Post on 07-Mar-2023
This book is a brief summary of experience that I have acquired from teaching languages
and from learning languages myself. As for today, I have mastered six languages up to
advanced and native levels (two of them are native, indeed) and four more languages to
intermediate level.
In my book I share with you the most successful techniques for language learning.
There’s little theoretical reasoning behind each statement. This is a practical reference
and it should be treated and used as such.
Always feel free to contact me. I love to hear from my readers. Your opinion is important
to me! And – whichever language you are learning and whatever difficulty you may
have, I’ll be glad to help you.
Disclaimer
The Reader assumes all responsibility for use and application of this book and waives all
claims against the author that may arise from utilization of this book or of any data
presented in this book. Further, the author or copyright holder shall in no event be liable
for any damages or losses, including without limitation, direct, indirect, consequential,
special, incidental or punitive damages resulting from or caused by this book or its
content, including without limitation from Reader’s use or inability to use the book, or
any error or omissions in content.
You agree that using the information and techniques described in this book is solely at
your own discretion.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 3
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Table of Contents
How It All Started ............................................................................................................... 5
What Is Language ............................................................................................................... 8
Language and Communication ....................................................................................... 8
Studying Language? Using Language! ........................................................................... 9
Three Questions before You Start................................................................................... 9
General principles ............................................................................................................. 11
Levels – Learn Gradually.............................................................................................. 11
Practice – You Get What You Practice ......................................................................... 11
Words, Meanings, Dictionaries, Grammar ................................................................... 12
Memorizing – Topics, Similarities, Differences ........................................................... 13
Word Importance – Meaning’s Frequency ................................................................... 14
Everyday Culture – Related to Language ..................................................................... 15
What to Learn, and How ................................................................................................... 16
Beginners Level ............................................................................................................ 16
Main Targets for This Level ..................................................................................... 16
Words – From Life Situations ................................................................................... 17
Grammar – Complex Is Best, Drilling Makes Easy ................................................. 18
Speaking and Listening Drills – Wardrobe, Re-Hearing, Fetching .......................... 19
Accent – How Do You Master It .............................................................................. 21
Reading and Writing – Don’t Dig Too Deep ............................................................ 22
Non-Verbal Communication and Culture – Let’s Play ............................................. 23
Intermediate level.......................................................................................................... 23
Main Targets for This Level ..................................................................................... 24
Words and Grammar – Build Up Your Vocabulary, Use a Dictionary .................... 24
More on Meanings .................................................................................................... 27
Topics List for Your Vocabulary .............................................................................. 28
Accent – Even More Important ................................................................................. 33
Culture – You Are No More a “Guest” .................................................................... 35
Advanced level.............................................................................................................. 36
Main Targets for This Level ..................................................................................... 36
Words and Grammar – Step Forward ....................................................................... 36
Oral Communication – Discussions and Emotions .................................................. 38
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 4
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Written Communication – Read and Clarify, Write and Get Corrected ................... 39
Culture – Become One of Them ............................................................................... 40
Translating and Interpreting ...................................................................................... 40
The Native Level Dream ................................................................................................... 41
Building up Native Speakers’ Vocabulary ................................................................... 42
Mass Media ............................................................................................................... 42
Literature ................................................................................................................... 42
Official ...................................................................................................................... 43
Spoken....................................................................................................................... 44
More Tips on Language Learning..................................................................................... 46
Words Lists – Do’s and Don’t ...................................................................................... 46
This Can Stop Your Language Learning ...................................................................... 47
Change Your Learning Activities ................................................................................. 48
First Time Language Use .............................................................................................. 48
How to Choose a Language Course .................................................................................. 50
Beginners ...................................................................................................................... 50
Requirements for a Self-Study Course ..................................................................... 50
How to Use a Self-study Course ............................................................................... 51
Requirements for a Teacher-Lead Course ................................................................ 52
And Yet – If No Course ............................................................................................ 53
Intermediates ................................................................................................................. 53
Requirements for a Self-Study Course ..................................................................... 54
Requirements for a Teacher-Lead Course ................................................................ 54
Advanced ...................................................................................................................... 55
Just Guidelines for Learning ..................................................................................... 56
Goodbye – But Not to the Language ................................................................................ 56
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 5
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
How It All Started
If somebody told me a dozen of years ago, that one day I would speak ten languages and
teach four, I would probably consider that a mean joke. Well, speaking many languages
has been my childhood dream. But TEN languages – that would be TOO much. I could
not imagine myself being THAT smart or having THAT much time for learning – finally,
I had my life to live, my job to work at, my family and friends. After all, one has to be a
genius or an academician to learn even one language perfectly, and I’m not like that…
Well, I always had that approach: If anyone on Earth has done it, then there is no reason
that I can’t do it, too. There are people, who have mastered perfect French. Or German.
Or Chinese. There are people, who have mastered a few languages. These people may be
few, but they exist. And if THEY could, so I can. After all, I have two hands, two legs
and one head, just like they do! Well, they may KNOW something that I don’t know yet.
So, I should better learn their experience, and then I’ll do it even faster.
Nearly a decade ago I could not call myself a multilingual. But something had happened
to me then. It was none of those dramatic life-changing events. My family remained in
good health, I wasn’t dismissed and I didn’t leave my engineering job. These were
personal considerations and decisions. So, I started a new way as a language learner, and,
finally, as a tutor.
I wanted to know MANY languages. I wanted to be able to speak to ANY person on this
planet. Well, learning ALL the languages of the world would be unreal. On the other
hand, knowing just a couple of “world” languages would be too little. So I have carefully
selected a few languages that I wanted to know at the native speaker level, then a few
languages that were of somewhat lesser importance to me, and so on. I have finally
selected six certain languages to learn up to the native speaker level, and at least ten more
just to be able to hold a good conversation, express myself and understand the other, but
not much more than that.
I knew English from school, so the first language I started to learn myself was German.
Actually, German was the first language I wanted to learn since I was a child. I remember
myself, an 11-year-old boy – it was a Russian winter night, I was with my mom and my
grandfather at a railway station in Moscow. We were waiting for a train that would take
us to our hometown in Belarus, then a Soviet republic, located to the west of Russia.
Suddenly they announced another train, that was departing from Moscow and headed to
Berlin. They had already made different announcements before, but this Moscow-Berlin
train drew my attention. That train was going abroad! From Russia, through Belarus, then
it was supposed to cross the border to Poland and finally it would arrive to Germany.
ABROAD! In the Soviet Union “abroad” stood next to “paradise” – absolutely unreal,
fascinating, interesting, somewhat scary – all at once. I imagined myself, grown up,
getting on that train to Berlin… Probably I had to be a translator or an interpreter. Or,
maybe a diplomat!.. I decided I definitely wanted to speak German.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 6
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
A couple of years later, in summer, my family and I went to a recreation site in Belarus.
The site was one of the best in the republic, so many foreign students, who were studying
in universities in Belarus, were invited by the Soviet government to spend some time
there. There were lots of students from Vietnam, from Arab countries, from Central
America, India, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Africa. They all could speak Russian, but
each community had its own language and its own culture. They were so different! And
that was so interesting!
At that time, for the first time in my life I had got acquainted with a multilingual. A new
teacher had come to our school. His name was Igor V. Serov. They said he spoke six
languages. Igor taught us technical translation from English into Russian. His English had
some unusual accent. Well, it was unusual for a Soviet school. It just turned out to be
British. Igor knew English, like none of our teachers did. Once I had got an assignment to
find 10 “military” words in English. I came up to Igor and he just dictated them to me,
one by one. I remember his slight grin. Like an old man can grin, when he sees how
serious a child can get in his childish games. There were some words that my English
teacher didn’t know…
It seemed rather obvious, that I would become a translator myself. There was a Foreign
Language College in a city 70 kilometers from my hometown and I wanted to enter it just
after graduating from school. I wanted to become a translator and an interpreter. At
school I was good in languages, so I didn’t think there would be any difficulties. So naïve
I was! Well, the Soviet government had nothing to do with getting me down to Earth. The
blow came from my parents. They did not like the idea. In their opinion, a professional
translator in the Soviet Union had only one job opportunity – to be a language teacher at
school. And not only did they dislike it, they even found it dangerous. The verdict was:
“If neither a doctor nor a lawyer – then at least (weep) an engineer.” And finally they
managed to persuade me, that a translator is not a good thing for a guy, that being a good
engineer is much more serious and respected, and that an engineer who knows languages
– oh, that would be so marvelous! So, after school I studied Electronics Engineering, got
a B.Sc. and started to work as an electronics engineer.
But a decade ago I re-decided to learn languages. And I still wanted to know many
languages. And I didn’t have much time. After all, I have already spent a few years
studying Electronics and working as an engineer. I was not very young. And I had to
work and to support my family in the first place. That left me rather little time for
learning! And I didn’t want to drag out my learning till the end of my life. What’s the use
if I only manage to learn my 16 languages when I’m old? That did not seem an attractive
idea. So I had to find some extremely efficient techniques, to learn fast. I desperately had
no time to waste. I HAD to be effective! So, learning languages became an exploration,
too.
I started with German. Mastering German to an acceptable (advanced) level took 3 years.
Then came Italian. Indeed, when I was a child, Italian pop-singers were extremely
popular in the Soviet Union. The language seemed very beautiful. But I never believed
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 7
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
I’ll be smart enough to learn it. After all, I had to learn German first! Anyway, while
learning German I had already tried a few audio courses, so I knew how to choose a
better one for my future Italian studies. And of course, while learning German I had tried
many learning techniques. So mastering Italian to nearly the same level as German took a
year and a half. Then I learnt French, Chinese and Indonesian, each of them to
intermediate level. I haven’t encountered good intermediate courses of Indonesian, so
here I had to start inventing them myself. The most recent, Spanish, took only three
months to upper intermediate level. Well, I knew how to find a really good audio course
and a good grammar book. Besides, I was learning for two hours each day. I had really no
time – I was supposed to go on a business trip to Mexico, and I knew it wasn’t a good
idea to speak English or Italian there.
While learning languages I encountered dozens of methods and dozens of courses. I tried
everything I’ve heard of. Some things proved to be effective. Others were just scams.
Some methods were effective at some point of language learning – but not at the other.
I must confess, I’ve probably made all the possible mistakes. Sometimes I was spending
days after days learning and then I discovered I actually did not progress. Sometimes I
had headaches. Sometimes I just got that disappointed, I didn’t want to learn any more!
At least not that language. But I never gave up. I just went on and on. Took my books
again, turned on my radio programs, opened my mouth and started talking.
In the beginning of my self-study, I often had to admit I had wasted a few days or even
weeks. I didn’t learn much of a language, so I wasted them as a language learner. But I
had learnt a lesson in “language learning”. I knew something had gone wrong and THAT
was NOT a good way to learn a language. And that was even more important. After all,
getting to know that some method doesn’t work will save me time in future! I still have
other languages to learn, and I’ll never waste my time like that any more!
After having learnt enough myself, I started with mutual tutoring. I found people, who
wanted to know languages I already spoke perfectly. I was tutoring them, and in return
they helped me with their languages. That was fun! I never knew that teaching languages
may be such a fun! And so I understood that my learning tools were good not just for me
– my friends progressed much better, when they learnt correctly.
You, my friend, my fellow language learner, you don’t need to make the mistakes I’ve
made. I have done a lot of investigating, and I have found the best tools, the best methods
for language learning. I use them in my tutoring. I have used them for writing my
language courses. I use them to raise my daughter trilingual (yes, she has three native
languages). And I describe them in this book.
Read my book, use my methods and make your language learning dreams come true.
And – most important – have fun!
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 8
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
What Is Language
[Language is] a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of
conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.
Merriam-Webster
The purposes of language:
1. Assistance (!) in conveying ideas or feelings
2. Making you accepted in a group (society, nation etc.)
Conveying (getting and receiving) ideas (information, orders, information requests) and
feelings (physical, emotional or other) should be done in a way, acceptable between two
or more persons. One single person generally does not need a language.
Language and Communication
Communication using a language is subdivided into 4 parts:
Speaking
Listening
Writing
Reading
Speaking and listening are referred to as oral communication, while writing and reading
are written communication. These two types usually differ in words and in grammar.
They may differ slightly or significantly. Naturally, people (as they are still children)
learn oral communication before they start to learn the written. There is a plenty of
people (even of pre-school age) who use oral communication perfectly, and do not know
to read and to write at all. In the earlier times there were even more such people.
However, there are relatively very few people who know reading and writing, but cannot
speak a language.
Speaking and writing will be referred to as outgoing communication, while listening and
reading are incoming communication. Outgoing communication may require more skills
to be mastered, compared to incoming. Yet once outgoing communication is mastered,
incoming communication gets in very quickly, too.
Non-verbal communication is a type of communication by itself. However, I’m going to
deal with it inasmuch as it relates to using a language, and no more.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 9
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Studying Language? Using Language!
Why should you study a language?
For no reason!
Language is not a science; it is rather an art (or a craft). “Studying” a language may only
serve that university professor, who accepts grants for writing books and forcing his
students to study them.
On the other hand, using a language allows you to communicate freely and to be
accepted in a society. Various languages are used by people of Earth exactly as a means
of communication. Generally, people who are around you are more eager to accept you,
if your speech is similar to theirs. You may not notice it in your native surroundings, but
imagine a punk arriving to a big bosses meeting. Even if the punk wears fancy clothes,
his manner of speaking may disclose him. I’m going to stress the importance of non-
verbal communication, too. It is a way of communication, too, because it assists in
conveying ideas and creating opinions.
You may want to learn to use a language in order to communicate with a specific group
of people. Therefore, your goal would be better stated as “learning that group’s
communication means”.
Children learn their native language in order to be able to communicate with people
around them, in their society. Besides learning a language, children also learn all the
objects, used in this society, their qualities, actions performed, behaviors, situations that
may occur, ways and manners. Children need to get aware of their personal wishes and
feelings, too. This is how they grow up to be members of a society. With a rare
exception, every person on this planet succeeds to do it.
Your task is however, much simpler: you have already got acquainted with most of the
objects, qualities etc. Especially with those mentioned in lower learning levels. Yet, there
would be much to learn from a child’s ways of mastering a language.
Three Questions before You Start
Before you start to learn a language I want to ask you three questions. I hope they will
help you to better understand what you actually expect of a language and what you really
need. My questions should help you to define your final destination. And when you
know, where are you heading to, the chances of your success will be higher, they will!
First, why do you need to KNOW this language? For your career? For your passion to
the culture of this society? Are you planning a trip to that country? Relocation?
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 10
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Would you want to make friends with people, who speak this language? Or, would you
want to find your spouse? Maybe, you are just a language freak?
Probably, the worst reason to learn a language is “I must”. Or “I have to take a language
course to obtain my B.A. in Chemistry”. I am really sorry for people who are made to
learn languages they don’t need. What a waste of time!
Now, the second question. How are you going to USE the language you have learnt?
How are your language skills supposed to help you in life? Will you just read classical
literature books? Or just chat in Facebook? Or, will you translate your favorite song?
Indeed, your answers will help you to choose a better way to learn the language. Or, to be
more precise, that will help you to better define language skills you need in the first
place.
Be sincere. I don’t want you to reveal your answers to me or to anyone. I want you to
understand for yourself, what are the most important skills for you to acquire. And how
deep and in which direction you should better dig. So that learning doesn’t become a
waste of time and efforts. Indeed the whole purpose of my book is to help you to SAVE
your time and efforts and to make your learning effective and fun.
And the last one. Imagine you already know the language perfectly. You have learnt the
language. What happens next? What are you going to do next? Are you NOW going to
take a book and start reading it? Will you NOW go on a business trip? Imagine yourself
having learnt the language. How will it look like? How will you look like?
Sometimes, you don’t need to wait, until you’ve learnt the language perfectly. You may
go on a trip and get around pretty good after you’ve just completed your Beginners
course. The same about making friends. Chatting may require Intermediate level and a
few specific words, which are usually used in online chats. And if you just want to sign
business contracts, you don’t need to learn reading classical literature. (But you STILL
need to understand what stands in your contracts!) And maybe, sometimes it is easier for
you just to hire a translator or an interpreter!
I know this can sound weird for a language teacher to say things like that. That might kill
my income! But it doesn’t. A true headache for me is a student who starts learning a
language without having a slightest idea, why is he doing it. This one won’t get good
results, if any. And I don’t want you to be that unlucky.
Learn language only if you need it. Learn what you need. And have fun!
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 11
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
General principles There are many techniques that help you to learn a language. And those that fit best for
one communication type will not necessarily be the best for another. However, there are
some general principles to be observed:
Levels
Practice
Words and Grammar
Memorizing
Words Importance
Culture
Let’s see exactly what I mean by each of them and how it helps you to learn a language.
Levels – Learn Gradually
It is more than important to learn a language gradually. It will be more than difficult for a
beginner to try to learn with materials and techniques for advanced level. On the other
hand, if you are an intermediate learner and you still continue to use Beginners’ materials
and techniques, you will never complete your intermediate level and may even get
discouraged at all.
There are various frameworks which divide language proficiency and skills into levels. I
rely on Common European Framework (CEF or CEFR), recommended by the Council of
Europe. It has been developed to serve many languages in various fields, and it is referred
to by language testers throughout Europe (few dozens of languages). The Association of
Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) uses it to develop language tests. CEFR popularity
is growing among language testers in Asia, too. Further, language proficiency and
learning techniques will be presented according to CEFR levels.
Practice – You Get What You Practice
As I mentioned above, language is not a science. It is a skill. To be more precise, it is a
set of skills. And like any other skill, to be developed, it should be practiced. You can
understand science. Understanding language rules and words meanings is crucial, too.
But afterwards, you must practice or drill their use. Mere understanding will not turn
you into a successful user. The written words will seem familiar, but “forgotten” and
spoken language will be hardly understood. Speaking and writing will stumble, at best.
An English proverb says: “Practice makes perfect”. There’s nothing more to add. Practice
and only practice brings good results. More practice brings perfect results.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 12
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
You get what you practice.
If you practice oral communication, then your oral communication will become perfect.
Practicing writing makes your writing perfect – fluent and correct. And so on. You get
what you practice. Practice up to “acceptable” and your skill will be “acceptable” – not
perfect. Practicing to “perfect” will make it “perfect”. Techniques that I present here must
be practiced – or you never get good results.
Words, Meanings, Dictionaries, Grammar
As I wrote above, communication consists of swapping ideas. A complete idea unit is
expressed by a sentence. A sentence consists of words. In a sentence each word has a
definite meaning.
Most words have a few meanings. Any meaning may relate to a person, an object, a
situation, an action, a process, a quality, an idea, a wish, or it may point at a relationship
between those (i.e. who is the doer and who is the receiver of action, etc). A word may
have a few exact meanings. And only one will fit the context. If you want to understand a
text or some speech, it is vital for you to know the exact, intended meaning of each word
in it. Unfamiliar or unknown words should be looked up in a dictionary immediately.
But it can happen that you come across a word, which is already familiar to you. And still
the phrase seems odd or far-fetched. This is a sure sign, that the word has been
misunderstood, or in other words, the meaning you already know does not fit this context.
Or, you maybe already know a few meanings of the word, but none of them fits the
context. The word has even more meanings, and one of them might apply to the context.
Don’t hesitate and look it up in your dictionary again. Find the meaning that fits the
context exactly, the meaning that does not make the context to seem odd or far-fetched.
It’s quite all right to look up one word for a few times. Our purpose is to understand the
meanings of the word. Not just to make the word “familiar” or to “memorize” the word.
It can happen that your dictionary has no meaning that seems to fit. There may be two
reasons for that. One – your dictionary is too small. It just doesn’t have that specific
meaning. Usually, small pocket dictionaries are not enough for any learning beyond the
Beginners level. Even for the Intermediate you need a bigger dictionary. The second
reason is that there has been another word in the text, which you haven’t understood
properly. Or, that you’ve got a wrong meaning of it. Find that word and clarify it. If you
don’t find the proper meaning, a misunderstood word will cause a gap or loss in
communication and the whole idea will be received incorrectly.
Some dictionaries provide just synonyms, and not explanations. That’s a mean con.
Synonym has ITS meaning, which is always a bit different.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 13
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
A good dictionary should have clear explanation of various meanings of each and every
word. The more precise and clear are the explanations, the better is the dictionary. And of
course, a good dictionary needs to have enough examples, how the word is used in
various contexts in various meanings. Fixed phrases with their meanings (idioms) should
be included, too.
Dictionaries are used to clarify the word’s meanings. Some of them contain more
meanings, others less. Some of them are written in plain language, others are not. You
purpose is to find the exact meaning that fits the exact context without getting lost. Find a
dictionary that fits best. There is a plenty of dictionaries in the Internet, too.
To form a sentence, words are ordered (and sometimes changed) according to certain
rules. So they convey some definite, intended meaning. These rules are called grammar.
Words and sentences that violate grammar rules will cause misunderstanding. Books on
grammar describe grammar rules, namely how you codify an idea (forming a sentence),
out of mere meanings (words).
Memorizing – Topics, Similarities, Differences
In order to facilitate memorizing and further usage of a word, a phrase or a grammar
structure, you should understand its similarities to and differences from another word or
structure that you already know. It is easier to learn languages which are similar to your
native one or to a language that you know well. Similarities are primary to differences.
First find identities and similarities to already known words or sounds or constructions. In
your memory the new word will get attached to a certain meaning (or meanings), evoked
by a familiar word. Then come the differences. Find the differences between the new
word and to some similar word, that you have found before. The two words may be
different in how they sound, but they may have exactly the same meanings. Or, one word
may be used when talking to friends, and another – when writing to officials.
This approach is valid for words’ meanings. It is valid for how a word sounds, too. It is
valid for phrases (groups of words having some specific meaning) and for grammar rules.
First find identity or similarity to something familiar, then the find the differences.
When you start to learn a completely new language, the words sound totally unfamiliar to
you. So, you may need to invent audible similarities. You find some similarly
pronounced words from your native language, which have different meaning, just sound
similarly. And then you link them to the target word, by means of inventing some
situation. This is mnemonic. For example, you may memorize a word “stol”, which
means “table” in Russian, and sounds like “stall” in English. So, you can imagine a table
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 14
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
standing in a stall. Or a Russian word “stakan”, a (drinking) glass, may be re-made up as
“stuck cun(ning)”. But mnemonic has its drawback. When using it too much, you may
start getting lost in all those images. And you cannot speak swiftly. So, use mnemonics
only in the beginning and only with words that seem to be too difficult to memorize them
otherwise. And once you can do without mnemonic, do without it.
Objects, situations, qualities or any other meanings never come alone. Thinking of a
swimming pool nearly always includes thinking also of water, humidity, people dressed
in bathing suits, swimming, jumping, sounds of splashes and other things which appear
most commonly in a swimming pool and which it is generally associated with. In order to
be memorized easier, new words should be related to one another, too. This is the issue of
“topics”. Words introduced during some certain unit of learning should be related in their
meanings as closely as possible to one specific situation or issue.
This does not mean in any way, that words introduced should be somehow related
grammatically! Introducing NEW words according to their grammatical features will
confuse you and will cause you unnecessary hardships. Classifying a word according to
its grammatical features should be done only after the word’s meaning is learnt and the
word is properly practiced and memorized. This is good for grammar learning – not for
words learning. You would rarely think of a goose in association with a tooth. Yet, after
both words are memorized and attached each one to its proper situations, they may and
should be grouped grammatically: goose – geese, tooth – teeth.
This is true about word formation, too. You should never introduce new words related
only by their word formation similarities. Meanings of those simple words which are a
part of a complex one will most probably be unrelated. So they should be well known
before. Example: You already know the words education, population, illumination,
invention. THEN you may learn at once the words educate, invent, populate, and
illuminate.
This is true about learning words by the ABC. Many people get that weird idea, that once
you’ve learnt the dictionary by heart, you might know “all the language”. That is false. A
dictionary is the most useful tool, when you want to clarify a meaning of a word. But you
should never try to learn dictionary pages by heart. For one single and sufficient reason:
Words grouped by alphabet are mostly unrelated in their meanings.
Word Importance – Meaning’s Frequency
Data in this section relate closely to Levels, but due to its importance by itself, I’ll
describe it separately.
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Importance in this case will be defined as how frequently a word or its specific
meaning is used in common situations and how essential that word/meaning is, when
you need to form phrases in those situations. In other words, how often do you come
across that specific word, used in that specific meaning. This applies to words as well as
to grammar structures. Importance is tightly related to situations. Situations are related to
life and to learner’s level. Life situations which occur more frequently to a beginning
learner, like sightseeing, are not necessarily more common to an advanced learner.
Beginners will rarely need to discuss peculiarities of local politics or the latest film with
their local friends in much detail. More examples: There is a series of words important
for operating machinery at a factory. The situation (operating machinery at that specific
factory) is common only if a learner works at that factory. Then, these words should be
learnt at the beginners’ level. Else they should not be learned up to native level and even
that may be unnecessary. Beginners are expected to be more often involved in eating out
situations than in activities related to cooking gourmet dishes. For an intermediate learner
these two activities may be of the same importance.
It is because of this importance principle, that learning the words according to some
grammatical or dictionary lists usually fails. Dictionary is a reference tool, not a textbook,
and it should be used as such. You may memorize many words, learning by heart the
whole pages from a dictionary, but you will hardly use them. Each word, each meaning
has different importance. Moreover, thinking up each time a different situations for
unrelated words is more difficult, than just taking one situation and learning all the words
that you may come across in THAT situation. Overlooking the importance principle
will unnecessarily complicate language learning and may stop it at all.
Everyday Culture – Related to Language
One of Merriam-Webster definitions for “culture” says: … the characteristic features of
everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time
Merriam-Webster
Each language reflects everyday culture of its society. Each object used within the
society, each more or less popular idea, each situation which commonly occurs – they all
need to get a name or a description. So, the language immediately follows any changes of
society’s rites, ways, technology or ideas.
For some societies the most common water sources will be a spring or a well. And you
will need to learn these words as quickly as possible. In other societies, faucet or tap will
be more common. In some languages you will not need the words like “beer” or “wine” –
you just don’t get any spirits around. For some languages you may not need words for
maize or bread, but you will immediately need a few words for different sorts of rice.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 16
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Moreover, each society has its ways of courtesy. Although grammatically correct, some
expressions and phrases will be just considered “impolite” or “rude”. So the phrases
should be learnt exactly as they are used in the language BY native language users.
Or “that’s the way we use to say it”. Many jokes about foreigners are based on cultural
differences and the manner of expressing the same things. Two persons of different
cultures may say exactly the same words, but the meaning will be just the opposite. Just
an example: You guess that your Russian pal has borrowed your pen, without you letting
him do that. The Russian may say “I needed your pen!” or something like “Very much I
needed your pen!” And he intends: “I DIDN’T need your pen AT ALL! And stop
bothering me on that!” Just the opposite! And to understand correctly you should not just
listen to the music of language, but you must know that specific cultural point.
A good textbook will teach you the main cultural aspects of the target language society.
There are many books on different cultures, too. The last resort may be a local, who will
be tolerant enough to understand you are not brutally rude, but just a learner.
What to Learn, and How As promised above, in this section I order the techniques according to the levels at which
they are used.
Beginners Level
This is the level, where you set your basics. This is where you learn to express your
wishes and observations in the target language, although in the most primitive way. It is
extremely important to start speaking with proper accent from the very beginning. Most
common cultural issues and non-verbal communication are studied here, too.
Main Targets for This Level
The Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) defines Beginners language
skills as follows:
A2:
Speaking/Listening: CAN express simple opinions or requirements in a familiar context.
Reading: CAN understand straightforward information within a known area, such as on
products and signs and simple textbooks or reports on familiar matters.
Writing CAN complete forms and write short simple letters or postcards related to
personal information.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 17
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A1:
Speaking/Listening: CAN understand basic instructions or take part in a basic factual
conversation on a predictable topic.
Reading: CAN understand basic notices, instructions or information.
Writing: CAN complete basic forms, and write notes including times, dates and places.
It is extremely important to start speaking with proper accent from the very beginning.
Most common cultural issues and non-verbal communication should be studied here, too.
Words – From Life Situations
As a rule of thumb, 150-300 for A1 level, 300-900 for A2
Trying to set an exact number of words for any level is rather difficult and useless. In
order to acquire the same skills, some languages will require more words than others –
just because of their grammar or the quantity of meanings their words usually have.
At this level you better learn words as a part of fixed phrases and sentences. At this level
you generally have very little (if any) experience with how the language sounds – which
sounds often come together, and which don’t. So, you may use mnemonics, especially at
A1 level. Use only bilingual dictionaries. If you still want to use a monolingual
dictionary, it should have VERY many pictures. But even that may be not enough for
explaining abstract meanings or situations. All the explanations, therefore, should be
done in your native language, or at least in another language, that you know well.
There are theories that say you should hear only target language around, and all the
explanation should be done in it. Like native language toddlers. But, what these theories
DON’T say is that toddlers usually have a few years just to learn the language, and even
after that they go to school and learn the language for even longer. Do you have, let’s say
at least four spare years just to learn to speak like a 6-year old? And at least 8 years more
to learn to speak like an educated adult?
Toddlers should not just learn the words and how to build up sentences; they are learning
objects, situations etc, too. As a second language learner, you usually know the names of
most of the objects in your native language, so why should the task be additionally
complicated? You usually don’t have that much time as toddlers have (a few years for
learning a language). Showing a table or a window and naming them in the target
language is very good. Walking a few steps and saying “go” in the target language only –
would be fun. But it will be a waste of time, if your teacher spends an hour, trying to
mimic meanings like “but” or “how”. Instead of just spending a couple of minutes and
explaining them in your native language. And some grammar constructions will take
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 18
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even more time. So, the most effective solution for this level will be explanation in your
native language. And then drill the phrase in the target language!
The best way to learn words is to take part in (or create together with the teacher) exact
life situations. You may take your teacher to a restaurant or rent a room together. You
may play some movement games, but make sure you properly understand each word
FIRST. Words will be learnt easier if summarized (orally or written down in a copy
book) according to their topics.
Never let yourself guess about the meaning of a word. Look it up in a dictionary and
choose the meaning that fits best to the context. Some words are slightly more difficult to
memorize or to understand, and you may discover, you need to look them up again and
again. There’s nothing strange about it (or about your language abilities). However, if
you seem to always forget the same meaning of a specific word, look it up in another
dictionary. Maybe you will find a better explanation there.
Grammar – Complex Is Best, Drilling Makes Easy
You should learn to build up complex sentences at this level. You should know how the
words change, when connected to other words. That means you should learn at least 95%
of grammar structures used in spoken language on day-to-day basis.
From the very beginning, sentences should NOT be simple! Complex sentences (those
consisting of two or more simple ones – clauses), are more meaningful, thus more
interesting. You should make them up from the very beginning. Simple sentences don’t
provide logical reasons and consequences. They are usually less interesting. Actually,
sentences structures (syntax) should be presented as quickly as possible. Don’t be afraid
of conjunctions, BUT they should be classified and explained properly (i.e.: “because”:
after this word stands the reason for what was said before it; “but”: is used to imply that
what goes after it is somewhat unexpected; etc). The same with word changes within a
sentence (morphology). Pronouns require more practice to be grasped, so more
explanation and more drilling should be done to the sentences containing pronouns.
Various aspects of words use, multiple meanings of a word, pronouns – that should be
explained with many examples; demonstrations with objects or within real life situations
will be best.
A teacher or a textbook will be crucial for grammar learning at this stage.
And a lot of drilling.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 19
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Speaking and Listening Drills – Wardrobe, Re-Hearing, Fetching
At this level, oral communication is the best way of passing information. It is more
important than reading or writing at this stage. In a native way, toddlers usually hear their
native language and start to speak much earlier than they start to learn reading.
Listening and speaking practice will be best done in the following way: The teacher
explains a sentence, word by word, sound by sound, slowly, providing some mnemonics
if needed, or providing similarities to an already known language. Simulating the
situations, performing related activities, pointing to the objects will be best. But
clarifications should be done in your native language. The words meanings should be
clarified (most common and general at this level; special meanings – only if explicitly
needed). Grammar structures should be clarified, too. Repeat each word slowly, carefully
pronounce each sound. Then say the whole sentence to another learner. If you are drilling
on your own, you may drill with any big object, big enough. It can be a cabinet, or a desk,
a closet, or even a wall. The object must be 1) big enough, 2) it should be at your eyes
height, 3) it shouldn’t move, and 4) it shouldn’t have anything written or printed on it.
That’s why the computer display or a TV-set may only do if they are turned off. A book
will not do. It is small and it has printed words. Let’s say, you are drilling with a
wardrobe. Repeat the sentence to the wardrobe again and again until it goes without
hesitation, stumbling or any other difficulty. If you feel it is difficult to pronounce the
whole sentence, drill parts of it first. Than reconnect the parts and drill the whole
sentence.
Then you start to drill listening. The teacher says the sentence faster, changes intonations,
reduces sounds – the way native speakers use to say it fast. Sounding different voices
would be best (in a prepared course). You should be able to say this sentence to your
partner (or to the wardrobe) without doubt and at any pace. You may also learn to
properly reduce the sounds as native speakers do. The purpose is to learn to hear the
words said in different ways by different speakers / voices and to say them like a native
speaker. Common native speakers’ mistakes may be explained, but the correct standard
form is more important. Drill with your partner or against the wardrobe to perfection.
Generally, the perfection level that you obtain with this drilling, determines your
future speaking fluency. The better you drill now, the better and swifter you can a
sentence to your pal or to the wardrobe, the better you will speak the language in future.
It will be just much easier for you to speak ever since. It’s like your tongue will learn to
speak correctly, on its own. And YOU don’t need to think HOW to say, you will be free
to think WHAT to say. You don’t think HOW to pronounce something in your native
language, do you? You rarely need to stop and think about a word in most day-to-day
situations. You just speak your native language. You have drilled these sentences through
your life. You have said them in various ways since you were a child. And now your
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 20
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tongue speaks perfectly. The same thing about the language you are learning. You need
to drill it enough. And this drilling brings you to perfection.
After drilling a few sentences (a short dialog or so), you may make up your own similar
sentences, or recite the dialog or the story in your own words.
If no teacher is available, but there’s an audio file with its transcript (written text) instead,
listen to the audio file and follow the text, phrase by phrase, until you hear properly and
understand each word in this phrase, even if it is reduced, or said quickly or pronounced
“improperly”. If you haven’t understood exactly what has been said, just stop your
recording and look it up in your transcript. Then return a couple of seconds back and
listen again.
While listening to the recording, you should be able to repeat what has been said there.
Exactly the way it has been SAID. (And not just the way it has been WRITTEN in the
transcript!) If you can’t repeat it exactly the way it has been said or if you don’t
understand how those sounds correspond to what the word should be “according to the
rules or to the book”, just listen to it again and again. Until you immediately understand
what has been said, and you get used to THAT way of saying it. Then, after you have
clarified the whole recording, listen to it a few more times. Don’t hesitate to look up in
your transcript, any time you mis-hear anything (do not exactly understand what you’ve
just heard). Listening is a skill, too. And it is best drilled this way.
After you’ve drilled SAYING and HEARING phrases, you may need to drill to fetch
them – recall the proper phrase in the proper situation. Or reply with a proper answer to a
specific question. Your textbook glossary for the lesson you’ve learnt, may help you best.
A very good “fetching” drill is done with a recording. Record the phrases in your native
language, at random, and leave a few seconds in between. Then, while you are listening
to your recording, you will translate these phrases or reply to the questions. Make sure
that your recording prompts you to say every new phrase a few times throughout the
recording.
Example: you are learning the question “How is the weather today?” and the answers:
“It’s raining today”, “it’s cold today” and “the weather is fine today”.
So, your recording goes like this:
(In the target language: ) How is the weather today? – (Pause, to let yourself reply in the
target language)
(In your native language: ) How do you say, it’s cold today? - (Pause, to let yourself reply
in the target language)
(In your native language: ) Ask about the weather! - (Pause to let yourself ask about the
weather)
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 21
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(In your native language: ) It’s cool. How is the weather today? (Pause to let yourself say
in the target language that it is cool today)
(In your native language: ) How do you say: “It’ rains today”? (Pause to let yourself say
in the target language that it’s raining)
And so on.
Accent – How Do You Master It
Pay attention to the proper accent from the very beginning. It will be much more
difficult to re-learn it later.
Generally accent consists of three parts: music of the language, pace and articulation.
Music of the language consists of which sounds are pronounced stronger or weaker, and
what is the relative (audio) pitch of a sound. Do you pronounce it higher or lower than
other sounds in the phrase? Music of the language may be specially drilled with
“howling” – teacher exaggeratedly howls the intonations and you howl them after the
teacher. Sometimes a single vocal may start at relatively low pitch, then the pitch goes up
and then down. The importance of music of language is explicitly stressed in Chinese,
Vietnamese, Thai, and many African languages. These languages are considered to be
“tonal”. The whole meaning of a word may change due to different music of language. In
other languages it is not that crucial, but it affects the meaning anyway. Example: You
aren’t hungry, are you? – If the pitch for “are you” goes up, you want to know if the
person is hungry. If the pitch for “are you” goes down, you suppose that the person is
NOT hungry and you just want a confirmation of it.
Some parts of a sentence, or even of a single word, are said faster than others. And
sometimes a stop should be done. Stops don’t need to be only at the end of a sentence.
They may be in the middle of a word, too. That’s all about pace.
Articulation is by itself nothing but creating sounds with your vocal chords, tongue and
lips. Yet your lower jaw and your throat are related to the process, too. Generally, in
order to properly articulate words, you should master proper positioning and proper
movements of the tongue (its various parts – tip, middle and back) and lips, with respect
to other parts of the mouth. Try moving your jaws, try speaking while with the tip of the
tongue is at the upper palate or at the lower palate or near the upper or lower teeth. Place
the back of the tongue properly, too. Once the native reduction of words starts to seem
most natural for that specific placement, you may be sure you are on the right way.
Mastering proper articulation, pace and music of language would be a significant step for
a learner towards being accepted as a native speaker. Rather, accepted in the native
society. Foreign accent will be excused to a beginner. But it won’t be tolerated to an
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 22
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intermediate or advanced learner – they will always sound like “beginners” and treated as
“beginners” no matter how correctly they speak. Unfortunately, it is much easier to
acquire proper accent at the Beginners level, than at any other. The importance of
mastering the proper accent is often underestimated during language courses or in
textbooks, so I want to specially stress this datum here.
Proper accent can never be explained in books. Like it’s practically impossible to explain
basic colors. It should be demonstrated. However, proper mouth positioning for a specific
language may be described. Probably, one day I’ll do a research about accents.
In order to drill the correct accent you will need an audio recording and an audio recorder
for yourself. A transcript is highly advised, too. First, listen to the recording, phrase by
phrase, and mark the music of the language and the pace you hear. Mark the words that
are pronounced in some unexpected or “wrong” way. Mark exactly what you hear. Then
listen to a phrase of no longer than 1.5-2 seconds, and then say it yourself. Record
yourself saying it and listen to it immediately. Hearing yourself speaking a foreign
language may be fun! Or, it may be funny – it differs THAT much from the original
recording! Pay attention to the music of the language and the pace. Simulate them. Play
them. Be an actor and act the character of your recording. While you are speaking, try to
change the position of your tongue or lips. Take notice, when you sound more closely to
the recording. And please, remember: Most important accent work should be done at this
level. From the very beginning! It will be much more difficult to get rid of a “bad”
accent, than to acquire the right one from the very beginning.
As for myself, I had learnt two languages without paying attention to the correct accent.
Indeed, I just bypassed the whole accent issue about these two. And I could never acquire
proper pronunciation ever since. My grammar, vocabulary and cultural knowledge
increased, one to advanced, another to intermediate. But once I open my mouth, native
speakers hear immediately where do I come from and often treat me as a “learner”.
Reading and Writing – Don’t Dig Too Deep
At this level written communication is less important than oral communication. However,
at A1 alphabet may be introduced and a few most common and important signs should be
read. Reading and writing will be somewhat more stressed at A2. Here you should know
to read and write the words and sentences that you have already learnt. However,
throughout the whole A level, words should be better presented orally. The reason is, that
the sound “a” in the language you are trying to learn, sounds usually NOT exactly the
same as “a” in your native language. The same is true about “B”, “CH”, etc. Close as it
can be, IT IS NEVER EXACTLY THE SAME! So, a written word will just confuse you.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 23
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You better start to learn reading and writing only AFTER you’ve mastered proper
pronunciation. The letters will then not confuse you. Letters reflect pronunciation
approximately, they rather imply it. Moreover, pronunciation of a word may be affected
by other words around, or by the whole meaning of the sentence. The same word may be
uttered SLIGHTLY OR SIGNIFICANTLY different in various cases. Letters rarely
represent sounds to THAT extent.
Reading may be done aloud as well as silently. When you are drilling READING, you
are not drilling PRONUNCIATION. You have drilled oral communication before, now
it’s just about reading. Read a text again and again until you recognize and understand
immediately each one of the encountered words.
Writing may be drilled as follows: look into the textbook you have used to drill reading,
memorize a simple sentence, put the book aside and write the sentence in your copy-book
or type it (with all your fingers!) on a PC. You better drill typing up to the point when
you are typing without hesitation, stumbling or any other difficulty. You may drill all the
sentences you come across in your textbook, but you might first drill those you need to
fulfill the requirements described in “The Main Targets for This Level”.
Non-Verbal Communication and Culture – Let’s Play
It is a good time to learn gestures and mimics accepted in the target society. Properly
using gestures makes life much easier, even without knowing a language and helps to
evade confusing situations. It would be a good relaxation pause during the lesson, too.
Actually, all important non-verbal communication should be learnt at this level.
At this level, your teacher or your course book should introduce, in your native language,
the cultural similarities and differences between your native and target cultures, on the
issues related to day-to-day life activities.
Most common filler words and exclamations should be introduced, too. Play them. Act
them. Live them through. Feel their emotions and give them back.
Word games for toddlers may be an excellent (but insufficient) tool for easier language
learning.
Intermediate level
CEFR B1-B2
This is the level, where you may (although, not advised to) start learning without a
teacher or a textbook. The guidelines provided below will make your learning easier.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 24
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At this level you expand significantly your vocabulary, acquire reading and writing skills,
drill speaking, listening, and express yourself correctly on much more issues.
Main Targets for This Level
B2:
Speaking/Listening: CAN follow or give a talk on a familiar topic or keep up a
conversation on a fairly wide range of topics.
Reading: CAN scan texts for relevant information, and understand detailed instructions or
advice.
Writing: CAN make notes while someone is talking or write a letter including non-
standard requests.
B1:
Speaking/Listening: CAN express opinions on abstract/cultural matters in a limited way
or offer advice within a known area, and understand instructions or public
announcements.
Reading: CAN understand routine information and articles, and the general meaning of
non-routine information within a familiar area.
Writing: CAN write letters or make notes on familiar or predictable matters.
Words: 1200 (i.e. Chinese) – 4000 (i.e. German) – Depends on the language.
Grammar: Proper usage of the words, their forms and their connections with other words
Cultural: Insight into the history and geography of the target country, rituals and
important dates celebrated or observed in the society, the most popular songs and stories.
Words and Grammar – Build Up Your Vocabulary, Use a Dictionary
This is the level, where the main target is expanding your vocabulary and using the words
correctly. Proper dictionary use is a must. A simple dictionary will not be enough any
longer. A bilingual dictionary is still preferable. NEVER try to guess the meaning of a
word from its context! In some RARE cases you may succeed, but in most cases you will
remain unsure about it and you will end up hardly using this word in your speech. A
much more ridiculous situation will occur, if you guess the meaning incorrectly and start
using the word that way, odd for a native speaker. This may definitely bring you into
unpleasant situations, the least of which is that you will be sneered at.
There’s no place for guesses in language learning! If in smallest doubt, look it up in
a dictionary.
What concerns the grammar, the main point at this level is to use correct words, correct
word forms and build up correct phrases with them. You have learnt to build up sentences
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 25
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in the Beginners level. Now your vocabulary expands and you should use it correctly.
Pay most attention to the way the words are connected to one another in phrases. Correct
use of prepositions and pronouns becomes more important at this level. Word formation
is important, too.
Keep your own vocabulary. Make it in the following way:
Your vocabulary will consist of four parts:
1. Words part – this one contains words only. It is the biggest part and it will be
described further in more detail.
2. Phrases part – this one contains idiomatic expressions, sayings and proverbs.
3. Grammar part – this one contains data on how you build up phrases with the
word. Which prepositions do you use to connect the word with others (work on a
project / work with a colleague / work at a big company; dependent on him; in a
house, in a meadow, in a forest, at the seaside, at a bus stop, etc); conjunctions
use, and their effect on sentence structure, etc.
4. Exceptions part – this one contains morphological (word forms) exceptions or
peculiarities – irregular verbs with their conjugations, irregular or non-obvious
plural forms of nouns, etc.
Building up the Words part: This is the biggest part. It contains all the words that
you have learnt or encountered. It should be divided by topics, so that each new
word and new meaning (!) of an “old” word is entered according to its topic.
Topics should reflect all possible life situations and/or activities. There will be
general topics, like “Activities”, “Society”, “Travel”, which may include sub-
topics as “Interactions between people”, “Social relations and positions”, “Lands
and peoples” respectively. Words in each of the described above subtopics would
be “support, warn, care”, “friend, leader, duty”, “Englishman, Europe, Asian”.
You will see the list of topics in the next section. Be careful: many words have
different meanings, each one applicable to a different subtopic (The Cross –
religion, a cross – symbols and forms, to cross – movement, e.g. to cross a street).
This word should appear in each one of these subtopics with a meaning,
applicable for that specific subtopic.
The theoretical basis for such division is described in section “Memorizing”
Look up in a dictionary each new word or meaning that you encounter, check
other meanings of an already familiar word, and write them down into applicable
subtopics. Idioms in which this word makes a part should be clarified as well and
written in “Phrases” part, aspects on the word use in alliance with others should
be written in “Grammar” part and if this word has any irregular or special form, it
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(that form) would be written down in “Exceptions” part. Only a dictionary
providing all this data will be considered a good / appropriate one.
Other parts: After you have entered a word to the “Words” part, you may need to
add some grammar notes about that word in the “Grammar” part, or that word
may be some grammar exception. When you are entering it into “Grammar” or
any other part, write down at which page, or under which topic does this word or
meaning appear at the “Words” part. It will help you later.
Compare the word to its synonyms and antonyms that you have already in your
vocabulary. The point here is to pay attention to similarities and differences
between words with respect to their use. Pay special attention to the differences
between synonyms. Differences between ANTONYMS are more obvious, but
just differences between synonyms will help you to understand the exact idea of
the meaning for both the word and its synonym.
Make up a few sentences with the newly acquired word according to each
subtopic it is entered into. You may imagine or remember a situation in his life, in
which this word would be applicable.
You can enrich your vocabulary by reading or by listening. However, if you are listening
to a text and you hear a word you don’t know or don’t quite understand how it relates to
the context, you need somebody near you, a teacher or a native speaker, who can
immediately explain, what you have misunderstood. If you are learning on your own, use
only a printed text or a transcribed recording.
I would not recommend a text that contains more than 8% of unknown or misunderstood
words. Keep in mind that a word may be already familiar to you, but in this specific
context it may have a different meaning, so you need to look it up in the dictionary. After
having clarified all the words as described above, re-read or re-hear the text, sentence by
sentence. Until you can read (or hear) and immediately understand each and every
word, everything you hear. Then drill the sentences with your pal or against a wardrobe
as described in the Beginners section. Then drill writing: read a sentence, set the text
aside and type or write the sentence yourself. Work through the whole text this way.
Afterwards, tell your own story on the same topic, using the words you’ve learnt from the
text. A story may consist of up to 10 sentences. A teacher or a native speaker should
correct any mistake immediately and you should immediately redo the sentence error-
free. The story should be re-told up to fluency and perfection. Then write down your
story. A teacher or a native speaker should correct any mistake immediately. Re-write the
story or certain sentences from it until they are error-free. Then, a teacher may tell you
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his own story on the same topic and then you may discuss with the teacher both stories –
yours and your teacher’s. Discussion-related phrases may be a separate topic by itself.
Choose texts for learning from teenage or (rarely and only those simplest) women
magazines. They might include topics on Human Body and Personality, Personal Care,
House and Home, Family and Relationships, Economy and Politics (only most basic day-
to-day issues), Social Institutions and Social Issues, Vacations and Travel. These can be
modern short stories for children and teenagers. For listening practice, stories and audio
plays intended for children and (rarely and only those simplest) for teenagers may be
chosen, as audio texts are generally more difficult then written ones. Learning popular
poems and songs by heart and reciting them to yourself is very useful, as it sets many
commonly used phrases in. By the way, this tool is used by many educational systems to
improve native language skills of a student. Moreover, you will be able to understand /
quote phrases or rhymes, that only native speakers are expected to known. This brings
you much closer to the native speaker level and you will be treated as such. Proper
vocabulary work should be observed, while working with any text.
At this stage, the best way you can use a teacher or a native speakers is to ask them to
correct your mistakes immediately. As well, swap ideas or narrations with native
speakers and hold informal discussions with them.
Continue using audio recordings as I describe it in the Beginners section.
More on Meanings
At this level you expand your vocabulary significantly. You need to understand lots of
new words. It is a widely spread stereotype, that one should “memorize words”. That’s
false. It is not about words – it is all about meanings. One word usually has a few distinct
meanings. When you hear or read a word, you must immediately fetch the meaning,
which the speaker or the writer intended. And on the opposite side, when you are the
speaker or the writer, once you think of some idea, you need to fetch correct words,
corresponding to this idea. We are not dealing with words. We are dealing with ideas
and meanings which are practically the same. And we use words as substitutes for
them. We represent meanings by words. And sometimes one meaning may be
represented with a group of words.
When we speak our native language, we usually don’t have any problems about fetching
words for our ideas or about getting the correct meaning of a word, we have just heard or
read. We have actually drilled it through the whole life.
And when we learn a new language, we still need to drill it. The first step is to
understand, which meaning will be represented by a word. Each word may represent a
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few distinct meanings. And when you are making your vocabulary, make it according to
the meanings. It will be a meanings-based-vocabulary, not words-based.
To help you to understand exactly each meaning that you see in a dictionary for that
specific word, I advise you to classify the meanings into groups.
A meaning may represent:
a) A person (or an animal): man, John, old lady
b) An object: table, car, mobile phone, a piece of writing
c) A situation: representation, official (related to authorities), place, setting
d) An action / activity of a person: to write, to cut out, negotiations, handle
(something)
e) A process: rain, to rain, to burn, to turn into something
f) A quality or an ability: imagination, lively, funny,
g) A thought or a belief: to think of, a wish, morality,
h) A mental state or emotion: fun, exhausted
i) It may point at a relationship between those above (i.e. who is the doer and who is
the receiver of action, etc): because, in, at on, etc.
As you see, this grouping of MEANINGS is hardly related to the common grouping of
WORDS into parts of speech.
Topics List for Your Vocabulary
Below is the list of topics that your vocabulary may contain. This is an approximate list.
Although I haven’t thought up anything better. So, you may definitely use it. This
grouping is rather arbitrary, and some meanings (even meanings!) may belong to more
than one topic or fall somewhere in between. Anyway, this is a general pattern and you
decide where each meaning you have just learnt belongs. Here are the topics.
1. Movements/Rest: come, go, step, fall down, slip, lie (somewhere), hang (an object
is hanging), drive a car, turn around, rock (from side to side – a person or an
object rocks themselves)
2. Movement of things: bring, take, send, hang (somebody hangs something), rock
(something, from side to side)
3. Give and Take: get, receive, provide, need, propose (an object to somebody),
hand in
4. Activities performed on objects: pour (liquid), bend, mix, close, pierce, divide
(into pieces), break, responsibility, consuming, melt (you melt something), burn
(you burn something)
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5. Plans and realizations: try, succeed, make, perform (some activity), take care (of
something), activity, project, failure (result of some activity)
6. Objects' qualities: big, small, hot, soft, hard, liquid, dry, loose (not tight), solid
7. Objects' qualities changes: burn (an object burns itself), melt (object melts itself),
stretch out, break (object breaks)
8. Qualities of activities: exact, somehow, unchanged, profoundly, this way (how is
something done)
9. Order and dependencies: reason (for something to happen), why?, depend on
(something), trigger (a reaction), difference (between something and something
else), on the opposite side, relate (how 2 processes or things relate one to
another), similarity, order (everything is placed in order), except (something),
exception, lack (an objects should be somewhere, but it lacks),
10. Language, Speaking, Information: speak, joke, voice, tell (a story), story (which is
told), shout, explain (some idea), express (some idea), pronunciation, consult, ask,
warn (somebody on something), news, advice, point (to something), show
(something)
11. Read and Write: read, read out, pencil, handwriting, word, note (a piece of paper),
note (to write a note), book, desk
12. Opinions: agree (with somebody), explain, persuade, to my mind, sure, suppose,
so-called, argument, judgment, mistake, question, critics, sincere, like (approve of
some idea or person’s behavior), complicated, consider (anything to be
something), advantage, probably, surely, claim (say that anything is something),
believe (have some idea), nonsense
13. Wishes and orders: claim (demand), demand, beg, forbidden, propose, succumb,
beg your pardon, obey, permission
14. Time: Sunday, winter, weekly, last year, on the 2-nd of December, date, each
morning, quarter past 5, current (happening now), past (what has already been),
go on (some period of time), start (some period of time), next (in time), later,
yesterday, first (in time), then (order according to time), always, until, as long as
…
15. Quantity, count, weights, comparison: group, one third, piece (of something),
majority, number, digit, plus, hardly (some quantity), pair (i.e. of socks or gloves),
8, 148, measure, weight, kilogram, litre, contain (some quantity inside), weigh,
contains (of something), full, empty, most, totally, very, many, much, how much,
exactly
16. Space and forms: above, over, below, back (direction), inside, side, narrow, wide,
depth, dimensions, left/right, middle (of something), height, straight (not bent),
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sharp, corner, cross (form), bow (form), flat (horizontal, without slopes), slope
(curvature), ring (a form)
17. Colours, light and sounds: dark, bright (not dark), pale, green, yellow, ring (a bell
rings), harsh (sound, light), loud
18. Human Body and Anatomy: heart (an organ), lungs, face, finger, foot, breath,
sweat, blood, look (when a person looks somehow), pretty (of person’s body),
plump, posture (of a body), lose weight
19. Body functions and the five senses: see (only visually), hear, sleep, dream (while
sleeping), wake up (only physiologically), taste (sense), feel cold, tear (which
falls out of an eye)
20. Feelings and emotions: happy, glad, nervous, love, lust, anxious, afraid (of
something), fear, ashamed, pleasure
21. Intellectual faculties and activities: hope, idea, clever, experience, think, imagine,
imagination, ability, decide, choose
22. Personality: moody, nosy, honest, have guts (to do something), will (ability to
choose and decide), self-discipline, determinate
23. Personal care: wash, shower (to wash our body), comb, shave, make-up (that you
put on your face)
24. Health and sickness: healthy, pill, wound, cough, pain (physical), catch cold,
faint, poison
25. Food, cooking, drinks, smoking: cook, receipt, fork, bread, fish (food), meat
(food), apple, nut (as food), milk, tea, bottle, beer, pipe (that you can smoke),
cigarette, lighter, kettle, pan (that you use for cooking)
26. Clothes and adornments: pullover, shoes, trousers, pants, necklace, ring (that you
wear on your finger), watch (that you wear on your wrist), fashion, put on (a
cloth), take off
27. House and yard: window, wall, living-room, entrance, porch, hedge, floor, ring
(the bell), rent, room (a piece of a house), closet, kitchen, bake (to bake cakes),
oven, roast
28. Housekeeping: bed, pillow, lamp, wardrobe, dust (that you must wipe away), to
dust (to actually wipe dust away), pail, keys, hook, hammer, scissors, box, broom,
wash-machine
29. Personal identification and life stages: child, woman, have a baby, age (of a
person), first/last name, become 65 years old, gender (biological), born in … ,
dead, grave (where someone is buried), last will
30. Chances and fate: chance, state (a situation that a person is a part of), save
(somebody from danger), luck, victim, horoscope
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31. Family and relations: daughter, husband, friend, divorce, wedding, relative,
friend, enemy (personal), love, hate, attraction (to somebody)
32. Social positions and behaviours: society, manager, status, poverty, wealthy, duty
(personal, to somebody), obligation (towards a person), trust (somebody), expect
(from somebody), thank (to somebody), frighten (somebody), support
(somebody), tolerate (somebody), help, influence (of somebody over somebody
else), lead (somebody somewhere)
33. Contacts and gatherings: invite, party, guest, get acquainted, present (somebody to
somebody else), present (a gift), entertain
34. Employment and professions: peasant, technician, engineer, doctor, work as … ,
assistant, start at … (begin to work), employee, recruit, office, salary,
negotiations, holidays/vacations, apply for a vacancy
35. Money and possessions: coin, loan (money), payment, bank, bank counter,
cheque, debt, bank account
36. Businesses and customers: serve (the clients), assist (clients), in stock (available),
pay, advertise, customer, price (money you should pay to buy something),
sell/buy, receipt
37. Economy: industry, competition (between businesses), taxes, advertisement, stock
exchange, insurance, ship (send goods to the buyer), deliver (goods somewhere)
38. Computers, Phones, Post: display, email, software, mobile phone, phone number,
post box, post office, stamp, parcel
39. Mass media: newspaper, TV, presenter, talk-show, publish, broadcast, reality,
columnist
40. Law and authorities: form (that you fill up), document, personal ID, license,
permit, fill up, report (when you tell the authorities, what you’ve seen or heard),
register (let the authorities know you have something), court of law, lawyer,
prosecution, suspect, police, break in (enter somewhere illegally), detain (arrest),
witness
41. State and politics: elections, homeland, immigrant, nation, freedom, boarder, king,
spy, demonstration, communism
42. War and peace: insurgency, bomb, soldier, peace talks, agreement (between
countries), winner, hero, attack, occupy, refugees
43. School, Education and Science: class (room), classes (courses), theme (of a
lecture), chemistry, university, homework, research, methods, preschool, exam,
degree
44. Faith and religion: soul (of a person, as regarded by religion), sin, the Bible,
Islam, God, prophet, reincarnation, festival, deity, scripture
45. Healthcare and hospital: doctor, prescription, pharmacy, injection, vaccine,
surgery
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46. Hobbies and pastimes: swim, take pictures, collection of stamps, game (that you
play), outdoors, puzzle, dance
47. Sports: team (sports), ball, play football, tennis, ride a bicycle, record (the best
sports achievement), contest (sport), swimming-pool
48. Fine arts and literature: artist, painting, brush (which you paint with), mosaic,
character, plot, novel, irony
49. Performing arts: music, theatre, films, actor, stages (in a theatre), spectator,
costumes, opera, choir, applause, sing (perform as a singer), reader, comedy,
violin, drums, script (of a film), jazz, circus
50. City and village: sky-scraper, community (people who live at one place), street,
monument, fountain, mill (where grain is milled into flour), castle, tower (high
structure), Zoo, area (of land), barn, fence
51. Traffic: crossroads, traffic lights, accident (when cars collide), highway, taxi,
make a U-turn, detour, bus ticket, park (to leave your car somewhere), speed, bus,
tractor, motorbike, flat tyre, petrol/gas station, bonnet/hood, back light, seat (in a
car or a bus)
52. Travel and transportation: luggage, departure/arrival, hotel, passport, visa, book (a
room in a hotel), arrive/depart, high season, suitcase, stay (in a hotel), airport,
flight attendant, captain, cruise ship, crash (an airplane), sink (a ship), railway
station, compartment (in a train), travel agency
53. Landscape: fresh air, mountain, island, river, forest, seaside, park, view (what you
see somewhere), sand, storm, desert, horizon, pit (hole in the ground), path (where
you go)
54. Countries and Nations: the UK, England, Russia, Chinese, American (a person),
Asian (widespread in Asia)
55. The World: North, East, temperature, the Sun, the Earth, planet, atmosphere,
ocean, South-East Asia, North America, the Pacific
56. Animals: cow, bear, bird, monkey, tiger, butterfly, love bug, ant, kitten, whale,
salmon, farm, stall (for horses), feed (give food to animals)
57. Plants: tree, crops, bush, stalk (of a plant), carrots, legumes, fruit, mushroom,
field, flower bed, plantation, plant (to make plants grow), water (pour water to
plants)
58. Climate and weather: ice, snow, cool/hot/cold/wet (weather), cloud, mist, frost,
sandstorm, wind, thunderbolt
59. Machinery: motor, machine, function (a machine operates), model (of a machine),
voltage, electric, turn on/off (make a machine start/stop operating), rust, wire
(electrical), board (a piece of wood) , screw and nut, waterproof, sealed
60. Materials and substances: plastic, oil (from ground), wool, cotton, leather, metal,
tin (material), wood (material), gas (a substance in gaseous stat), brick, mud
(material), furnace
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Accent – Even More Important
In order to sound “natural” while speaking a language, you should care for the following:
1. Proper articulation – sounds are pronounced, the way natives do
2. Proper intonations – stresses, music of language and its pace
Out of the two above, intonations are more important.
Articulation is often determined genetically. Tongues, cheeks and palates differ slightly
from one person to another. Voices are different.
Yet, intonations are purely ACQUIRED. They are learnt through childhood. They may
change slightly in the society, when popular culture provides a catchy novelty. Still, they
will be common to the society as a whole.
One who speaks a language with proper articulation but wrong intonations will be
regarded as alien. Or an unsuccessful learner. Yet, one, who speaks with proper
intonations but has some faults in articulation, will be regarded as a native speaker, with
“that specific manner of speaking”. Or “having some speech difficulties” at worst.
Let’s divide intonations learning into three parts:
1. Music of language
2. Stresses
3. Pace
These three are equally important. Let’s consider them one by one.
Music of language deals with the pitch. I mean relative acoustical pitch of a syllable you
are pronouncing. It’s not about the pitch of your voice; you may have a high voice or a
low voice. The important thing is the relative pitch. You say one syllable in the word
higher or lower than another. You pronounce that word higher or lower than one before.
You say it slightly higher or much higher. Or lower.
A syllable may have a rising intonation, when the beginning of the syllable is pronounced
with lower pitch than the end. There may be a high rise, a low rise, a rise from rather low
pitch to somewhat higher, or from high pitch to even higher. Falling intonation is similar;
the only difference is that the beginning of a syllable has a higher pitch than its end. In
some cases there may be rather complex pattern, when you may need to rise, fall and
half-rise again – all within one single syllable.
Stresses may be of two types. You may stress a syllable, by making it a) STRONGER or
b) LONGER than other syllables in the word or even in a sentence. Stresses may be
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related to the Music of the language, too. Stress usually points out the most important
sounds of the word, or the most important words in a phrase. Some syllables may be
unstressed to the point you may not hear them pronounced. Sometimes, there are a few
stressed words in a phrase. And they are not of the same importance. Native speakers are
used to understand, which stress corresponds to which importance. A learner may consult
a textbook or ask a native speaker.
Language pace is generally about how fast or how slow is a sound or a syllable
pronounced, and how long are pauses (if any) between adjacent sounds or syllables.
Each sound, each syllable is pronounced at some relative pace. Some sounds nearly
disappear, while they are pronounced much faster than others. Some can change. Even if
you speak slower, the RELATIVE pace of the syllables must not change. And pace-
inflicted sound changes will mostly persist, too.
Pauses will be considered as a part of “pace”, too. They can be longer or shorter, between
words in a phrase, or even between sounds in a word. Pauses are something relative. You
may speak quicker or slower. Pauses will become a bit longer or shorter, respectively.
Intonations have a lot to do with grammar. They are inseparable part of a sentence.
Intonation pattern of a question will always differ from that of a statement. Expressing
one’s emotions has to do with intonations, too.
In order to master intonations properly, you better use an audio piece with its transcript.
Listen to the recording carefully and mark the intonations in the transcript – the music of
the language, stresses, pace. You will need to mark sounds changes, too. You mark them
exactly how you hear them. After all, THAT is how they are pronounced. You mark,
which sounds last longer, which ones become shorter, which disappear, which mix up
with their neighbours and become something different at all. Then read the sentence,
using your marks, the way the native speaker has just pronounced it at your audio
recording. Say it a few times and then record yourself saying it. Listen to your own
recording and compare it with the native speaker’s. Does it fit?
Drilling proper sounds changes will help you to acquire proper articulation. You may try
to change the position of your tongue or lips slightly, while pronouncing some sounds.
And you may notice that those slight re-positioning of your speech organs will make it
even easier for you to “change” the sounds properly. Or to pass from one sound to
another. Or to pronounce them the way the native speakers do. That’s all the articulation
has to do with – just place your mouth into proper positions.
Don’t get discouraged, especially at the beginning. At first, you will never sound as a
native speaker. Just because you aren’t! Native speakers drill their intonations through
the whole life. But you didn’t! So just get down to drilling, drilling and drilling. Tens of
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hours of proper drilling will do. An hour or two of an original audio text will be fine. A
movie with many dialogs would be the best. Your course book audio is often good
enough, too.
While choosing audio recordings make sure, that’s not only a narrative. There’s nothing
wrong with a narration, but when talking to native speakers, you mostly get into a
conversation, a dialog. So try to drill a conversation. A family movie with subtitles would
be the best. Just follow every phrase. Mark (or memorize) its intonations and drill it, until
it becomes “yours”.
I would not recommend drilling pronunciation for more than an hour a day. Your speech
organs get tired and start operating worse. You need to spend more time to acquire less.
But – that’s up to you.
Culture – You Are No More a “Guest”
In the “Main Targets” for the Intermediate level I’ve mentioned history and geography of
the target country, rituals and dates celebrated or marked in the society. You may learn
this in your native language. However, you may need to know, how they say at least the
names for popular rituals and dates in the target language. The most important historical
events, national holidays, some most important geographical features of the country –
native speakers may deal with these things on nearly daily basis. And at the intermediate
level you need to talk about THAT, too. At least to know how you mention that.
The Intermediate level brings you closer to the target society. You are not just an alien or
a “guest”, one who stays within the society for a few days and then leaves forever. Here
you become more of a closer friend to native speakers’ society. Not yet “one of them”,
but definitely some part of them. And it is a good point to get acquainted with their way
of life and thinking somewhat deeper. And maybe try it yourself, at least when you are
among them.
Most popular songs and stories – learn them by heart. Concentrate on the things that
“everybody knows”. This brings you even closer to the society.
Besides, each nation has its own “language learning utilities for children”. These can be
common nursery rhymes, common stories, words-oriented or movements-oriented games
etc. Practically EVERY native speaker has used these tools, while learning the language
as a child. Make use of them, too.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 36
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Advanced level
CEFR C1-C2, ALTE 4-5
At this level you know the language well enough to communicate on variety of topics
already and just bring your skills to perfection. The guidelines provided below will make
the process easier.
This is the level to polish up your vocabulary, writing skills, especially those necessary
for formal written communication, and common / vulgar spoken language. Elements of
style are introduced here, too.
This level actually brings you to “close to native” and “native”. So the recommendations
and learning techniques are rather similar. Achieving the native level is probably a sweet
dream of many learners, and the approach may be somewhat different. I’ll discuss it later.
At this level you may use a monolingual dictionary; however a good bilingual and an
encyclopedia should be at hand, too. Native speakers will be very helpful.
Main Targets for This Level
C2:
Speaking/Listening: CAN advise on or talk about complex or sensitive issues,
understanding colloquial references and dealing confidently with hostile questions.
Reading: CAN understand documents, correspondence and reports, including the finer
points of complex texts.
Writing: CAN write letters on any subject and full notes of meetings or seminars with
good expression and accuracy.
C1:
Speaking/Listening: CAN contribute effectively to meetings and seminars within own
area of work or keep up a casual conversation with a good degree of fluency, coping with
abstract expressions.
Reading: CAN read quickly enough to cope with an academic course, to read the media
for information or to understand non-standard correspondence.
Writing: CAN prepare/draft professional correspondence, take reasonably accurate notes
in meetings or write an essay which shows an ability to communicate.
Words and Grammar – Step Forward
At the Advanced level you actually start to use the same language materials that native
speakers do. It can be books, magazines, TV and radio programs, films, official letters
and contracts, instructions, etc. You may need not just to narrate on various issues, but
hold discussions, too. Discussions and presentations become really important at this level.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 37
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
The main difficulty about this level is that you need to deal with many words, that you
don’t encounter that often. While reading or listening, you continue to encounter
unknown words or meanings steadily and little by little. And there seems to be no end.
When you are speaking or writing you may often lack that correct word. Or become
unsure whether THIS is the right way to say it. The best principle to overcome this
difficulty and go on up to the native level is “divide and conquer”.
First, divide. Define exactly what you need in the first place. If you need to speak to
children – learn children’s language, read children’s stories, watch films or cartoons,
learn the common games, that children play and what they say when they play. If you
need to write essays on 18-century politics – read a lot about 18-century politics, look up
all the unknown and not-quite-understood words you come across, mark out the common
expressions that you’ll need for your essays, write the essays and get them corrected. If
you need to write contracts on hiring new employees, learn a few hiring contracts. The
list of topics in the “Native Level” section will help you to define better, which language
area you may need.
Don’t waste your time on what you DON’T need. If you get stuck in a topic that you will
hardly need in future, maybe you find a better one to learn. Moreover, if you do get stuck
in some topic and you feel you have no drive to go on, one of the reasons may be that you
really don’t need it. (The other reason is that you haven’t properly clarified all the not-
quite-understood words, you’ve come across.) You may need to look once again, what
are your goals and adjust your learning accordingly.
Second, you may just need much more drilling. Reading, listening, speaking or writing;
or any combination of them. If your purpose is reading, read a couple of novels, of
different authors, some 100,000-200,000 words in total. After you’ll have read THAT
much, you will hardly encounter any new ones in this area. Newspapers and magazines
require even less. Read a few magazines, from the very first line, to the very last. Look
up all unknown or not-quite-understood words in a dictionary.
Watch films – some 50-100 hours will do. Series are the best – they give you some
insight into daily life in that society (but don’t forget – this is fiction, anyway!) Get films
with subtitles or with transcripts, especially when you start watching them. You can look
up each time you aren’t sure about what you have heard or what does it mean. And it is
easier to clarify the words you see printed. Some radio stations publish transcripts of their
programs, too.
After you’ll have copied a dozen of contracts, official letters or sets of instructions on
some specific issue, you will feel how easy it becomes to write them yourself.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 38
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
And after you’ll have spent enough time with native speakers, chatting with them,
discussing something with them, doing something together, going out or partying with
them, really taking part in their talks, be sure – you WILL be able to express yourself on
any topic and without any doubt.
Continue keeping your vocabulary. But now divide the words not just by topics, but by
situations you may use or encounter them, or by styles. Some words are more commonly
used in literature. Others are reserved for official language. You may express the same
idea in one way when you discuss it with your friends and in quite a different way when
you are writing a magazine article.
Oral Communication – Discussions and Emotions
At this level discussions and presentations become rather important. Discussions may be
formal – you discuss something with your colleagues or business partners. Or,
discussions are informal - you discuss emotionally various daily life issues and situations
with your friends.
Formal discussions and presentations require some very specific vocabulary. Learn to
present something to your business associates. Read a newspaper article. Make your
judgment about it. It shouldn’t be anything serious or deep. It may be just who or what is
good, and who is bad. Present the article and your opinion to a native speaker or to your
teacher. Then discuss it with him. Just for the sake of discussion. Let the native speaker
correct you. If you have no one to drill with, you may drill presentation and discussion
against a wardrobe, as I described it for the Beginners level. Repeat your presentation a
few times, until you feel totally sure about it. Then take different points of view and
discuss.
What concerns informal discussions, native speakers will be the best helpers, too. Just
chat with them about your life – and about their life. Ideally, meet with them and chat
with them in person. Make friends and go out together. This is the way you can most
easily observe them in different life situations and try to copy their words and their non-
verbal communication. Notice the emotional part of your communication. That is rather
important, too. Nearly every discussion has some emotions involved. See how native
speakers use to express their emotions. Notice, which words and issues are more
emotionally charged, and which emotions do they bring about. And of course, this is a
good chance for you to learn the things that “everybody knows” or that “go without
saying” in the target society. Learn their slang and swear words. I don’t demand you use
them a lot, but at least get to understand, what emotions they express. Learn and try using
their filler words and exclamations. As a last resort you can chat through the Internet.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 39
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Written Communication – Read and Clarify, Write and Get Corrected
At this level, written communication becomes somewhat more stressed than oral. This is
where you turn quantity into quality. Just read a lot. This is how you expand your
vocabulary.
While reading, you will definitely encounter some words or phrases you don’t understand
clearly. That could be quite common and well known words, but in THAT specific
context they may sound strange. Or maybe they are just “not-quite-understood”. Or, they
may require some specific imagination to make it all sound or logical. That is the very
instant you should look them up in a dictionary. And find the appropriate definition for
THAT specific context. Clarify that specific meaning and see through other meanings of
that word. Maybe you already know most of them. And if not – clarify them, too. Let’s
call the action of looking up a single word a “look-up”. Through one look-up you can
discover more meanings of the word, which (those meanings) you didn’t know or didn’t
quite understand. But that is a one single look-up.
Choose your proper topic to start with. Read and clarify a random 400-600 words article
or piece. The amount of look-ups in it should be no more than 8% of all the words. If it is
more than that, just choose a different topic, an easier one. But don’t cheat! Getting
through the topics with more than 8% look-ups can be rather exhausting and frustrating.
That can make you stop learning at all. Is THAT what you wanted? And I mean true
look-ups, where a word or a phrase might seem even a bit strange or not that clear or not
that obvious.
Continue reading on the topic until the amount of look-ups is no more than 2.5%, in at
least 3 successive pieces of 400-600 words each. That is a very good level! Well-
educated native speakers would have slightly less look-ups than that. Poorly educated,
even though native speakers – much more!
After you have read an article, or a text, put it aside and re-write it in your own words. Of
course, you may use phrases from the original text, but don’t look them up in the text.
Add your personal opinion or you point of view. Then send it to somebody else to check.
After you have got your corrected text back, re-write the mistaken phrases correctly and
think of a couple of new sentences, where you are using correctly the same word, or the
same set of words or the same grammar form as in the mistaken one.
Copying of an original text may be very useful in two cases: a) you drill writing official
letters or contracts, with many fixed phrases, b) you have nobody who can check your
writing.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 40
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Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
After you have read a text, you may start copying it, in writing or in typing, sentence by
sentence. Read a sentence, or a part of it, no longer than 15-20 words. After you have
read it, set the text aside and write it by heart. If you don’t remember something, look it
up, then put the text aside again and write it down; and then delete the whole phrase and
re-write it again, by heart. Then go over to the next phrase. After you have re-written the
whole text, check it – compare it to the original.
If you are learning to write official papers, you are strongly advised do some copying,
even if you have somebody who checks your writing. Actually, in official writing you
need to use exactly those fixed phrases. And those phrases are only used in writing. So
drill them in writing.
Culture – Become One of Them
Learn popular songs and modern hits by heart. Learn some most popular poems, too.
Watch the most popular films of the target society. You must always have the possibility
to rewind the film some seconds back and return on the same misunderstood / mis-heard
word time after time, until you hear it well enough to look it up in a dictionary. A teacher
may help you to clarify mis-heards. You may hang around with a native speaker – that’s
a rather good time to do it. A teacher (or a native speaker) may help you to understand
the last up-to-date slang expressions, or idioms, or the latest issues, those that “everyone
knows /discusses / has heard”. You may get acquainted with different dialects. Just learn
to recognize them.
Translating and Interpreting
I guess you’ve already done some translation exercises at your Intermediate or even
Beginners level. It is a rather common task in course books, textbooks or during language
courses. But now I’m talking about something different. At the Advanced level you may
try to take any text or an audio piece in your native language and start translating it into
the target language. Actually, this is a drill for future translators and interpreters. BUT if
you are not living in the target society, if you don’t get enough language practice, this can
be a sort of substitute. An original text can give you ideas, what you can talk about; it will
prompt you to use some specific words or phrases. Try to translate yourself and then
check with a native speaker, how they say it the best way. Which phrases they use, to
express THAT idea. Or, you may make look for texts on similar issues in the Internet.
Discover how native speakers speak or write about these things.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 41
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
The Native Level Dream Every one of us is a native speaker of some language or languages. There is at least one
language you have mastered up to native level proficiency, haven’t you? Learning one
MORE native language doesn’t need to take ages, either.
Native level proficiency consists of being able to understand nearly completely spoken
language they hear, written language they read, express any idea in speech or in writing.
A well-educated native speaker will follow certain rules of spoken and written language
and hence will sound “correct”. A poorly educated native speaker will use much less
words and some different, simpler grammar. A native speaker may not understand
EVERYTHING that is said or written in their native language. You have probably met
people who are difficult to understand, even if they speak your language. Or, you have
definitely read some texts in your native language, which were just unreadable.
Knowing a language to a Native level may be a sweet dream of any language learner.
Many think it would take years of life in the Native society to know the language that
good. Others resort to rather funny methods like learning a dictionary by heart or reading
especially thick grammar books, written by and for native speaking academicians (not
even average native speakers). But let me give out one little secret – a native speaker
NEVER knows “ALL the language”. It is practically impossible to know all the words
there are in a language. And that is unnecessary, too. Let’s leave it to a dictionary.
“Knowing a language like a native” comes down to:
1. Being able to understand, in reading or in listening, anything we may encounter in
various life situations
2. Being able to express, in speaking or in writing, any idea we may have in various
life situations, the way a native speaker would do that
“The way a native speaker would do that” implies using words and words combinations,
adequate for that specific situation, with proper pronunciation, intonations and style.
You do NOT need to know by heart ALL the words or ANY possible words
combinations there could be. Yet, you need to sound and to BE the most “common” or
“like any other” in most of typical patterns and situations. To BE like a native speaker,
means you will need to build up your phrases, pronounce them, intonate and support
them with the most common gestures, like a native speaker would do.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 42
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Building up Native Speakers’ Vocabulary
To build up your vocabulary to the Native level, you NEVER need to learn a dictionary
by heart. There is hardly any native speaker, who has ever done that. And I don’t believe
YOU have ever done that in YOUR native language.
Your vocabulary will build up to the Native level, all by itself, if you just master the
topics in the list below. The list consists of four areas of language use – Mass Media,
Literature, Spoken and Official language. “Master a topic” – I mean you clarify each and
every word or phrase you encounter, when you read materials on that topic. Or when you
listen to that specific topic.
Building up your vocabulary with mere listening is much more difficult, and practically
impossible without a tutor or a transcript. Keep that in mind, when you get down to the
“Spoken” section. However, a tutor will be very helpful, if you can ask him any time you
mis-hear or don’t understand anything.
Mass Media
This is probably the most common and relatively simple reading area. Daily newspapers
and magazines, news, advertising, etc. Many TV programs use this language, too. The
topics are:
1. The easiest: Panorama, Lifestyle, Youth Media, Advertising
2. More difficult, with relatively small and unique topic-related vocabulary:
Criminal, Sports, Science & Health, Religion, Technology & Computers, Arts &
Culture, Transportation & Travel
3. Even more difficult, with wider topic-related vocabulary: Social Issues, Politics,
Business
4. Most difficult for mass media: Opinions & Columnists
Literature
Here you find the broadest vocabulary. Most complicated grammar forms, archaisms,
irony, the language at its best – or at its worst. That’s for true language freaks. For those,
who appreciate not just literature by itself (you can read translations in your language),
but the LANGUAGE of literature. So, before going down to this language area, ask
yourself a question: Do you really need it? Do you really want it? What is YOUR
purpose for studying it? Are you having THAT fun reading books? Do you enjoy the
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 43
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Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
language THAT much? Anyway, if you decide to go ahead with it – here are the topics
for literature area:
1. Youth literature – relatively broad vocabulary, but most of the vocabulary is
rather common.
2. Modern Children stories – the easiest, relatively limited vocabulary, very specific,
dealing mostly with objects that surround us, “childish” words – keep in mind that
a native speakers MAY use childish vocabulary with adults, too. Do you
remember when YOU did that in your language?
3. Folk Tales – unique vocabulary, many words are used only for folk tales,
somewhat archaic language. However this sort of language may be used in jokes.
4. Modern literature, 20-th and 21-st centuries – you encounter the broadest
vocabulary of the language here. The slightest nuances of meanings and
impressions, some archaisms, historical and cultural issues – they are all to be
found at this level. You NEEDN’T read every piece of literature that has been
written. A common school literature course, that native speakers are taught when
they go to school, will do. This is the level of educated native speakers.
5. Classical literature – like modern literature, but with even broader vocabulary. A
school course for native speakers will do.
Official
Similarly to the literature area, these topics are useful only when you really need them,
and they will bore you stiff if you don’t. So before getting down to any of the topics, see
how much you need any one of them.
1. Reports, Letters, Instructions – probably most common topics to start with. Here
are the most common writing topics – most of the things a native speaker may
write get down to these.
2. Business, Medicine, Military, Educational System – if you need it.
3. Sciences - school course – nice to know to become a well-educated native
speaker.
4. Laws, Contracts – these are considered to be the most difficult topics. The good
news is that it’s only partially true. The only difficulty is that it uses very unique
and sometimes relatively broad vocabulary. Many words have only one meaning
and most of them have more common and plain synonyms. However, structures
are mostly stiff and invariable. Grammar is very special, but limited. Mastering
these topics may be boring, but once you get it – and it ISN’T infinite, like
literature, – bingo! The job is done! Moreover, you get to understand the laws of
that country, and THAT often helps, too.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 44
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Spoken
Living in the society of native speakers, you will encounter these topics each and every
moment. If you are NOT living in the society, it will be more difficult to create that
environment. Anyway, this is not as difficult as it seems, especially nowadays, as you
have Internet, streaming video etc.
1. Daily Reality (Series) – one of the most important and the most difficult to
understand. There are many reality programs on TV, which serve that purpose.
Daily words said by native speakers, who are not always in very good mood, who
may be in a hurry, talking in the sloppiest way, breaking grammar rules. They
may want to add insult to injury to poor language learners! Anyway, once you get
to hear what they are saying – your job of getting to understand their voices is
done. This topic is best done with a tutor. The easiest and the fastest. Or at least
with transcripts or subtitles. If you never wanted to pay for learning – this is
where you may want to re-think it. Your tutor doesn’t have to be a professional
teacher, just a native speaker or at the native speaker level, who can clarify you at
any moment “what the … have they said there, and what they mean by that”.
2. Entertainment, Talk-Shows – similar to Daily Reality, but the vocabulary may be
slightly different.
3. Forums – here you can get spoken language written. At forums, people use to
write as they speak. This is the best thing to start with.
4. Discussions – it’s especially important that you can make and defend your point
in a discussion. You can see printed discussions in the Internet. A discussion of
any issue gets down to the following: is it bad or good and why. And – each side
wants to be right. If you have no partner, you may print out the special vocabulary
for this topic and let your pencil and your pen, or your right and your left hands
hold a few discussions on any issue you please.
5. Songs:
5.1 Children Songs – easiest,
5.2 Modern Songs – more difficult,
5.3 Folk Songs – don’t get afraid of the language irregularities, just learn 20-30 of
the most popular folk songs by heart, it will repay one day.
6. Films:
6.1 Panorama Films – probably the easiest, rather good articulation, if you have
already done the Mass Media area you will have rather few difficulties about
this topic.
6.2 Cartoon Films – rather simple language, articulation is mostly good.
6.3 Educational Films – vocabulary is mostly topic-related, but usually limited.
6.4 Children Films – vocabulary is broader, but still rather easy and specific.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 45
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Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
6.5 Feature Films – even broader vocabulary, more cultural issues. Just for the
sake of better understanding the culture, I advise you to see at least 15-20 cult
films, those films that “everyone has seen”.
7. Besides, each nation has its own “language learning utilities for children” –
nursery rhymes, simple tales, words-oriented games etc. Their value for learning
to communicate with native speakers may never be overstated. Very good since
the intermediate level.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 46
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
More Tips on Language Learning
This section has even more tips to help you with your language learning. You can apply
them at any level. There are tips on what to do and what to beware. Anyway, you may
always try a technique and see for yourself if it helps you or not. Just keep in mind your
target – to use the language successfully. And remember your sub-targets that apply to
your level.
Words Lists – Do’s and Don’t
It is a big temptation for a language learner to learn “the whole dictionary” or “all the
adjectives” or so.
Relax. Don’t do that. You MAY learn a language much effectively.
Of course, one who has too much time and passion CAN do that. But that is not at all
efficient. You spend much time and energy, get headaches and swindles. But you may
still have difficulties to remember, what you have learnt, once you see these words in a
text or hear them in speech.
The reason is as simple as that: in life, words are ALWAYS used in some CONTEXT.
They never come apart from some context. The meaning they imply is related to the
context. And in our mind they are associated with context, too. If you are reading a text
and you come across a misunderstood word, the context is waiting there for you. You are
thinking about it already, you have some images in your mind, which have been created
by the context, you are already thinking about the whole issue. You are tuned to it. You
are living it. And you just add that word and its meaning to it. It fits to the whole picture
that has already been created. Then you may go on. It just stays there.
In a words list words come along without any context. Their association in your mind
will never be that strong. You may need to think up loads of sentences for each word,
imagine dozens of situations – just to create ANY context, and that takes much time. Or,
you can just learn the words by heart without any context. And forget them soon
afterwards.
You need extremely creative imagination to think up THAT sort of context all by
yourself just for one specific meaning. Energy and time you use to learn ONE word from
a list may be enough for you to learn 3-5 words, when you read some text and come
across them. So why not just use a ready context?
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 47
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Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Lists that contain some related words (like: cinema, film, actor, movie-star, titles,
producer) may be easier to learn. However, they still have the same drawback – you do
not have the proper context and you need to waste your time and energy to make it up.
You would better find a text on cinema and make use of THAT context.
The other drawback is especially relevant for learning dictionary pages by heart. Some
words at that page are used rather frequently in the language. Others are less common.
Some are hardly used at all. Many words are only used in very specific contexts you are
unlikely to come across.
But on a dictionary page their importance is equal. I hardly know a couple of dictionaries
that point out frequency of use. So you are going to end up with loads of words you
hardly ever need, instead of concentrating on the words that are truly important and more
common. This is true for meanings, as well – a word can have a few meanings and some
of them are more important and more frequent than the others. “Mere” reading or
listening will help you much more.
This Can Stop Your Language Learning
Re-learning of what you already know will disappoint and finally stop you.
Trying to learn a meaning of a word beyond the point you’ve got the IDEA, what it
means, will bog you. It will waste your time and efforts and, even more important, it will
discourage you. It will make your learning process seem complicated and dull. You will
feel you do not advance and get no results.
Returning to your grammar exercises, when you already use that grammar construction
successfully – that’s useless.
Re-reading or re-hearing the same text over and over again, beyond the point that every
word is understood exactly and immediately – that’s useless.
Rehearsing and reviewing – that’s a different thing. They MUST be done. To the things
you’ve learnt recently. And they are done swiftly. While reviewing, you pay just as much
attention as to understand, what it is about. You learn only what is new to you, or what
makes you unsure. While rehearsing, you read your text/phrases aloud and re-drill only
those phrases (or sentences) you have stumbled upon. Then you go further.
Spoken drills are done to the point, where your tongue speaks swiftly, no slips or
stumbling, and you are relaxed to think about WHAT you are going to say, not about
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 48
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
HOW are you going to say it. No more. If you achieve it with one try – do just one try. If
you are doing it successfully with one single try for more than 5-8 successive sentences,
pass to a more difficult drill.
You always have something new to learn – a more advanced course book, a literarily
text, a talk show, a feature film. So don’t waste your time on a nice course book of the
lower level or on an attractive website which thoroughly “starts from the very
beginning”. Don’t be afraid to miss a few words from that nice course book or drill. If
these words are frequent, important enough, you will definitely come across them later.
And if they aren’t, probably you don’t need them anyway.
If your level is higher than your assignment – you do not need to do it, full stop.
Change Your Learning Activities
Learning a language includes different activities. You may learn spoken language, that is,
you may speak the language. You may read it, translate, do your grammar exercises and
so on.
Different activities demand different types of your involvement, and, thus, attention.
Some may be more exciting, like watching a film or reading a story. Others may require
more mental energy or routine memorizing, like learning grammar patterns. Or even
physical energy, like spoken drills. Some may require your creative imagination
(understanding words / meanings), others (listening or reading) just make you “accept”.
At any level you may need to be engaged in at least 3-5 language learning activities, so
that you can swap between them.
Say, you have been studying grammar for the last half an hour. You have done many
grammar exercises and you still have many more to do. Have a break: read a text and
look up whatever you don’t understand. You have been reading for half an hour – make a
break and listen to the radio or watch a film.
First Time Language Use
Sooner or later you come to the moment, when you start speaking the language all by
yourself, with a native speaker, in the target society. If you have learnt the language all
the way through only with teachers or course books or your friends, it may be quite a
challenge for you to stand against a native speaker and to start talking to them in their
language. The native speaker will definitely sound not exactly what you are used to.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 49
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Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Maybe they will say some words you are not familiar with. Or you don’t remember
exactly what they mean.
Anyway – just go on speaking with the native speaker! That’s fun! That’s a great fun.
You have invested so much time and efforts in your language learning. Now you are in a
true life situation. And you CAN use your language skills.
Don’t get frustrated if it isn’t exactly the same as it was in class or with a book. Life is
different. Just go ahead. That’s all about it. You will go ahead and after a couple of hours
you will have at your fingertips all that you’ve learnt. Just go ahead.
My personal experience – practically with every language, at the very first moment I
needed to open my mouth and start speaking a new language – I just seemed to forget
everything I had learnt! All the necessary words disappeared! It was rather frustrating. It
took me a few hours to start to get into it again. But after a couple of new languages I
started to understand, that was quite normal. The first encounter with the language in a
true life situation MAY seem unusual. But after a couple of hours things start to go better.
That’s all. And – well, the better you’ve drilled speaking, the better you will speak.
From the very beginning.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 50
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
How to Choose a Language Course For Beginners and for Intermediates – any course is better than none. Any course, which
provides some guidance, some basic explanations, is much better than trying to find your
way through the language on your own. That is especially true for Beginners. The good
news, there are Beginners courses in rather many languages.
Beginners
You first course, either a teacher-lead or a self-study, is your gate to the language and to
its society. Impressions you get from your first course can determine your future
successes or failures with this language. As serious as that! That’s why I prefer courses
that were created by highly professional teams from the target society. More and more
countries start “exporting” their culture. And often do it with excellent language courses.
However, pay attention to the quality of teaching, too. A list of requirements below will
help you to choose the best course. Be aware, that there can be no “ideal course” that
would fit all the requirements. But still it will help you to navigate through loads of
courses you may get exposed to.
Requirements for a Self-Study Course
1. It has both texts AND audio
2. All the audio is transcribed in the textbook
3. It has many dialogs – dialogs are more important than narrations at this stage
4. Dialogs are related to most common real-life situations
5. It gives you fixed phrases, which are useful and applicable in real life
6. It has a lot of images of the daily culture of the target society
7. It gives you some cultural data – how the things are going in the target language
society
8. Each word and/or grammar form used in the phrases is explained or may be
looked up in a dictionary
9. Grammar is presented with enough examples – sentences or phrases
10. Many courses tend to write explicit grammar tables. That may be good later, as a
summary. But never – as a learning tool. Learn each grammar form separately, in
the context of its phrase, as you encounter it in your dialogs or texts.
11. Each lesson has a glossary that you can use for reviewing. A glossary is never a
substitute for a dictionary. But it simplifies reviewing.
12. Many courses start with presenting separate sounds. However, in speech sounds
never stand separate. They always come in groups as words or phrases. And they
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 51
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
change from word to word, too. So, don’t spend much effort on learning each
sound separately.
13. Ideally, a course will have the same audio recording spoken slowly and quickly.
This way you can hear how words change with different speech pace.
14. Beware the courses that throw you too complex phrases, something that seems
inapplicable in daily life, overload you with new words or phrases and let you
“understand it later” or “understand it yourself” or “from context”. Maybe good
as a sales gimmick, this will make your learning unnecessarily complicated, at
least. And it will make you frustrated and disappointed in yourself, which is much
worse. Invest your efforts in LEARNING; don’t waste them on guessing,
pondering and hesitations.
15. For the same reason, use only those courses which provide transcripts to their
audio recordings.
How to Use a Self-study Course
1. Read a phrase or a sentence. Clarify each unfamiliar or not quite understood word
and grammar pattern. Clarify each word or grammar pattern you don’t quite
understand or you’ve forgotten their meanings, or those which make the phrase
strange.
2. Repeat the sentence for a few times paying attention to correct pronunciation –
especially its intonations. Record yourself saying the sentence and compare to the
original recording. Correct yourself.
3. Drill the sentence with your pal or against the wardrobe. Drill it until you can say
the whole sentence swiftly and clearly. That’s what makes you speak swiftly and
sound confident. If you have said it a few times and you still continue stumbling,
there might be a word in it that you didn’t quite understand. Clarify it and see how
your speaking becomes even more confident.
4. Set the book aside and write down the phrase. Check it with the book.
5. Do the “fetching” drills with a list and with a recording.
6. At the very beginning, writing is somewhat less important. You will need to deal
with it more since the later Beginners level.
7. While emails replace hand-written letters, you will need to learn typing, too.
However, you will always need to hand-write a small note or fill in a form. And
don’t forget about hand-writing essays during your language tests.
8. After you have completed working with each sentence, listen to the whole text,
from the beginning to the end. Any time you didn’t understand anything, stop
immediately and look it up in the text. Then listen to that specific phrase for a few
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 52
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
times, until you hear clearly what and how they pronounce it, and you understand
it immediately.
9. You get what you drill. It may happen that in certain circumstances you cannot
do all these steps one after another as described. For example, if you are learning
in a bus or on a train, I doubt that you will do the wardrobe drills. However, you
can complete that drill later at home. Just keep in mind that you will never learn
to speak a language, if you didn’t drill speaking.
10. At some stage you may feel that your drilling becomes rather easy. You can say a
sentence to the wardrobe correctly, swiftly and confidently from the very first try.
Your intonation is correct, you write smoothly and quickly. You re-hear the text
only once, and you truly – no cheating – understand each and every word they
say. That’s great! That means you may just go ahead even faster! If you have
drilled rather diligently since the very beginning, that’s what you will surely get.
Requirements for a Teacher-Lead Course
1. You are encouraged to speak
2. You are corrected each time you make a mistake
3. The teacher corrects your pronunciation, too
4. Your pace fits the pace of the course – you do not fall behind; at the same time
you don’t feel the course is to slow for you. If you do, consider taking another
course or doing some more self-study.
5. Pay attention, that each word and each grammar pattern are presented so that you
understand them clearly
6. Items 3-8 from the requirements for a self-study course apply here, too
7. Ideally, the teacher will use lots of objects and simulate real life situations to
make you take part.
8. The explanations are plain and clear enough. You are not made to guess and you
never stay unsure whether you’ve done it correct or not.
There’s no place for guesses in language learning!
9. The teacher often prompts you to recall phrases you’ve learnt – asks you
questions that you should reply to, or asks you “how do you say … ?”
10. Beware the courses that throw you too complex phrases, something that seems
inapplicable in daily life, overload you with new words or phrases and let you
“understand it later” or “understand it yourself” or “from context”. Maybe good
as a sales gimmick, this will make your learning unnecessarily complicated at
least. And it will make you frustrated and disappointed in yourself, which is much
worse. Invest your efforts in LEARNING; don’t waste them on guessing,
pondering and hesitations.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 53
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
11. A native speaker is not necessarily the best teacher at this level. As a beginner you
need a teacher first. Someone who is going to make you understand what you are
learning. A native speaker is a good reference – on words use, on pronunciation or
on special cultural issues. The point is that as a beginner you do not need THAT
much reference. You need a TEACHER who knows how to make things simple
for you. No more than that. A native speaker will be best at the advanced level.
Are you already there?
And Yet – If No Course
Any course is better than no course. Still, there is a vast number of different languages
out there. Many of them have no text books or course books at all. This is where you may
resort to a phrasebook. This is the worst type of a book to learn from. It is actually not a
course book at all. But if nothing is available – use what you have. And if nobody has
ever written a phrasebook for that language, well you may complete that task yourself.
1. Take any phrasebook or language course. That will give you some guidelines.
You may make use of my Course of Russian. It describes the most common
situations and the most important phrases. So, it can help you even as a guide
for creating your own phrasebook in any language.
2. Ask a native speaker to translate the most important phrases, you may
encounter in your daily life in that society. Start with the most important fixed
phrases. Ask the native speaker, what they say in such situations. Don’t ask
them to translate a phrase word by word. First, ask for the whole phrase, that
they use to say in that specific situation.
3. Then ask the native speaker to explain you each and every word that their
phrase consists of. Don’t get frustrated, as there will be pretty much of “that’s
how we say it”. Not much grammar explanations. But after you’ll have
translated and memorized some 100-200 phrases, you will start to get the
point and make up your own phrases, too.
Intermediates
As an Intermediate learner, you are expected to expand your vocabulary. You can build
up much more phrases yourself and express yourself on much more topics. AND – you
should do it correctly. So the requirements for a course (whether teacher-lead or self-
study) may be slightly different.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 54
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Requirements for a Self-Study Course
1. When spoken language is presented, audio IS a must. Your course does not need
to have audio, when narrations are presented. Although audio is always good.
2. The textbook has transcriptions of all the audio recordings.
3. The course introduces words that are useful and applicable in real life situations.
4. It explains how you can use the words to build up correct phrases and sentences.
Which “small words” should be used to bind between “big words” you’ve just
learnt.
5. Cultural data is an important benefit.
6. Each word and/or grammar form is explained or may be looked up in a dictionary.
Your dictionary work becomes rather important at this level. Dictionary work is
NEVER a waste of time. Once you clarify a meaning, even if you don’t need it
straight away, you will recall it someday later. It will never “go away”. We forget
completely only those meanings, that we haven’t truly understood in the first
place. And remember: There’s no place for guesses in language learning!
Choose a dictionary that does not overload you with rare and not that useful
meanings. But make sure that you always get THAT idea or meaning of a word,
which fits into your context.
7. Grammar is presented with enough examples – sentences or phrases.
8. At this stage you may go through grammar tables. If you see that you are rather
familiar with at least 90% of the grammar forms, presented in the table, you may
learn the rest from the table, too. You only need to make enough phrases or
sentences, so that you can use these grammar forms swiftly and confidently,
“without thinking”. Still keep in mind that a table is just a summary or a reference
tool in the first place. You never speak with “tables” in real life situations
9. Ideally, the audio recording will let you hear how words change with different
speech pace.
10. Beware the courses that throw you too complex phrases, something that seems
inapplicable in daily life, overload you with new words or phrases and let you
“understand it later” or “understand it yourself” or “from context”. Maybe good
as a sales gimmick, this will make your learning unnecessarily complicated at
least. And it will make you frustrated and disappointed in yourself, which is much
worse. Invest your efforts in LEARNING; don’t waste them on guessing,
pondering and hesitations.
Requirements for a Teacher-Lead Course
1. You are encouraged to speak.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 55
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
2. You are corrected each time you make a mistake.
3. The teacher corrects your pronunciation, too.
4. Your learning pace fits the teaching pace of the course – you do not fall behind; at
the same time you don’t feel the course is to slow for you. If you do, consider
taking another course or doing some more self-study.
5. At this level it is much more important NOT to re-learn what you have already
learnt, i.e. the Beginners material. Just to get you there, a salesperson can advise
you a course at a much lower level, than you are. And in order to persuade you,
the registrar may advise “it is nice to review” or “you will just better know what
you know already”. Review does not mean re-learn. And from re-treading you
will not know better. You will waste your time and get frustrated – that’s all.
6. Pay attention that each word and each grammar pattern are presented clearly
enough, so that you understand them without effort.
7. Items 4-8 from the requirements for a self-study course apply here, too.
8. Ideally, the teacher will encourage you to speak and write. Not just read and
listen.
9. The explanations are clear enough. You are not made to guess and you never stay
unsure whether you’ve done it correct or not. There’s no place for guesses in
language learning! Your dictionary work is encouraged.
10. Beware the courses that throw you too complex phrases, something that seems
inapplicable in daily life, overload you with new words or phrases and let you
“understand it later” or “understand it yourself” or “from context”. Maybe good
as a sales gimmick, this will make your learning unnecessarily complicated at
least. And it will make you frustrated and disappointed in yourself, which is much
worse. Invest your efforts in LEARNING; don’t waste them on guessing,
pondering and hesitations. (I guess I’ll never get tired in repeating THAT. This is
one of the main secrets of successful language learning.)
11. A native speaker is not necessarily the best teacher at this level. But may be a nice
benefit. You still need a teacher first. But of course you can start getting exposed
to communicating with native speakers. That will definitely break the ice between
you and the society, which language you are learning.
Advanced
As an advanced learner, you are getting close to the native level. Indeed, you are
becoming a professional in language learning, too! But the game is not yet over. Now
you finally arrive to probably the most exciting moment. You KNOW the language. You
CAN understand it. And your purpose is to brush up on your language USE, so that you
use the language exactly like a native speaker does.
How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 56
Copyright © 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved. Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course – Lessons with Dmitry
Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html
Just Guidelines for Learning
1. This is where a native speaker may be most useful for you. Your best teacher at
this level is a well-educated native speaker, who is rather attentive and
understanding, and intolerant to the slightest – not just mistakes, but even mis-
uses, phrases you build up that sound awkward or unnatural. A good teacher will
notice when: “If you say it this way you WILL be understood. But WE usually
don’t say it like this; we say it … (so and so)”
2. Your teacher should help you to bring to perfection your pronunciation, too.
3. Dictionary use is a must here, like at any level. Although you already know many
words, but here you get the words in all the variety of their meanings. Don’t guess
“from context”, although the temptation may be strong! Guessing will save you a
couple of minutes while you are reading a text now, but it can start confusing you
from now on, any time you come across that word in any of its meanings.
4. Grammar reference books may do good here. Mostly, if they are used as a
reference. It may be rather frustrating to study a grammar book, when you already
know and successfully use at least 90 percent of what is written there. And when
you hardly encounter the rest in your daily life.
5. Probably the best way to learn language at this stage is just to come to the target
society, live there, get acquainted with locals, make friends with them, work with
them, go out with them, live a local’s life. At least for some time. That can make
you “one of them” – both linguistically and culturally.
Goodbye – But Not to the Language
So finally, you pass through the Advanced level, and reach “close to native” or, maybe,
“native”. You have done all the way through, from not knowing the language at all to
using it as an educated native speaker, and you deserve the heartiest congratulations and
best wishes in your further language use!
My last advice – never set aside the dictionary. Use it to clarify any new or “maybe not
quite understood” word – and your learning will always be successful.
Always feel free to contact me. I love to hear from my readers. Your opinion is important
to me! And – whichever language you are learning and whatever difficulty you may
have, I’ll be glad to help you.
Good luck!
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