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Advice for language learners General warning: what follows may or may not apply to you. It's based on what linguistics knows about people in general (but any general advice will be ludicrously inappropriate for some people) and on my own experience (but you're not the same as me). If you have another way of learning that works, more power to you. Given the discussion so far, the prospects for language learning may seem pretty bleak. It seems that you'll only learn a language if you really need to; but the fact that you haven't done so already is a pretty good indication that you don't really need to. How to break out of this paradox? At the least, try to make the facts of language learning work for you, not against you. Exposure to the language, for instance, works in your favor. So create exposure. * Read books in the target language. * Better yet, read comics and magazines. (They're easier, more colloquial, and easier to incorporate into your weekly routine.) * Buy music that's sung in it; play it while you're doing other things. * Read websites and participate in newsgroups that use it. * Play language tapes in your car. If you have none, make some for yourself. * Hang out in the neighborhood where they speak it. * Try it out with anyone you know who speaks it. If necessary, go make new friends. * Seek out opportunities to work using the language. * Babysit a child, or hire a sitter, who speaks the language. * Take notes in your classes or at meetings in the language. * Marry a speaker of the language. (Warning: marry someone patient: some people want you to know their language-- they don't want to teach it. Also, this strategy is tricky for multiple languages.) Taking a class can be effective, partly for the instruction, but also because you can meet others who are learning the language, and because, psychologically, classes may be needed to make us give the subject matter time and attention. Self-study is too eas

Language in humans has evolved culturally rather than genetically, according to a study by UCL (University College London) and US researchers. By modelling the ways in which genes for language might have evolved alongside language itself, the study showed that genetic adaptation to language would be highly unlikely, as cultural conventions change much more rapidly than genes. Thus, the biological machinery upon which human language is built appears to predate the emergence of language. According to a phenomenon known as the Baldwin effect, characteristics that are learned or developed over a lifespan may become gradually encoded in the genome over many generations, because organisms with a stronger predisposition to acquire a trait have a selective advantage. Over generations, the amount of environmental exposure required to develop the trait decreases, and eventually no environmental exposure may be needed - the trait is genetically encoded. An example of the Baldwin effect is the development of calluses on the keels and sterna of ostriches. The calluses may initially have developed in response to abrasion where the keel and sterna touch the ground during sitting. Natural selection then favored individuals that could develop calluses more rapidly, until callus development became triggered within the embryo and could occur without environmental stimulation. The PNAS paper explored circumstances under which a similar evolutionary mechanism could genetically assimilate properties of language - a theory that has been widely favoured by those arguing for the existence of 'language genes'. The study modelled ways in which genes encoding language-specific properties could have coevolved with language itself. The key finding was that genes for language could have coevolved only in a highly stable linguistic environment; a rapidly changing linguistic environment would not provide a stable target for natural selection. Thus, a biological endowment could not coevolve with p

refer to paragraphs about PDF

Morph your voice in Audacity Did you know that by applying certain effects to your voice in Audacity , you can sound dramatically different and take on a character of your own. To do this, first highlight your vocal track and then follow the instructions below to generate each effect: 1. If you'd like to sound like ... a robot Click on the Effect Menu and then Delay ... Change the Decay amount to 10 Change the Delay time to 0.009 Change the Number of echos to 30 Click OK Click on the Effect Menu again Click Repeat Delay Repeat this 5 times or more if necessary Listen to this example: Download Creating_a_robot_voice_in_Audacity.mp3 2. If you'd like to sound like ... a demonic spirit Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate Highlight the second track Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ... Change the Semitone (half-steps) to -1 Click OK Highlight the first track Click on the Edit Menu and then Duplicate Highlight the third track Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ... Change the Semitone (half-steps) to -5 Click OK Click on the Effect Menu and then Bass Boost ... Click OK Drag the Gain slide on the left of the third track to +3DB Highlight the second track Click on the Effect Menu and then Echo ... Change the Delay time (seconds) to 0.1 Change the Decay factor to 0.6 Click OK Listen to this example: Download Creating_a_demonic_voice_in_Audacity.mp3 3. If you'd like to sound like ... a chipmunk Click on the Effect Menu and then Change Pitch ... Change the Percent Change to 100 Click OK Listen to this example: Download Creating_a_chipmunk_voice_in_Audacity.mp3 4. If you'd like to sound like ... a telephone operator Click o

"On peut pas vraiment dire qu'on choisit son lieu de naissance Ce que vont découvrir petit à petit les cinq sens Moi, un jour mes parents ont posé leurs valises, alors voilà Ce sont ces trottoirs qu'ont vu mes premiers pas Je viens de là où les mecs traînent en bande pour tromper l'ennui Je viens de là où, en bas, ça joue au foot au milieu de la nuit Je viens de là où on fait attention à la marque de ses textiles Et même si on les achète au marché, on plaisante pas avec le style Je viens de là où le langage est en permanente évolution Verlan, rebeu, argot, gros processus de création Chez nous, les chercheurs, les linguistes viennent prendre des rendez-vous On n'a pas tout le temps le même dictionnaire mais on a plus de mots que vous Je viens de là où les jeunes ont tous une maîtrise de vannes Un D.E.A. de chambrettes, une répartie jamais en panne Intelligence de la rue, de la démerde ou du quotidien Appelle ça comme tu veux mais pour nous carotter, tiens-toi bien On jure sur la tête de sa mère à l'âge de neuf ans On a l'insulte facile mais un vocabulaire innovant Je viens de là où, dans les premières soirées, ça danse déjà le break Je viens de là où nos premiers rendez-vous se passent autour d'un grec Je viens de là où on aime le rap, cette musique qui transpire Qui sent le vrai, qui transmet, qui témoigne, qui respire Je viens de là où y a du gros son et pas mal de rimes amères Je viens de là où ça choque personne qu'un groupe s'appelle "Nique Ta Mère" Je viens de là et je kiffe ça, malgré tout ce qu'on en pense A chacun son territoire, à chacun sa France Si j' rends hommage à ces lieux, à chaque expiration C'est qu' c'est ici qu' j'ai puisé toute mon inspiration Je viens de là et je kiffe ça, malgré tout ce qu'on en pense A chacun son territoire, à chacun sa France Si j' rends hommage à ces lieux, à chaque expiration C'e

8/5/10 article in Edutopia about no need for textbooks

This page shows all the previous activities.\n * Play Games and Improve Your Vocabulary\n * Write a Music Video Review\n * Improving Your IT Skills and Vocabulary\n * 1 Minute Listening Activity\n * Learn a Song in English\n * Try a TOEFL Reading Test\n * Listen and Write the News\n * Improve Your Vocabulary and Make Friends\n * Exercise Your Ears With Authentic Film Clips\n * Record Yourself Reading a Poem\n * Using a Word Cloud to Remember Words and Texts\n * Take a Quiz Adventure Journey\n * Create an Online CV in English

"ImTranslator offers a natural sounding text-to-speech system with translation capabilities that quickly translates text and reads it aloud at one click of a button." Thanks to Isabelle for pointing it out in a recent presentation that she has posted on her blog, Supporting EAL Learners in the MFL Classroom, Edge Hill University, Monday 21st October 2013.

"ImTranslator offers a natural sounding text-to-speech system with translation capabilities that quickly translates text and reads it aloud at one click of a button."

Penzu is a free online diary and personal journal with a focus on privacy. Easily keep a secret diary of thoughts or a journal of notes and ideas secure and on the web.

In Parlamentarier sind "IT-fit" (11 giugno 2008), Swiss ePower Initiative annuncia di avere ... indotto ... i parlamentari federali svizzeri a fare questo dubbio test.

"A TextArc is a visual represention of a text-the entire text (twice!) on a single page. A funny combination of an index, concordance, and summary; it uses the viewer's eye to help uncover meaning."

We teachers like to shake things up a bit and how better to begin than by adding a little randomness into your lessons. This is a great site that creates custom cubes which you can use as dice in class. They are easy to create and great for children make for a range of subjects and activities. Give it a roll. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Cross+Curricular

"¿Te apetece ver lo que ocurre a tiempo real en una ciudad a través de imágenes? This is now! lo hace posible. Se trata de una herramienta que te permite ver lo que está pasando en diferentes ciudades a tiempo real a través de las imágenes que sobre las mismas se hayan subido a Instagram."