your feedback!

And oh yes:

See also my full profile on: https://www.udemy.com/user/alainderaymond/
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