How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World

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


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


Words and Grammar – Step Forward ....................................................................... 36

Oral Communication – Discussions and Emotions .................................................. 38




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 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.




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




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!




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.




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?




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!




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.




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.




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




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.




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.




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.




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




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.




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




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)




(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




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.




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.




At this level you expand significantly your vocabulary, acquire reading and writing skills,

drill speaking, listening, and express yourself correctly on much more issues.


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




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




(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




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




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)




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),




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




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




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




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




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




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.




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.


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.




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.




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.




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.




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.




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.




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




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.




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.




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.




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?




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 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.




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 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




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




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 … ?”




as a sales gimmick, this will make your learning unnecessarily complicated at







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.




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.








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 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.







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.




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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