Tag: language learning

New Year Bells

That was 2024 : (Almost) a year of language learning

As things wind down for Christmas, it’s always worth pausing to take stock of what went well over the last twelve months.

Language learning can be both a high-focus undertaking as well as a lower-key, background constant, especially if life is busy. But sometimes, just listing what you’ve managed to do in twelves months will reassure you that you’re on track.

For me, it’s been an incredibly busy year. It’s been one where I’d have loved to find more time for languages, and felt that pang of underachiever guilt. That’s probably me being far too harsh on myself — it’s been a year of product launches, presentations, and from September, a PhD too!

Adding it up

When I add it up, though, I haven’t done too badly despite the calendar crush. Here’s what I’ve managed to keep up in spite of it all:

Granted, that’s less than I’d have wanted. It’s a focus on fewer languages than I wanted, for sure. But it’s not a bad haul at all, given how packed the year was with other stuff.

And there’s a pattern here.

Recipe for success

My 2024 language achievements fall into three categories:

  • Occasion-based motivators (building language skills in the lead-up to holidays)
  • Social motivators (learning languages with people – your class, or a favourite teacher)
  • Everyday habits / daily tactics (five minutes on a language app, for example)

They’re all things that make squeezing an hour in here, half an hour in there, worthwhile. The rewards are things I value: lovely experiences, having fun, making friends, having a quick gamified language escape on the bus.  And they’re the reason I’ve not fallen off the wagon despite my protestations of I’m too busy all year!

It’s a nice reminder that language learning works best when it works with you. Ideally, your learning should be frictionless. If you feel resistance, then you should think about reframing your approach to your person interests (books and podcasts that grab your fancy in your ‘non-languagey’ life definitely help). If in doubt, use the motivator mix above to make your recipe: event goals, people goals and everyday mini-habits.

As the year ends, it’s clear that language learning isn’t about perfection—it’s about persistence. Whether it’s for travel, connection, or the joy of discovery, the key is finding what keeps you coming back. So, take a moment to reflect on your own journey this year. You might be surprised at just how much you’ve achieved, even when life was at its busiest. Here’s to more languages, more moments, and more fun in 2025!

Christmas 2024

Christmas Gifts for Language Lovers : 2024 Edition!

Linguists in your life and lost for present ideas? It’s that time of year again, when I crack open the bubbly, grab a seat by the fireside, and list my favourite language learning Christmas gifts of the year. And it’s been another cracking year for learners!

Here’s my round-up of gifts (that includes gifts to yourself, remember!).

Christmas for Linguists, 2024 Edition!

SCOTTISH GAELIC : A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR

Christmas gifts 2024 - Scottish Gaelic - A Comprehensive Grammar

Christmas gifts 2024 – Scottish Gaelic – A Comprehensive Grammar

I won’t lie – this was my highlight of the year. On the surface, it’s clearly one for Gaelic learners, but Indo-European typologists and other fans will also be cheering for it.

We’ve been waiting for a Gaelic grammar as comprehensive as this for years, and this volume by William Lamb does not disappoint. It’s as thorough a take as I’ve ever seen, and chock full of real-world examples. While not for beginners (a little knowledge of basic syntax would be recommended for some chapters), it’s pretty much an essential companion for anyone studying the language seriously.

It’s another gem in the crown of Routledge’s long-loved grammar series. And with a second edition of Turkish being added to the Comprehensive cache next year, it looks bound to keep growing.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Christmas gifts 2024 - The Truth about English Grammar

Christmas gifts 2024 – The Truth about English Grammar

If the usual stuffy old style books leave you reeling, then this could be the grammar guide you’re looking for. It’s a really refreshing look at what counts as ‘good’ English, without the moralising and with an eye to language as a developing, living thing, and not a relic.

THE LANGUAGE PUZZLE : HOW WE TALKED OUR WAY OUT OF THE STONE AGE

Christmas gifts 2024 - The Language Puzzle

Christmas gifts 2024 – The Language Puzzle

We all love a good language origin story, and this year’s offering to the fray is Mithen’s excellent The Language Puzzle. It’s a great synthesis of current thinking on how we became talking apes, and very readable with it.

EUROVISION 2024 DVD

Christmas gifts 2024 - Eurovision DVD

Christmas gifts 2024 – Eurovision 2024 DVD

If you experienced this in the moment, you’ll remember as one of the most contentious contests of the show’s nearly 70 years of history. But it was also a great one for non-English entries, which you can enjoy in full HD in the peace of your own home now the dust has settled.

BRAVE NEW WORDS: HOW AI WILL REVOLUTIONIZE EDUCATION (AND WHY THAT’S A GOOD THING)

Christmas Gifts 2024 - Brave New Words

Christmas Gifts 2024 – Brave New Words

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t squeeze an #AIEd book in here too, and Brave New Words is one of the best amongst a bumper crop. The clincher with this one is that its positivity is palpable. True, there’s a fair bit of plug for the author’s resources, but overall it’s a book full of ideas that look forward with excitement, rather than apprehension. Nice title too, playing on the currency of LLMs.

CHATGPT ADVANCED VOICE MODE

And of course, on the topic of AI, the big game-changer in AI for language learning this year was ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode. For a start, it much more closely mimics real conversation with more humanlike turn-taking. But it’s leagues better at speaking languages other than English, too. Impressively, this includes varieties of other languages. Just ask it to speak German with a Bavarian accent, or French as in Marseilles.

It will blow your socks off. Well worth the upgrade to Plus.

 

Robots sitting an exam - it could even be the JLPT exam!

Making It Official : The Joy of JLPT and Other Language Accreditations

Sometimes a language chooses you by sheer dint of the wealth of resources, and a wonderful organisation of tutoring and testing around it. I got a sneak peek of this while assisting at local JLPT exams recently, the benchmark Japanese proficiency exams administered from Japan and held all over the world.

The local JLPT team in Edinburgh run exam days like a well-oiled machine. Everything has a place, and everything is in its place, down to the neat answer sheets and thread-tied packing folders proctors sort them into at the end of each session. It feels like a real academic event, and a joy to watch it taking place without a hitch.

Lots of national cultural entities have similar systems, of course. The Goethe Institute has its own set of tests in German, for example. Chinese is covered by the graded HSK tests available at centres worldwide. And then there’s Norskprøve, which will give you accreditation in Norwegian (although you’ll likely have to go to Norway to sit that). Whatever your language, it’s worth looking into national testing. They offer the perfect opportunity to mark your progress with an official stamp.

Beyond the certificate, though, there’s a great sense of community in joining an exam class. It’s a lovely thing to see students excitedly swapping stories at the end of a session. What went well? What was tricky? And, of course, good luck for the results. It’s made me eager to join a course with accreditation again (and maybe learn some more Japanese – if only I had the time!).

Either way, it’s a reminder that learning for an exam can be hard work – but so rewarding.

Parcels flying over from Germany - from Momox perhaps?

Meet Momox – German Language Materials on the Cheap

You might already know that I’m a language learning eBay bargain hunter. The site is a goldmine of course book treasures. But if you’re after German realia in particular for your teaching and learning, the Momox store could be even more of an Aladdin’s cave.

Momox is one of the big used media sellers on eBay. If you’ve bought popular items on eBay in the past, you may well already know them. They deal in all the usual mainstream books, CDs and DVDs.

But there’s one key difference: Momox is actually a German storefront. Being headquartered in Berlin, they have an immense catalogue of German-language materials. And better still, all that still qualifies for their standard free delivery charge, making it a really affordable way to buy your authentic materials auf Deutsch.

Momox Merch

One particularly rich seam of goodies available for a bargain on Momox is reality TV merch. In terms of language learning, you’ll know that I rate following a reality franchise as a super fun way to engage with your target language country.

Personally, Germany’s take on Pop Idol, Deutschland sucht den Superstar, has been a favourite of mine since I excitedly discovered it in the early noughties. Back then, I had to wait for a trip abroad to grab the CDs and DVDs. Now, there’s a raft of Deutschland sucht den Superstar memorabilia on Momox, all at super cheap used prices! For fans of the rival Voice of Germany, you can even pick up the console game from the series. Hours of fun.

And there are books, of course – loads of them. For easy target language reading, all the big kids’ series are all there, like Harry Potter – just search “Harry Potter und” for all the German ones. They’re a lot cheaper than buying them from a UK-based store.

It’s all the kind of thing that would have made me giddy in my early language learning years (and kept the postman busy). If you’re a German learner, then Momox might be just what you need to stay plugged into German pop culture – without breaking the bank.

A robot playwright - now even more up-to-date with SearchGPT.

Topical Dialogues with SearchGPT

As if recent voice improvements weren’t enough of a treat, OpenAI has just introduced another killer feature to ChatGPT, one that can likewise beef up your custom language learning resources. SearchGPT enhances the LLM’s ability to access and incorporate bang up-to-date information from the web.

It’s a development that is particularly beneficial for language learners seeking to create study materials that reflect current events and colloquial language use. With few exceptions until now, LLMs like ChatGPT have had a ‘data cutoff’, thanks to mass text training having an end-point (albeit a relatively recent one). Some LLMs, like Microsoft’s Copilot, have introduced search capabilities, but their ability to retrieve truly current data could be hit and miss.

With SearchGPT, OpenAI appear to have cracked search accuracy a level to rival AI search tool Perplexity – right in the ChatGPT app. And it’s as simple as highlighting the little world icon that you might already have noticed under the prompt field.

The new SearchGPT icon in the ChatGPT prompt bar.

The new SearchGPT icon in the ChatGPT prompt bar.

Infusing Prompts with SearchGPT

Switching this on alongside tried-and-tested language learning prompt techniques yields some fun – and pedagogically useful – results. For instance, you can prompt ChatGPT to generate dialogues or reading passages based on the latest news from your target language country/ies. Take this example:

A language learning dialogue on current affairs in German, beefed up by OpenAI's SearchGPT

A language learning dialogue on current affairs in German, beefed up by OpenAI’s SearchGPT

SearchGPT enables content that mirrors real-life discussion with contemporary vocabulary and expressions (already something it was great at). But it also incorporates accurate, up-to-the-minute, and even cross-referenced information. That’s a big up for transparency.

Unsure where that info came from? Just click the in-text links!

Enhancing Speaking Practice with Authentic Contexts

Beyond reading, these AI-generated dialogues serve as excellent scripts for speaking practice. Learners can role-play conversations, solo or group-wise, to improve pronunciation, intonation, and conversational flow. This method bridges the gap between passive understanding and active usage, a crucial step in achieving fluency.

Incorporating SearchGPT into your language learning content creation toolbox reconnects your fluency journey with the real, evolving world. Have you used it yet? 

A taxi driver keen to start a conversation!

Captive Conversation : Taxi Cabs and Language Learning

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If there’s one frustration for language learners visiting their target language countries, it’s the lack of opportunity for conversation practice beyond “please” and “thank you”.

It’s a product of the short trip that most interactions will be pretty short and prosaic. If you’re not travelling there to meet someone in particular, you’ll be limited to service environments.

Not exactly scintillating conversation.

That is, except for one, quite particular scenario: the taxi cab.

Captive Conversation

Perhaps it’s the captive environment. Perhaps it’s just the fact that taxi drivers tend to be chatty folks anyway, happy to alleviate the day’s grind with some interesting convo. But I’ve had some of the best speaking practice ever when taking cabs abroad.

There’s such an easy structure to the start of a typical taxi cab chat. “Are you very busy today?” or “how’s the traffic been?” is the cabbie equivalent of asking about the weather, and it’s always worked as a nice way in for me. More often than not, you’ll get some kind of surprise response – wow, you speak Greek? – and then you can get in all of your language chat about why and how you learn.

The Art of Cab-versation

Most of the time, taxi folk are completely warm and lovely about chatting with you as a learner. And if they’re not in the mood for deep chats, you’ll soon know (and can try again next time). Most recently, I had a good natter with a couple of Greek cabbies in Athens and Crete (I’ve never had a Greek cabbie not want to chat). Somehow, both managed to turn the conversation to complaints about the government (probably a universal thing rather than a Greek, or even a cabbie thing!).

But one of my dearest cabbie convo memories is getting a guided tour of the area around Cape Town by a Xhosa speaker, back in 2007. I don’t speak Xhosa – I wish I did – but as well as telling us about the history of the area, he took us through some Xhosa words and phrases, and, of course, its click sounds. I have a video of it somewhere, which I promise I’ll share on here at some point!

Cabs can be a slightly pricier way to travel on holiday, for sure. But if you get 30 minutes (or more) of friendly – often very impressed – cab driver convo, just think of it as paying for a mobile iTalki lesson!

A robot dressed for a true crime podcast!

True Crime Podcasts – Suspenseful Language Learning

Looking for language listening practice with a thrilling – and sometimes macabre – twist? Then true crime is where it’s at.

I’ve fallen down a bit of a foreign language true crime rabbit hole of late. It’s a surprise, to be honest, since it was never really a thing for me in my native English. The same could be said for Scandi noir, though, which – inexplicably – I seem to love in Norwegian and Swedish, but never touch in English. Maybe we do have different personalities in different languages, after all.

Anyway, it turns out that true crime podcasts have everything you might want from target language listening practice. They have a predictable, narrative structure. They’re quite compelling, encouraging you to keep listening as the plot unfolds. And stylistically, they’re often delivered in a dramatically slowed-down, crystal-clear ‘acting’ voice.

The downside? The language probably differs quite a bit from ‘on-the-street’ language. Incidentally, that’s the same criticism often levelled at reading children’s books in your target language, which is still a great way to increase your exposure despite the naysayers. And narrative language is far from useless – it’s what I use weekly with my Greek teacher when talking about what’s been going on in my life, for example. A bit of Greek true crime has done wonders for my simple past.

Not that I’ve been involved in any crimes, I hasten to add.

True Crime and the Urge to Understand

As they’re resources intended for native speakers, true crime podcasts are something you’ll probably want to work in once you have a solid A2-ish level at least. I’m still working on my natural-speed Greek listening at these levels (B2+), and it’s far from perfect yet. Often, I’ll understand a key plot element in an episode of Αληθινά εγκλήματα, then half-understand the next (he did what with the frying pan?).

But there’s something about the suspense of a true crime story, told well, that makes you desperate to get that detail. I tell you, I’m 10-second back-skipping more often than I do with current affairs podcasts!

If you’re looking to work some of this suspense in your own language learning routine, true crime podcasts are not hard to come across. The word for ‘crime’ in your target language will probably yield quite a few in your podcast app of choice. That said, they’re vastly more popular in some languages than others. German, for some reason, is absolutely spoilt for true crime podcasts. A Teutonic slant for intrigue, perhaps? In any case, here are a few of my favourites in some of my target languages!

🇦🇹 delikt – Wahre Verbrechen aus Österreichs Süden
🇩🇪 Wahre Verbrechen
🇫🇷 L’heure du crime
🇬🇷 Αληθινά εγκλήματα
🇬🇷 Μέχρι Θανάτου
🇸🇪 Svenska brott

 

ChatGPT takes conversation to the next level with Advanced Voice Mode

ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode is Finally Here (For Most of Us!)

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Finally – and it has taken SO much longer to get it this side of the Pond – Advanced Voice Mode has popped up in my ChatGPT. And it’s a bit of a mind-blower to say the least.

Multilingually speaking, it’s a huge step up for the platform. For a start, its non-English accents are hugely improved – no longer French or German with an American twang. Furthermore, user language detection seems more reliable, too. Open it up, initiate a conversation in your target language, and it’s ready to go without further fiddling.

But it’s the flexibility and emotiveness of those voices which is the real game-changer. There’s real humanity in those voices, now, reminiscent of Hume’s emotionally aware AI voices. As well as emotion, there’s variation in timbre and speed. What that means for learners is that it’s now possible to get it to mimic slow, deliberate speech when you ask that language learning staple “can you repeat that more slowly, please?”. It makes for a much more adaptive digital conversation partner.

Likewise – and rather incredibly – it’s possible to simulate a whole range of regional accents. I asked for Austrian German, and believe me, it is UNCANNILY good. Granted, it did occasionally verge on parody, but as a general impression, it’s shocking how close it gets. It’s a great way to prepare for speaking your target language with real people, who use real, regionally marked speech.

Advanced Voice Mode, together with its recently added ability to remember details from past conversations (previously achievable only via a hack), is turning ChatGPT into a much cannier language learning assistant. It was certainly worth the wait. And for linguaphiles, it’ll be fascinating to see how it continues to develop as an intelligent conversationalist from here.

Mapping out conversational probabilities - it's much easier with flowcharts.

Vocabulary Flowcharts : Preparing for Probabilities with ChatGPT

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The challenge in preparing for a speaking task in the wild is that you’re dealing with multiple permutations. You ask your carefully prepared question, and you get any one of a number of likely responses back. That, in turn, informs your next question or reply, and another one-of-many comebacks follows.

It’s probability roulette.

What if you could map all of these conversational pathways out, though? Flowcharts have long been the logician’s tool of choice for visualising processes that involve forking choices. Combined with generative AI’s penchant for assembling real-world language, we have a recipe for much more dynamic language prep resources than a traditional vocab list.

And, thanks to a ready-made flowchart plugin for ChatGPT – courtesy of the charting folks at Whimsical.com – it’s really easy to knock one together.

Vocabulary Flowcharts in Minutes

In your ChatGPT account, you’ll need to locate the Whimsical GPT. Then, it’s just a case of detailing the conversational scenario you want to map out. Here’s an example for ‘opening a bank account in Germany’:

Create a flowchart detailing different conversational choices and paths in German for the scenario “Opening a bank account as a non-resident of Germany planning to work there for six months.” Include pathways for any problems that might occur in the process. Ensure all the text reflects formal, conversational German.

The result should be a fairly detailed ‘probability map’ of conversational turns:

A 'vocabulary flowchart' in German, created by the Whimsical.com GPT on ChatGPT.

A ‘vocabulary flowchart’ in German, created by the Whimsical.com GPT on ChatGPT.

Vocabulary flowcharts are another tool in your AI arsenal for speaking prep. Have you given them a whirl yet? Tell us about your own prep in the comments!

The exchange of vows at a wedding

A Cultural Exchange After The Vows

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As people fixated on all things language, we often assume that those outside our bubble are oblivious to the joy we get from dabbling, finding out about and having fun with words. But at a cross-cultural wedding this weekend, I was delighted as the topic of language came up, again and again – and people just ran with it.

The ceremony was between a Scottish-English friend and her Latvian partner, with a small group of celebrants on either side. The Latvian party spoke both Latvian and Russian amongst each other, all with very good English (of course!). The Brits were, encouragingly, a multilingual lot too, which is always good to see (our reputation preceding us all too often).

The touch-point was simple curiosity. It was time for the toasts and the meal, and someone piped up how do you say cheers in Latvian? That’ll be priekā! Soon on its heels followed how do you say bon appetit in Latvian? (Labu apetīti!) Before we knew it, we were deep in linguistic exchange. It wasn’t one-way, either; when it transpired that a waitress was a Doric Scots speaker, like one of our party, a whole other language lesson was delivered back to our Latvian friends. Fit, faa, foo…yes, they really are question words in Aberdeenshire!

The loveliest thing was that it didn’t stop at the initial tidbit of info. The newly shared Latvian and Doric phrases kept ringing out throughout the meal, practised by the guests in much the same way as kids show off a new skill. It was an absolute joy to witness – learning about each other through language, and using that knowledge to keep a new dialogue going. When the time to say goodbye arrived, I’d already Google Translated and memorised a snippet to part on, tipsily:

  • Bija jauki iepazīties (it was lovely to meet up)

Making connections like this and seeing them flourish refreshes our faith in humanity. When we explore and celebrate our diversity, we are truly at our best.